Where We Are
The Farm Eco-Center
The City Green Farm Eco-Center is a five-acre site located on Grove Street in Clifton, New Jersey. In 2005, with the additional support of Passaic County Open Space funding and New Jersey Green Acres funding, the city of Clifton permanently preserved this land, formerly known as Schultheis Farm, to remain as green, open space forever. City Green leased the property in 2011 and has since transformed it into a hub of agricultural and environmental education and recreation.
Today, in addition to several acres of organic food production, the Farm Eco-Center boasts a Learning Farm, chickens, goats, beehives, a greenhouse, and an outdoor kitchen, in addition to City Green’s offices housed in the original farmhouse on the property. City Green uses the site to host field trips, job and volunteer opportunities, farm stands, family programs, educational programs, and a wide range of events. The Farm Eco-Center is the heart of City Green. It is a model in sustainable community agriculture and urban farming, and a vibrant, living example of land production in harmony with the ecosystem.
​
The Farm Eco-Center is open to visitors during our public hours each week. Click here to plan your visit!
_JPG.jpg)
The Learning Garden
The City Green Learning Garden is located at Eastside Park in Paterson. The one and a half-acre site was originally built by City Green in 2008 with the help of the Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation and Paterson middle school students!
In addition to food production, it serves 1,000 children each year who attend field trips, summer garden camp, and the fall Harvest Festival, which attracts 500 visitors annually.
​
The Learning Garden is proof that even the most urban places like Paterson can support beautiful open spaces for the community to enjoy. With native trees, shrubs and perennials that attract local wildlife, it has grown into a thriving natural space that has come to symbolize City Green’s commitment to the Paterson community.
South Branch Preserve
The Land Conservancy of New Jersey has preserved a large tract of land in Mt. Olive, with acres being stewarded by City Green for organic food cultivation as part of the land's original use. The Farm at South Branch Preserve is a production based vegetable farm cultivating 8 acres to grow 70+ varieties of vegetables. The Farm implements both organic and regenerative farm practices primarily focused on soil health, with an emphasis on increasing soil organic matter. In doing so, the farm is able to act as both an active land conservation method as well as a productive vegetable operation.
This project represents an innovative partnership between land conservation and food production – it is a unique opportunity where these two inter-related fields come together in support of open space and community benefit. Not only does the farm support increased access to and affordability of local food for low-income families in Morris County, but it ensures that the entire parcel of land remains open for public enjoyment. This exciting initiative helps keep the garden in "Garden State" while ensuring that farmland in New Jersey remains an important and productive part of the landscape.
_JPG.jpg)
Land Statement
We are on the traditional lands of the Munsee Lenape people.
As a land based organization, City Green acknowledges the Munsee Lenape as the original occupants and stewards of this land, and we recognize their forced removal and erasure due to violent colonial tactics.
The Munsee Lenape are a band of Lenni Lenape Native Americans, who stewarded this land for generations before many of their people were forcibly removed westward to Oklahoma and Wisconsin in the 1800’s. Relatives of the Munsee Lenape Nation, known as the Ramapough Indians, a state recognized tribe, are still here today on their ancestral lands, and still active in “preserving and restoring the economic, social, cultural, sacred and environmental assets of the Ramapough Munsee
ancestral lands.”
We recognize the sovereign nations of the Lenape diaspora elsewhere in present day North America, as well as other Indigenous individuals and communities now residing in New Jersey.
We acknowledge Lenape people past, present and future.
We honor the land we steward.
About the Land We Grow On
The land first came to be over a billion years ago as the first rocks began to form under what we now know as the northern part of New Jersey. Then came the formation of rivers, valets, ridges, plains, mountain ranges and other textures through erosion and deposition. Being that this region is coastal, the formation of the land is largely affected by the sea levels and its formation is directly linked to the Earth’s glacial history. Due to partial melting of Antarctic ice, sea level began to rise, broadening the river valleys in this northern region of New Jersey, creating lowlands where soil began to form. Soon came the oak trees, alongside hemlock, chestnuts, hickory, sugar maples and beech.
The soil in this area is sandy and loamy, and being a river valley, it is very fertile. The soil is alive with a network of fungi and mycelium that we work alongside in order to grow food for our community, strengthen native habitat and provide for the web of life that exists within and above the soil.
What is a Land Statement?
A land statement is a factual written statement of whose land we are on. A land statement is typically found at the bottom of a website, in a pamphlet, or anywhere additional information can be found.
What is a Land Acknowledgement?
“Land acknowledgment is a traditional custom that dates back centuries in many Native nations and communities. Today, land acknowledgments are used by Native Peoples and non-Natives to recognize Indigenous Peoples who are the original stewards of the lands on which we now live.” - National Museum of the American Indian
Learn More
Additional information on the Ramapough Munsee Community
About – Munsee Three Sisters Medicinal Farm
Additional information on the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians
NDN COLLECTIVE “is an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power.”
Native Land Map “is an app to help map Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages."
LANDBACK “is a movement that has existed for generations with a long legacy of organizing and sacrifice to get Indigenous Lands back into Indigenous hands.”
Additional geologic history of the New Jersey Highlands NJGS - Geologic History and Virtual Field Trip of the New Jersey Highlands
Additional information on the Vegetation of Northern New Jersey Before European Settlement