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A typical week finds Petula Gay planting seedlings for fresh fruits and vegetables and canning hot peppers and sweet dumpling squash - not exactly the usual activities of higher-education students in the city.
Ms. Gay, 52, is one of 15 certificate candidates in the inaugural class of Farm School NYC, a hands-on program that trains its students in urban agriculture. She hopes to attain her certificate later this year.
In an apprenticeship at the Snug Harbor Heritage Farm on Staten Island and in academic classes including animal husbandry, she learns about beekeeping and raising chickens, skills that she hopes will translate into a career that involves teaching urban farming to low-income women. Ms. Gay lives in the West Sayville section of Staten Island, and for many years has worked as a lactation consultant. She said her focus on nutritional health for women makes for a natural transition to farming.
Farm School NYC sees itself as more than just a training ground for New York City residents like Ms. Gay to grow food. The school's ambitious agenda is to "build self-reliant communities and inspire positive local action around food access and social-, economic- and racial-justice issues."
It's been an auspicious first two years, according to the head of the school. "We've succeeded beyond our expectations," said Jacquie Berger, the executive director of Just Food Inc., the nonprofit founded in 1995 that manages Farm School NYC. "We have more applications than we can accommodate, and we've enrolled a diverse group of students. We have a strong, clear vision of Farm School as a regional resource for anyone who wants to learn how to grow food in the city."
In its submission to the USDA, the school cited the three-year objectives of teaching 3,000 to 3,600 students about sustainable urban agriculture, and to have between 1,600 and...