How did you get started in farming?

When I was in college I was studying a lot of environmental issues under the title of geography. I realized a lot of people don't really have a direct connection with environmental issues and so one way to capture their attention was through food, because everybody eats. So I started studying chocolate, and because everyone likes to eat it, it was always easy to find people who were interested in talking about it. I did that in West Africa, and when I graduated I stuck with farming and food because it made me happy to have a career where I could focus on feeding people well and organically. Also, just because it was great for me to be growing my own food, which is a wonderful way to eat.

What did you learn in Africa?

The cocoa bean farmers had never even had a chocolate bar. There's a really big disconnect in where our food comes from and who gets to eat it. It's true for coffee and even vegetables. A lot of vegetables we eat here come from farms on the West Coast, when they can be grown just as well in New York.

You're a farmer and marathon runner, but you must have some vices.

Well, it shouldn't surprise you, but I love chocolate. I would turn down a vegetable for chocolate any day of the week but I'm disciplined enough not to.

What's your favorite meal to make?

I love cooking dinner with as many people as possible. It's my great pleasure to serve food. My great party trick is walking into a room of food and making up a meal on the spot. It's like painting, and that's what got me into farming. This time of year, one of the easiest meals you can make includes flash pickling, which is when you take something like radishes and just soak them for a couple hours in vinegar and salt. Throw that on a salad of spring pea shoots and mix up a little dressing using some herbs stored from last year. It has sweetness, sourness, saltiness - it's delicious!

When do you feel most at peace?

Outside with my hands in the earth, listening to the seagulls by the water. It takes a lot of concentration to do it right.

When you aren't working what do you enjoy?

I basically do what I love for a living. I love eating, and I rebuild bikes. I also make documentary films with a collective called Meerkat Media. I make felt animation, cutting out bits of felt and using stop animation. It's really time consuming but it's so fun and beautiful. I illustrate comics, a couple for the farm and a couple for fun. Everyone who lives in Brooklyn does six million things.

What do you wish more people knew about you?

I wish more people knew that it's easy to learn the things we're doing if they are willing to commit the time. If people were willing to come once a week, they'd be farmers by the end of the year. In a world where we expect things instantly, agriculture is a lifetime of learning.

Why farm in a city? It seems easier to just go upstate.

City people eat just like everyone else, and New Yorkers love to talk about food. Also, what we've found during our time at the Eagle Street Rooftop Farm is that people in New York very much want to learn these things. For folks that have daily nine-to-five jobs, it's nice to be able to come down on the weekends and get up to their elbows in dirt. We had an open day a few Sundays ago, and all we did was carry up hundreds of garbage cans of soil to the roof - that's all we did. People were having a great time, spreading it like brownie mix - it's the hardest work you could think of but people loved it.

What are some of the other challenges of running a rooftop farm?

We don't lack for labor, but you can't sell vegetables for a lot of money. At a certain point, it's just obnoxious to charge $16 a pound for arugula. A lot of people really want to quit their jobs and become New York City farmers, but you can't do that and still have an apartment for $2,000 a month. Other than that, because there aren't a lot of green spaces here, we don't get a lot of pollinators - that's a bigger issue than most people think.

Have you had many problems with keeping bees?

The year we started keeping bees it was illegal - Mayor Giuliani made them illegal under the same clause as vipers. This winter was very cold, and all of our bees died. This year we're getting a new Russian, cold-hardy bee variety, and if that works we'll help other city people get these bees.

A lot of people are too busy to farm. What is one thing we can do to eat smarter?

Support the farmers' markets that are around you - they create a smaller carbon footprint because they are so close and you're supporting your local economy, plus food that is physically fresher, like the farmer pulled it out of the ground that morning or the night before, is actually healthier for you. Every time you pull a plant, it starts to die right there, and the vitality of the cells breaks down. When people say they don't understand the difference between an organic carrot grown in California and one here, it's actually healthier for you by a larger percentage.

What's going on at the farm during spring?

We just started our tomato seedlings, and I'm bringing the rabbits and chickens back to live on the farm. They are our little poop machines. It's a rooftop farm, so every time we need organic matter to feed the plants, it's easier to have it already on the roof. I would prefer to have cows on the roof, but that's not possible.

Favorite movie:

Paper Moon.

Favorite book:

History of Love by Nicole Krauss.

Favorite song: "Me & Julio" by Simon and Garfunkel.

Favorite band: It's a tie - FESTIVAL is amazing,

and so is The Great Republic of Rough and Ready.