Far Rockaway's Greenest Thumb

When the longtime Far Rockaway resident was diagnosed with lupus, she transitioned to a primarily plant-based diet. She grows much of her produce in the garden near her home.

Sharon Keller calls herself quiet, but her resilience is emphatic. She spearheaded getting Seagirt Boulevard Community Garden back on its feet after Hurricane Sandy uprooted its bounty and made the soil unproductive. Raised beds had to be installed and filled with imported soil. As garden coordinator, Keller dutifully reconstructed the Far Rockaway garden, one row at a time. 

It’s the same way she’s always adapted. A survivor of domestic violence who was diagnosed with lupus in 2010, Keller simply adopted a primarily plant-based diet and began limiting her time spent in direct sunlight (a challenge for the avid gardener, one she’s met with extra-protective sun caps and clothing). 

Just as fresh summer strawberries started ripening in her plot, we caught up with the green thumb garden coordinator to talk about food diversity, the pungent taste of possum stew and all things Virgo. 

HOW DID YOU BECOME A GARDENER? 

I grew up gardening, because my grandmother lived in Shinnecock on the reservation. So that’s part of our heritage in terms of working with the land, and revering the land. I grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and we didn’t have a garden area, but I learned to put things on the windowsill and just different ways of urban gardening. So when I moved to Rockaway, they had a big backyard—it was heaven for me. That’s when I did my first in-ground garden, and it was the French intensive method: double digging and then enriching the soil extra so that you can put plants close together and have a real good outcome. 

HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED AT SEAGIRT BOULEVARD COMMUNITY GARDEN AND BECOME THE GARDEN COORDINATOR? 

I got into an accident with domestic violence, and as a result I was on short-term disability, trying to heal. They kept saying, “Why aren’t you healing?” so we did further testing, and they determined that I had lupus, which is a very invasive disease. It imitates other diseases, so that’s why they couldn’t immediately determine what it was. I said, “Where did this come from? I’ve always been healthy and this came out of the blue. Maybe it was sparked by the domestic violence or something, that negativity? Maybe it’s residing in my body somehow.” I said, “Whatever it is, I’m going to try to make lemonade out of lemons.” I said, “I’m gonna advocate to eat better, more plant-based.” Because I remember when I’ve been sick other times, like when I was younger, my mother would give me vegetables and broth and all of the old-fashioned-y things and herbal remedies like sassafras. I said, “I’m gonna go back to nature; go back to the old way.” 

I passed this garden all the time, because I would pick up my granddaughter at the school 106. I tried to get in to no avail—the gardeners didn’t really wanna share it at that time. So I went to New York Restoration Project, and they sent someone out to sign me up on the spot. I started gardening. Everything was going fine. And then along comes Hurricane Sandy.

HOW BAD DID THE GARDEN GET HIT DURING SANDY? AND HOW DID YOU GET THE GARDEN BACK UP AND RUNNING?

Before Sandy, we were an in-ground garden, just regular rows, and everything was fine. Sandy moved the water tank to the front, and then our gate acted like a colander. Everything in our garden just floated and that garden gate helped it stay inside. We called NYRP and they were immediately receptive.

We had the soil tested to see if it was still viable, and they found out it was full of mercury and contaminants because of the ocean and the bay and waste from people’s houses, and the sewage and all of that. So it was no longer viable for gardening. TD Bank came in and gave us a large grant, which enabled to get the raised boxes. NYRP came out that same year, in the spring after the hurricane. The soil had to be imported, so that’s what they did. They brought up nice soil and made sure it was all curated and everything, and that year after Sandy we were able to garden thanks to them. They came out and saved us.

WHAT KINDS OF FOODS DID YOU GROW UP WITH, AND HOW HAVE YOU DEVELOPED AS A HOME COOK OVER THE COURSE OF YOUR LIFE? 

My heritage is Southern and American Indian. My mother was the main cook, and her parents emigrated from North Carolina. We would eat with the seasons, very balanced meals. My mother is something from North Carolina and South Carolina, called Geechees. That means every meal, you would have rice, because it was a certain section of South Carolina where they had the rice paddies. A lot of our family originated from there, and every day we had rice, vegetables and probably a meat. But sometimes my mother featured meatless Mondays. I carry a lot of that on into my own life. 

I still do a lot of Southern-based dishes, but as I say, because I’ve become more aware of what’s best for my particular physical needs, I do a lot of plant-based things. I do sometimes just maybe a pasta with mushrooms, but then I’ll find some chicken, you know, Southern fried chicken. I still do that with the collard greens, but perhaps I don’t put pork meat in there—I might substitute something else. Because it’s the yin and the yang; I know about how nutritional yeast can taste like cheese and all that and be just delicious. 

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN DISHES YOU ATE GROWING UP?

Succotash every fall, because that was the result of the “three sisters”—corn, beans and squash. We were taught that, for them to be successful, they needed to be together. The three sisters would grow and they would help each other. That’s a way of gardening where you plant your corn, which will rise up; and then you plant beans around your corn, which will grab to the corn; and then you put your squash, that’ll keep the ground cool and keep it nutritious for the corn and the beans. 

So when it became time to harvest, that would be the dish—succotash. We did a lot of cakes on the open flame, a lot of open-flame cooking. They believe in a lot of [eating] whatever you could catch that didn’t run away from you, so exotic meats. 

LIKE WHAT? 

Possums. She [my mom] did possum stew. They said if it didn’t run, “You get eaten.” So we ate all kinds of stuff. I just don’t want to know exactly what it was! Mice, rats and things. I don’t know. I don’t know! I think—everything, we ate I was, like, “Oh, that’s gamey.” I was, like, “Oh no, I don’t think we’re supposed to eat that.” It was such a taste. 

WHAT’S ON THE HORIZON FOR THE GARDEN? 

I’ve been trying to teach everybody how to do a variety of foods, and why it’s necessary not to just do vegetables; you must put in flowers. Just to be more cognizant of how nature works; you have to have interplanting in order for things to be healthy. You just can’t put one type of thing. Just as the world—in order for things to prosper, it has to be a diversity. I’ve been trying to teach people the necessity of being diverse not only in the garden, but in life. 

You see this garden next door, it’s currently unoccupied. So we’re doing a little push where we can maybe acquire that garden also. We would be good stewards. Hopefully that’ll happen and we can facilitate even more people learning how to garden and growing their own food. That would be a dream for me. 

Seagirt Boulevard Community Garden
New York Restoration Project | @nyrp