A group of Brooklynites is getting back to the land in a way that goes beyond rooftops, fire escapes and community gardens, and they want to bring you with them. Ananda Ashram, just an hour out of the city in Monroe, NY, had an operational farm in the 1970s, and started cultivating the earth again this summer after a long fallow period. A crew of self-described urban hippies from Brooklyn, including Matteo Bueno, Jerri Chou, Wendell Davis, Dave Gottlieb, and Stephanie Redlenner (who is from Brooklyn in spirit) organized an agricultural revitalization this summer. Jerri Chou answers some questions for us about Ananda Harvest.

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Yogic philosophy is deeply rooted in a connection to the planet so it’s no coincidence that this relationship influenced the establishment of the Ananda Harvest, a project which began in order to grow the food for the Ananda Ashram and then took on a life of its own. For founding farmers Dave Gottlieb and Jerri Chou it all started as an escape from New York City. Both Dave, who grew up close to the Ananda Ashram and who’s parents had met there, and Jerri who had spent a bit of time there, felt the need to give back to Ananda. When they realized that a portion of the ashram’s land wasn’t being utilized and in fact had once been a farm, they saw the perfect avenue for a rebirth of what was once there.