Photos courtesy of the Angel Family Farm
Angelic AG R IC U LT U R E From family farm to Bayonne tables By Daniel Israel
L
izbeth Angel, 30, lives in Bayonne, but from April to November, she’s a farmer at the 16-acre Angel Family Farm in Goshen, New York. The farm offers a community supported agriculture (CSA) program to Bayonne residents. The family began farming in 2006, starting when Lizbeth was 14, returning to Brooklyn for the winter to work “regular” jobs. Her dad Fily works with specialty cheeses. Her mom Ana works as a nanny. Lizbeth was a nanny before becoming a substitute teacher.
Brooklyn Beginnings Lizbeth moved to Bayonne in 2017. The rest of the family lives in Park Slope. The family ran a taco stand at Red Hook Park.
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The Angels began farming after seeing a commercial for the New Farmers Development Project, part of Grow NYC, calling for immigrants who had a farming background. Fifteen years ago, unused land was available in upstate New York, but there was a shortage of farmers. Fily, from Mexico City, didn’t have a farming background. Ana was from the small Mexican town of Progreso in the state of Puebla, where people lived off the land. “My mom had been away from home for so long, it was something that was attainable to her like her home,” Lizbeth said. “So she convinced my dad to do it, and they invested every last penny on the farm.” The Goshen area boasts fertile and wet soil that’s good for growing, unlike New Jersey’s clay soil. “Clay soil is good for growing some things but not most things,” Lizbeth, said. “That’s what makes the black dirt region valuable. It’s perfect for growing a large variety of vegetables.”
A Rough Start The Angel family includes Ana, Fily, Lizbeth, her brother Henry, and sisters Jennifer and Maria. It wasn’t easy at first. “We were sleeping in our car,” Lizbeth said. “We were using the bathroom at gas stations. It was horrible.” But things got better. “My family was able to purchase their own land and agricultural equipment,” Lizbeth said. “Two years ago, we paid off our last tractor.” Now the farm is expanding to include a greenhouse and walk-in cooler. But a lot of the crops go bad. “It’s really sad,” Lizbeth said. “A lot of it goes bad because we don’t have proper storage. So we’re in the middle of that right now.” The family is working to get electricity to power the cooler. They try to sell as many vegetables as possible, lowering the prices so they won’t go to waste. They’ve developed lifelong relationships with customers and markets.
