By Tien-Shun Lee
As summer draws near, some neighbors of the Klein Farm in Fresh Meadows are hoping that the Klein family will plant some crops on their land this year so that they will be able to pop across the street to buy fresh vegetables.
The last time the family operated the farm stand on their property at 194-15 73rd Ave. was during the summer of 2001. Since then, the 2.2-acre farm, which is the last family-owned working farm in the city, has been fallow.
John Klein Sr., the owner of the farm, announced in October that he had decided to keep the farm for his family after several offers had been made to purchase the land, which was put up for sale in July 2001. While the family might grow some vegetables on the farm, they would not be operating the farm stand because it was not profitable, Klein said at the time.
“I miss it like crazy. It doesn't compare to Waldbaums,” said a resident of the Fresh Meadows housing complex who preferred not to give her name.
Neither Klein Sr. nor his son, John Klein Jr., could be reached for comment.
The Klein Farm property includes a large, two-story brick house with a small front porch, a smaller two-story brick house on the side of the land and a brick storage shed in the back of the big house. It is surrounded by the Fresh Meadows complex to the left, and an asphalt school playground to the right.
“It seemed to be fresher stuff, the corn, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers,” said Monte Schwartz, the first vice president of the West Cunningham Park Civic Association who has lived across the street from the farm for more than 30 years.
“It did bring a lot of traffic, but that was OK,” he continued. “It was a nice thing to have in the neighborhood. Now it's terrible, it just sits there.”
According to Susan Clark, a spokeswoman for the Trust for Public Land, an organization dedicated to preserving open space, notorious Flushing developer Tommy Huang made an offer to buy the farm in February 2002 with the intention of converting it into a housing complex with 22 two-family homes. He then backed out of the deal in March 2002 after Councilman David Weprin (D-Hollis) and leaders of various civic organizations formed a task force dedicated to preserving the historical farm.
Huang was convicted in 1999 of spilling oil and ignoring asbestos contamination in the basement of Flushing's historic RKO Keith's Theater, which he had wanted to develop into a shopping mall.
“I'd love to see (the farm) preserved like a nice, open space,” Weprin said. “It's such a nice, pretty house.”
Weprin said he would continue to look into having the farm, or at least the farmhouse, designated as a landmark to protect it from destruction or alteration. The farmhouse was built in 1930.
Under a 1974 zoning amendment that created a special community preservation district in Fresh Meadows, only 20 percent of the Kleins' land can be developed, and plans must first be approved by the City Council.
The Trust for Public Land offered the Kleins $2 million for their Fresh Meadows property a year and a half ago, said Clark, and planned to turn the land over to the Queens County Farm Museum so that they could cultivate it and turn it into a historical and educational site.
“We were planning on operating it as a separate division of the farm museum, with tours and everything,” Clark said.
Jim Trent, the president and founder of the Queens County Farm Museum in Floral Park, said he was thinking of asking the Kleins for permission to set up a farm stand on their property to sell the museum's produce since it is a known spot to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.
“Sometimes we have more vegetables than we can sell on our property, so we could set it up there since it's already known as a place,” said Trent.
“We absolutely would still be interested in taking over the farm,” he added.
Clark and members of the Klein Farm Task Force had envisioned students from John Bowne High School, which has a farming program, helping to cultivate and sell produce.
However, all plans were put on hold when Klein said last fall that he had decided to keep the property for his family to use.
Neighbors said they saw Klein Sr. mowing his front lawn and plowing the farm on Thursday morning, but had not seen anyone living in the two farmhouses in a long time.
“I don't see them that often,” said Mary Thompson, who lives near the corner of 73rd Avenue and 195th Street. “He comes periodically and cleans everything, checks the houses.”
Thompson said she thought the plowing might mean that the family was ready to plant again, but she was not too hopeful about being able to buy produce across the street this summer.
“We like them to grow veggies here, but maybe business was not so good,” said Lucy Shen of 73-16 195th St., who pointed out that many former residents of the neighborhood had been replaced over the years by Asians, who prefer to shop in Flushing. “It (the produce) was a little expensive, but very good.”
Reach reporter Tien-Shun Lee by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com, or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
