Earth Matter NY's Compost Learning Center & Soil Start Farm

Closed for the Season

REOPENING SUMMER 2026

Saturday	7:00 AM — 11:00 AM
Sunday	7:00 AM — 11:00 AM

Hours

Urban Farm - Urban Farm

This facil­i­ty process­es all of the food scraps and land­scape debris gen­er­at­ed on Gov­er­nors Island, and some Man­hat­tan res­i­den­tial col­lec­tions. Much of this com­post is used here on Gov­er­nors Island. Vis­i­tors can learn about com­post­ing and might even meet some chickens.

Urban com­post­ing has dual pur­pos­es: divert­ing organ­ic waste from the land­fill and amend­ing exist­ing soil. The Soil Start Farm demon­strates how gar­den­ers can use read­i­ly avail­able mate­ri­als to cre­ate com­post to grow plants in urban soil conditions. 

Click here to sign up to vol­un­teer with Earth Mat­ter on Gov­er­nors Island.

Earth Mat­ter’s week­end open hours will kick off lat­er than usu­al this sea­son due to con­struc­tion at their new loca­tion; for updates on tim­ing, keep an eye on the Gov­er­nors Island web­site and sign up for Earth Mat­ter’s newslet­ter.

Getting to Urban Farm

20 Minutes from Soissons Landing 15 Minutes from Yankee Pier

10 Minutes from Soissons Landing 5 Minutes from Yankee Pier