Brooklyn, New York, 1948. My immigrant father, Francesco Pietanza, a merchant steward and cook from Mola di Bari, Italy arrived at Ellis Island on the S.S. Coronado in search of his younger brother. Despite the racketeering longshore waterfront and the underlying discrimination that peppered the streets of his chance destination of South Brooklyn, he was able to see the potential for opportunity and growth, all that was required was hard work. A growing vision of his life as an American caused him to reconsider returning to Italy.

And while he strived and succeeded to assimilate as a naturalized American citizen, it was his skills as a young farmer back home that was the driving force behind much of his lifestyle and survival here. His entrepreneurial nature, creativity and stamina were a motivating and influential force in our lives as his children and we couldn’t be more grateful for his everlasting gift of gardening to us.