Welcome to The Urban Pantry Garden! Hi, I'm Mark. I'm a former pastry chef turned professional hydroponic farmer. I started this blog to document my journey growing an edible urban balcony garden in my Brooklyn apartment. I'm envisioning a tiny, yet bountiful container garden that is an offshoot of my kitchen. I'm hoping to grow plenty of fresh ingredients, including herbs and vegetables that I can use for everyday cooking.
A life-long career in food
Twenty eight years ago, I moved from my home state of Washington to New York City to become a Pastry Chef. I've worked in some of the city's most popular restaurants. After more than ten years in the industry, I started my own food business in 2008. My handmade sweets and baked goods incorporated herbs and spices, including complex spice blends that I mixed myself. Some of our most popular cookies included Massaman Curry Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies and Chocolate Orange Cardamom Shortbreads.
Outside of professional kitchens, I've always enjoyed cooking at home. You could say it has been both my profession and a hobby I'm passionate about. It's very important for me to cook good meals for my family. I spend a lot of time and effort preparing food that is both healthy and delicious. It's especially rewarding to see how my cooking has created fond memories for my now college-aged kids. They were raised with the love of good food and I've passed my love of cooking onto them.
A new career in urban farming
When it came time to close my food business in 2020, I made the choice to move to a different industry. I found a job at a local hydroponic greenhouse in Brooklyn and started a new career. It is there that I rediscovered my love of gardening which I was introduced to when I was six years old.
Since those early days, the extent of my gardening has been limited to growing herbs in containers on my little NYC balcony. My new goal is to expand my edible urban balcony garden using knowledge I've gained in my new career. This is a way to be both creative as well as economical. I hope that other fellow big city dwellers can draw inspiration from this blog and learn alongside me as I experiment to see what can grow and thrive on my Brooklyn balcony.
Meet the team behind the Urban Pantry Garden
The husband and wife team of Mark Sopchak and Jenna Park are former Brooklyn food business owners who ran an online and wholesale bakery business for twelve years. Founded in 2008, they combined more than fourteen years of experience in culinary arts and design to produce a distinctive line of handmade sweets, kitchen prints, and accessories.
Mark Sopchak is a Pastry Chef with more than 14 years of experience in the New York City restaurant industry. He previously served as the Executive Pastry Chef of the Central Park Boathouse for more than 5 years before founding Whimsy & Spice, a Brooklyn-based artisan sweets company. He currently works as a greenhouse supervisor at Gotham Greens.
Jenna Park is a designer, artist, and writer with a career in web, UX, and product design that spans more than 25 years. Currently, she photographs all assets for The Urban Pantry Garden and writes a weekly newsletter.
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