Back in 2008 a farm was built on a small garden plot (Garden Dreams Urban Farm and Nursery in Wilkinsburg) which now has grown to over 2 acres in size. It boasts a bio-shelter and solar greenhouse as well as sells fruits, vegetables and herbs to nearby public housing communities at prices they can afford. It also helps to employ neighborhood residents.
“I’m amazed every week, when we have weekly volunteer days, just who shows up,” says the Rev. John Creasy, associate pastor at Open Door Church, which started the farm with Valley View Presbyterian Church. “I think it’s because we just went for it and created something, and others are able to come and see and try to emulate it in other areas.”
Not only is it dishing up fresh food to nearby residents, but they now sell edible flowers and microgreens to restaurants and they donate food to the local food pantry. They produce hops for a local brewery and allow beekeepers to move their hives onto the property as well. Also on the urban farm you’ll find chickens and rabbits and an array of fruit trees.
Creasy, 38, lives about a mile from the farm that covers three city blocks. “Older people in the neighborhood remember when there was a community orchard at the top of the hill in Garfield,” he says. “Then you talk to teenagers, and a lot of them are studying in school about the need for good, healthy food, and they get it — they see it happening in their neighborhood.”
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