Grad studies Essay part III

The Urban Farm

The food bank’s farm was organic. Before I really knew what “organic” meant, I would joke “It grows therefore isn’t it organic? Duh!” Like most people, it didn’t occur to me what was happening in our food production in the U.S. Until that time I never thought about what methods of pest control or fertilizers were being used or how far food was traveling to get to us. I started shopping at the local farmers market. That’s where I met Barb and Randa, owners of Mildred’s Daughters Urban Farm. They had a dream that everyone in Pittsburgh would grow their food. They own the last remaining legally zoned farmland in the City of Pittsburgh and wanted to share it! Their plan included tours of the farm, sessions on cooking and preserving the harvest, a CSA, and even a school! Barb and Randa, together with a fellow urban homesteader, Mindy, called their dream “Grow Pittsburgh”, a sort of call to action. After a couple years they hired an executive director. The first funded project was the Edible Schoolyard and I was hired as the project coordinator.

Grow! Pittsburgh

I worked with Grow Pittsburgh to help establish the first edible schoolyards in Pittsburgh. (There are currently 4 school gardens in Pittsburgh Public elementary schools) It’s so rewarding to see kids excited about growing food! They are astonished when they see a vegetable magically appear on a vine that grew from a seed THEY planted! It changes their view of plants and food in a positive way. I learned a lot about people’s perceptions of a garden, too. A parent at one of the schools found a picture from 1910 of a group of kids in a garden holding up vegetables they had grown. It was their school garden! It got me thinking about how relatively recent our disconnection from our food source is.

CHICKENS!

Our office was in the Penn State Agricultural Extension office along with the 4-H program. Like many 4-H programs, they would send eggs out to schools in March and April and for two months small batches of peeps came and went around the office. After chick sitting over Easter weekend I couldn’t resist. Most of the peeps went to local farms but I brought home 5 chickens; 4 hens and a rooster. After some research my husband and I built a coop in the back yard next to the garage. The chickens grew quickly and loved to wander the neighborhood, getting over the fence even after I clipped their wings! After 5 months, like clockwork, they started laying beautiful, tasty, huge eggs.

Discovering the Joy of Farms

The first summer after the Edible Schoolyards were established Grow Pittsburgh had the dilemma of maintaining the gardens while school was on summer break. We got funding to hire a 6-member crew of teen interns. The program was designed with a focus on workforce development but it also included gardening skills, field trips and nutrition lessons. The field trips were as fun for me as they were for the interns; we held 2-day-old piglets, ran a grain mill and even (accidentally) visited a Hare Krishna commune food farm! The following summer we expanded Summer Intern Program to include 3 garden sites, 21 interns and 3 college-age supervisors. The program was successful — no one quit, no one was fired and many of them wanted to work with us again! Unfortunately, the economy took a turn for the worse and Grow Pittsburgh didn’t get funding for the 2009 season.

Search for Garden Space

My neighbor whose yard I was using moved so I couldn’t have my vegetable garden anymore. For a couple of years, I had a spot at a shared garden at the top of the cemetery but the deer broke down or jumped over every fence I built. I managed to integrate some potted tomato plants and basil into our backyard. I joined Mildreds Daughter’s Farm CSA but I could only afford a half share the first year. They started a working member group after that, and for 5 hours of work on the farm every week I received a full share of the harvest.

Expanded Homesteading and Conservation

This past summer, being unemployed, I spent more time at the farm. I was able to work directly with Barb Kline, co-owner and main vegetable grower for the farm. I learned a lot from Barb everyday, from planting methods to soil enrichment, pest control and crop rotation. I started to think about the food I used on a daily basis and how I could grow it myself. I spent a lot of time making jams, canning peaches, tomatoes and beans, and I experimented with fermentation making pickles, dill beans, Kim chi and sauerkraut.

Over the years, my husband and I have grown increasingly aware of the waste in our lives…food, water, energy, etc. We’re big on recycling, we save rainwater and we have a compost bin. One year I received a multi-level vermicomposter for a birthday gift! We even started using our dishwater in the garden using environmentally friendly dish soap!