Click here for Mobile Site: http://m.kdka.com
  • Font Size    

Most Popular Videos Featured On KDKA.com

Man Barricaded Inside Avalon Motel
E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Urban Farming A Growing Trend

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

   Print     Share +    Comments
Jun 26, 2009 6:51 pm US/Eastern

Urban Farming A Growing Trend

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― If we are what we eat, it makes sense that more and more people want to know where their food is coming from – and save money in the process. These are just two reasons that may explain why urban farming and gardening is now a "growing" trend.

Randa Shannon says she and her friend Barb Kline bought "the one farm in the city that survived."

"We wanted a lot of space and we were both gardeners," Shannon explains.

Located in Stanton Heights, they call their five-acre farm, "Mildred's Daughters" in honor of their mothers who share the same name.

The two nurse anesthetics found themselves blessed with some of the richest soil anywhere. "Our soil has never had lead paint or bricks or anything built on it," Shannon adds. "It's been nurtured by hand."

The women sell much of the produce to local restaurants and offer workshops in such things as gardening and cooking with raw food.

Not far from their farm, "Grow Pittsburgh's - Braddock Farms," stands in the shadow of the "Mon Valley's Edgar Thomson Steel Plant.

In its second full growing season, vacant lots are lush with lettuce, strawberries and more.

"I didn't think it would get off the ground," volunteer grower Michael Jones added, "but it looks like it's way out of the ground now!"

Marshall Hart, 28, manages the farm with volunteer help. "We're gonna have 6-youths from Braddock who are going to do internships for two months this summer. Harvesting right now, we've got strawberries, sugar snap peas, collards, kale, scallions."

The bounty is sold to local eateries and through the farm market every Thursday from 2:30pm until 5:30pm.

With consumer concerns about where our food comes from, the urban garden movement seems to be catching on.

To learn more about urban gardening and to find local farmer's markets to buy locally grown produce, visit  GrowPittsburgh.org

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Featured Slideshows On KDKA.com

Add Comment

here. here. Need a log in? Register here
  •  * Will not be displayed with comment
  •  * e.g. (http://www.mywebsite.com)
  •  
  • Click here to refresh with new letters

Show Comments (0)

Close Window Login


Close Window Flag Comment


loading...
You need the latest Flash player to view video content.
Click here to download.

Click here to bypass this detection if you already have the latest Flash Player.

Home & Garden

Top News Stories

© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.