Urban Farming is no Longer a Trend for the Coasts | Putting On

Urban Harvest STL

     There are over a dozen organizations that are growing local produce in a thoughtful and sustainable approach, here in St. Louis. The farms range from small community gardens to moderate scale operations that supply produce to local restaurants, but little by little they each are helping to chip away at our city’s reliance on produce from far away lands. The urban farming movement is a realization that we can solve some of the problems that face our world right here in our city. By growing a local community of farmers we are moving away from massive scale food production. This often leads to cross country trucking and uncontrolled fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticide runoff. The truth is we can do anything they can do better, because a more tightly knit community, cleaner air, and cleaner soil are all attributes of the superlative.

     One of Mammock Darning’s favorite organizations working on urban gardening is Gateway Greening. Their numerous gardens throughout the city allow for people to learn about growing food, volunteer for the neighborhood, and make their carbon footprint a little less deep. One of the great things about Gateway Greening is that they’re also helping to support urban gardening in city schools. They provide support to the participating public schools by giving them free seedlings, seeds, garden tools, and soil. Furthermore, Gateway Greening also holds workshops for educators around once a month to help them link the school gardens to curriculum.  The schools are then able to integrate the gardens into STEM classes, and provide the students with locally grown fresh produce after a harvest. 

     For those who would rather keep their hands clean there are a good amount of restaurants and farmers markets that are utilizing local urban farms. One of the most convenient sites for planning a saturday morning market visit or a night out on the town is the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. On their interactive map you can search for restaurants near you that are taking steps to support MO local farms and find farmers markets, grocery stores, and organizations that are part of the urban farming movement. Happy farming and dining!

Learn more:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/07/09/199095108/Whats-In-The-Water-Searching-Midwest-Streams-For-Crop-Runoff

http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/how-urban-agriculture-projects-st-louis-are-investing-more-just-food#stream/0

Do more:

https://moenvironment.org/get-involved/membership

http://www.gatewaygreening.org/volunteer/group-corporate-volunteer-opportunities/

http://www.urbanharveststl.org/volunteer/

 

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