City Seeds Urban Farm
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City Seeds Urban Farm is an urban agriculture initiative providing job training and therapeutic horticulture to homeless and underserved individuals. A collaboration of several local organizations, the farm produces and distributes affordable, healthy, locally grown produce.
About the City Seeds Urban Farm
City Seeds Urban Farm is located between Market and Pine Streets at 22nd Street. It features 48 raised vegetable beds, a native plant nursery, dwarf fruit tree orchard, ornamental shrub borders, drip irrigation, rainwater catch cistern, outdoor classroom, harvest station, tool sheds, composting bins, a greenhouse and three bee hives.
Food grown at City Seeds Urban Farm is donated to nearby food pantries, sold at the Tower Grove Farmers Market, and sold wholesale to Food Outreach, a local organization that providesnutritional support and enhance the quality of life of men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS or Cancer.
City Seeds Urban Farm received national recognition in July 2010 when it was awarded $50,000 from the Pepsi Refresh Project on the NBC TODAY Show’s “What do you care about TODAY?” contest.
City Seeds Urban Farm Programs
City Seeds Urban Farm consists of two program tracts:
• Therapeutic horticulture: This is a 15-week program (twice a year) teaching clients how to grow food, improving the nutrition literacy of clients, and building a strong connection to clients’ recovery goals through the 12 Steps of Gardening, nature journaling, maintaining personal beds and working collectively at City Seeds Urban Farm. Therapeutic horticulture serves clients overcoming homelessness, mental illness, chronic addiction and/or prison release. Since 2006, more than 150 clients have participated.
• Veterans GO! Green: The Veterans GO! Green program is a 10-week intensive on-the-job training (3 times a year) in green horticulture. Veterans GO! Green is funded through St. Patrick Center by the U.S. Department of Labor as part of its Veterans Workforce Investment Program (VWIP). Since August 2009, 43 of 58 GO! Green graduates have been placed in local St. Louis jobs in landscaping, nurseries, gardening retailers and other green-care jobs.
Collaboration
City Seeds Urban Farm is a collaboration of several local organizations: Gateway Greening, St. Patrick Center, St. Louis Master Gardeners, Operation Food Search, Missouri Department of Transportation, and Horstmann Brothers Landscaping. Corporate and individual volunteers often help tend City Seeds Urban Farm, allowing clients to practice leadership skills as they teach the volunteers about horticulture and food production. Click here for more information on the collaborators.
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