Urban farming teen brings 4-H to Seattle

“Tons of these urban farming families have kids”

By Michael Harthorne
KOMO Communities Reporter
December 29th 2010
Excerpt:

Nina Finley washes one of her chickens. She is starting Seattle’s first 4-H Club. Courtesy of Nina Finley/4-H.
At 9 years old, Wallingford resident and Seattle Academy student Nina Finley decided she wanted to be a farmer and, by necessity, an urban farmer. The rest of the city finally caught up to her.

During the past seven years, while she was commuting to and from the suburbs to show her rabbits, chickens and ducks at 4-H events, Finley noticed an explosion in the number of livestock, vegetable patches and urban farming organizations in the city.

“In my neighborhood, Wallingford, I know of three chicken coops on every block,” she said. “One neighbor keeps honeybees, and another has two Mini Mancha dairy goats.”

When a mother asked Finley about how she could get her son involved in chicken raising during last summer’s Seattle Tilth City Chicken Coop Tour, Finley decided it was time to start Seattle’s first 4-H Club.

“Tons of these urban farming families have kids, and I thought it was absurd that there still weren’t any livestock clubs in the city,” Finley said.

Read the complete article here.

See the national 4H website here.