City Farm in Rhode Island

City Farm Spreads the Urban Farming Gospel

Photos and text by Frank Carini
ecoRI News staff
July 3, 2011

Excerpt:

PROVIDENCE — There’s an urban farming revolution underway in Rhode Island, and City Farm deserves much of the credit.

The three-quarter of an acre farm in the heart of South Providence has served as an outdoor classroom for three decades. Kids, college students and inspired backyard gardeners have visited this urban oasis for a food-growing education. Its bounty and beauty — cultivated for the past nine years by Rich Pederson — has inspired apprentices, interns and volunteers to grow fruits and vegetables in vacant lots, on porches and in backyards.

The farm has fostered a vibrant local food movement — City Farm alone grew 1,539 pounds of food last year, everything from arugula to tomatillos— and helped bolster Rhode Island’s burgeoning farmers’ market scene.

“The big thing at City Farm is there’s a shared sense of ownership,” said the farm’s current apprentice, Laura Brown-Lavoie. “Everyone is encouraged to think of themselves as stewards of this space. We share in the responsibility of passing along how to care for this space and soil.”

Read the complete article here.