Community Farm and Garden Tour Welcomes Visitors

For those who believe that farms and gardens are for people who live on acres of land, Grow Pittsburgh is ready to show them differently when they host the 2011 Community Farm and Garden Tour on Saturday, Sept. 24, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Grow Pittsburgh and 21 community garden projects around the Pittsburgh area will offer a free self-guided tour to highlight these city gardens and farms. Each garden project will feature different activities for attendees to participate in including tours, demonstrations, children’s activities and more.

“Many people have no idea what a ‘community garden’ is,” said Carol Brand, one of the tour’s volunteers.  “In reality, there are different types and sizes, growing vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers. The Community Garden Tour offers a chance to be welcomed to and ask questions at a full spectrum of community gardens.”

Brand explained that at one garden visitors may see gardens where art and aesthetics are part of the role of the garden in the community, and others where collecting water and improving the soil are studied and executed as a group.

“They can also see gardens in which anywhere from 6 to 94 families work their own plots side by side, sharing tools, water, knowledge and enthusiasm,” she added.

The 21 community farms and gardens participating in the 2011 tour are: Pennley Garden (East Liberty), Larimer Community Farm and Community Garden (Larimer) Harmar Garden (Polish Hill), Wiggins Garden (Polish Hill), Frazier Farms (South Oakland), South Aiken Community Garden (Friendship), Garfield Community Farm (Garfield), Allegheny Cemetery Community Gardens (Stanton Heights), Lawrenceville Organic Community Garden in Allegheny Cemetery (Lawrenceville), Shiloh Peace Farm (North Point Breeze), Homewood Community Garden (Frick Park), Old Allegheny Community Garden (Mexican War Streets, Northside), “The Garden” exhibit at the Children’s Museum (Central Northside), The Garden of Etna (Etna), Millvale Community Garden (Millvale), Rosalinda Sauro Sirianni Memorial Garden (Bellevue), Sewickley Community Center Garden
(Sewickley) Hamnett Place Community Garden (Wilkinsburg), Whitney Avenue Urban Farm (Wilkinsburg), Penn Hills Community Garden (Penn Hills), and Braddock Farms (Braddock).

Prior to Sept. 24, interested tour-goers can begin plotting their garden tour route by visiting the Grow Pittsburgh web site at www.growpittsburgh.org. On the morning of the tour, visitors are welcome to visit the Grow Pittsburgh office at 5429 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15206, to kick off their tour and receive a customized map. An easy to moderate East End Bike Tour will be leaving from the Grow Pittsburgh office at 10 a.m.

“We hope that visitors will learn that participating in a community garden is for more than just gardeners," Brand said. "People who like to tinker with plumbing, build simple structures, help find and haul materials, take photos and plan celebrations, all have valuable roles in a community garden.”

For additional information, contact Marisa Manheim,
Grow Pittsburgh’s City Growers Coordinator, at 412-362-4769 or mmanheim@growpittsburgh.org.

This story originally appeared on Plum-Oakmont Patch