A suburban farming model based on shared private garden plots springs up in Needham, Massachusetts. Could Kate Canney's experiment be an antidote to the challenge of finding farmland that plagues prospective farmers nationwide?
Canney, a resident of the Boston suburb of Needham, MA, noticed that most of the yard space in her neighborhood was being used to grow lawns. Interested in pursuing her dream of farming, she started talking to friends about converting some of this valuable private outdoor space to food production.
The idea caught on, and neighbors approached her with requests to convert their lawns into viable vegetable gardens. Thus The Neighborhood Farm was born.
Currently farming two thirds of an acre across six different gardens (plus a 3 acre field) within a 15-minute driving loop of one another, Canney grows a wide variety of herbs, cut flowers and vegetables without synthetic pesticides, diversifying each plot and rotating crops from year to year.
Neighbors who donate their land receive credit at The Neighborhood Farm's local farmer's market locations and fresh produce from their own backyards.
Read the full story: The Neighborhood Farm: An Urban Farming Initiative
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Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
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