The Hilltop Urban Farm project is moving along in Pittsburgh. Few, if any, community gardens have been built on this scale before.
"For urban gardens and farms to sustain themselves, they have to be big enough for people to make money from them," reports Diana Nelson Jones. "The one being carved out on 23 vacant acres of the former St. Clair Village has that kind of massing."
St. Clair Village is the former site of a public housing project, demolished between 2006 and 20210. The idea for using the site as a community garden was born from a neighborhood organization called Hilltop Alliance, which draws membership from St. Clair and 11 other nearby neighborhoods.
So far, the Hilltop Urban Farm, as the new garden is called, has gathered about half of the $10 million it needs to get up and running. That much money has already garnered a ribbon cutting ceremony.
In addition to introducing the details of the Hilltop Urban Farm idea, Diana Nelson Jones places the project in context of a model for neighborhoods and cities growing in popularity around the country.
FULL STORY: Pittsburgh's serious commitment to urban farming: St. Clair Village
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