Instead of welcoming condos, Greensgrow Farms in Kensington could once again have a garden center as part of the New Kensington Community Development Corporation’s Urban Agriculture and Community Garden initiative, writes Meir Rinde for Billy Penn at WHYY.

NKCDC took over Greensgrow Farms after the former Greensgrow Farms organization shut down nearly two years ago.

Greensgrow Farms ran various activities on the lot for two and half decades, including growing and selling herbs, produce, and garden plants, caring for a pet pig, chickens, and turtles, and selling gardening supplies. Classes, workshops, and a popular CSA crop-sharing program were among the many activities on offer. Additionally, staff delivered food to low-income families.

Catherine Reuter, the new Community Farmer and Urban Agriculture program manager at NKCDC, is in charge of cleaning up the site, fixing the infrastructure, and finding funding for its future.

“Urban farming is hard, you know,” she said. “Every site has its own challenges that are people-related, site-related, society-related, and it’s not an easy thing that people are trying to do. We’re thinking about, okay, how can we guarantee another 20 years of growth and learning and rehabilitation?”

Read more about Greensgrow Farms and how its future could potentially mirror its past in Billy Penn at WHYY.

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