Where to Find Urban Farms in STL
In a previous blog post I talked about how aquaculture and hydroponics are bringing fresher food to urban areas. And I discussed how those technologies are providing opportunities for more people to enter the food production industry on a more local and sustainable scale.
Additionally, urban farming allows urban consumers, who don’t live close to farms, to get food that’s grown close to where they live. The benefits of that are twofold — consumers get fresher food, and fewer dangerous emissions are released into the air since the food doesn’t have to be transported long distances.
In the spirit of helping out our local readers, I thought I’d provide information and links to urban farms you can find here in the greater St. Louis area.
Here they are:
Urban Harvest STL
Urban harvest STL is not actually a farm, but they listed here first because they are a nonprofit organization that helps with projects on multiple community farms in the area.
The next three farms on the list are all part of Urban Harvest projects.
Food Roof Farm
Food Roof Farm is — you guessed it — a rooftop farm. Rooftop farms are great way to utilize space in urban areas, taking agriculture vertical in places where there’s not a lot of ground soil. This rooftop farm is also an internationally recognized community development project from urban harvest STL.
Downtown Community Garden
The St. Louis Downtown community garden is a place where area residents can join in the rooftop gardening experience. They are located near Food Roof Farm, and also managed by Urban Harvest STL. If you’re interested in joining, you can fill out a form on their website to join the waiting list.
Kerr Food Roof
With this project, Urban Harvest STL has partnered with the William A. Kerr Foundation. They are converting the foundation’s sedum green roof into a food roof similar to their others. The new rooftop garden features a hydroponic tower, 35 modular smart pots, six railing planters, and one edible living wall. Sounds pretty impressive.
Good Life Growing
Good Life Growing company is located in north St. Louis, and they utilize aquaponic, hydroponic, aeronic, and other organic farming methods. They are unique in their mission to combat urban decay and food insecurity in their local area. To that end, they offer a year-round local produce supply.
They also help to set up and manage other urban farms and provide community education.
The Tiny Acre
I couldn’t finish this article without, of course, mentioning our own local farm in O’Fallon, Illinois. The Tiny Acre provides locally-grown, fresh produce just a town over from the Tye-Dyed Iguana. You can find their food at farmers’ markets in the area or sign up for a seasonal subscription for their produce share boxes.
You can find many other urban farms and independent farmers in the St. Louis area. The Tye-Dyed Iguana is happy to provide hydroponics and indoor gardening equipment to help people in their cause of providing fresher local food.