The Urban Farm Project
The corner of 61st Street and Dorchester Avenue has long been a site for urban agriculture. Since the 1970s, organic gardeners have nurtured the soil in this formerly abandoned corner of the city to produce fruit and vegetables for home and market.
Over the past fifteen years, the Urban Farm Project, as it has come to be called, has expanded from a 20-plot to a 90-plot organic garden, currently located on the northeast corner of the 61st Street/Dorchester Avenue intersection. While the gardens serve a diverse population primarily from the Woodlawn and Hyde Park neighborhoods, they also attract gardeners from outside of the local community as well. We are pleased that, in the past two years, the community garden has additionally become an educational resource for the kindergarten classes from the Andrew Carnegie Elementary School, located across the street.
Under the direction of Jack Spicer, a local landscaper, the community garden not only offers soil, mulch, and wood chips, but has become a welcome haven from the city for those looking for a quiet spot to picnic, sunbathe, read a book, or meet their neighbors.