Garfield Community Farm

11/11/2024

The meal planners are back at it! For our protein lesson, the fab youth of pretend to be meal planners for a family with 10-year old twins, Dibs and Trace. Both are lactose tolerant and Trace is a vegetarian. Can the youth successfully put together a meal plan for both that gets them the amount of protein they need for the day? Yes, they can!

During our protein lesson, youth learn the amount of protein they need and how easy it is to reach that amount with regular snacks and meals (even for those who are vegetarian and/or lactose intolerant).

11/07/2024

Yeah, it’s litter. But you know what else it is? Evidence of use 😊 As a community green space, it’s hard to know exactly how many community members benefit from our space. Often, we will report the number of folks who participated in our programming, but then say “but there’s ample evidence that community members are using the space on their own time.”

Some of that evidence is chalk pictures or new seeds in the seed sharing library or fun little sculptures made of twigs and other found materials. But some of that evidence is litter and missing materials or broken infrastructure. Though this type of evidence can be frustrating at times, at the end of the day, it means that our space is being used. That it’s accessible. That it’s helping fill a community need. That is fosters community-building. That it promotes play and exploration.

We are continually trying to improve the accessibility and useability of our site. And we take heart from all the evidence that points to community members visiting our space.

have any suggestions for how we can improve? Let us know!

10/31/2024

Last one for the season!! Bonus points if you come in costume 👻

10/30/2024

Have you seen our adorable new residents? These bunnies are holding a sign that lists multiple herbs (all grown on our space) and their emotional and mental benefits. This install marks the end of an incredible year where we were able to promote positive emotional and mental health through various programs and installations on our space. These efforts were made possible by generous support from and collaboration with passionate, talented individuals and organizations.

The vision for this specific install was a team effort. A big thanks to Stephanie Bell, MS (SpiritualDirector at PPI) and Jen McCaslin, LPC (Therapist at East End Therapists, LLc) for leading and implementing the design with support from the student design team from the Pitt course (BIOENG 2173 - https://www.engineering.pitt.edu/departments/bioengineering/programs/graduate/ms-mpe/course-sequence/), which is taught by Kevin Bell, PhD.

10/29/2024

Wolverine! Carrot-style 😁 The Methods of Preparation lesson takes a lot of prep work, but it is super fun! To learn about all the different ways you can prepare vegetables, we prepare the same vegetable – carrots – in eight different ways. The fab youth of taste test each one, thinking about adjectives while they are tasting. Smooth? Crunchy? Slippery? Sweet? Thinking through each method this way encourages the youth to think about how the method of preparation can impact the characteristics of the vegetable.

The 8 ways we prepare are: raw, boiled, grilled, sautéed, roasted, pan-fried, stewed, and pickled.

10/25/2024

Had the privilege of hosting a field trip of kindergarteners from on Thursday. We slowly made our way through a hands-on tour of the farm, with lots of sensory exploration along the way. Walking the labyrinth and being with the chickens were particular favorites of the tour.

After the tour, the students participated in an “Observation Scavenger Hunt” before eating lunches on the lawn. They ended their time with - you guessed it! - playing in the dirt pit.

If you work at a school and are interested in a field trip to our space, please reach out! We love hosting school groups and can accommodate up to 30 students at a time.

10/24/2024

Only two more left this season!

10/23/2024

Final GCF MARKET TONIGHT of 2024 TODAY 💚
4-7pm at 509 Wicklow St
We’ve got some heirloom and green tomatoes, beets, potatoes, baby kale, lots of peppers hot and bell, butternuts, tomatillos!

10/22/2024

This fall and winter we'll be focusing on perennial, sustainable, native and productive landscape design work. Get on our calendar now for a preliminary site visit or check out our website for more info. https://www.larkspurdesign.net/

10/22/2024

Have any old outdoor kid toys to add to our play chest? We try to keep our large wooden chest stocked with kid toys and kid gloves. These are always available for play for all the kiddos that come to our space. As you can imagine, sometimes things break and sometimes things go missing. If you have anything laying around that you can add, please feel free to drop off!

10/21/2024

Do you know the difference between a botanical fruit and a botanical vegetable? Last week, the fabulous youth of put on their scientist hats and we deep dove into botanical fruits and vegetables.

After discussing the difference, we talked about the importance of “eating the rainbow,” which is a very approachable way of discussing how different “colors” of fruits and vegetables can correspond to various benefits. That way, instead of trying to remember what each specific fruit or vegetable can do for your body, you can simply try your best to eat a fruit or vegetable from each color group during the day.

We ended our time with a fun game where kids tried to name as many fruits or vegetables in a certain color group as possible. It was a huge hit!

Today, the kids will divide into teams and each create their own smoothie recipe that incorporates fruits and/or veggies from each color group. Then we will blend up each recipe, have the kids taste test them, and score each one. It’s a blast!

10/18/2024

Do you use municipal water or rain barrels to irrigate your crops? Learn the ins and outs of water testing and rainwater harvesting for agriculture.

Water testing is useful for crafting an irrigation and fertilizing plan unique to your growing operation. Join us at Garfield Community Farm in Pittsburgh to hear from Glenn Bupp of Penn State Extension about how to test your water line and rain barrel and interpret the results.

Garfield Community Farm has been repurposing abandoned and degraded plots in the Pittsburgh area and turning them into community-centered urban farms that provide food to the neighborhood through farmers markets, donations, and a CSA program. They are equally focused on earth care and people care and strive to work with systems that usher in abundance.

Accessibility:

-Attendees can expect to walk on sloped uneven, unpaved terrain.
-Attendees can expect to climb a set of stairs to access the space used for the event.
-There will be seating for the entirety of the event.
-The speaker will use a microphone.
-Please reach out to [email protected] in advance to discuss how we can accommodate you.

10/17/2024

What an incredible evening! Thank you to all who came out to our annual fall benefit this past weekend celebrating 15 years as an organization. It was a magical event filled with wonderful people and stories. And it wouldn’t have been possible without support from so many different local organizations and individuals 😊

PC:

Thank you to all you amazing local organizations that donated a gift cards and/or goods (support local!!): Dish Osteria and Bar .hilf

Thank you to all you amazing local artists and crafters who donated beautiful pieces for our silent auction: .nutter @

Thank you to all the amazing organizational sponsors:

Finally, a HUGE thanks to our guest speakers and a shout out to their amazing businesses: Takeela Washington of and Gerald Charlton of

10/16/2024

MARKET TONIGHT! Our farm stand will be open today 4-7pm @509 Wicklow St. We still have lots of beautiful produce for sale. Butternut squash, carrots, beets, eggplant, so many beautiful peppers hot and bell, farm fresh eggs, potatoes, green and ripe tomatoes. Next week will be our last market. Lots of this produce is storable for months, so come through and stock up! We love growing produce for our neighbors and we’re getting emotional, in a good way 🧡🥕

10/11/2024

Building that soil, one inch at a time!

At Garfield Community Farm, we sheet mulch A LOT. Almost all of our footpaths and many fencing boundaries are sheet mulched every year. Sheet mulching is a simple, environmentally-friendly way of suppressing weeds. We lay down cardboard and then pile on two to three inches of woodchips on top. After awhile those materials breakdown into usable, nutrient-rich soil.

Pictured here is one of our Bidwell externs scrapping off three to four inches of soil that we’ve built up over the past eight years or so. This “new” soil is being dumped onto our hillside, the one that we’ve been actively trying to renaturalize over the past three years.

Once all that soil is in place, we’ll seed a native grass, clover, and wildflower mix. Very excited to see how different that portion of the hillside looks next summer!!!

10/10/2024

There are "pay-what-you-can" tickets available for the Garfield Community Farm fall benefit this Saturday! Get a ticket, or two, and we'll see you Saturday night! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/garfield-community-farm-fall-benefit-tickets-1003012787247?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm-source=cp&fbclid=IwY2xjawFhD0ZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHVZ-UAhyhwmrrmtuwjDL9WxXWvHWnSf64NghSA-0h7XVjutKI4RVG4bJcA_aem_nhlHCSB6h-Rr9CA_ijejBA&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing

Join us for a fun evening of local appetizers, drinks, and art in a beautiful new riverside venue as we celebrate the work of Garfield Farm