First Planting at Harvest Commons’ Urban Farm
Last Friday marked the first planting of the urban farm at Harvest Commons Apartments. Volunteers from Heartland Alliance and Landon Bone Baker joined residents and their families to plant rows of seedling tomatoes and peppers, along with turnip, squash, beet, radish, mustard greens, kale, amaranth, pole beans, and other seeds. Sprouted potatoes will be planted later in the season. Farm Coordinator Dave Snyder demonstrated how to plant, water, and care for these crops in hopes that the garden will yield its first harvest in late August. During the planting event, resident volunteers looked forward to spending time in the garden and enjoying the new produce later this summer. Harvest Commons, formerly known as the Viceroy Hotel, is a historic and green rehabilitation which includes an urban farm and a teaching kitchen out of which Heartland Housing will provide classes to residents about nutrition and food preparation.