Urban Gardening

Need some food? Plant a garden!

A partnership with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, the Uniontown Arts Fellowship (UAF) and the Phoenix Arts Center, the “potato barrel project” was developed as a way to entice children to participate in the summer food service program.

My grandfather used to have a nice, big garden, and a few summers before I moved out of my parents' house, I planted raspberry bushes in their yard. I pick them every time I go over. It's been a bountiful summer. And one of my few goals for my future living space is to have a place with space for a nice, big garden like my grandfather used to have.

I'm always big on finding solutions to Fayette County's problems. We could address food, poverty, and hunger in many ways and the causes are numerous, but urban gardening is certainly a promising start, and I've heard good things about it being done elsewhere.

While there are no income guidelines to participate in the potato program, organizers said the project is an outreach to the 7,460 children in Fayette County who suffer from food insecurity, meaning they don’t always know where their next meal is coming from, according to information from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

The idea has spread, which is awesome.

In addition to the Village of Searights Community Center, the potato barrel project is also being conducted at Marion Villa Apartments, Solid Rock Ministry, Calvary Baptist Church and the Keisterville Community and Youth Center, with the hope to reach 125 children at the five sites.

And Searights has taken it a step further.

Those living in the Village of Searights Community Center have already embraced this idea. Community members are involved in tending to a garden, the fruits and vegetables of which are shared by all.

Think your community could benefit from gardening? Then by all means, go at it! And who knows? Maybe one day I'll have that garden, too, and I'll share my feast with you.