BUDDING PROSPECTS Southside Community Land Trust offers power to the people BY RACHEL SCARBOROUGH KING

Anyone stumbling upon City Farm on Providence’s South Side for the first time might be excused for thinking they were seeing a mirage: a full block lush with orchards, tomato plants, and dozens of sunflowers amid the urban terrain of convenience stores and a housing project.

The Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT), which operates the 3/4-acre farm at the corner of Dudley and West Clifford streets, wants to increase this kind of agricultural scene. The trust, a non-profit organization (www.southsideclt.org) that promotes urban gardening in Providence, is working to bring organic produce to the capital city’s lower-income neighborhoods. "A big part of our mission is teaching people to grow their own food even if they have limited means," says Kate Hitmar, outreach and marketing coordinator for SCLT.

SCLT runs 11 community gardens throughout Providence that are farmed by local residents. The model for these miniature farms is London’s World War II-era "victory gardens," which were used to help ease food rationing. SCLT estimates that each of the 200 people working the gardens feeds four others, so the patches provide for about 1000 city residents. By growing their own food, these families save about $250 per season, and get back $6 for every dollar they invest in the land. As Hitmar says, "You can hand out food to people and then they have healthy food, or you can teach them to farm and then they are empowered."

Produce from the main City Farm, which is run by SCLT employees, is also sold at farmer’s markets throughout Providence. However, urban farming presents a number of challenges. Many of SCLT’s community gardens are threatened, for example, by real estate developers, as is part of the City Farm. "We don’t want overcrowded neighborhoods where you just have house after house with no green space," Hitmar says.

Urban farmers also face the threat of soil contamination, especially from lead and mercury. To combat this, SCLT teaches farmers how to make raised beds filled with clean soil. Many community gardeners are recent immigrants who also have to contend with different climates from their native land.

Throughout the summer, SCLT holds adult and youth workshops, teaching people about organic gardening and how to grow their own food in the city. (SCLT’s Farm Business Incubator Program is holding an open house on Saturday, August 27 from 3 to 6 pm at 35 Pippin Orchard Road, Cranston.) SCLT’s farmers try to engage children at local YMCAs and Boys & Girls Clubs by displaying the variety of containers in which fruit and vegetables can be grown — including a toilet and an old pair of shoes.