As part of Delaware’s first-ever state-wide local produce week, Wilmington officials like city council member Darius Brown put the spotlight on the city’s urban community farms and gardens.
Brown and others paid a visit Wednesday to Wilmington’s 12th & Brandywine Urban Farm.
The farm grows fresh produce like swiss chard, blackberries and scallions for a low price. A bag of kale costs only $1 in a neighborhood where the closest supermarket - a few miles away - charges three times that.
Vikram Krishnamurthy, the Director of Programs for the Delaware Center for Horticulture, said that the urban farm has greatly expanded access to produce for neighborhood residents.
"It means that they don’t have to cross town to find fresh and healthy fruits and vegetables, or even cross Northeast Boulevard anymore," he said.
The goal is to empower residents of the 11th street neighborhood to learn about urban farming and pick up some healthy groceries, said Ruth Arias, who teaches residents about food and gardening.
"A lot of people don’t know, when they see us harvesting carrots... that it does come out of the soil and it’s dirty and it has roots all over it," said Arias.
Community residents can come visit the garden and small farmer’s market to buy produce every weekday morning.
According to The Delaware Center for Horticulture, there are over 20 urban farms and gardens in New Castle County. The Delaware Food and Urban Farms Coalition is working on creating a database that includes all of them.
