City Seeds Urban Farm

The City Seeds mission is to provide job training, therapeutic horticulture, and education on nutrition and food preparation for individuals dealing with or at risk of chronic homelessness, substance abuse, mental illness, and recidivism; increase production and distribution of locally grown fresh food for St. Louis residents in all income brackets; and serve as a resource for community education, sustainable urban agriculture and food security.

About the City Seeds Urban Farm

The City Seeds Urban Farm is a 2.5 acre vegetable farm located near Union Station in downtown St. Louis on land provided by the Missouri Department of Transportation. Tended by St. Patrick Center clients, these urban farmers seek to overcome homelessness, beat drug addiction and cope with mental illness. Mentored by Gateway Greening, the farmers take classes in horticulture while learning hands-on vegetable production and landscape maintenance. As the seasons change, farmers undergo a personal transformation as their experience instills teamwork, responsibility and self-confidence. Food grown is sold at Tower Grove Farmers' Market, Downtown Farmers' Market, sold wholesale to Food Outreach to provide salaries for St. Patrick Center participants; and is donated to nearby food pantries.

The urban farm features 48 raised veggie beds, a native plant nursery, dwarf fruit tree orchard, ornamental shrub borders, drip irrigation, rain water catch cistern, outdoor classroom, harvest station, tool sheds, composting bins, a greenhouse and 3 bee hives.

Therapeutic Horticulture

The therapeutic horticulture program at City Seeds serves St. Patrick Center's "Shamrock" clients. These clients are overcoming homelessness, mental illness, chronic addiction and/or recent prison release. This 15 week program features teaches 10 clients how to grow food, improve nutrition literacy and a strong connection to their recovery goals through the 12 Steps of Gardening, nature journaling, maintaining personal beds and working collectively at the City Seeds Urban Farm. They attend monthly nutrition/cooking classes, lectures from guest speakers, field trips and monthly progress meetings. Clients attain their personal goals, while supervising volunteers, staffing the Tower Grove Farmers' Market booth, attending plant biology and therapeutic horticulture classes, and learning about sustainable agriculture.

Topics in the Therapeutic Horticulture program include:

GO! Green Job Training

The GO! Green project prepares St. Patrick Center clients for local St. Louis jobs in landscaping, nurseries, gardening retailers and other green-care jobs. The GO! Green project is a ten week intensive on the job training in green horticulture, working with Gateway Greening and the City Seeds Urban Farm in St. Louis. The Gateway Greening/City Seeds Horticulture & Landscaping training includes presentations from industry and trade association experts, a fully functional urban farm and landscaping laboratory, and 175 hours of on the job training.

Training topics include:

Project GO! Green, in partnership with Gateway Greening, prepares and places St. Patrick Center’s homeless and poor clients with green industry employers. Partnering with local training providers, clients receive the skills necessary to find employment within the industries of Sustainable Land Management, Energy Efficiency Construction/Retrofitting, Biofuels, Waste Management and Recycling. The program was awarded in August 2009 by the U.S. Conference of Mayors as one of six winners nationally of the Green Jobs Training Initiative Grant funded by the Wal-Mart Foundation.

City Seeds Collaborators

City Seeds by the Numbers

Since its inaugural season in 2006, the City Seeds Urban Farm has made an enormous impact.

The Strength of Partnerships

Operation Food Search conducts monthly food preparation demonstrations for clients at City Seeds Urban Farm. Other collaborators play important roles in the program. St. Louis Community College, Meramec Horticultural Department teaches plant science to St. Patrick Center farmers as part of their job-training experience. Public Policy Research Center, University of Missouri, St. Louis conducted the initial 3-year project evaluation.

City-grown Seedlings

Gateway Greening built hoop houses to grow out larger quantities of vegetable seedlings to distribute to inner-city gardeners. By providing more varieties of heritage and heirloom seedlings, people can consume healthy, fresh food at a lower cost. The hoop houses, plastic-sided greenhouses used to extend growing seasons and protect plants from winter weather, grow vegetable seedlings that are planted at the urban farm as well as distributed to community and backyard gardeners. Clients gain additional employment seeding cool and warm season crops. Seedlings are available at Bell Demonstration Garden throughout the growing season.

Funds to start the City Seeds Urban Farm were provided by USDA CSREES Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program of the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, USDA, Grant #2005-33800-16482.