Sky Hill Farm opens in Providence

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, Southside Community Land Trust Community Growers Director Rob Booz; Tina Shepherd of ONE Neighborhood Builders; Diana Perdomo of United Way of Rhode Island; Ken Ayers of R.I. Department of Environmental Managament; Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza; Terry Sullivan of the Nature Conservancy, Mia Patriarca of the R.I. Department of Health; Sky Hill Farmer Adam Graffunder; Scott Comings of the Nature Conservancy; and SCLT's Executive Director Margaret DeVos attend the ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday morning celebrating the newly renovated Sky Hill Farm on Amherst Avenue in Providence. / COURTESY SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY LAND TRUST
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, Southside Community Land Trust Community Growers Director Rob Booz; Tina Shepherd of ONE Neighborhood Builders; Diana Perdomo of United Way of Rhode Island; Ken Ayers of R.I. Department of Environmental Managament; Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza; Terry Sullivan of the Nature Conservancy, Mia Patriarca of the R.I. Department of Health; Sky Hill Farmer Adam Graffunder; Scott Comings of the Nature Conservancy; and SCLT's Executive Director Margaret DeVos attend the ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday morning celebrating the newly renovated Sky Hill Farm on Amherst Avenue in Providence. / COURTESY SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY LAND TRUST

PROVIDENCE – A ribbon cutting ceremony was hosted by Southside Community Land Trust at the newly renovated Sky Hill Farm on Amherst Avenue, one of the organization’s 51 urban farms and community gardens, on Aug. 3.

Margaret DeVos, SCLT executive director, explained that the renovation doubled the size of Sky Hill Farm and that the organization is always looking for more areas to transform into green space.

“Besides our 350 community gardeners, we now work with 30 urban farmers in Greater Providence,” she said.

“Sustainable farming produces a much higher yield from the land than conventional farming, and one farmer can earn up to $8,000 per year from a 1/4-acre parcel,” she said.

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Also in attendance was Mayor Jorge O. Elorza who talked about the economic benefit and healthy impact gardening can have on the city’s Olneyville, Southside and West End residents.

Highlights of the farm’s renovation include irrigation and a new fence designed by participants in a workforce development program through the Steel Yard in Providence.

SCLT has built four farm sites over the past year, said DeVos, and plans to increase its farmland by five acres in the coming year.

SCLT manages 51 urban farms and community gardens in Providence, Cranston and Pawtucket. The land for Sky Hill Farm was purchased by SCLT in 2014 through funding provided by the Champlin Foundations and the Nature Conservancy. Improvements to the site were made possible through funds from the R.I. Department of Health’s Community Health Equity and Wellness Grant, administered by Olneyville Housing, the city of Providence and the Berman Family Foundation, among others.

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