Philadelphia's Mill Creek Urban Farm

The Mill Creek Farm is a unique half-acre, educational urban farm located in West Philadelphia. Our neighborhood farm stands provide fresh, organically-grown produce to an under-served community that has otherwise limited access to healthy food. Local residents can buy the food at affordable, below-market prices, and we are also the only stand in the area that accepts Farmers' Market Nutrition coupons and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

For several years Mill Creek Farm has been operating with only two staff, its co-founders, Johanna Rosen and Jade Walker. We are now in our seventh growing season and have hired two fantastic market apprentices to help keep up with the growing demand for affordable, local produce. However, we remain a small-scale project, and we urgently need your support to make this transition into the new market season.

Please support the Mill Creek farm stand!

Every dollar you donate will ensure that our fresh-picked, chemical-free fruits, vegetables, and herbs remain affordable to those who need it most. Help us promote a just and sustainable food system for the residents of West Philadelphia.

Your generous donations will enable us to run our market from mid-June to Thanksgiving. Here's how!

1. Train two newly-hired market apprentices

Training is a time-consuming and costly enterprise; beginning in early June, staff will work with the new apprentices to familiarize them with harvesting, customer service, and farm-stand operations, but the learning will be ongoing through the season.

2. Operate farm stand

This includes community outreach coordination and time spent planting and cultivating.

3. Run youth leadership program

One of our many education programs runs concurrent with the market: during our six-week summer program high school students learn to lead activities and mentor younger kids, and build the math and customer service skills they need to work at the farm-stand.

4. Purchase market supplies

Some of the items we need for a successful market season include an orchard ladder, harvest supplies (bins, baskets, scissors), market signs, a new table, and a wash station.

The city of Philadelphia has over 40,000 vacant lots. In 2005, The Mill Creek Farm project reclaimed the blighted vacant lot at 49th and Brown Streets and transformed it into a vibrant green space; our active community farm provided a much-needed source of fresh produce for the neighborhood.

Access to healthy food is a social justice issue; with no supermarket within easy reach, people living in "food deserts" are left with few options. We believe healthy, affordable, culturally appropriate food is a basic human right, and we envision a world where local communities work together to build an environmentally and economically sustainable urban food system. By having our market on-site at the farm, customers can actually see where their food is grown. And by involving the community in planting and harvesting, kids and adults learn important principles of sustainable living.

Facts about Mill Creek Farm:
* In 2011 we had over 1000 visitors to the farm and 650 volunteers
* We donated over 1500 pounds of fresh produce to local food cupboards

For more information, please visit http://www.millcreekurbanfarm.org