What does it cost to feed a community? | Community Spirit

For a group of local volunteers, the price was just $150.

That's all it cost to start the first Alleycat Acres urban farm on Beacon Hill. So far, they have donated more than 200 pounds of food to the Beacon Avenue Food Bank.

The Alleycat Acres project started in January with eleven volunteers who wanted to create a place where community members could grow their own food—community supported agriculture, organizer Sean Conroe calls it.

One week later a Beacon Hill resident offered the lot he owned at 3656 24th Ave S. They could use it, free of charge, as long as they were “clean, green and quiet.”

Now, after just two harvests, the Beacon Hill farm has donated 217 pounds of produce to the Beacon Avenue Food Bank.

“We want to rethink the way that our city works, where our food comes from, and the sense of community all around it,” Conroe says.

Already, Alleycat Acres has begun working on another farm in the Central District.

Originally Conroe says, they had planned to deliver produce to neighbors who “pay what they can” and all proceeds would go back into the garden. However, land use regulations currently prevent the sale of produce from private property. The group is working with city council to try and change that regulation.

More than a hundred volunteers from all over the city have offered to help the Alleycat Acres farms. Still, one expense has proven to be challenging: water. But fundraising efforts and a grant from the Ginko Foundation should have them covered for the rest of this year.

If you want to get involved send an email to volunteer@alleycatacres.com.