Aug 31, 2016
Her t-shirt says MODERN FARMER. Architect turned Agri-Innovator Mary Ostafi is one, in spades. Her vision, hard work and business savvy continues to grow St. Louis first urban farm on top of a downtown building: Urban Harvest STL.
When Earthworms last talked with Mary, in June 2015, she was
just digging in for her Food Roof's first, short growing season.
She had blown through the roof of a Kickstarter campaign and
secured a big stormwater management grant and was planting the
seeds of her enterprising dream firmly atop the second story
of a warehouse building in the city's core.
This year, she and her largely volunteer team are fixin'
to post achievement gains well over
that first season's impressive growth of 1,033 pounds of food
produced from 62 varieties of plants, with 60% of it donated to
further Urban Harvest's mission to "Grow Food Where You Live!" Mary
Ostafi's timing was perfect for planting her non-profit idea
firmly into the living soil of both the sustainable food and food
justice movements that are sweeping St. Louis and the country
overall. Urban Harvest works in partnership with social service
leaders like the St. Louis Food Policy Coalition, St. Patrick
Center, St. Louis Metro Market and more, and has tapped into the
farmer training program of EarthDance Farms to create one job in
the farm's first year, and significantly boost the profile of all
this collaborative energy. Plus eating WELL - and hosting parties!
Check out the Food Roof as a volunteer, any
Saturday morning - and get your tix while they last for RAISE THE
ROOF, the first Urban Harvest fund-raiser on Thursday Sept 22 -
which happily also happens to be the Autumnal Equinox.
Earthworms salutes you, Mary Ostafi - YOU GROW GREEN GIRL!
Thanks to Josh Nothum, Earthworms engineer.
Music: Redwing by Currycorn - performed live at KDHX March, 2011
Related Earthworms Conversations:
Farming on a Downtown Roof - June 30, 2015
St. Louis Metro Market - Grocery Store in a Metro Bus! - June 15, 2015
Urban Agriculture Guide: New Tool for City Farmers - June 7 2016
Fruit or Vegetable? To clear up the question in this interview: a fruit is a seed-bearing structure that develops from the ovary of a flowering plant, whereas vegetables are all other plant parts, such as roots, leaves and stems. BUT there's overlap, thank you tomatoes - and always something else to learn.