Apprentice Chloe Cerwinka works with interns Jen Cusick and Simon Ziegler during harvest season on the Weavers Way farm.

Big cities have it all: fine dining, great shopping, people, traffic, and... farms? Yes, farms!

Thanks to WeaversWay Co-op's various community programs, there are several farms in Northwest Philadelphia alone.

Community Farming in the City Limits

WeaversWay Farm Manager, David Zelov, is in charge of in the 2 acre Mort Brooks Memorial Farm at Awbury Arboretum.

David has worked at the farm, which was originally a tiny .25-acre garden, for about 4 years. However, he hasn’t been working alone; apprentices, interns, and volunteers all play an enormous role in the sowing, tending, and harvesting of crops.

They “need a lot of labor during the spring, summer and fall,” says David though they do still grow and harvest “heartier greens” in the winter.

Eclectic Group United in Their Passion for Gardening

Farm educator, Adam Forbes, says that there are several schools that visit. Some only show up once but there are a few such as A.B. Day Elementary School, The Crefeld School, and Central High School that work on the farm on a regular basis during the school year.

Though some of the crops are more exotic than others, Adam says that the kids “love tasting” the various plants. He says they are much more open to eating vegetables when they helped grow the plants with their own hands.

The workforce ranges from the apprentices, who have a defined set of responsibilities; to interns, who still have some structure but with less commitment required; and volunteers. The volunteers might be co-op members or they might just be there to learn more about organic agriculture.

So why would someone want to apprentice as a farmer? Just ask the Mort Brooks Memorial Farm’s resident apprentice, Chloe Cerwinka.

Learning Lessons for Life on the Farm

“Farming has made me physically and mentally stronger and more self-reliant,” says Chloe.

As someone who is interested in farming, the program with Weavers Way has been “a great experience” for her. “Farming has made me more aware of local growing seasons, and I now think of crops in terms of what time of the year they're in season, since I know that's when they'll be the freshest and have the best taste.”

And the farm isn’t just for locals either if Simon Ziegler, an Organic Agriculture major from the University of Kassel in Germany is any indication. Simon is spending his summer vacation at the farm to “get some hands on experience” in a different type of farm than the more rural farms he has worked on previously. “It’s different, I love it.”

It’s important to note that the Mort Brooks Memorial Farm isn’t just for those who want to pursue agriculture. Heru Netier, Henif Kelly and Shaheed Oliver are volunteers who have backyard gardens of their own. They began volunteering to learn more about gardening before expanding their own plots.

Henif, whose father had considerable skill in the garden, wants “to learn how to have that green thumb.” He says there is a lot of satisfaction in being able to eat food that he grew himself and that “everyone should take the time out” to learn about growing their own food.

Heru says that he’s amazed how many “plants we overlook are useful to us and our bodies.” In particular, he said that purslane, which is recognized by the USDA as a weed, is also very high in Omega-3.

Shaheed has learned that he loves okra. “You just grow it” and “can harvest it forever.” He says that his experience at farm has been “a real eye-opener.”

According to Chloe, the people she works with make a lot of her experience. “I'm part of an amazing and interesting community of like-minded people who care about where their food comes from and value food, justice, and hard work.”

So while the days of massive, rolling hills of wheat are a thing of the past, there are also new opportunities for everyone to get their hands dirty and redefine what it means to be “locally grown.”