Overview:

Pete’s Fruit Market has invited CORE/El Centro and the University of Wisconsin Extension, Milwaukee County to formally partner in developing and utilizing three vacant lots for urban agriculture and community education. This is a tremendous opportunity to improve the quality of life in our community by connecting residents to gardening resources, nutrition and local food education while also growing healthy and accessible fruits and vegetables to sell affordably at Pete’s and local farmers’ markets.

Basic components of the community farm:

• Composting/ Service Site – utilizing vegetable & fruit scraps from Pete’s Fruit Market we will recycle this ‘waste’ into rich soil to grow our fruits and vegetables
• Education Site – we will construct a combined classroom/ greenhouse building to be used for year-round growing and hosting youth and family education sessions indoors.
• Urban Agriculture Production Site – the largest area of land will be home to tomatoes, peppers, beans, corn, squash, lettuce, carrots, raspberries, strawberries and more. We would also like to have honeybees and chickens for honey and eggs!

Who is involved in this project?

Stephanie Calloway – a Wisconsin native with a love of food and culture. She has been working at CORE/El Centro for over five years coordinating garden and nutrition education on the Southside.

stephanie@core-elcentro.org

Ryan Schone – an urban agriculture specialist who loves to connect people, land, knowledge and resources. He coordinates the Urban Discovery Farm project for UW-Extension, working to make urban agriculture a viable business in Milwaukee.

ryan.schone@ces.uwex.edu

Cesar Cena – a Mayan elder with years of agricultural experience. He owns a small farm north of Milwaukee with 40 chickens, an acre of growing space, and three beehives.

cernacanela@yahoo.com