PECO presented $10,000 to The Enterprise Center CDC to support the development of the Walnut Hill Community Farm. The grant was awarded yesterday through PECO’s Green Region Open Space Program. Green Region grants, administered by PECO in partnership with the Natural Lands Trust, help municipalities in Southeastern Pennsylvania plan for, protect, and improve open land.
The Community Design Collaborative is working with The Enterprise Center CDC to create a conceptual master plan for the farm, a quarter-acre lot in the shadow of the Market Street El. The conceptual plan, done in collaboration with a community task force, will carve out space for a shady park for the neighborhood; plots for community gardeners; and fields, a hoop house, and composting area for the Philly Rooted Growers Co-Op. One of my favorite features is the “living fence” of raspberry and blueberry shrubs that will surround the garden areas.
Gregory Heller, Enterprise CDC’s Managing Director, thanked the Collaborative for its great support and leadership—adding that the Enterprise Center CDC is committed to making Walnut Hill Community Farm completely sustainable. The farm will be harvesting rainwater from the roof of the neighboring SEPTA station, maintaining chemical-free gardens, and even taking its produce to the Clark Park Farmer’s Market on bike carts.
Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell reminded everyone that, as recently as last March, this farm and future park was still the muddy staging area for the Market-Frankford Line reconstruction project. Noting the ripple effect of the project and the resourcefulness of The Enterprise Center CDC, she assured PECO, “What you give them will go tenfold.”
