Summer Lettuce Project at JGTF
Through Rain and Shine, the Urban Grown Tour Triumphantly Returns
After a little under a year of planning and a 7-year long hiatus, the folks at Cultivate KC were proud to bring back the Urban Grown Tour with an amazing weekend full of beautiful growing spaces, captivating stories from urban growers, and of course a little bit of rain! Like the weather here in KC, the journey to get to this weekend was full of careful planning and riding out small storms, but absolutely worth it to see all of the beautiful work KC is doing to build a strong local food system. With just under 400 folks participating over the two days of Urban Grown events, we are absolutely delighted by the support Kansas Citians have shown for their local growers,.
We kicked off the weekend with our Urban Grown Policy Tour on Friday afternoon with tours of Young Family Farm and Juniper Gardens Training Farm for community leaders at the local, state, and federal level. This was an opportunity for community leaders to really dig into some of the challenges urban growers are facing and explore ways to further support growers in providing healthy local food to their communities.
photo by Katie Frankenbach
We wrapped up that Friday with the Urban Grown Happy Hour hosted at City Market. Attendees were greeted with beautiful weather as they sampled the spread of appetizers and cocktails provided by one of City Market’s newest restaurants Murmuration Eatery & Cocktail Bar before hopping on a bus to tour MyCo Planet and Juniper Gardens Training Farms just in time for the golden hour!
photo by Katie Frankenback
Happy Hour attendees were also some of the first to hear Urban Grown Stories, the companion podcast to the Urban Grown Tour by Cultivate KC. Featuring growers from each of the sites on this year’s tour, Urban Grown Stories is a collection of personal narratives of why folks got into growing and what keeps them going! Reviews are already coming in, “Holy cow-the podcast rocks!!!” says long-time supporter, Gwen Wurst.
Check out the podcast, and don’t forget to follow for more episodes:
Despite the morning showers, the Urban Grown Tour kicked off and 14 urban farms and gardens across the city welcomed Kansas Citians into their spaces, excited to show off, answer questions, and just listen as visitors shared their experiences growing food.
Michael M. Jacobs, President, Brown Estates Neighborhood Association shared his enthusiasm for the event. “I thoroughly enjoyed the urban farms and gardens tour. It was very enlightening and encouraging to meet folks around town and see the good things they are doing.”
We really want to thank all the farms and gardens on the Urban Grown Tour, not only for beings great hosts, but for opening up and sharing their journeys into the urban ag community.
- Bread & Roses Farm
- George Washington Carver Farm
- Global One Urban Farming
- Juniper Garden Training Farm
- Kansas City Community Gardens
- Kansas City Urban Farm Co-op
- KC Farm School
- Maple Creek Urban Farm
- Manheim Gardens
- MO HIVES KC
- MyCo Planet
- Two Birds Farm
- URBAVORE Urban Farm
- Young Family Farm KC
If you attended any of the Urban Grown events, thank you! We are grateful for your support of our local food system.
TAKE THE URBAN GROWN TOUR SURVEY
Big shout out to all the volunteers who welcomed visitors into each site, attempted to keep folks dry, all while being a tad waterlogged themselves! Events like the Urban Grown Tour simply could not happen without such a large and passionate volunteer force!
And thank you to our Urban Grown Tour planning partners, KC Black Urban Growers (KCBUG), Kansas City Community Gardens, Miami Co. Conservation District, and KC Farm School.
And lastly, THANK YOU to our sponsors for the Urban Grown Tour!
and our in-kind sponsors, Yelp, Whole Foods, City Market, KC Can Compost
