Big City Farms Tour

I’m behind on reporting on one of our favorite days of spring so far, but I lost the pictures for a bit and wanted to be sure to include at least a few. Some of our good friends are members of the Big City Farms CSA, a farm on the near-east side that uses abandoned and vacant lots to grow food for their CSA and many local restaurants. We met Matthew Jose before he started Big City Farms several years ago, so we’ve always been big fans. After seeing BCF in person and learning more about their vision, we’re really big fans.

It was a very rainy day (what day wasn’t in April this year?!), but we met a fairly sizable crowd at one of BCF’s plots in the Cottage Home neighborhood where we heard an introduction to the farm from Matthew and Tyler, as well as enjoyed some homemade cookies. After a few questions, we split up into two groups and toured the various lots that make up Big City Farms. BCF is serious about growing soil, not just vegetables. They compost on every lot and till minimally to further build up the soil system. They even handout big buckets to CSA members to collect their own compost during the week to bring back when they pick up their shares, which I think is genius and a great way to help people see how easy composting can be.

We took lots of notes from the tour. Specifically, we have plans to do potatoes and tomatoes a little differently for next year, so I’ll be sure to share those ideas here when we have our plan all worked out. Matthew and Tyler are huge players in the local food movement in Indianapolis, and it’s easy to see why. I love what BCF is doing to bring back urban farming to Indianapolis with otherwise abandoned lots. Check out more and better pics here.

Afterwards, we walked over to Flat 12 Brewery, also in the Cottage Home neighborhood, to enjoy some more conversation and yummy local brews.