In Clearwater, transportation is the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Local farms reduce the amount of transportation needed to get food from farm to table, she said. Sheridan Boyle, sustainability coordinator with the city of Clearwater, said it's great for an urban area like Pinellas County to have green space, and having productive green space is even better. The Sindlingers were active volunteers at the High Point Neighborhood Family Center and ran a community supported agriculture program that used to feed 110 families, she said.ĭuring Hurricane Irma in 2017, though, the farm's infrastructure was damaged - shade houses flattened, the irrigation system hit by lightning, the chicken coop, trees and crops all destroyed. Pete-Clearwater International Airport to support community programs in the low-income area, she wrote in an email. Pam Sindlinger, president of the Pinellas County Farm Bureau, and her husband used their farm near St. "I'm selling to locals, I'm buying from locals," she said. ![]() "There are people that are passionate about it and people who want to eat good."Ĭhef Anne Kearney at the Oak & Ola restaurant in Tampa gets a variety of greens from Life Farms, including a pea shoot that she said "is just like having a spring pea in your mouth." "The demand grows every year," Milam said. Unlike plants he had failed to keep alive before, he said learning the proper seasons and techniques helped his crops thrive. "I know how much food can be produced here and it's a lot," he said.Īfter Law, 31, left a sales job about two years ago, he fell down a YouTube rabbit hole and started learning how to grow food. The soil was so bad and full of gravel that Law had to rely on raised beds for the 5,000-square-foot lot.īut even in his smallest lot, the 600 square feet on the front lawn of his house, Law said he's able to get good organic produce. One of his lots sits across from boat and RV storage and next to Engineer Sales in St. ![]() Greens 'n' Things Urban Farm, owned by Eric Law, has three plots spread around the county, wedged into industrial and residential areas. is one of a handful of Pinellas County farms that have found ways to bring traditional, outdoor farming methods to tight spaces in Florida's most densely populated county. The company has been in operation since 2012, when owner Rowland Milam and his friend Victor Heidman decided to take the plunge and buy land for an organic farm, something they'd talked about loosely since the late 1990s. At its peak, Hurricane Irma was a Category 5 with wind speeds of 177 mph. "It's an oasis," said Jochen Essig, a farm manager at Life Farms in Clearwater. Irma made landfall over the Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane the morning of Sept. Everything is green or black as soil, with the houses and streets out of sight.
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