We started “greenSinner” with an idea: we wanted to help people be green, in realistic ways. Most folks want to do what’s right for the environment, but getting there — or even figuring out what the “right” thing is — isn’t always easy. We started with this idea, not really sure what it would become. A blog? Yes, partially. A way of life for us? It already was. Maybe even a vocation? We hope so.
We’ve been quiet here on the blog lately, but if you saw last week’s post (or you’ve been checking us out on Facebook or Twitter), you’ve seen we haven’t been idle. We’ve opened a stall at the Pittsburgh Public Market. We’re building on our love of growing things to bring you flowers, and hopefully a slightly more beautiful world in the process.
Flowers always bring beauty. But many of the cut flowers available here in the United States are shipped from the tropics and treated with lots of chemicals to preserve them, neither of which is very good for our planet. It also limits the selection of flowers available to those that are easy and economical to ship over long distances and retain vase life after they’ve been on a plane or in a truck for a week.
We decided we want to help change that. There’s a local flower movement a-brewin’, and we’re joining in. There are already growers all over the country, and we’re glad to say we’re getting started right here in Pittsburgh.
We don’t have any land. What’s a farmer without land? Well, we’ve been very lucky to work with some great partners so far:
We’ve benefited from a very generous offer by Catherine at Prism Stained Glass in Lawrenceville to use space behind her shop for a production garden, create a display garden on Butler Street, and participate in creating some community garden space.
We’ve been able to forage from our own gardens, those of friends and family, and even folks we’ve met through the Public Market, like Scotty and Brenda at the Berry Patch.
We do hope in the future to have a place to create the greenSinner farm, and we’ve been working with Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority to utilize vacant land in the city.
So it’s very much greenSinner. Green, because we’re growing locally, without chemicals. Sinner because, well, we’re still cutting up flowers, after all. They’re fresher and so should last longer, but they’re only temporary. Still, we think it’s worth it for the beauty they can bring, and if that’s not for you, we have plenty of live plants, too.
When I recently met someone who said to me, “You must be the flower farmer,” I thought, “Yes, I am.” And it felt really good to say so.
We’ve got big plans: we’re becoming urban flower farmers and designers.
Why Urban Farming?
Pittsburgh, like lots of industrial cities, has undergone a lot of contraction in the last 30-40 years. It’s done a pretty swell job at reinventing itself focusing around new industries like healthcare and education rather than steel and glass — there’s a reason we keep winning all those “most livable city” awards, after all.
But part of the transition was that Pittsburgh lost a lot of people. It’s now about half the size it once was, and that means a lot of empty space in the city. A compact urban core is great, but realistically, infill of housing can’t fill all that space. So what can we do with it? Some of it will go to parks and other greenspace, which is great. But there’s another greenspace-oriented use that also productively employs land and people: farming.
Why Flowers?
The local food movement has led to lots of local food options. Having grown up in the country, where you can find farmstands along the road with fresh produce all summer long, we’re in love with that. We subscribe to a CSA, we try to eat seasonal foods for this region of the country, and we grow our own.
But flowers… do you realize that the vast majority of cut flowers sold and delivered in the United States come from places like Ecuador and Colombia? They have perfect flower-growing climates to grow things like roses year-round, and they all get shipped overseas and assembled into the bouquets and arrangements you get from your local flower shop. As a result, they’re also not particularly fresh, and they’re covered with chemical preservatives and fungicides and all sorts of things like that.
We’d like to do our little part to change that. (Plus, Jimmy says he can’t cook, so I have to give him something to do, and flowers are right up his alley.) There’s a growing local flowers movement, and if you look, you can find locally-grown flowers in lots of places. We’ll talk more about this issue in some future posts, but start by simply asking your local florist, or looking for flowers at stores like Whole Foods, which sources locally. You can look for suppliers near you that belong to the American Society of Cut Flower Growers (we’re a member!) and they even have a Buyer’s Guide to help you out. Not only are local flowers better because they don’t have to be shipped as far, but they’re also far fresher, and can often last much longer.
We also think this is a great fit for Pittsburgh in particular, which is turning into a real green city: a LEED-certified convention center, the Fairmont hotel, and lots of other initiatives going on.
What’s greenSinner about this?
Well, local cut flowers are a little bit green, a little bit sin. You do cut them and keep them around for a few weeks, then throw them away, after all. But they provide such beauty to our lives, especially to special days like weddings and parties, we think it’s worth it. But while we’re at it, let’s use flowers from local farms, not from halfway around the world, covered with chemical preservatives.
What Are We Doing?
Two things:
We’re starting a farm. We’re currently working with the city and the URA to understand the options and secure a place to grow for the long-term (and that’s why we were so interested in the new Pittsburgh agriculture ordinance). In the meantime, we’re doing some guerilla farming: a few plots here and there in our own backyards and those of our friends and neighbors. My position in this enterprise is Farmer-General.
We’re opening a stall at the Pittsburgh Public Market. We’ll be selling our own flowers and arrangements (made by Jimmy, our Chief Eccentric Officer), as well as a variety of containers, live plants, seeds, and other related stuff. We’re planning on being open by Mother’s Day, so come on down to the market and see us! You can also contact us at jimmy@greensinner.com and jonathan@greensinner.com.
The details of the City Council meeting today aren’t available yet, but the new zoning ordinance is listed with a status of “Mayor’s Office for Signature”, so it sounds like it’s passed. I heard quite a bit of buzz about this last fall when there was a public hearing (summary from PopCity), but then it sat around in committee for a couple of months undergoing revisions (positive ones!), and now it looks like it will finally pass.
What’s new? Well, in the old zoning ordinance, there was an agricultural use but it was only with an exception from the zoning officials and for properties greater than 5 acres. This clearly didn’t jibe too well with the modern urban farming movement, so some revision was due. You can read the whole thing (warning: Word doc), but my take on it is below.
Farming at home
One of the changes is listing urban agriculture as an “accessory use”. What this means, basically, is that you can use your yard as a farm and sell the things you grow. You can only sell them on-site in non-residential districts (so no farmstand in your yard). (If you’re just gardening for personal, non-commercial use, no worries — you’re already in the clear.)
There are two different designations: with animals, and with no animals.
With no animals appears to be permitted “by right”; that is, you don’t need any special exceptions to do it. (That’s my reading anyway, but it’s a little unclear on this point.) With animals you need to apply for, and it allows the keeping of poultry and bees for properties at least 2000 square feet in size. (That’s pretty reasonable, I think — even my narrow rowhouse lot qualifies.) There are some restrictions about how much space you have to give your hens (no roosters) and where you can site your beehives.
Urban farms
In addition to the “accessory use”, there are also changes to the “primary use” — that is, for lots dedicated to urban agriculture — real urban farms!
You’ll recall that I mentioned above that, for agricultural use, the code used to require at least 5 acres. As a result, to my knowledge there’s only one location in the city that actually qualified under the old ordinance, which is Mildred’s Daughters Urban Farm in Stanton Heights (which has been a farm since 1875).
The new ordinance reduces the minimum size requirement to 3 acres. A 3-acre site within the city is still pretty hard to come by, but more likely doable than 5. This type of use is called Agriculture (General) and permits all kinds of things: growing plants, keeping bees, poultry, and other livestock.
Even better, though, is a new use, Agriculture (Limited) (this one comes in a with beekeeping and without flavor as well). This use allows the same kinds of things but no animals (except bees, again with over 2000 square feet) but otherwise has no minimum size.
OK, so what?
This is really exciting! This not only lets little cottage-industry gardens operate (with the accessory use provisions above) but real, honest-to-goodness urban farms, in the City of Pittsburgh! Locally grown stuff, right in your neighborhood.
OK, and maybe one of the reasons I’m so excited about it (and also one of the reasons we’ve been terrible at blogging for some months now) is that we are working on becoming real, honest-to-goodness urban farmers, in the City of Pittsburgh! Things are still in the works, so I don’t want to spoil anything just now, but details will come as they take shape.
