The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Fall harvest Urban Renaissance Farms to host pumpkin patch event
Urban Renaissance Farms in Euclid will soon be welcoming the community back to enjoy the fall harvest at its third annual pumpkin patch event.
Located at 1301 E. 279th St., the farm will be open from noon to 4 p.m. on Oct. 16-17 for people to come purchase pumpkins, homemade jam and butternut squash, along with learn more about Euclid’s resident neighborhood farm.
Urban Renaissance Farms is owned and run by the husband-and-wife team of Josh Stephens and Jamie Smialek, who officially began the farm in 2016 with the goal of helping residents embrace urban farming and learn more about the land they live on.
Stephens said that the pumpkins for sale at the weekend event will be from the patch on their farm, which takes up just under an acre of their land, and other local patches.
He said the event has proved quite popular in years past, and they usually sell out entirely.
Along with pumpkins, they will also have a variety of decorative gourds available.
“We don’t sell a lot at markets and such, because our goal isn’t really to maximize profits, it’s to connect people to the land,” Stephens said.
The farm’s pumpkin patch serves as a great option for Euclid-area locals
who don’t want to drive very far for their families’ Halloween pumpkins, Stephens said, because they won’t even have to leave the city.
“Our accessibility is the key… we want people to come out to the farm, and be among the trees, the grass and all the plants,” he added.
Stephens, a teacher at Euclid High School, leads the Lake Shore Compact career-tech Urban Agriculture program and local high school Future Farmers of America club.
He said that as a part of the fall-themed weekend, some students will be doing
community outreach education about owning chickens, putting their ongoing education in specialized urban agriculture communications to good use.
“The students will be out here with some chickens and teaching people the dos and don’ts of having a backyard flock,” he said.
Last year, Urban Renaissance Farms worked with the city administration to get access to a waterline for the property for the first time.
Stephens explained that prior to the waterline, they would water all of their crops by hand, which was an extremely time-consuming
process.
The waterline provided the opportunity for the revival of the East 279th Street community garden earlier this year. The garden is located on the farm’s property, and gives residents the chance to manage their own garden plot and grow their own flowers, fruits or vegetables.
Stephens said they will be on the lookout for more community gardeners as the project grows, and any Euclid residents who are interested in testing out their green thumb are also welcome to come out to the pumpkin patch sale to learn more.