The two-acre Camp Washington Urban Farm, next to the River City Correctional Center, is slightly overgrown now, but it won't be too much longer before fruit trees from there help start more neighborhood orchards all over Greater Cincinnati and beyond.
Executive Director of the Common Orchard Project Chris Smyth calls the farm the hub of the project and looks forward to opening 10 additional orchards this fall. It was in 2020 when WVXU told you about the first one in West Price Hill.
“I’m trying to find ways to activate spaces in neighborhoods that are not just lawn, but that a variety of people want to get together and share their own knowledge, he says. “It’s kind of a watering hole where the experts aren’t from specific socio-economic groups, so everybody can share their gifts together.”
Smyth explains the idea is to supply fresh food where people are, and that they will eat.
He already has the farm separated into different areas. A space by a mural will be for classes; further down are fruit trees waiting for transplant; a hoop house is protecting figs and another area is reserved for berries.
He stops to explain one important project — composting. Grants from the Ohio EPA, the USDA and the SC Ministry Foundation make it possible at the farm.
“So once this operation gets going, we'll be taking in about 300,000 pounds of food scraps every year, mixing it with wood chips, and turning it into some five 600 yards of usable high-quality compost,” he explains. “And we'll either be selling that or giving that away to new community gardens farms, putting it in orchards, putting it out on this land.” Common Orchard will sell the composted material or use its rich dirt.
The neighborhood orchards opening this fall are in College Hill, Evanston, Finneytown, Hamilton, Lower Price Hill, Mt. Airy, Mt. Auburn and Wilmington.
This is in addition to more than 20 existing neighborhood orchards.
