Today, Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero, Knoxville philanthropists Randy and Jenny Boyd, and Abbey Fields Farm representative Brianna Wright announced an urban agricultural initiative to create a nearly one-acre community garden right in the heart of Knoxville’s Old City.
The Old City Gardens, located at 300 Depot Ave., will be part community garden, part urban farm. Abbey Fields Farm will provide land upkeep and general maintenance and in return will have access to a portion of the land to grow crops that will be sold to local area restaurants. In addition, the gardens will offer a “farm share” program following the model of Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, for people who don’t have the time to grow their own food, but still want to support the project and buy fresh clean produce. Abbey Fields Farm already operates a similar urban garden in Knoxville’s Park Ridge neighborhood.
The community farm is made possible, in part, by a donation of land from Randy and Jenny Boyd, who were inspired by Urban Gardens in Boston, Mass.
The Old City Gardens is tentatively scheduled to open later this spring. Anyone interested in finding out more can contact Brenna Wright through her website, www.abbey-fields.com.