Sun 1/1 @ 9AM-5PM
The desire for locally grown organic food has never been higher, yet due to market factors urban farms have struggled to make inroads. That’s where Community Greenhouse Partners hopes to make a difference with its downtown Cleveland location, which is actually a former Catholic parish.
Not only does the nonprofit hire locally, but it also grows and sells locally-grown organic vegetables year-round in a three-acre lot at the corner E.67 and Superior Avenue at low cost to urban families. Also, the operation teaches sustainability and earth science to the public.
CoolCleveland talked to Community Greenhouse Partners founder & executive director Timothy D. Smith about the nonprofit farm, its impact on Northeast Ohio and the upcoming Hair of the Dog fundraiser.
Tell us what’s the impetus for Community Greenhouse Partners?
CGP is a nonprofit urban farm. We teach urban farming with an emphasis on permaculture, which is an ethically based design discipline having to do with care of the earth, care of people and creating a yield. It’s kind of like the idea of sustainable business of “people, planet and profit,” except that with permaculture the profit is for everybody, not just the CEO. Creating the yield means everyone profits from the steps you’re taking. So we teach that and we’re also working with the Ohio State Extension program. We send our people to their market gardening training and stuff like that as well.
How hard was it to get the operation up and running?
It’s interesting — we went into this with the idea that we were going to get a lot of help. We started trying to put this together in 2008, but we had delays getting our 501 (c) 3 and finding right piece of land. While we were doing all of that the economy went into the tank. We started out far less funded than we originally expected to be. And to be honest, it’s been a struggle ever since. We have gotten some foundation support, and we continue to search for grants. The fact is on a smaller than a shoestring budget, we are still alive and kicking, and we grow every year — all pun intended. I think it’s a testament to how special we are. That we really are doing something right, and despite the fact we don’t have a lot of money, we’re still able to survive. We’re able to expand our capacity and expand our programming and produce more food than we did the year before.
What kind of impact has Community Greenhouse Partners had on Northeast Ohio?
I don’t know if it’s been huge. People tell me that we are a groundbreaking organization: The idea that we’re doing urban permaculture and we’re trying to do this without taking out bank loans and getting ourselves into heavy debt. That we’re going the sustainable route, reusing things, acquiring used equipment and repurposing stuff and making do with what we have. We’ve been a model that other people can follow. I get calls all of the time from people outside of Cleveland saying, “How are you doing what you’re doing? What are your goals? How does your organization work?” And the people we’re training, we’re really starting to see an impact. There are three farms — one is in Colorado, Vermont and Cleveland — that were started by people who went through our program. We also have people who are working with cooks to try to make an impact with urban food. We’ve been very outspoken as leaders in terms of where urban food should go or how they should be produced. It’s hard to show on paper and say we’ve affected the economy but then again that’s not really what we intended to do. Our intention was to teach people how to grow foods so we didn’t have to rely on corporate farms that were producing unhealthy foods.
Regarding the upcoming Hair of the Dog event, what’s the impetus for the fundraiser?
Hair of the Dog is something I’ve personally done for almost 25 years now. I used to be an omelet chef at Norton’s at Cedar Fairmount in Cleveland Heights. We used to make these amazing dinner omelets. My parents used to do an epiphany party every year. I tend to like the idea of doing a charitable act on the first day of the year. Let’s get it out of the way. So I started this party where the idea was you had to bring a brunch item, something for a local hunger center and your appetite. In exchange, I’d make you an omelet. I’d lay out 45 different toppings. And I also made really good Bloody Marys. I’d have 200 to 300 people show up every year. It was a pretty epic party. I stopped doing it a couple of years ago because it was an expensive proposition.
How did this year’s affair come about?
I had some positive feedback from friends and associations who said if you bring this back it would be a really good way to raise some really needed funding for the farm and it would be fun to have the omelet party again. People were looking forward to it. So we’re going to have the first omelet party at the farm. The only difference is, I can’t provide alcohol. It’s definitely a fundraiser. We’re asking for donations at the door. We’re asking people to bring something brunch-y to share. It’s still a potluck. We’ll provide juice and coffee. And I’m still going to make omelets. We’ll use vegetables from the garden.
It sounds like a hair of the dog event without any hair of the dog?
Well, if you want to bring a six-pack with you, that’s fine. I just can’t serve alcohol as part of the event.
Ah, a BYOB fundraiser.
Exactly.
facebook.com/CommunityGreenhousePartners