Everything you ever wanted to know about Greensgrow Farm Inc and more...
For some people urban agriculture may seem like a new idea, but for Greensgrow it has been our life and work since 1998. And although a former galvanized steel plant may not seem a likely site for a farm, when Mary and Tom went searching for property on which to build, old industrial land was what was available.
A conventional farm seemed highly unlikely to spring from an industrial brownfield, so it was back to the drawing board where they re-visioned their urban farm employing hydroponic growing of lettuce. Surprising even themselves, it was a success.
In the years since the first cases of produce were delivered out of the back of the truck, Greensgrow Farm Inc has changed a great deal. Our willingness and ability to change, in fact, has been the root of our success.
Today visitors to the farm are greeted by expansive raised beds of organic soil filled with an ever changing range of heirloom vegetables, a well stocked Farm Stand, our own version of a CSA (City Supported agriculture) and a Nursery that grows and nurtures the highest quality and greatest variety of plants in the City. What can we say? We were and are enthusiastic.
Greensgrow is THE nationally recognized leader in urban farming (don't just take our word for it...) and is open to the public from early spring through Thanksgiving. A small but dedicated staff runs a multifaceted operation, including a nursery, a farm market, and a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, proving that abandoned land is only abandoned if we choose to leave it that way.
Greensgrow Continues Growing....
As the premier urban agriculture project in the country, we have been recognized nationally (PBS Edens Lost and Found, Real Momentum, Organic Style Magazine, Growing For Market) and locally (Philadelphia Inquirer, The Daily News, Philadelphia Magazine, In Style Magazine) as "original", "innovative", "purposeful" and "successful". What was at one time a trash-strewn brownfield is now a vibrant, active center of the community where entrepreneurship and sustainability thrive.
Greensgrow Farm runs a successful Springtime Nursery, Farm Stand and CSA. Greensgrow, however, is more than just a farm. We serve the Philadelphia community by offering self guided tours of our operations, including lessons in composting, hydroponic growing, and raising bees. In 2007, we begin making biodiesel with waste oil from our favorite Philly restaurant and long time supporter of local foods, Standard Tap. Working with our friends at Wilson College's Fulton Farm we are applying solar laminates to our new Farm Stand roof. Greensgrow is also the co-founder of the Farm Market Alliance, developing policies designed to strengthen our nearby rural farming communities while ensuring that the urban consumer has a voice in issues surrounding food choices and methods of production.
We continue to develop exciting, affordable and workable plans for growing food and flowers on land that was once deemed un-useable. At 10 years old and still growing, Greensgrow is dedicated to developing profitable urban green businesses that grow the best products, people and neighborhoods....
Our CFH (Chief Farm Hand)
Greensgrow co-founder and Chief Farm Hand, Mary Seton Corboy is a home-grown superstar right in our own backyard. Corboy is also founder of the Neighborhood Urban Agriculture Coalition (NUAC), Co-Founder of the Farmers Market Alliance and was recently named on Organic Style magazine’s top 50 “Environmental Power List” in the November 2004 issue.
Mary Seton Corboy is a native of the agriculture capital of the world, Washington DC. where her mother was a do-gooder and her father a curmudgeon. She is a perfect cross between the two.
She transplanted herself to Philadelphia twenty odd (and we do mean odd) years ago. She has a BA in Political Science and English Lit from Wilson College and a MA in Political Science from Villanova University-neither of which have ever done a lick of good. She paid off her student loans in full in spite of that.
She founded Greensgrow Farm in 1997, proving once again, that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Prior to starting Greensgrow, Mary was a chef and took care of an estate. She wears size eight shoes and is taller than her sister Eileen.
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The Philadelphia Project
Hydroponics, Honey From the Hood, vermi-composting, bio diesel, school tours, on farm lectures, organic gardening workshops, green roofs, The Neighborhood Urban Agriculture Coalition (NUAC) community gardens and senior markets. A laundry list of crazy ideas? Absolutely. Click here to learn more...
Greensgrow Has Appeared in Local and National Media:
Green Thumbs in the City - ABC Action News
Tomatoes ripening on the vine. Squash plants in flower. Swiss chard in full leaf. Click here to see the ABC news clip.
Mary Seton Corboy: Urban Farming Pioneer
Mary Seton Corboy wasn’t looking to start a movement. She was just looking for a place to grow vegetables that would keep their just-picked flavor when she delivered them to Philadelphia restaurants. Click here to read more.
Mary Seton Talks Dirt with Brad Segall
Greensgrow's Mary Seton chatted about urban agriculture on the air with Brad Segall Philadelphia Agenda WOGL 98.1. Greensgrow was also featured in Super Chefs a food extravaganza at the Oxford Valley Mall in Langhorne, Bucks County.
We are already (gulp) planning for next spring.
Mums and pansies will be available in the fall. Look for the updated Subaru sponsored Urban Farm newsletter coming soon. All manor of factoids and fiction to make your lives and communities more sustainable.
Greensgrow Wins Bio-diesel Grant!
 The Greensgrow Team has been selected as a participant in a joint program of SARE and Wilson College's Fulton Farm to build a bio-diesel reactor for processing used restaurant oil. Learn more here...
Greensgrow in the Spotlight
DigPhilly - Planting Seeds:
Greensgrow Farm marks a decade in Fishtown
 Greensgrow Farm opened for its 10th season this month. What started as an experiment in urban agriculture has over the past decade become a model for reconnecting city dwellers to their food—how they get it, where they get it, and who sells it to them. Click here to read the full article....
Logo Online - Real Momentum Profile:
Mary Seton Corboy
 Watch the Real Momentum profile of Mary Seton Corboy, a cancer survivor who's breathing new life into her Philadelphia neighborhood with the nursery, Greensgrow Farms. Click here to watch video...
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