Cerasee Farm: Horticultural Therapy in the Inner City
“I think everything can be rehabilitated,” says Anita Franchetti, manager of Cerasee Farm, a food oasis in Liberty City at NW 54th St. and 17th Avenue.
For the past five years, she has overseen the transformation from trash-strewn abandoned lots to a food forest with meandering paths alongside freeform raised beds of greens, sweet potato, beets, herbs, lemongrass; butterfly-attracting natives; beehives tended to by CombCutters; and fruit trees including bananas, papaya, breadfruit, starfruit and even peach. Unlike the geometrical row crops in most gardens, the log-lined spirals and zigzags of plantings are “my mood … no straight lines,” she says.
Cerasee Farm’s abundance represents more than just nature at work. Here, lives are also transformed. Named for a tropical vine, Cerasee Farm was started by Urban GreenWorks as part of its community food-security programming. It began as a medicinal garden in this USDA-classified food desert, and grew into a training program for local women coming out of prison, addiction and abusive relationships.
Through the Mustard Seed Project’s horticultural therapy approach, many of these women have reconnected with their families and communities and build self-sufficient lives through gardening and urban farming. Franchetti herself spoke about the program’s impact on her own life at the American Horticultural Therapy Association in Denver last October.
But most days, she is in the garden at work – “this is my family and children.” Working with Urban GreenWorks’ Roger Horne, intern Mandolina Simeon and volunteers, Franchetti makes sure the farm is thriving so that its products can feed the community. Cerasee Farm sells what it grows to locals and at the Little Haiti Caribbean Marketplace, the Arsht Center Market Mondays and at Legion Park. They host regular Family Days where participants can pick their produce and work with chefs Drigo Richardson and chef Frank at community health events. They also make sure the community gets access to their produce. “At the end of the month, we give away what we don’t use,” she says.
Urban GreenWorks
NW 54th St & 17th Ave., Liberty City
Urban GreenWorks needs urban farm interns and volunteers. Every Saturday is volunteer day from 8am-noon. To sign up, visit their website.
