It’s official…we have seedlings for sale starting this weekend, May 18th.  Below is the email we sent out to our friends and neighbors announcing the next phase of our urban farming adventure and we are very excited to see what happens next.  Hopefully people will come this weekend and buy some seedlings from us.  If not, we better start looking for more land to plant all these vegetables.

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

You may not know it but there is a small, food-producing urban farm in your midst.  Sidewalk Farms is an urban farm right here in Portsmouth that is currently growing food on 5 different sites throughout the Seacoast.  We are intensively growing on our own small city lots and have also found private land owners and museums to share land with us.  We are focused on producing enough food to feed our families as well as beginning to sell small amounts of produce and seedlings at a farm stand located at one of the gardens on Park Street in Portsmouth.  We use all organic methods, Permaculture principles, and never use synthetic fertilizers or pesticides.

And beginning this weekend, May 18th, we will have seedlings available for sale in the greenhouse at the end of the driveway at 151 Park Street, including several varieties of cucumbers (pickling and slicing), lots of varieties of squash (summer, winter, acorn and zucchini), basil and other herbs, lettuce, cabbage, Bok Choy, nasturtiums, and about 10 different varieties of tomatoes.  Seedlings will be available for self-service during the day on the honor system.  There is a cash mailbox in the greenhouse and everything is labeled.  Later in May we hope to have some produce available for sale including strawberries, Swiss chard, spinach, sugar snap peas and other greens.  Further on in the summer we hope to have some blueberries, green beans, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, potatoes, basil, cilantro, and other herbs and veggies available for sale.

If you are interested in knowing what is happening on the farm or what is currently for sale, check out our website:  sidewalkfarms.com .  Or you can “like” us on Facebook for daily updates.  We will regularly post happenings at the farms as well as what seedlings and produce we have available and when we will be open.  Or you can just come by and say hello and purchase some seedlings while you are here.

If you would like to come for a tour of the urban farm at 151 Park Street, contact us through the website.  We also provide classes and consultation on growing vegetables, garden placement, seed starting and other gardening topics.  Check out the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire website for our next upcoming class on June 1st.

http://www.childrens-museum.org/cmnh2010/programs/content.aspx?id=1140

We are excited to be offering organically grown seedlings to our friends and neighbors and hope this new venture turns into something fun for everyone.  Thanks and hope to see you around the farm,

Lisa Sweet and Leslie Stevens