Farm on top of Fenway Park produces thousands of pounds of produce annually
BOSTON - There is a farm on top of Fenway Park. Yes, you read that correctly.
"Tens and tens of thousands of people get to walk by and see this garden and realize what's possible right in your own backyard," Green City Growers President, Christopher Grallert told WBZ TV.
The farm produces 7,000 pounds of fresh produce every year. They've been farming on top of Fenway since 2015 when ownership wanted more sustainable, local food sourcing. The food they grow is used in concession stands in the ballpark and for private event catering.
"This knocks off a significant portion of produce being bought on the outside, so we're not shipping produce thousands of miles and bringing it here to Boston," Grallert explained.
Haley Bergeron is an urban farmer at Fenway through Green City Growers and told us that she loves it. She said this year, everything seems to be going smoothly and that it rained so much that they haven't really needed to use the drip irrigation system in the farm.
"There's nothing better than knowing where the food you're growing is going to be eaten," Bergeron said.
The farm operates using a modular system with milk crates that have a special lining inside, organic soil and that irrigation system.
It's not only sustainable growing but in a city with many black asphalt roofs, the farm reduces heat in the area as well as reducing rainwater in the storm drains because it's used for the crops.
"When we plant a garden and when we have plants breathing and respiring on a rooftop, we're actually reducing heat island effect," Grallert explained.
They use rainwater to grow the plants and only turn on that irrigation system when needed. Using rainwater then reduces the storm water burden on the city.
"When the people come by on tours they say 'wow,'" Grallert said.
Green City Growers has 250 sites around eastern Massachusetts and 48 of them are in Boston Public Schools. Their mission is to share inspiring experiences with people, so they realize what's possible.
"People can come right to downtown Boston, right to Fenway park and see that it's actually possible to grow vegetables pretty much anywhere," Grallert said.
Any extra produce is donated to local food justice organizations.
