Stewart House Urban Farm and Gardens plan germinating in Gary

GARY | Snow covers vacant land at 15th Avenue and Massachusetts Street in the city's midtown, but plans are germinating to transform the land into the Stewart House Urban Farm and Gardens.

This land, owned by Christ United Methodist Church of Gary, was the site of the John Stewart Memorial Settlement House, the only facility that welcomed black migrant workers and their families to Gary in the late 1920s and during the Great Depression.

Planning for the Stewart House project began in March. Community groups and individuals since have embraced the idea to plant organic and sustainable crops that will be available to residents and eliminate the "food desert" in that part of Gary, project manager Sandra Rodriguez said.

The project has garnered support recently from Purdue University Extension, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the new Gary administration.

Liz Maynard, horticulture professor and Purdue University Extension specialist, has invited Stewart House to participate as a demonstration site for a five-year U.S. Department of Agriculture grant. A specialty crop research initiative grant should help get more local food into local schools.

"Stewart House hopes to be a yearlong operation, growing fresh salad greens and cold-hardy vegetables in the winter months and demonstrating extended season growing with hoop houses," Rodriguez said. "We are connecting with residents and businesses around 15th and Massachusetts, and with the YWCA."

A survey of area residents' eating habits will be conducted soon that "will give us a benchmark for our work," Rodriguez said. "The information will tell us who people are depending on for their food and where they are shopping, for example, at convenience stores and gas stations."

The Stewart House project will address how to decrease diabetes and obesity locally.

"Healthy eating is what we're about," Rodriguez said.

The U.S. EPA Chicago district tested the soil for contaminants recently.

"The land is healthy, "Rodriguez said. "There are no contaminants except in the footprint of where the Stewart House building was. There is some asbestos there, but we are going to plant flower gardens there."

Aquaponics, a sustainable food production system that blends raising fish with hydroponics, also is planned.

Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson recently announced urban farming as an initiative and named Lauren Riga director of the new city department of green urbanism.