From the Livingston Ledger:
Young men are spreading and shoveling piles of mulch on the raised beds on a pleasantly warm February afternoon. At the other end of the garden, a manager peers through the greenhouse at beds of collard greens.
Juxtaposed against the cracked concrete sidewalks, with its benches and plywood posters, the Ruth L. Bennett Community Farm in the struggling city of Chester’s West End, the farm might seem as incongruous as the February warmth.
Going on 10 years old, the farm marked a milestone last month when it reached an agreement with Fare & Square – the city’s only major grocery store – to sell its produce, starting sometime this spring.
“If they’re growing in this community, we want to be selling,” said Mike Basher, the market’s vice president of retail operations. “Folks shopping here are buying stuff that‘s raised right in their community.”
The farm was created with the help of “a couple of Swarthmore volunteer college students, who wanted to start a community garden,” according to Steven Fischer, the executive director of the Chester Housing Authority, which manages the farm and the Bennett housing project.
Read the Livingston Ledger's article "A farm grows in Chester City, and so does supermarket partnership," featuring the Chester Housing Authority.