Nuestro Huerto is a community farm located at 20 Southgate Street in Worcester, MA.
Nuestro Huerto’s mission is to serve as a community asset that offers equitable access to healthy produce, educational opportunities and an environment that fosters a diverse, open and inter-generational community.
The Nuestro Huerto farm grows mixed vegetables, annual and perennial flowers and perennial herbs. The farm sells produce to Worcester residents through the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership program from June through October, as well as to restaurants and farmers markets. The farm also donates produce to Jeremiah’s Inn, located in Worcester. If you are interested in becoming a member, you can contact nuestrohuertoworcester@gmail.com. Enrollment begins in the winter.
Nuestro Huerto is located adjacent to the South Worcester Industrial Park (SWIP). If you are interested in helping redevelop this area sustainably, contact us at nuestrohuertoworcester@gmail.com for more information.
Nuestro Huerto became part of Worcester Roots in 2013 out of an interest in promoting community-based initiatives around social and environmental justice and for fiscal sponsorship support.
Nuestro Huerto’s Vision (always in the making):
Nuestro Huerto will be a dynamic community and farm. It will bring together people of different backgrounds to build social capital and build/sustain a healthful community where everyone has access to fresh nutritious food and the knowledge/ability to consume it. It is an organization that builds resilience by not only teaching people how to grow and prepare food, but fostering a network of people that provides a social safety-net for its members. It will be a conduit by which people are economically empowered and build confidence and a sense of pride.
Land located in the area in which we work is free of toxins and accessible to all. We will have healthy and abundant soil to grow nutrient-dense foods. We will have a secure place to put supplies and access to water and electricity. We would have indoor facilities to lead workshops and cooking classes. The kitchen would be commercially certified for community co-operative enterprises to also use. The land would be large enough to both donate to volunteers and hunger relief organizations and sell a portion of our bounty. There will be an outdoor classroom with all the facilities to teach a class outside in the open. Part of this will be having green space designed for children to explore and learn.
Our community will be diverse. It will be a ground for exploring intercultural relations and resolving conflict. A way to explore the common humanity among us. Our community would be one of many tongues- different languages would be a part of the soundscape. Our community will be healthy- not only well fed but of sound mind. Working on the farm will be a form of therapy and stress management. Community members will be independent and simultaneously interdependent, having learned the skills not only to grow one’s own food but also the social capital to make connections to get other resources needed to lead a well balanced and nourishing life.
