Allapattah Demonstration Garden
Location: Allapattah, Miami
Services: Design, Installation, Organic maintenance
Size: 12,000 sqft
Project type: Urban farm with commercial greenhouse, row crops, food forest and beehives
From 2017 to 2020 Little River Coop built and operated an urban farm and retail greenhouse in Allapattah, an industrial district in downtown Miami just west of Wynwood. The 18,000 square foot vacant lot was environmentally remediated and healthy organic soil was brought in so that crops could be grown in permanent no-till raised beds. A 2,700 square foot greenhouse was also erected and used as a retail center for the sale of vegetable and culinary herb starter plants. The space played host to a number of educational workshops on gardening, cocktail making, herbalism, and cooking plus it was open to the public for seasonal plant sale events.
The urban farm focused on growing high value edible flowers & garnish for restaurants in the Design District & Wynwood like Alter, Plant Food & Wine, Itamae and Mandolin Aegean Bistro and was able to produce more than 30,000$ seasonally with only 8,000 square feet of planted growing space. This garden served so many purposes its hard to list them all; heirloom crops were grown for saving seed, the perimeter was planted with fruit trees and flowering vines to beautify the industrial block and provide bees with nectar, beehives were tucked into a corner and used by non-profit Public Hives to educate the public on beekeeping,
a demonstration garden educated visitors on what they can grow at home in small spaces, and a staggering amount of plants were made and sold from this magical space. During the summer of 2020 LRC reluctantly handed the keys back to the landowner due to Miamis strict use regulations around vacant lots. It is their hope that one day Miami will catch up to the other forward thinking cities in America and write zoning code that will allow for Urban Farming.
