Bush Hills Community Garden and Urban Farm

The Bush Hills Community Garden and Urban Farm is a project of Bush Hills Connections, a non-profit partner of the Bush Hills Neighborhood Association, to redevelop the 4-acre campus of the former Woodrow Wilson Elementary School at 1030 4th Terrace West as an urban farm which distributes free produce to the neighborhood, and as a community garden for use by residents.

The project was led by Bush Hills neighborhood president Walladean Streeter. Through her efforts, Bush Hills Connections negotiated a 50-year lease for the school property, then successfully applied for rezoning from the Birmingham Zoning Advisory Committee, and obtained certification from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production.

The urban farm portion of the property, which began planting in 2018, is staffed by trained workers and select volunteers supervised by a full-time farm manager. Produce from the farm is distributed for free to neighborhood residents. Plots in the community garden are available to neighborhood residents for their own planting.

In 2023 Bush Hills Connections began working with Goodwyn, Mills & Cawood architects and B. L. Harbert Construction on plans to renovate the former school building. The cafeteria would be re-used as a teaching kitchen and the gymnasium as a community center with youth programs. Over the long term, the school's former classrooms could potentially be renovated as residential lofts.

References

• Banks, Richard (January 7, 2023) "An old school in Birmingham’s Bush Hills is now an urban farm. Residents are thinking bigger." WBHM.org / BirminghamWatch