Tricycle Gardens has sprouted and grown across our region and our programs include:

Urban Agriculture Programs

RVA’s & 31st Street Urban Farms: Two highly productive, four-season urban farms are local food learning centers located in low-access areas. They showcase and teach multiple methods of sustainable urban agriculture including: soil health through traditional and worm-composting, greenhouse management and seed starting, crop planning and succession planting, sustainable and integrated pest management practices and the harvesting, marketing, and distribution of produce to market. The produce grown is distributed to our Four Season Farmers’ Markets, to participating Corner Farm stores, and to a diverse array of local restaurants and grocers.

Way to Grow Educational Programs, Tours and Field Trips: Outreach to schoolchildren, teachers, families, youth groups, garden clubs, and universities is provided through Way to Grow educational programs that include hands-on learning activities that connect the hands-on experiences of our urban farms to garden-based curriculum and the Virginia SOLs (Standards of Learning exams). Participants gain a connection to the earth, the outdoors, and the true source of our food, while also learning science, math, and history through direct, interactive experiences.

Urban Agriculture Fellowship Program: Our nation is now experiencing a transformation of how we eat, produce and distribute our food and the rapid growth of farmers’ markets and community supported agriculture across the county are evidence of this shift. Virginia’s farmers are aging out, while the demand for local food is increasing. Our workforce development program is addressing this need. Urban Ag fellows work with us for 12-month terms that provide in-depth and hands-on experiences grounded in the business of sustainable urban agriculture. Fellows are prepared to address the gaps across food production and delivery through our training and earn a certificate upon completion recognized by the USDA/NRCS. 

Food Access Programs

Corner Farm: RVA’s Citywide Healthy Corner Store Initiative is directly addressing the food deserts in our community. Corner Farm promotes healthy eating habits by increasing access and availability to healthy, local food for neighborhoods currently lacking by creating partnerships with local corner and convenience store owners in order to distribute weekly orders of fresh, healthy food. We support store owners and employees in the handling and marketing of fresh produce and create risk-free opportunities for owners to integrate healthy food options in their store. We enhance the distribution with nutrition education, food skills training, and in-depth cooking classes aimed to support consumers using SNAP which take place on-site at participating stores, in public housing resource centers and community service organizations throughout the city.

Four Season Farmers’ Markets: Our markets are in important strategy in our efforts to bring affordable, healthy food options to the most vulnerable of our cities residents. Held weekly in partnership with VCU Massey Cancer Center our markets provide produce to patients receiving treatments at Massey’s Dalton Oncology Clinic. Our markets offer Double Up incentives which are designed to overcome the two most common barriers to produce consumption by SNAP participants: It increases the amount that families have available to spend on produce by matching SNAP benefits with additional funds and uses the new buying power to bring farm-fresh fruits and vegetables into underserved low-income communities.

Partner Programs

Children’s Gardens at Peter Paul Development Center & Fore Kids at Independence Golf Club: Growing sustainability one gardener at a time is the empowerment tool that the Children’s Gardens bring to youth at PPDC and Fore Children. Tricycle Gardens’ garden educator is bringing SOL-related curriculum to the experiential activities provided to participants. We are connecting children to our true source of food, providing enriching outdoor experiences and bringing classroom learning to life with hundreds of students at each site, each year.

Partner Sites

Additional sites include: The Children’s Museum, The Neighborhood Resource Center, and The Community Art Garden at the Visual Arts Center.