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Rare & Unusual Plant Sale Returns for 34th Season

 

Last year, more than 1,200 people showed up on day one alone, and nearly 20,000 plants found new homes across Rhode Island. This May, we’re doing it again! SCLT’s 34th Annual Rare & Unusual Plant Sale returns to City Farm on Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17, from 10am to 2pm, rain or shine. Bring a friend, bring a neighbor, bring your whole block.

“The SCLT Plant Sale is such a special event because it allows people to gather around a common cause and celebrate the kick-off of the gardening season,” says Plant Sale Committee Chair and Board Secretary Candace Cooney. “To me, it serves as a beacon of light in times when the world feels a little dark. This year, people can expect joyous energy, a sense of community, and of course, beautiful plants!”

Thousands of rare and unusual vegetable, herb, annual, and perennial plants will be available, with varieties you won’t find at your typical garden center. SCLT members get a head start with exclusive early access on Saturday morning.

“The Plant Sale has been central to SCLT’s mission for decades,” says City Farm Steward Rich Pederson.

As SCLT’s biggest fundraiser of the year, the Sale’s reach extends well beyond the weekend: hundreds of remaining plants are donated to libraries, community centers, gardens, and social service organizations across RI.

Staff and volunteers speaking Spanish, French, Swahili, Kirundi, and Hmong will be on hand to welcome everyone. Want to join the volunteer crew? Sign up today!

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The Future Is Coming Into Focus: Urban Edge Farm Food Hub

The roof is on. The windows are in. At Urban Edge Farm in Cranston, the first phase of SCLT’s second food hub is 75% complete. The new building rising on the landscape is only part of our decades-long story at Urban Edge.

Next door, a renovated dairy barn is part

of a longer-term vision for a full farm infrastructure campus at Urban Edge, where farmers can move seamlessly from harvest to processing to market. In future phases, the campus will offer kitchen, classroom, food processing, meeting, and shop space, where farmers can gather, learn, and build their operations. The campus will bring to life what our expanding network of farmers and long-time partners at the RI Department of Environmental Management have helped to envision: a complete, professional-grade infrastructure system designed around farmer needs.

Behind the scenes, our properties, farmer training, and food access teams are already deep in preparation mode, sourcing equipment, attending food safety trainings, and laying the groundwork for the rollout of a multilingual farmer training program. When the doors open at the new food hub this fall, more than 150 agricultural producers across RI will be ready to walk through them.

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