Pittsburgh Hilltop Urban Farm announces summer camp registration

Pittsburgh’s Hilltop Urban Farm is hosting free summer camps in 2019 where kids can learn about nutrition, cooking, growing food, local food systems and Western Pennsylvania ecology.

Children from the Pittsburgh neighborhoods of St. Clair, Arlington, Arlington Heights, Carrick, Allentown, South Side Slopes, Knoxville, Beltzhoover, Mt. Washington, and Bon Air and the neighborhood and borough of Mt. Oliver are eligible for three camps that run from 8:30 a.m. until noon. Students who attend Pittsburgh Arlington PreK-8 School, Lighthouse Cathedral or New Academy Charter School are also eligible.

The Sprouts Camp runs from July 1 to 3 and is open to kids in preschool and kindergarten. The Seedlings Camp from July 8 to 10 is for children in first to third grades. The Farm Kids Camp, July 15 to 17, is for students in fourth and fifth grade and the Young Farmers Camp, July 22 to July 24, is for those in sixth to eighth grades.

More information about the camps and a link to register can be found on the urban farm’s website.

Located on the site of the former St. Clair Village housing project, the Hilltop Urban Farm is a nonprofit subsidiary of the Hilltop Alliance, an organization made up of groups supporting the 11 neighborhoods in Pittsburgh’s southern hilltop. The alliance has been partnering since 2013 with foundations to create the farm for food production and educational programming.

A one-acre Youth Farm section, which includes a fruit and nut orchard, is used to educate neighborhood kids.

Earlier this month, volunteers expanded the orchard with 76 additional fruit and nut trees courtesy of the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, the American Chestnut Planting Foundation, and Plant Five for Life.

Future plans include greenhouses, community gardens and a farmers market.