If you live in Manchester, you are almost certainly familiar with the urban farm located between 9th and 10th Streets on Bainbridge Avenue. Operated by Tricycle Gardens, the farm is a healthy dose of country in an otherwise urban environment.

Richmond Magazine did a story on the fellowship program Tricycle Gardens operates with a mission of teaching technical farming skills. One of the fellows who has been working the Manchester farm and was featured in the article is Alex Badecker. Here is what Richmond Magazine had to say:

“Alex Badecker, a VCU biology graduate who has worked for years in the food industry, has spent the past year planting and pruning on Tricycle Gardens’ 1-acre urban farm in Manchester — and that work has given him the confidence to attempt making a living off Creighton Farm, a 2-acre property that he purchased in eastern Henrico.

While a member of Tricycle Gardens’ inaugural class of urban agricultural fellows, Badecker has held open house days on his farm and has invited the public to help him form beds, plant cover crops and lay irrigation. On pick-your-own-produce days, he’s sold carrots, squash and eggplant.

‘I want to bring people out and show them what you can do with 1 or 2 acres,” says Badecker, who completed the fellowship program in December.’

Congratulations are in order to Alex as he now works to grow his own Creighton Farm in Eastern Henrico. If you, or someone you know is interested in the Fellowship program at Tricycle Gardens, you can learn more here. Applications for the 2018 Fellowship program are due by January 26th, 2018.

You can read the full Richmond Magazine article “Cultivating Farmers” on the Richmond Magazine website.