About Us
City Roots, Columbias first urban sustainable farm, is located on a three acre urban site in the Rosewood Neighborhood. Organically Certified by USDA, we grow approximately 125 varieties of fruits and vegetables, keep bees not only for honey but for pollination, raise chickens not only for eggs but for the fertility they add to our soil. We do extensive crop rotations and cover cropping for soil fertility and pest management. We have a large scale composting operation which we use to amend our soil and by doing so have diverted hundreds of tons of material destined for the land fill into rich, fertile soil. We create worm casting and worm tea via vermicomposting to use as a fertilizer. We produce microgreens year round and operate an aquaponic system which is the combination of aquaculture, the production of commercial fish (tilapia), and hydroponics, the growing of plants in a water medium, that mimics a stream and pond ecosystem. We operate our farm in a holistic fashion with each part playing an integral role in the overall system.
In our brief 31/2 years in existence and on only 3 acres, we have had over 15,000 volunteer hours, 3,000 students on tours, 3,500 self-guided tours, 12,000 event attendees, 300 CSA members, 500 volunteers, 25 interns, and employ five people, all on 3 acres. We have been in numerous TV spots, radio, print publications and periodicals and have won the following awards: the 2012 Green Americas People and Planet Award, 2010 International Downtown Association Pinnacle Award, the 2010 Columbia Choice Award, the 2010 / 2011 Free Times Best of Columbia Best New Green Business and the 2010 Farm City Award Richland County.
We sell our products on site, through our year round CSA, at farmers markets, at several health food retail grocery stores, numerous restaurants here in Columbia as well as in Charleston. Please visit our web site at Cityroots.org for more information and visuals and/or friend us on facebook for regular updates.
