Native to Central and South America, the sweet potato is one of the world’s most important crops. Versatile, the sweet potato can be used in numerous applications. Famous chemist and botanist, George Washington Carver, a Missouri-born agricultural scientist, and innovator were able to discover a little over a hundred uses ranging anywhere from flour, starch, […]

Native to Northeastern Africa, sorghum is one of the world’s most important grains for human consumption and is a staple food for more than 500 million people in over 30 countries. It is extremely versatile and can also be used for alcohol production and foraging. In the nineteenth century, sweet sorghum syrup was used as […]

Take an Agricultural Tour of the World with Gateway Greening!  For the next few weeks, we’ll be posting a new blog post each Monday highlighting a regional bed from our Demonstration Garden. While these posts will not include growing instructions, they will be history lessons on the agricultural practices of regions around the world. Some […]

Girls Inc. is a nonprofit that provides educational and cultural after-school and summer programs in safe environments for girls and encourages them to realize their potential.  They offer after-school and summer programs for girls K-12.  Learn more about the organization here. Sheila Irving has been the garden leader since she started with Girls Inc. over […]

Mike Herries and his wife, Paula, are the garden leaders at St. Francis of Assisi parish and school.  As the STREAM Coordinator at the school, Mike is passionate about connecting the garden to his curriculum.  He joined St. Francis of Assisi School as a substitute teacher when he returned to St. Louis after Hurricane Katrina […]

Britt Tate is the art teacher at Columbia Elementary and Bryan Hill Elementary.  Columbia Elementary is one of Gateway Greening’s Seed to STEM sites, where GG educator Nick Speed teaches weekly garden classes with each grade.  The second you step into Britt’s classroom, her passion for plants and social justice is immediately obvious.  She has […]

One of the many plants that we grew in our old Demonstration Garden space was the Seminole pumpkin. It has grown so well for us that we’ve decided to offer it for sale to the St. Louis community. Our Seminole pumpkin seed packets are available at our online store.   In addition to its great horticultural […]

Turnips are a very popular vegetable for both its bulbous root and its spicy, nutritious greens.  Although all turnip greens are edible, there are specific varieties that have been bred for their prolific production of delicious turnip greens.  One variety in particular that we sell at Gateway Greening is the Seven Top Turnip. The Seven […]

Simon Amies, Pattonville School District Webmaster and leads the youth garden at the Pattonville School District’s Learning Center.  After joining the Pattonville School District team, Simon Amies, an avid gardener with vegetable, berry, and herb gardens at home, noticed the absence of community and school gardens in the northwest area of Saint Louis County.  He […]

I recently read Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been combing through the book and blown away at all of the topics included. Each topic is centered around people of color, their contributions to agriculture, and the history of systemic discrimination in American agriculture. The author, […]