Urban Farm School Helps Growers Flourish in Small Places

Jeanne Giordano tends to high tunnel-grown vegetables at her farm.

FORSYTH COUNTY – Farmsteads can thrive in unlikely places, including at the bottom of a hill on the edge of a suburban subdivision in Clemmons, N.C., just south of Winston-Salem.

There, Jeanne Giordano, a former real estate agent and preschool teacher, tends to high tunnel-grown vegetables, rows of blueberries, strawberries and other fruits, and chickens raised for eggs and meat. In the two years since she enrolled in Cooperative Extension’s Forsyth County Urban Farm School, Giordano has upgraded the 14-acre Willow Ridge Farmstead to include more high tunnels, more days selling to neighbors, and more special events, including birthday parties, hayrides and Saturday morning breakfasts for customers at the market.

The Giordanos have doubled their farm income in those two years and Jeanne hopes her husband James, who still works a full-time job, can someday join her full time on the farmstead.

“I absolutely loved the Urban Farm School,” said Giordano, who graduated from the program in 2023. “The resources they gave me were just unbelievable. We’re pretty much growing year-round now, and we started a farmers market here on the property on Saturday mornings and Wednesday evenings.”

During the course, she applied for, and ultimately received, a USDA grant to install a new 72-foot high tunnel on the property, which makes year-round production possible.

Re-launched in 2022, the Forsyth County Urban Farm School is a collaboration involving Extension at N.C. A&T, Extension at NC State University, and Forsyth County government.

“In a rapidly urbanizing county like Forsyth, people who want to farm face unique challenges,” said Celine Richard, horticulture agent for Extension at A&T in the county. “Growers need to make the most of small spaces. Access to land and capital can be a challenge and growers need to learn how to make connections for production and marketing.”

Jeanne Giordano holds a chick at her farm for Eva Ramirez, 7, to pet.

Additionally, access to fresh, healthy foods is inconsistent in the county – Winston-Salem, for example, ranks seventh on a national list for food hardship, according to the nonprofit Food Research and Action Center. Richard said the Farm School is one way to spur more local food production and help people eat healthily and more affordably by growing their own backyard crops.

“I’d been gardening for the bees and pollinators, but I wanted to learn how to garden to feed myself and my family,” said Beth Sarmiento, another 2023 Urban Farm School graduate. Sarmiento was an experienced gardener and a volunteer in the garden at her children’s elementary school, but the Extension course taught her about the community aspects of urban farming and how small-scale urban farms can mean more access to fresh and healthy foods for urban residents.

“It shifted my perspective from being a family gardener to being an actual farmer,” she said. “It really made me open my eyes to the bigger picture.”

Since taking the course, Sarmiento has put her new knowledge to work as community garden manager at Second Harvest Food Bank in Winston-Salem, a nonprofit that aims to help struggling North Carolina families put food on their tables.

“When this job came up and I saw the plans for the garden, I knew it would be my dream garden,” said Sarmiento. “I was able to take on that job and build that garden.”

I absolutely loved the Urban Farm School. The resources they gave me were just unbelievable. We’re pretty much growing year-round now.

Working with contractors, she used what she learned about garden placement, irrigation and more to create a teaching garden where students grow and harvest crops and take them into the Second Harvest kitchen for cooking lessons.

In its first three years, the Urban Farm School produced 37 graduates who grew and harvested more than 863 pounds of produce during the course. Most of the students reported gaining knowledge about vital topics such as site selection, irrigation, crop establishment, integrated pest management, and produce and farm safety. The course was a significant commitment for participants, consisting of 12 weeks of classes, 72 hours of classroom and in-field instruction, farm visits and guest lectures by experts in business planning, specialty crops, soil health and much more.

Urban Farm School 2025 launched in March with 15 students. An interest form is already accepting entries from prospective students for the 2026 class.