The Loretto Carbon Offset Fund Supports an Urban Farmer

Vel Scott is originally from the Mississippi Delta and grew up eating farm-fresh food every day. She’s now an educator, urban farmer, entrepreneur and wise elder sharing knowledge about healthy eating in Cleveland, Ohio. Vel’s Purple Oasis is a community-based urban farm situated on one acre of land, with a refurbished house nearby named in memory of Vel’s late husband, Don Scott. The farm began in 2008 and proceeded in fits and starts, with the goals of encouraging members of the surrounding community to get involved with one another and to promote a healthy lifestyle through growing and eating high-quality produce. The Don Scott House serves as an educational center to prepare fresh food from the garden or from local food banks. It has become a place of peace and tranquility for people to come “just as they are” and have a fresh, cool summer salad, or a hot bowl of soup and cornbread on a cold winter day. Over the years the Oasis has developed many partnerships and has served as an experimental site for growing vegetables and flowers. There are several fruit trees on site, but a cherry tree has recently died. Neighbors and volunteers are hoping for more fresh fruit. A recent grant from the Loretto Carbon Offset Fund provided funding for several fig trees, blueberry bushes and elderberry bushes.

Do you have an idea for trees, fruit bushes or other plantings that will both sequester carbon and feed people?

You can find more information about using the Loretto Carbon Offset Fund here: https://www.lorettocommunity. org/how-we-serve/environment/ carbon-offset-fund/