City farms are gaining popularity in cities and towns around the United States. 

City Farms in Edmonston, Maryland, is located near shopping centers, car repair shops and homes. The neighborhood is a working-class community. People do not have very much money, and they have limited access to fresh food in markets. 

Over the past two years, the farm has attracted volunteers from the community like Marcy Clark. She schools her four children at home. On a recent day she brought them to Eco City Farms for a lesson. Alston Clark thinks his experience very valuable. "I like coming out here, "he says, "You know, you connect with the earth, where your food comes from. You appreciate the food a little bit more. " 

Margaret Morgan-Hubbard started Eco City Farms. She thinks of it as a place where people can learn to live healthier lives. "Growing food in a community and showing that you can have farms even in the city is helpful to strengthen the relationship in that community and brings people together, "she continues, "Every piece of what we do here is a demonstration to show people everything about how to have a sustainable community. "she says. From the Eco City Farms people come to know that they are not only growing food and raising chickens and bees, but improving the soil with compost made from food waste. Sixteen wooden bins are filled with worms. Their job is to eat the food waste and help make it into compost. 

Eco City Farms is an experimental operation. The farm gets its power not from the local electricity networks but from the sun with solar panels. In winter, the greenhouses are heated using a geothermal system. 

Vegetables can be grown all year. So once a week, all winter long, neighbors like Chris Moss and her three children bicycle to the farm to pick up a share of the harvest. 

"I like eating the vegetables, "says five-year-old Owen Moss.
How old is he?
 five-year-old Owen Moss