Tony Tye, Post-Gazette Wood peg construction is used in the straw-bale barn at Mildreds' Daughters Urban Farm in Stanton Heights, where, during two weekends in June, the walls will be added. Click photo for larger image.
	Click photo for larger image.

The barn is ready to be baled.

Last September, builder Nick Hurst and about 40 volunteers erected the timber-frame structure of a small barn at Mildreds' Daughters Urban Farm in Stanton Heights. Next month, in two weekend workshops, the frame will be filled with straw-bale walls and covered with earthen plaster.

The hands-on workshops are open to anyone interested in learning how to construct an energy-efficient straw-bale structure. In the first workshop, scheduled for June 3-5, Mark Hoberecht, founder of HarvestBuild Associates in Columbia Station, Ohio, and Chris Fox of Fox Natural Builders will cover site considerations, foundation and roof interfaces, wiring and plumbing details, stacking and securing straw bales, and mixing and applying the first coat of rough plaster.

Mary Golden, founder of Gaiatecture Design of Honeoye Falls, N.Y., will lead the second workshop on June 17-19. It will cover the theory, preparation and application of different finish-plaster options, including earth plasters, lime finishes and frescoes, decorative alis (clay paint), casein paints and gypsum and Structolite plasters. The tuition for each workshop is $200, or $350 for both.

Pioneered in the late 19th century in the sand hills of Nebraska, straw-bale construction is enjoying a revival for its sustainability, high insulation value and handmade aesthetic.

The crop for the 200 straw bales that the Stanton Heights barn will use was grown last year at Nowicki Farms in Cabot, Butler County. The bales were overwintered there to ensure the straw would be thoroughly dry before construction.

The barn's basement will be used for storage for the five-acre certified-organic farm, while the main level will be a classroom for farming and food-related programs. The wraparound deck now being built will serve next year as the produce distribution point for members of the farm's community-supported agriculture program.

Earlier this month, farm founders Barbara Kline and Randa Shannon, whose mothers both were named Mildred, joined with Wilkinsburg urban farmer Mindy Schwartz to establish Grow Pittsburgh, a nonprofit dedicated to educating the community about sustainable food production.

"We want to show how agriculture can be woven into the fabric of urban life," Shannon said. "Our vision is that every church and every school would have a garden, and an awareness of food and nutrition would be integrated with the curriculum. We've gotten so disconnected from where our food comes from."

Committed to educating the next generation, they are hiring six teen apprentices to work on the farm this summer, under the direction of Shannon's son Ben, who teaches at Shaler Area High School. Five young adults also are employed as farm interns. All will work at both the Stanton Heights farm and at Schwartz's site in Wilkinsburg, where she grows heirloom tomatoes, ethnic peppers, garlic, herbs, artichokes and more on three adjacent lots near the apartment building she owns on Center Street.

"Her site models something that could be done all around the city with vacant lots," Shannon said.

At the East Liberty Farmers' Market last Monday, where Grow Pittsburgh is a vendor, Schwartz said her five-year plan includes developing another building she owns on Holland Street into a neighborhood coffee shop, greenhouse, commercial kitchen and housing for interns. In it, Grow Pittsburgh could host workshops during which participants would pick the produce, prepare it under the guidance of local chefs and then enjoy dinner together, followed by moonlight dancing on the deck. Much of what Schwartz has accomplished so far has been through the use of recycled materials from several sources including Construction Junction, which this week supplied the barn doors she will install as fence gates.

The three women also sell their produce at the Union Project's farmers' market from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursdays at the corner of Stanton and Negley avenues in Highland Park.

Grow Pittsburgh is a project of the Tides Center, which provides fiscal guidance for nonprofit groups engaged in environmental sustainability, social justice, human rights, arts and culture, community development or international affairs.

"We have about 15 people now on our payroll," said Shannon, who shares a nurse anesthetist job with Kline at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "We had no idea how to run a nonprofit and we wanted to do it right."

Shannon said it's been a busy winter in the farmhouse they share with her mother.

"I spent a lot of time writing grants and Barb was ordering seeds. We figure our down time was a week before Christmas to a week after New Year's. I think our first year we thought we would be not too busy from November to March, but we were wrong."

For information or to enroll in the workshop, call 412-799-0833 or e-mail mildredsdaughters@earthlink.net.