APRIL FOOL FARM

Eight years ago, on April 1st, 1999, we bought the farm.

We weren't looking for a farm. The farm found us. The last surviving agriculture site in the city of Pittsburgh had just been reduced in price and development vultures were circling. We were looking for a big hilltop yard, close to the sky, room for the dogs to run and room for a big garden.

We were truly April Fools in the old sense of the words--caught up in the exhilaration of spring, leaping and laughing into a new life. We drove by the farm at dusk on a Tuesday, saw the property on Wednesday, made an offer on Thursday and had a deal on Friday.

We had both been backyard gardeners for years but we had worked as nurses all our lives, most of that time as nurse anesthetists at Montefiore and Presbyterian Hospitals in the Oakland area of Pittsburgh. Imagine our surprise to land on an urban farm and over the years to become urban farmers.

It took us three years to name the place. I wanted to call it April Fools farm but Barb wouldn't, at that point, admit it. We played with the name Pee Wee and Lu Lu's Place, in honor of the two cats who came with the place. City Haven Farm, Big Blue Sky Farm......Finally Barb came up with the name MILDREDS' DAUGHTERS URBAN FARM and that sounded good. Both our mothers were named Mildred and both had played signigicant roles in our being on the farm.

We've had amazing support along our way from friends, family, foundations. We are especially grateful for the many children who have visited and brought their new eyes to this old farm.
We remain surprised.