Community Care Durham’s Community Food Boxes will soon be packed with even more fresh produce, compliments of City of Greens, an urban market farm specializing in salad mixes, microgreens and vegetables.

Ryan Cullen is co-owner of the farm, located off Rundle Road in Bowmanville, and recently took some CCD staff members on a tour of his 10-acre farm. He explained salad greens are their main crops. Most popular right now are the mustard-arugula mix, spinach, and three kinds of baby kale.

“We try to have a good mix of crops that compliment our salad mix, so cherry tomatoes, peppers, zucchinis, beets, carrots, turnips, radish,” he said.

City of Greens will provide a mixture of greens in CCD’s CFBs each week. The mixed greens will be pre-packaged so they can be easily shipped and stored.

When Cullen is not working his own land, he works as a Field Operator, supervising a greenhouse, a market garden and a team of horticulture work-study students at the W. Galen Weston Centre for Food.

He and his business partner Jean Guy LaFlamme started City of Greens Farm just this past summer.

“This is what we decided was manageable this year,” he said standing in the middle of his garden. “It’s both of us doing it after work and on weekends.”

The pair built the beds, planted the seeds and continue to harvest the field greens “all by hand,” Cullen explained.

“It’s all small scale hand tools, blood, sweat and tears,” he said with a smile.

City of Greens may be new but Cullen said they have big plans for it to expand. He said they’re trying to create a diverse, multi-enterprise farm.

“We’re really trying to build a community of customers and people who appreciate what we do and can connect with us around food,” he said.

The farm’s mission is “to grow high quality, locally grown produce, with care, attention to detail and safety, so you can eat healthy, feed your family and know your farmer.”

CCD clients who receive Community Food Boxes will experience the high quality salad greens in their next delivery. For others who’d like to sample their fresh, local quality produce, it can be ordered on the City of Greens website.

For more information about the CFB program, visit the CCD’s website.