By Andrew Soboeiro

Pilot Intern

The annual Urban Farm Day will be held Saturday, May 12, at Southern Pines Elementary School.

Participants can go to the elementary school at any time between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and purchase tickets and programs.

They may then venture to homes and farms in the area, where they will be shown sustainable gardening methods that they can replicate in their own homes.

Sustainable Sandhills, the local nonprofit that advocates for environmental conservation, will be hosting the event.

"Urban Farm Day is Sustainable Sandhills' effort to underscore the importance of local food by demonstrating what ordinary people can do in their own backyards," says Kea Meacham, sustainability coordinator for Sustainable Sandhills and one of the farmers featured on the tour. "The sites and demonstrations on our tour are meant to inspire you.

"Maybe you've never tried gardening before, so you want to find out from master gardeners how to make a raised bed. Maybe you want to learn how to test your soil and increase its yield. Maybe you're an experienced gardener and you want to move up to chickens or beekeeping. We want to help people in these endeavors so that more of our agriculture can be local."

In addition to the Moore County tour, Sustainable Sandhills holds a similar event at the same time in Fayetteville's Community Garden.

Unlike its counterpart in Moore County, the Fayetteville event is not a tour, but rather a series of gardening demonstrations done in the same place.

Sponsors include A1 Supply Company, Apple Crate, Carolina Grown, Hilltop Angus Farms, FirstHealth of the Carolinas, the Moore County Farmers Market and the Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative.

"The relationship between the farmer and the consumer is really key to appreciating food in a different way," says Meacham. "In particular, it's good to know that whoever grows the food is consuming it as well. There's a lot of love that goes into that whole supply chain, a lot of caring, and you feel that you really are a key part of the food community."

For more information on Urban Farm Day, visit the website http://sustainablesandhills.org/2012 UrbanFarmDay.html.

Andrew Soboeiro, a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, is a summer intern at The Pilot.