Urban farming's the rage these days, at least in some green circles. If you're wondering how to get in on it, there's an all-day workshop Thursday (Sept. 15), with hands-on training, lectures and tours of existing farms in Baltimore.

The free event open to anyone is organized by The Greenhorns, a national nonprofit promoting urban farming.  Besides the health aspects of raising nutritious local produce, the session will focus in part on how productive green space can reclaim the former industrial sites known as brownfields that pepper the city. Baltimore has at least 1,000 brownfields comprising 2,500 acres, according to the group. The city’s Office of Sustainability is aiming to convert 10 acres of city-owned vacant lots into farmland though competitive grant giving.

Visits are planned to Five Seeds Farm in the Belair-Edison neighborhood and Real Food Farm in Clifton Park in Northeast Baltimore. Partners for the event include the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, The Radix Ecological Sustainability Center, Maryland Institute College of Art and the Baltimore Free School.

For details. go here.

(Real Food Farm, 2010 Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor)