PITTSBURGH -- Big ideas are being explored on a small plot of land tucked away in the Garfield section of Pittsburgh.

Like many city lots, the Garfield property lay in disrepair for years. The land was littered with parked cars and batteries.

After the land was cleared of the trash and debris, its legacy remained in the soil.

Jennifer English is a graduate student at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania studying lead remediation and urban soils.

She tested the soil and wasn't surprised to find it contaminated with lead.

"It had anywhere from 200 to 1,200 parts per million lead in the soil, which is not a safe level to grow food," English explained.

But that's what Maria Graziani, owner of the property hopes to do.

She runs Hillcrest Urban Community Farm.

"We hope to grow food, specifically for the community -- fresh local organic food at affordable prices," Graziani said.

She turned over a section of her property to English so she could experiment with a natural way to cleanse the soil using mustard greens.

"Mustard greens are considered hyperaccumulators. By natural process, they draw toxins out of the soil, accumulating it in shoots and roots." English said.

At the end of the season, the mustard plants will be tested to see how much lead they accumulated.

English said she doesn't expect to remove all the lead in one growing season and said cleaning up the soil this way does takes patience.

"Typically bioremediation is used when you have more time than money, and it's less expensive," English said.

And that is important to urban farmers like Graziani.

"Top soil is expensive, so if you can take what you have and transform it and make it healthier in the long run ,you do a service and save money." Graziani explained.

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More Info:
- Urban Food Works
- Phytoextraction of Lead from Soil
- Lead in the Home Garden and Urban Soil Environment
- Bridging Borders Toward Food Security
- Grow Pittsburgh