A self-employed prairie restoration consultant, Steven Armus, MD, performs remediation of natural areas for Wisconsin-based property owners. Beyond his professional pursuits, Dr. Steven Armus utilizes his botanical expertise as a volunteer for the Guest House of Milwaukee's community garden.
Established in 1981 by Milwaukee's Central City Churches as a community-based solution to alleviate the city's pervasive homelessness issue, the Guest House has since opened numerous transitional housing programs and offered counseling and addiction support services. Individuals staying in either of its transitional housing properties receive fresh produce and job training from Cream City Gardens, an urban farm with over half an acre of planting rows and 56 raised garden beds.
Cream City Gardens has turned once-vacant lots into active urban farms and, in 2015 alone, its farms produced 4,470 pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables including heirloom tomatoes, yellow squash, green peppers, strawberries, and watermelons. Additionally, its urban agriculture training program presents individuals who were formerly homeless with the experience necessary to seek jobs at local farmer's markets and grocery store produce departments.
