ST. LOUIS • To passers-by, it looks like a vacant lot full of weeds. To Jeri and Carlos Villarreal, it looks like the beginning of a sprawling citywide system of farms.

The couple, both 35, have secured city approval to buy a derelict one-third-acre lot at 4539 Delmar Boulevard and start farming it next year. They plan to take on trainees who will eventually do the same thing on other properties throughout the city, transforming vacant eyesores while providing jobs and healthful produce in the process.

"We're going to show people how to grow, and then they can grow, too," Jeri Villarreal says. "That just expands our ability to produce food in the city for our customers."

These satellite farms, Villarreal explains, will get support from the "main" farm's employees as they learn to run their own operations. "People are learning how to farm on their land, and that helps them because they can grow their own food," she said.

The idea for this franchise-style system is new to St. Louis, where urban homesteaders, farmers and community gardens have been on the rise in recent years. The Villarreals envision pushing that trend further with a network of farms that can achieve consistency and volume through a single distribution system serving restaurants and health food stores. They hope to create a built-in local market for their produce — something that a lot of first-time, small-scale farmers often lack.

"They often end up with excess," Jeri Villarreal says. "With this, they'll have someone to sell it to."

The Villarreals are new converts to farming. In just the past year, they have transformed their backyard in University City into a small farm, with 10 chickens and a dozen raised beds that have produced enough food for the 18 customers in their Community Supported Agriculture program, or CSA.

But they felt limited by the space in their suburban yard, so they started to think bigger. "We wanted to expand, and we have all these grand ideas," Villarreal says.

Initially, the couple considered buying a second plot somewhere in the countryside. But the Villarreals stumbled onto the St. Louis Land Reutilization Authority's list of properties after a friend suggested urban lots. The authority manages tax delinquent properties throughout the city, and sells them to prospective buyers who go through an approval process. The couple found their lot on Delmar and were approved to buy it earlier this year after convincing the city they had a solid plan.

A study conducted by the Show-Me Institute this year found that the city had a track record of rejecting buyers for LRA lands. But that appears to be changing, according to the institute, and the city seems more inclined to sell land to prospective farmers.

"In the past, some LRA commissioners have said: We don't want to sell it unless you build on it," said Audrey Spalding, who performed the analysis for the institute. "But they seem to be revisiting that policy now."

Otis Williams, deputy executive director with the St. Louis Development Corp., which oversees the authority, says the city has a track record of leasing to community gardens and welcomes more farms.

"There's a lot of interest out there," he said. "We're very open to selling all the lots we have for useful purposes."

But, he said, "job production and housing come first."

Still, the open attitude toward urban farming bodes well for the Villarreals project and dovetails with their newfound mission to transform the urban landscape into food-production.

"I would love to see people growing on these lots," Villarreal says. "There are just so many of them just sitting there."

Now they need to supplement the funding for the effort, which is primarily coming out of their own pockets. They've launched a page on the website Kickstarter.com, which helps small businesses and start-ups collect money in donations.

"We're trying to do this without conventional loans," Villarreal says. "How would we sell this to a bank? There's nothing to compare it to."