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The Seed Vol. 41 August 20, 2010 A Giving Tree Gardens Newsletter
Photos by Russ Henry ©2010 ,
Text by Russ Henry
©2010 by Giving Tree Gardens, all rights reserved.
Stefan Meyer is one guy we could all learn a lot from. As the driving force behind Minneapolis’ most ingenious new food production business, Growing Lots Urban Farm, Stefan is demonstrating for all of us the potential power held in the ground beneath our vacant urban lots.
For the last few years, the city of Minneapolis has begun to take the importance of locally grown food seriously. Through encouraging the growth of farmers markets, and official initiatives such as Homegrown Minneapolis, the city has sprouted seeds of change that should improve our health, habitat, and happiness as they grow. As politicians congratulate themselves for being so wise and Earth-friendly, green thumbs around town welcome this emerging atmosphere of tolerance toward nature in a city where inspectors routinely cite homeowners for “Overhanging Vegetation”, and until recently bees and chickens were illegal creatures.
Now that the officials have decided we can go ahead and grow, smart folks like Stefan aren’t waiting around for them to change their minds. Late last year Stefan got together with Redesign Inc. a local community development corporation that encourages all kinds of good green growth throughout Minneapolis. With a little help from these folks, and a whole lot of hard work Stefan has pushed the way forward for the development of Minneapolis’ first parking lot-covering urban farm.
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These organizations can help residents, neighborhoods, and groups in Minneapolis and St. Paul learn to live and grow sustainably!
Mother Earth Gardens: The best plant selection, locally owned, and expert organic advice. One stop garden shop!
Midtown Farmers Market: Shop for locally grown organic foods, and meet your farmers and neighbors!
Diamond Stone Oriental Medicine: Your first wealth is health. Treat your body with love, care, and expertise!
Sister's Camelot provides free organic food to folks in need throughout the Twin Cities!
Kids learn to grow, cook, and sell food. Sharing skills that will sustain for a lifetime!
Offering on-site energy and sustainability consultations for families, businesses, and non-profits in Minnesota!
Rainwater is not only the best water for your gardens, but it's free! Don't let another drop go to waste!
Gardening is not a rational act.
It takes someone with a great imagination to look at a barren blacktop lot and visualize a verdant veggie patch. I guess you could also say that anyone who thinks it’s a fun idea to turn a parking lot into a production farm is in no way afraid of hard work. A hardy work ethic and a bold imagination are two traits that seem to have helped Stefan Meyer’s city farming dreams come true.
What I see as I approach Growing Lots Urban Farm is astounding to my gardening sensibilities. I happen to know that due to concern over land use Stefan had to delay installation plans of not only his garden plants, but also all the soil for the garden until the end of June. For a garden that was built from the very ground up starting so late in the season, his results are more lush and fruitful then most gardens planted in May.
Stefan says that one of the secrets to his success is the soil mix. He worked with local businessman Peter Kern from Kern Landscaping in St. Paul to develop a mix that could not only sit on top of a thin landscaping fabric covering a parking surface, but could also pack enough fertility in only a foot of depth to make the garden plants happy and healthy. Stefan tells me that if he had a growing space that he could use for longer then a year or two, he would have worked the soil in a moderately different way. More akin to the style of legendary urban farmer Will Allen’s Growing Power planting method where blacktop is first covered with wood chips to create a barrier between the soil and the pavement that prevents roots from reaching the blacktop.
The late start to this season as well as a decidedly uncertain potential for next season’s growing space are both a result of what Stefan describes as the biggest challenge in creating an urban farm, land availability. While small lots can provide a decent living for farmers employing bio-intensive farming methods such as deep composting, companion planting, and the use of beneficial organisms, city land prices even for modest sized lots are unattainably high for almost any farmers’ budget. It seems that if cities are to take seriously the prospect of raising a large amount of food within city limits, state and local governments need to start subsidizing land costs for urban farmers instead of big box stores and stadiums.
Land availability is just one of the many challenges to having a successful urban farm. I’m sure most folks familiar with gardening in the city would be surprised to find that anything other then squirrels could present a greater challenge to an urban farmer, but rest assured, Stefan says squirrels are a close second on the list of challenges. Apparently squirrels are crazy for melons. Having his entire melon crop decimated was enough to make Stefan consider drastic action. I recommended getting young cats. I’ve had farm kittens that get transplanted and raised in the city work wonders at keeping squirrels, rabbits, and other urban vermin at bay. Of course Stefan’s farm isn’t right next to his house so the best options for now may be to attract a pride of strays or get some live traps set up and take his squirrels over to St. Paul like everyone else who catches squirrels in Minneapolis does.
Despite these challenges, Growing Lots is growing lots! The tomatoes and cucumbers are just starting to come in by the basketful while beets, chard, kale, basil, and salad greens have been producing practically since going in the ground. Stefan’s produce is sold before it’s even grown as he’s set his farm up in the community supported agriculture or CSA model. This season he’s packing produce boxes every Thursday to set aside for 7 lucky share purchasers to pick up. Share holders are treated to a wide variety of seasonally changing produce. Stefan says:
"Ideally (with a sufficient sized site) I would love to consistently have 30-40 shares of product being sold, but I would also like to get the farm system to the point where I had spring greens shares, then the summer full vegetable shares, and a fall extension share of greens and storage crops..."
Tomatoes ripening on the vine, bumble bees buzzing everywhere, and dragonflies zooming by overhead with downtown standing in the background, all of these are signs of success for an urban farmer like Stefan. It strikes me that perhaps Stefan’s biggest success this season though is in his creation of a fine example that we can all be inspired by.
“Heat exhaustion can sneak up on you in a parking lot!” Stefan laughs as he explains while we tour through his first season’s bountiful beds.
“I guess working 12 hours straight while the thermometer floats around 102 can really take its toll.”
I’m not sure that most folks I know would live to laugh off a workday such as this, but Stefan’s southern Minnesota farm raised smile doesn’t fade as he tells me that he decided he had better have half a day off after that one.
Thanks to Stefan’s dedicated work and undaunted imagination, folks in Minneapolis can clearly see that growing lots of food in the city is not only possible, but it’s also beautiful, fun, and good for us all.
Health, abundance, and beauty are all a part of the harvest at Growing Lots Urban Farm. Stefan's hard work and creative mind have helped him prove that the city is a great place to farm!
By covering such barren [lots] with greenery we are doing our small part in the redemption of God's Creation from the decay and sterility that lies all around us, and feeding ourselves with unpolluted food into the bargain. Some would term our efforts futile, but if all were to follow our example, what a change would be wrought on our beloved Planet! Much hard work still lies before us, but fear not, my Friends: for we shall move forward undaunted.
Stefan explains his ideas and methods to gardeners during the Food Justice Networking Coffee Hour held on a monthly basis. Click here to receive notifications of their monthly meetings! If you'd like to learn more about Stefan's fantastic farm and the work of other food and environmental justice workers, or if you'd like to share some of you're own super hero efforts come have a cup of coffee with the Minneapolis Food Justice Networking Group!
The funniest thing about squirrels, are humans outraged reactions to their garden thievery. I love how so many times I've been told when asking St. Paul residents where they take the squirrels they live trap.... "Across the river to Minneapolis!"
I'll give ya one guess where Minneapolis squirrel trappers confess to releasing their caged prizes... "Across the river in St. Paul of course!"
Is this some sort of animal relocation and confusion program?
If squirrels are your problem, don't live trap them and dump them on other gardeners neighborhoods, adopt a cat with sharp claws, or get a bb gun and start practicing your aim.
Where once was blacktop now tomatoes are growing! This is just the type of change welcome in a city hungry for homegrown health. Scroll down to find out more about Stefan’s fantastic farm and the amazing power each of us has to grow our city!
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For the greater Minneapolis area!
Stefan's Fantastic Farm
Excerpt from the highly recommended novel Year Of The Flood reprinted by permission of Margaret Atwood. From the novel THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD, ©2009 by O.W. Toad Ltd. Published by Doubleday in an Anchor Trade edition. Hymns also available on a music CD, ‘Hymns of the God’s Gardeners’ by Orville Stoeber and Margaret Atwood: EarthlyArkMusic.com. Visit THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD website at yearoftheflood.com
