Urban CSA in Standish provides neighborhood with locally-grown food

Urban farm movement growing in Twin Cities

by Tesha M. Christensen

The number of urban farms is rapidly growing. Corinne Bruning, who runs an urban farm with her partner Justin Wells at the corner of Standish Ave. and 38^th St., estimates that there are between 15-20 urban farms in the Twin Cities area.

“I think a lot of people look at vacant space in the city and say there could be something beautiful and abundant in this space,” Bruning said.

The size of these urban farms runs the gamut, from people providing shares to two friends to those who have lots of space and sell to 60 people.

With the economic downtown, Bruning saw a growing movement of young people who decided to re-school and learn about farming. “A lot of us have a pretty large disconnect with food,” said the 30-year-old. “The local food movement is all about reconnecting with food and growing food for survival. I think that people don’t want to be so distant from that anymore.”

People want to know what’s in their food, as well. When they buy a jar of strawberries in the grocery store, they want it to be just strawberries without additives. To get that much control over their food, people are growing and canning their own, pointed out Bruning. “I know everything that comes into my body,” said Bruning.

It’s a marked change from her parent’s generation. With the rise in supermarkets, the generation ahead of her decided it was easier to shop for food than to grow it, Bruning observed. They had been forced to work the farms of their parents, and they decided they didn’t want that anymore.

Bruning experienced that disconnect with her food until her family moved back to South Dakota when her dad retired from the military.  Up until then, they had moved around too much to plant a garden. However, she did plant her first seeds – morning glories – while they lived in Japan. In eighth grade, she became close to her grandma, a woman who had grown up on a farm, slaughtered her own animals, and always had a garden.

“When I moved to the Midwest, everyone had rhubarb in their yard. It was a whole new thing,” stated Bruning.

A NEIGHBORHOOD FARM

Brunings, who has a background in community organizing, and Wells, who has a background in the restaurant industry, began Jack Dog Farms last year on land they lease from acupuncturist Sabrina Miller. In 2013, Jack Dog Farms provided 12 CSA shares. This year, it doubled to 24. More than 70% of the shares go to people who live in the area. In 2015, they hope to add two dropsites, one in St. Paul and another in Apple Valley.

Last year, they built a fence with a trellis around the edges of the yard, and worked to enrich the soil by adding 2 inches of compost across the entire ¼-acre lot. They continue to dig up a lot of garbage from the time the land was vacant – the primary source of pollution they deal with. Near the road, they grow sunflowers because they help to pull up heavy metals from the soil. In other areas of the yard, they have comfrey plants, a dynamic nutrient accumulator the cut down and till in because it helps enrich the soil. They filter the water they use, although this year they’ve been able to rely mostly on rainwater.

Bruning envisions a wall of raspberries along the road that neighbors can help themselves to. This year, they also plan to plant boulevard gardens to attract more pollinators.

Everyone who walks by their farm comments on the garden. “That’s really motivating,” said Bruning. “We really want to be a neighborhood farm,” she said.

RURAL VS. URBAN FARMING

Last year, Bruning and Wells earned the Urban Farming Certification from the Permaculture Research Institute Cold Climate, a non-profit organization in Minneapolis. They were linked with a mentor, Courtney Tchida, who runs the Cornocopia Student Organic Farm at the University of Minnesota. “She helped us figure out our planting plan to have X amount of veggies by a certain week so that we would be able to provide for our CSA,” said Bruning.

Jack Dog Farms isn’t able to become organically certified because so much of their land is too close to the road. Bruning doesn’t want to see organic certification going down in quality, but she does think it’s not keeping in line with the urban farming movement. “What can we do differently so that we can organically certify urban spaces?” she asked. Until things change, they make sure they are as transparent as possible.

Urban farmers are more concerned about space than rural farmers, and because of that, Jack Dog Farms uses intensive spacing when they plant. There is a lot of interplay between different plants that are growing together. They don’t plant in straight lines or rectangles, either, but instead use curvilinear lines, which makes the garden more pleasing to look at and provides them with more space.

“Eventually we want to do some community art on the space to beautify it for ourselves and the neighborhood,” Bruning said.

EXPANSION

This year, they expanded at a second location in Prior Lake, leasing ¾ of an acre from their permaculture instructor. The land came with a hoop house that they used for most of their tomato plants this year. “We’re trying to see what it’s like,” said Bruning. “They’re huge and have tons of tomatoes on them already.”

Bruning and Wells hope to find more land to expand to in south Minneapolis, in part because they live in the Powderhorn neighborhood and appreciate being able to bike to the farm. While some people have offered their yards, they’ve found that most yards simply don’t have enough sunshine because of the number of trees in Minneapolis. Instead, they’re hoping to partner with a larger property owner, such as Standish Greens, and convert lawn to garden to create growing space for food for the community.

“This is a lot prettier than a swath of grass,” said Bruning.

Last month, Jack Dog Farms hosted a lacto-fermention skillshare. Bruning noted that they plan to continue offering informational classes like this. Check their web site (jackdogfarms.com) or their Facebook page for upcoming events. In August, they hope to open a farm stand on 38^th St.

In the long-term, Bruning dreams of living in an intentional community, a place where they grow enough food to feed those who live there, as well as visitors. She wants to homestead and be self-sufficient. She envisions hosting retreats and weddings.

“We want to be rural eventually,” said Bruning. “We’re hoping to connect with more people who are interested in doing that and bringing in more partners.”