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 38th 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 38th
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.”
