Jul

July Updates from Urban Roots

Announcing the Retirement of Patsy Noble

It is a season for new beginnings at Urban Roots. While I have never truly figured out how many years I have been involved here, my connection has been a long and winding road–full of challenges, generous and supportive partnerships, and amazing transformations. From a mishmash of elementary student interns in 1996 to the 78 youth employed this summer, Urban Roots has truly blossomed!

Our early vision started with a single garden and has grown into today’s three vibrant programs that support a thriving small farm business, the restoration of acres of local parkland and chef-led cultural cooking adventures. Along the way, we have learned and shared so much together about what it means to authentically engage our community. At the heart of our work, I’m proud of our steadfast commitment to empowering youth to realize the many benefits of growing fresh food and connecting with nature while sparking their interest in life-long stewardship of their community and the environment.

Over the years, we’ve sharpened our lens to confront social, economic, and racial disparities, but recognize there is much more Urban Roots can contribute to influencing systems change, from within and in our communities, so that youth will have greater equity and increased opportunities. We need the perspectives and voices of youth to lead the way.

Under the leadership of Hayley Ball, our new Executive Director, a dedicated board and remarkable staff including 7 alumni this year, I look forward to applauding their successes, grateful that my next chapter is seeded with all that I have learned from them. Get to know Hayley Ball in a fun cooking video she made!

Thank you to our partners, community members, donors, interns and their families for your support of our mission—we couldn’t do it without you! SeeSay, one of our amazing youth interns, best sums up the Urban Roots experience:

“This place is not like working at a [store]. It’s not random, it’s a community of people who know better, and full of people who are here for a reason. You don’t just come here to get money, or it’s not just a youth job, it’s a lifestyle where your work benefits you, your community, and the environment.”

Best Wishes – Patsy Noble

Youth Summer Program Updates

Conservation Program:
…And we’re off! The Conservation Crew is in full swing with summer programming! Our youth interns are continuing restoration work at Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, where their focus for the summer will be removing invasive plants, such as crown vetch, thistles, burdock, spotted knapweed, and reed canary grass. On their first day, they ended up filling four trailers with crown vetch! Next up was Willowbrook, where we planted over a thousand trees and shrubs over the last year. The intern’s goal this summer will be to monitor the new plantings and to keep the buckthorn in-check.

This summer is also the roll-out of Conservation’s Green Your Mind educational program, where each week the interns will spend time really digging into ecological concepts fundamental to their work. This week they participated in an “Amazing Race-like” activity exploring what makes Minnesota’s 3 biomes unique. We are grateful for the training interns received from National Park Service’s Ranger Lauren at Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, where they learned techniques for putting together an engaging and informative tour of the parks. In the weeks to come, the interns will be putting together videos about unique aspects of the parks that we work in and digging into what interests them in the outdoors. This summer interns will continue to work hard in the parks, while learning about the plants that surround them, the history of the land they’re working on, and the long-term impact they make through the daily restoration work that they do.

Market Garden Program:

Summer is in full gear as warm-season crops ripen up- with tomatoes, hot and sweet peppers, eggplant and summer squash flooding our coolers and making their way to kitchen tables in East Saint Paul. Joining the bounty: maturing onions, garlic hung to cure, and potatoes ready to be dug. It’s hard to believe that we’re already harvesting storage crops that we’ll be distributing well into autumn.

Witnessing increased food insecurity as a result of Covid-19 and the social unrest in the Twin Cities, we looked for a way to respond to the needs of our East St. Paul community. Hearing from participants and neighbors about their obstacles to obtaining fresh, healthy food and household supplies moved us to respond in June with a week of food and essentials distribution. We’re now focusing on weekly fresh produce and essential supply giveaway to interns and their families – our first giveaway was this past weekend! Interns have been busy organizing and packing bags for all 78 recipients each week under the guidance of Cook Fresh Alumni Tajah Tempest and Food Access Coordinator, Emma Harrison. To supplement our own produce, we’re buying produce from BIPOC farmers in and around the Twin Cities who don’t have access to their typical markets due to Covid-19. The other way we’ve addressed food insecurity in East Saint Paul is by working with our Youth Council to expand our community garden at our Rivoli Bluff Farm and Restoration Site, doubling the growing space for neighbors who are busy getting crops in the ground!

Although a lot of our excess produce is going to our intern families, we’ve also begun bringing produce to our partners at CLUES (Comunidades Latinas Unidos en Servicio)who have been helping community members access fresh produce throughout the spring and summer. After working with them this spring to design and install a new community garden outside of their offices, we’re excited to expand our partnership.

Because we are redirecting our produce to distribution for intern families and community partners, we won’t be involved in the farmer’s market or retail distribution. This will also give us some flexibility with our CSA program, and we’re looking to add a six-week, late-summer CSA share. We’re also excited about some special one-off box options for people who want to do some more cooking with fresh vegetables from our gardens-thinking ratatouille and pizza for starters! Last but not least, keep your eye out for a Fall Share option for more of our storage crops as the weather cools down!

Cook Fresh Program:
Cook Fresh has hit the kitchen running with new recipes, culinary and nutritional sessions, and cooking videos. Program Manager Saba Andualem is continuing her virtual cooking classes in partnership with East Side Table and soon with the American Indian Family Center, focusing on traditional foods and recipes. Cook Fresh has also teamed up with the Masters of Public Health program at the U of M and is working with a nutritionist twice-weekly on lessons paired with a recipe the interns will prepare. Interns are also creating recipes and video content for the Seed Crew, new interns who will be working virtually this summer. Cook program is also working with chefs Lachelle Cunningham, Heather Jansz, Sean Sherman, and Jametta Raspberry, all have generously agreed to create teaching videos for virtual cooking classes-we so appreciate their contributions!

Another great opportunity for interns comes via our partnership with Roots for the Home Team. Interns from all three programs are working in restaurant Octo’s kitchen creating salads they will distribute to essential workers in our community-thanks Roots for including us in this important work!