Fostering Strong Roots in Urban Agriculture

In the United States, kids, especially city kids, are profoundly disconnected from the basic human process of growing and preparing food. Food comes from a store – or drive-thru – and involves money changing hands. The hunting, gathering, planting, tending, harvesting, milling, and cooking of foods are acts invisible, unimaginable, and hands-off for most kids.
But not these kids!

Youth Farm and Market Project (YFMP) began in 1995 in the Lyndale Neighborhood of South Minneapolis. City youth, ages nine through sixteen, grow produce on garden plots in their neighborhoods. “While you will also find them playing basketball and soccer, jumping rope, and watching TV, for three days a week in the summer, these youth are urban farmers,” says Karen Lehman, YFMP’s former co-director. They till the soil, plant seeds, and fertilize, water and weed their crops. While they mostly grow greens for mesclun and braising mixes, they also grow:

• tomatoes
• onion
• strawberries
• mint
• peas
• parsley
• and flowers

A Diverse Experience

Growing the food is just half the story. On Saturdays, the youth take turns bringing their produce to farmer’s markets in their neighborhoods and selling their goods to their neighbors. On a typical Saturday, in three neighborhoods in Minneapolis and St. Paul, the YFMP kids become budding entrepreneurs. While they joke and play between sales, as soon as a customer steps up to the stand, they are all business with “Hello! May we help you?” The youth answer questions, weigh produce, take money, give change, and politely thank their customers. “We really work with the youth to help them build their skills and their confidence in those skills,” notes Molly Van Avery, the director of the Powderhorn YFMP program.

During YFMP’s first year, there were ten kids involved in the program. They sold produce at two markets and made nearly $500 in sales. In 2000, there were 227 kids participating; they sold at ten markets; and sales totaled $13,000. Currently, YFMP has programs in the Lyndale and Powderhorn neighborhoods of Minneapolis and on the West Side of St. Paul. They have developed over an acre of urban farmland on land made available by churches, school, public housing sites, and the city.

Of obvious importance to the success of YFMP in that the youth like the program. “It’s fun!” says Lakisha. “My favorite part is when I help people,” she adds. “I like working and meeting people,” says Erick. And Michael, age nine, says, “I like the money!” The youth get a five dollar stipend per day for their participation in the program.

Our Own Lunch

“YFMP’s work has evolved from a focus on urban agriculture toward a more holistic focus on food and health,” explains Karen. Take the Global Kids program, launched in 1999. By integrating farming and cooking arts from five cultural roots (Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America) kids develop a more personal connection with the food they eat and gain a better understanding of their peers. Youth grow foods from these cultures and then work with chefs and parents from these five traditions to learn about how different cultures use the food they grow.

Kids have cooked with local chef Lucia Watson in her Minneapolis restaurant, with Jenny Breen from the Good Life Café, and chefs from Chiang Mai Thai, D’Amico Cucina, and other notable Twin Cities restaurants. Youth developed their own cookbook under the guidance of parent volunteers.

Inspired by the positive experience, the kids now cook their own lunches as part of the program. Working with a cook and using their own harvest when possible, they take turns making a variety of dishes for the rest of the youth. Fare includes traditional Hmong and Mexican dishes such as tamales, rice soup, eggrolls, Fa Kao, enchiladas, and mole’, as well as more familiar dishes like tacos and sandwiches. Youth explore and ask questions about the other cultures’ cooking. “A kid will say ‘I never though I would, but I really loved those eggrolls!’ or ‘those tamales that your Mom taught us how to make were good – she’s a great cook,’” notes Karen.

Bridging the urban-rural divide, YFMP also collaborates with Philadelphia Community Farm (PCF) in Osceola, Wisconsin and Wilder Forest in Somerset to give these YFMP city kids a rural farming experience. YFMP kids travel in groups of ten to the farms and spend three days learning to milk cows, make butter and yogurt, corral sheep, load hay, harvest vegetables, set up irrigation lines and make potting soil. They also cook their own meals, go swimming in the St. Croix River, walk in the woods at twilight, and have bonfires.

Like seeds germinating underground, the long-term impacts of this program are yet to be seen. These kids are gaining an understanding of food and nutrition that most kids, and many adults, lack. They also are learning useful skills about work and business. Who knows, maybe one of them will be the next great chef, choose farming for a profession, or be a successful business person. At the very least, these youth have a good time growing, selling and eating food. Through this program, YFMP plants and nurtures more that one kind of seed.