HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 06-08 Inch by inch, row by row, community activists made this garden grow PIONEER PRESS6/8/2016
NEWS
Multicultural community brings Rice Street Gardens to life
Inch by inch, row by row, community
activists made this garden grow
Kairein fainnHy INaw En En, Ipu.nlls weed as dad Saw Way Inoc ds th&r 2 year old soin Saw Il itoo whHe they work th61r
gairdein at the Wce Street Coinninnuinfty Gairdein beNind McCarron's Pub oin Wce Stireet fin llSapl ewood oin 11 nuirsday,
�May 26, 201.6. IKaireinpeqp�e do not (have suirinainnes, each nainne Ib61 ng i coir less uinfque to that Ipeirsoin.
(P� o in ee ir P ir ess: J o n in Au tey)
By IIMkJ "OKS 1'1''°10M I mbeckstrom@pioneerpress.com
June 7, 2016 1 UPDATED: 16 hours ago
The tomatoes have barely flowered, but the new Rice Street Community Garden can already boast a bountiful
harvest of goodwill.
hftp://www.twincities.com/2016/06/07/inch-by-inch-row-by-row-community-activists-made-this-garden-grow/ 1/4
6/8/2016
Multicultural community brings Rice Street Gardens to life
A year ago, weeds covered much of the northeast corner of Rice Street and Roselawn Avenue, just east over the
Roseville border in Maplewood. This spring, through the effort of volunteers and a St. Paul church, the large lot
ringed by cottonwood trees is neatly divided into 230 plats planted with potatoes, chard, tomatoes, herbs and
vegetables as varied as the people who planted them.
Now the goals of reclaiming unused urban land, growing food and building neighborhoods are being met.
On a warm early summer evening, recent Karen refugees from southeast Asia tend chilies alongside church kids
who built a trellis of tree branches for climbing beans. A group of 3M employees have taken over the eastern plats,
and raised planting beds are getting built for people in wheelchairs.
The new garden is among the newest and largest of about 550 community gardens in the Twin Cities, according to
Minneapolis-based nonprofit Gardening Matters, which was founded several years ago as an advocacy group and
clearinghouse. In five years, the number of community gardens in the Twin Cities has nearly doubled, said Executive
Director Susan Phillips.
"I think people are increasingly interested in food system issues and growing their awn vegetables," she said. "And
doing it in a community context where they can build relationships with their neighbors."
The roots of Rice Street Gardens lie in Katheryn Schneider's driving patterns. A farmer project manager with Wells
Fargo, Schneider quit herjob a few years ago to devote herself to environmental activism. She regularly drives up
Rice Street from her St. Paul home and noticed when some greenhouses were tarn dawn.
"Everywhere I drive and see vacant land I think oh, `we should be growing food there! " Schneider said. After a for -
sale sign appeared and then disappeared, she discovered the land had been purchased by St. Paul Regional Water
Services, which runs the McCarrons water treatment plantjust south of Roselawn Avenue. The water department
bought the entire parcel north of Roselawn for $2.5 million, including wetlands and a farmer nursery. It has no
immediate expansion plans, so the water board is allowing the gardeners to use two acres behind McCarron's Pub
and Grill for at least two years, free of charge.
Schneider found garden allies haphazardly, like a gourd spreading vines in all directions. Across the street, Galilee
Lutheran Church was considering putting a community garden on its property. Dozens of congregations in the Twin
Cities have turned their lawns into garden space for recent refugees, but some Galilee members weren't ready to
give up their landscaping.
"So this was perfect," said longtime Galilee member Ran Peterson, a retired Honeywell executive from Shoreview.
Galilee became the garden's fiscal agent, and Peterson has donated money and countless hours to the effort.
http://www.twi nciti es.com/2016/06/07/i nch-by-i nch-row-by-row-comm unity -activists -m ade-this-garden-grow/ 2/4
6/8/2016
Multicultural community brings Rice Street Gardens to life
"I don't garden," he said. "I knew nothing about vegetables. But it's a super fun project and really goad for my
health."
Peterson mowed paths for eight hours on a recent weekday, and earlier this spring mapped each 16X20 plat
with satellite computer images. He hit five Mena rds stares to buy 500 stakes and then platted the garden with a
handful of helpers and big balls of twine.
Athird key volunteer got involved in the hope of resolving friction between Minnesota's newest wave of refugees
from southeast Asia and longtime Roseville homeowners. Sherry Sanders is president of the Lake McCarron's
Neighborhood Association in Roseville. She had spent fruitless months on a city task farce charged with finding a
site for a community garden near apartment buildings at Larpenteur Avenue and Rice Street, where many Karen
refugees have settled.
"The Karen came from place of survival where they're used to hunting and foraging for food," said Sanders. "They're
going into some people's yards and harvesting perennials and vegetables to eat."
She hopes the garden gives Karen families a place to grow food and nurtures tolerance. "There are lots of people in
the community who don't appreciate these different faces moving into our community," she said. "I believe if they
could learn more about these new people they could be more willing to accept them."
Over the past 12 months, Schneider, Peterson and Sanders convinced the city of Maplewood to grant the garden a
conditional use permit. They contacted refugee resettlement agencies, signed up gardeners and ran orientation
meetings. Schneider wanted to hand dig trenches for the water lines, but they ended up fallowing Peterson's advice
and hired a contractor to run underground hoses to a half dozen water tanks scattered around the garden.
McCarron's Pub is letting the garden use water from its well for free. The city of Roseville drops off compost every
Friday. Volunteers tracked dawn tools and lawn mowers on Craig's List and held workdays to clear weeds and
concrete rubble.
"None of us work," laughed Schneider. "We could never have gotten this done if we'd had jabs." None of the three
are actually gardening at Rice Street Gardens either. "Oh gash no," said Schneider. "We have way too much work to
do."
"And we have our awn yards," added Sanders. "We wouldn't want to take a spat from a family that wanted to get
in."
http://www.twi nciti es.com/2016/06/07/i nch-by-i nch-row-by-row-comm unity -activists -m ade-this-garden-grow/ 3/4
6/8/2016
Multicultural community brings Rice Street Gardens to life
On a recent warm evening, Saw Wah and Naw Eh Eh were planting tomatoes, peppers and cabbage in long hills of
dark soiI,just like their grandparents had farmed in Burma.
"This makes me feel so goad," said Naw Eh Eh, testing out the English he's learning. "I make new friends. We help
each other." He held a sleeping toddler on his shoulder while his wife attacked thistles with a trowel. Speaking
through an interpreter, he explained that they had arrived in Minnesota a few months ago from a refugee camp in
Malaysia. He heard about the garden from a caseworker at the resettlement agency International Institute of
Minnesota in St. Paul. After surviving the isolation of their first Minnesota winter, they were happy to get outside.
Nearby, in a plat half shaded from the evening sun by cottonwood trees, Patricia Rieger of St. Paul was planting
potatoes in woad boxes, just like her grandmother had planted them. She also had cucumbers, chard, catnip, Thai
basil and rosemary.
"And we went nuts on heirloom tomatoes," said Rieger. She is gardening with Kathy Thomas, who she met last year
in an alcohol treatment program.
"We needed a saber project," said Rieger. She works during the school year as a chef at a sorority and sports a chef's
knife tattoo on her leftforearm. "Gardening has been a big part of my life. And Kathy laves food."
"Nat to be hokey, but it symbolizes our growth," said Thomas, as she watered limp tomatoes. Thomas left herjob as
a financial officer at an architectural firm "looking for a much a simpler life," and bath women were already
enjoyingthe camaraderie of the garden.
"Even seeing haw different ethnic groups build their gardens is so interesting," said Rieger. "Same people mound
the sail. Some trench. I can't wait to see the different foods everyone grows. I think we can learn so much from each
other."
Maja Beckstrom covers nonprofit organizations for the Pioneer Press. She was hired as a religion reporter, spent a
few years covering poverty, and recently wrote her last Pioneer Press Family Outings column,because her teenager
started complaining about hanging out with her. She's wan awards, including a Premack for her year-long series
about a grandmother and four children struggling through the aftermath of a domestic violence homicide. She has
also swung on a trapeze in the name of journalism.
http://www.twi nciti es.com/2016/06/07/i nch-by-i nch-row-by-row-comm unity -activists -m ade-this-garden-grow/ 4/4