Backyard Harvest News and Events: What's Growing On?

Urban Farms Offer Solutions

MINNEAPOLIS, March 3, 2010— With its goals of expanding the local foodshed in the Twin Cities and providing urban dwellers with more access to fresh produce and the skills to grow it, the Backyard Harvest Program kicks off its second growing season.

"I'm excited that our program has been so well-received and that most of our garden participants are returning this year," says Urban Farm Manager Stefan Meyer. The program is expected to double in size, with a capacity of 30 urban backyard gardens for 2010. New options this year include perennial vegetable and fruit beds, as well as hourly coaching.

"My Backyard Harvest garden has literally changed my life,” enthuses Katie Simonton, a 2009 customer who has already signed up for a second season. “I'm eating better, cooking more, and feeling the joy of simply watching my food grow. I love it!"

In addition to a diverse, beautiful garden installed and tended by a knowledgeable urban farmer, plus the weekly harvest of fresh veggies, herbs, and edible flowers, customers reap a variety of other benefits. According to the program’s 2009 summary report, “learning about gardening techniques, plant varieties & cooking with fresh produce were important parts of this experience. Garden-owners also report having made related changes in their lives such as connecting more with their neighbors, buying other locally produced products & becoming more adventurous in their cooking & eating.”

Backyard Harvest is a program of the Twin Cities-based non-profit organization PRI Cold Climate. In keeping with the program’s broader mission to “connect eaters directly to their food, neighbors to one another, and urban farmers to professional opportunities,” PRI Cold Climate is offering a series of classes on different aspects of Urban Farming this Spring. To see the list of upcoming classes, visit http://www.pricoldclimate.org.

An exciting new addition to the Backyard Harvest program in 2010 is the Rivertown Commons Project. Backyard Harvest has designed and will install a garden at this large housing complex in the Frogtown neighborhood of Saint Paul. Residents of diverse ethnic backgrounds (many of them immigrants) will share the harvest, collectively follow the garden through the seasons, and come together around delicious food.

"Sharing knowledge, skills and fresh food is an important part of our overall mission of growing a sustainable urban food system," says Backyard Harvest Coordinator Krista Leraas. "We hold that access to healthy food is a basic human right."

Those interested in finding out more about having a Backyard Harvest garden are encouraged to contact Krista at harvest@pricoldclimate.org to arrange for a free consultation.

Reflecting on 2009

Can you believe that it was just one year ago that a few of us at PRI Cold Climate started to really dig into the idea of piloting a program in urban agriculture & permaculture? My goodness how a year can fly by! Since those October days, we have seen Backyard Harvest take root & blossom.

After hiring three outstanding urban farmers, our team set out to grow a diverse array of vegetables, herbs & edible flowers for 15 South Minneapolis households. These garden-owners came with a wide variety of garden experiences, expectations & income levels. Some sought to learn gardening skills by following along with their farmer while others were just getting started with gardening & cooking fresh seasonal foods. So what did they think?

According to our end-of-season survey, for garden-owners the experience of having a garden in their yards ranked right up there with receiving high quality, fresh produce. Learning about gardening techniques, plant varieties & cooking with fresh produce were important parts of this experience. Garden-owners also report having made related changes in their lives such as connecting more with their neighbors, buying other locally produced products & becoming more adventurous in their cooking & eating. Garden-owners were overwhelmingly in favor of recommending Backyard Harvest to their friends, family & neighbors. In fact, many have told us that they have already done so!

Big thanks goes out to our three wonderful farmers: Seth Schlotterbeck, Stefan Meyer & Grayce Backstrom. Their admirable passion & skill made this positive experience possible. While we will miss Seth as he goes off to work again for Easy Bean Farm, a CSA in west central Minnesota, & we will miss Grayce as she goes on to develop her own Backyard Harvest-inspired business in Colorado, we are happy that Stefan will be sticking around the Twin Cities & look forward to working with him in 2010.

Thanks for your support of our fledgling program! If you have questions or comments about the program, contact Krista Leraas at harvest@pricoldclimate.org. We also invite you to follow along on our blog: http://backyardharvest.wordpress.com.

Backyard Harvest 2010 Information Sessions

If you are interested in having a Backyard Harvest garden in your yard, becoming a farmer or volunteer, or simply in learning more about our program, please come to a FREE information session or visit our table at a farmers' market. We would love to meet you!

• Oct 17, 2009 - Mill City Farmer's Market
• Oct 18, 2009 - Kingfield Farmer's Market
• Oct 19, 2009, 7pm - Info Session at Butter Bakery and Café, 3544 Grand Ave, Minneapolis
• Oct 21, 2009, 6pm - Info Session at Urban Earth Co-op, 910 West 36th St, Minneapolis
• Oct 22, 2009, 7pm - Info Session at Fireroast Mountain Cafe, 3800 37th Ave S, Minneapolis
• Oct 23, 2009 - table at Fresh screening at Southwest High School
• Oct 24, 2009 - Midtown Farmer's Market
• Oct 25, 2009 - Kingfield Farmer's Market
• Oct 26, 2009, 7pm - Info Session at Linden Hills Park & Rec Building, 3100 W 43rd St., Minneapolis

Articles about Backyard Harvest

Keep up with news (and photos) directly from customers, farmers & staff on our new blog!

Articles about Backyard Harvest:

• June 5, 2009 - "Farming out the Backyard" in Minneapolis StarTribune
• May 18, 2009 - "Backyard Farming" in Southwest Journal
• May 3, 2009 - "Ultra Local Produce: Backyard Harvest farms small urban plots" in Minneapolis Observer Quarterly
• April 9 , 2009 - "Local food, one yard at a time - Backyard Harvest in your own backyard" in Twin Cities Daily Planet
• March 2009 - "Putting the soil to work" in Longfellow Nokomis Messenger (PDF file, 2.6 MB)

Other places where we've been mentioned:

• One of our customers, local pastry chef & cookbook author Zoë Francois, periodically blogs about her BH garden.
• May 5, 2009 - Star Tribune
• April 23, 2009 - You Are Where You Eat (blog)
• April 22, 2009 - The Bridge
• April 8, 2009 - Minnesota Energy Challenge website
• April 2009 - Uptown Neighborhood News (PDF file, 3.1 MB)
• March 6, 2009 - Corcoran Neighborhood Advocate
• March 2009 - Longfellow Community Council Insider
• Spring 2009 - Kingfield News (PDF file, 1.1 MB)

Backyard Harvest Presentation at the Minneapolis Home and Gardening Show:

Stop by the Minneapolis Home and Gardening Show on March 7th and learn more about the Backyard Harvest Program. The presentation will be at the Garden Theatre stage. 

When: Saturday March 7th, 4:30pm

Where: Minneapolis Convention Center (directions and shuttle locations)

Click for a complete list of the Garden Theatre presentations

Backyard Harvest Fundraiser: Thank you to all who attended!

Our first program fundraiser was Monday February 9th; it was a packed house, a great success and simply fun. Thank you to everyone who helped make this event happen and to all those who attended. The goal for fundraising for the program in 2009 is $20,000. We began the night starting with 14% of the year's goal and by the end of the event increased our proceeds to 32% of the year's goal. We still have a good ways to go, but are off to a wonderful start for the year! 

The bluegrass music by Light of the Moon, was lively and a perfect fit for the evening. The good folks at Merlin's Rest Pub were very accomodating, serving up quality fare and ale. People attended from neighborhoods all over the Twin Cities, bringing their energy, excitement, ideas, support, money, and good will.

Our silent auction was a hit and included diverse items such as legal services, shiitake logs, crystal glassware, tools, landscaping services, local honey, homemade granola, pottery, and more. Thank you to everyone who donated silent auction items and to those who purchased them. If you have any questions about items you may have won at the silent auction, please contact Geoff at boeder.geoff[at]gmail.com.

Backyard Harvest's Informational Open House (A Success!)

Thank you to all who attended the January 8th Backyard Harvest Open House! We are overjoyed with the exuberant attendance and response to the program. We received valuable feedback about the program, connected with many who are interested in having backyard farms, being farmers or wanting to volunteer with us on the program.

If you missed the Open House and want to know more, please send us a note via the Backyard Harvest contact form. This list will receive the latest updates on the program.

As requested, we are making the powerpoint available. Please note this does not include the majority of info we discuss verbally in our presentations.

Announcing Krista Leraas as the Backyard Harvest Coordinator

Krista Leraas comes to PRI Cold Climate with nearly a decade of work dedicated to the field of sustainability, with experience ranging from organic farming to nonprofit programming. She holds a Master's degreein Culture, Ecology & Sustainable Community & is a certified Permaculture Designer. Currently, she teaches an online introduction to sustainability & community design at the Minneapolis College of Artand Design.

Krista is an ardent supporter of a resilient network of food producers, processors, purveyors and educated eaters, for mutual support and benefit. She is excited to see more people eating food from their own yards with the help of Backyard Harvest!