Little by little, Todd County adds local food production

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Dave Peters' October 18 post on Local Food, Global Hunger, reported on a panel discussion at the University of Minnesota. Their conclusion: "The world's food producers are, by and large, small landholders, and they will be the keys to solving hunger shortages, through using better seed and finding better practices. That may be a quite different question than selling beef or potatoes to the affluent at a downtown Minneapolis farmers market. But somehow it seems that local might answer a bigger question than we thought."

With the emphasis on local food producers, I've been looking at a variety of forms of local food production: three raised beds as part of a school's summer recreation program, a school-initiated community garden, a community-based plotted garden, a community-based program growing food for a food shelf and the Amish Country Co-op.

After hearing a presentation by the Farm of Plenty from Randall, Vickie Thompson, coordinator of Verndale's summer recreation program, was inspired to create a garden growing activity for the kids in grades K-6. The school's shop class built three raised beds adjacent to the school's parking lot. With donated seeds and plants as well as a grant from SHIP (Statewide Health Improvement Program) the kids learned about growing everything from beans to pumpkins. Wadena County U of M Extension educator Donna Anderson visited the program twice a week for most of the summer to teach the kids about nutrition and how to eat both raw and cooked produce from the garden. The kids were excited about growing food and got extra exercise by toting gallon jugs of water to regularly water their garden.

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Though Bertha's school initiated their community garden project, they took an entirely different approach. Jean Shaw served as the mover and shaker after talking with SHIP's Katherine Mackedanz, who told her about the funding that was available to start a community garden. Shaw's plans were big because plenty of school property was sitting right there ready to till.

She thought an acre would be about right. After walking the football field to get a better idea of how big an acre is, she opted for a half acre for the first year. Shaw enlisted the help of her family, master gardeners, community members, the local garden club, classes in the school and the after school childcare kids to plant and care for the garden.

Produce grown in the garden was used in classes, to augment school snacks. Some of the 1,500 peppers harvested, along with tomatoes and onions, were cooked up into salsa. Yukon Gold potatoes awaited distribution while turnips and brussel sprouts awaited harvest in mid October. Workers took vegetables home and the school kids learned about nutrition and food preparation from the garden project.

Long Prairie's community garden took a more traditional tack with 15 equal sized plots, each with its own water spigot, rented out to individuals and groups. The $25 fee covered the cost of water, fertilizer, mowing around the plots and clean-up. The initial effort of getting agreement from the church that owned the property, plotting out and digging the soil, and installing the irrigation was undertaken by interested individuals and the local Economic Development Authority. A SHIP grant, cash donations and in-kind support funded the project. The gardens were planted and harvested according to individual preferences. The Long Prairie Elementary School and St. Mary's School each had a plot of their own. Students worked in the gardens and teachers took produce back to the classrooms to use as they wanted.

"We wanted to offer a canning class but that didn't happen," said Lyle Danielson of the EDA. "Some of the gardeners may have frozen or canned what they grew but probably most of it was for summer time use. It isn't just about the food. It's about building community, too; people getting to know each other including the four Hispanic families that had plots."

Putting picnic tables in the area was a friendly gesture to encourage visiting among the gardeners. A small open-sided shed to be built next year will offer shade and shelter for picnics.

The Soul Patch, a community garden in Little Falls, was initiated by Erik Warner in 2009. A parcel of empty land sat next door to the Morrison County Food Shelf. Warner decided it was the perfect place for a garden to grow food for distribution through the food shelf. The land was owned by the Bethel Lutheran Church which agreed to allow the parcel to be used for a garden. Warner, his family and everyone he could encourage to get involved helped with the garden. Gardeners harvested 2,009 pounds of produce the first year and 2,026 pounds this growing season. The U of M Extension Service offered classes on how to use the different kinds of food as they matured. Flyers distributed at the food shelf promoted the classes to those who received the food. (See a tip sheet for starting a similar project)

The Amish Country Co-op at Bertha markets produce grown in separate farms of the Amish Community. Longtime experienced gardeners, the Amish generally marketed their produce from roadside displays. Moving them into a building made the shopping experience better for both producers and shoppers. The food is grown locally and delivered to the co-op throughout the day during the growing season.

Farmers markets throughout the area offer additional shopping options. It's difficult to ascertain precisely what portion of food eaten in the county is produced here. Certainly all of the new gardens impact food needs in the area. It's clear from the examples above, though, that one person can make a difference. Individual efforts may indeed be the key to solving food shortages.

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