To paraphrase co-owner Jade Townsend, The Black Radish name evokes punk rock energy for this artist-led urban market garden that supports a 50-member CSA in the heart of South Minneapolis’ Standish-Ericsson neighborhood. Artists Jade and Carrie Thompson started The Black Radish farm in 2018, which operates on their residential urban lot plus 15 of their neighbors' yards, eschewing green lawns for a staggering variety of edible fruits, vegetable and herbs. On August 14, the Twin Cities Metro Growers Network had the privilege to tour the neighborhood and learn from the growers themselves about how they manage this unique endeavor. For Carrie and Jade, their farm is more than a business; it's also a community art project that has brought neighborhood residents together while pushing the boundaries of how traditional residential yards can be used to grow food. Quite a lot of food, actually. In addition to supplying their CSA member neighbors with hyperlocal produce, they sell to a local restaurant and a weekly mobile food distribution site, run by The Sanneh Foundation, a hunger relief organization.
After a group discussion in Carrie and Jade's backyard (which also contains a small flock of hens), the crowd of 22 split in half to walk the neighborhood. In front yards and on boulevards, beautifully designed raised beds come in a patchwork of shapes, sizes and materials. Framed with wood panels or demarcated with red bricks, beds contain eggplant, Swiss chard, lettuces, cucumbers and greens of all kinds. Arched trellises six feet high train cucumbers to grow vertically. It is evident that the growers take a lot of care to keep the beds looking neat and tidy. After all, the various homeowners must approve of their appearance to keep lending their land to the effort. Jade's farming background is an asset when it comes to the pest management, irrigation and soil health aspects of the job. He's seeded cover crops in areas that aren't currently in production to conserve remaining nutrients in the soil and to prevent erosion over the winter.
Carrie, wearing a shirt that reads "Lawns are Dumb" talked about leading the charge to acquire a nearby lot that offers 12,000 square feet of vacant growing space. The apartment complex that currently owns the lot has exclusively offered it's sale to The Black Radish to continue their mission of growing food for the neighborhood. With this more growing space in one place, the growers can be more efficient in their day to day management as opposed to moving between plots sprawled over several blocks. The problem? The $300K urban lot is much higher than what the farmers' income can support. They are not alone. Access to land is one of the largest barriers to entry for urban and suburban farmers in the Twin Cities. Carrie and Jade have set up crowdfunding campaigns to help them raise enough funds to secure ownership of the land. They have raised almost a third of the cost so far, but have a long way yet to go. The growers are open to alternatives to ownership, like land trusts, and seek a partner that will keep the property in agricultural use indefinitely, with a succession of farmers stewarding the land in the long-term. The Black Radish is still searching for a way to make their vision of a permanent urban farm a reality for their Standish neighbors, who for their part have shown incredible support and encouragement to Carrie and Jade to keep going.