What do you picture when you hear the word “farm”? If you know the song about Old MacDonald and his farm, you might picture a big red barn in the country with cows, chicken, and sheep (“E-I-E-I-O”). But I want to tell you about a different kind of farm. This kind of farm is in the city, surrounded by busy streets and tall buildings. There are no animals on this farm—just lots of vegetables. And lots of kids.
In Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, kids ages 9 to 13 are farming with the Youth Farm and Market Project (Youth Farm, for short). There are three Youth Farms, in three neighborhoods, and they are all different. In all of them, kids learn to grow food and feed their communities.
But that’s not all kids do at Youth Farm. Neighborhood director Zoe Sommers-Haas told me about an average day in the Powderhorn Youth Farm community. The day starts the way any good day should—with games! After that, some kids go to the garden to learn about growing food. Other kids go to the kitchen to help cook a homemade lunch for everyone. The group gets back together at noon to share lunch and relax. In the afternoon, everyone gets into small groups. Some kids help paint a mural, while others write poetry. Kids feeling a bit more active can choose to learn about biking in the city.
As you can imagine, Powderhorn Youth Farmers have a lot of fun. A big part of Youth Farm is about inviting others to share the fun. So in the summer, Youth Farmers sell the tasty vegetables they grow to their neighbors at a farmers’ market. At the end of the summer, they invite the whole neighborhood to a harvest festival, where everyone eats amazing food and enjoys performances by the kids.
Youth Farmers look forward to Harvest Festival for one more reason: the Compost Cup. Compost is something used to make soil better for growing food. All summer, Youth Farmers add to their neighborhood compost when they work in the garden. Zoe explained that “hot compost is healthy compost.” So at Harvest Festival, the Compost Cup is awarded to the neighborhood that had the hottest compost for the year. The competition is just one more way in which the kids can take pride in their neighborhood and all the hard work they have done.
Youth Farm is a great example of kids having fun and helping their community at the same time. Are you a kid involved in Youth Farm or any similar projects in your community? If so, Rainbow Rumpus wants to hear about it! Email us here.
