Urban gardening helps the Northside go green
Cameron Smith and Natasha Villanueva help guide a new generation of activists. Photo by Charlie Quick
By Charlie Quick, North News Intern
A renaissance of urban gardening has emerged in North Minneapolis as city folk are pushing back against industrialization and fighting for a more ecologically sound future.
Among the ranks of numerous organizations breaking ground in North Minneapolis, Michael Chaney is a driving force.
Chaney is rising to the challenge of climate change and global warming by transforming vacant lots in North Minneapolis to lush, green, and fertile land for farming. Chaney founded Project Sweetie Pie (PSP) in 2010 to combat food deserts and food insecurity, and make North Minneapolis a more ecologically friendly place to live.
“North Minneapolis is going green” is the first line of a powerful poem written by Chaney.
Micheal Chaney directs volunteers at the Urban Oasis Garden, on Fremont Avenue North. Photo by Charlie Quick
Catherine Fleming, Project Sweetie Pie’s CFO, said urban gardening is becoming a necessity in their initiative to focus on
becoming producers instead of consumers. “Urban agriculture is definitely getting a renaissance and it's from a need, [climate change]” Fleming said.
Through Project Sweetie Pie, Chaney oversees several urban gardens in North Minneapolis that were former vacant lots destroyed by the tornado that hit the Northside in 2011. The primary gardens located on 36th and 38th Fremont Avenue North produce vegetables for North Market, Oak park center, and the general community. The Oasis Garden located on Fremont, is taken care of entirely by its neighbors, who can harvest some of the crops when they are available.
To Chaney and Fleming, the need is also to pass on generational knowledge from elders to youth so they have the power to forge their future is essential. Project Sweetie Pie employs youth from high school to work several gardens in North Minneapolis.
Demetria ‘Dee Dee’ Fuller, a protege of Project Sweetie Pie, leapt to the occasion, when she was just 14.
“They were like an open door and then when I could get paid to do what I love, I just ran with it,” Fuller said.
The grandchild of Diana Knobel helps by digging in the dirt. Photo by Charlie Quick
Through working with PSP, she has gotten to know the process of the crops, and thus the food itself. Currently, she’s the head chef at the Oak Park Community Center in North Minneapolis, serving free community meals every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Some of the vegetables planted in Oak Parks Community garden make it to her kitchen, and who’s there to hand them to her? Chaney.
“There's no greater experience than growing your own food all summer and then harvesting and having a big shindig and everyone enjoying the fruits of our labor,” Fuller said.
That’s what it’s all about for Project Sweetie Pie.
“We [the elders] are leaving. We're sticking you guys [youth] with the ticket,” Chaney said. “You guys are gonna have to pay for it. We should be driving this conversation not only for this country, but for the globe.”