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Pocket Park Party

Lyndale All Stars have been super engaged in their neighborhood this summer, and their work came together last Thursday for a Pocket Park Extravaganza.

Lyndale has a neglected park space just half a block from our PillsburyFarm, and this year Youth Farm and the Lyndale Neighborhood Association decided to hold its annual Driveway Tour Puppet Show in the park. It became an opportunity for the All Stars to bring out their neighbors to clean up the park and build community. Before the event Farm Steward Shanna Woods facilitated her crew of Lyndale All Stars to plan a menu, cook up some chili, come up with roles for the park clean up, design a new sign for the park, and flyer the neighborhood for the event.

The event kicked off with picking up trash, taking out dead bushes, and painting a new sign. When the delicious All-Star-cooked chili and watermelons came out the neighborhood really started comingin. We had over 50 people come out to see Open Eye Theatre’s Driveway Tour put on “The Adventures of Juan Bobo.”

During the event community members were also welcome to bring in a unique object that represented themselves or their community. The objects are being photographed for the “Curosities of Lyndale” project. These photos will be compiled into a cabinet design and then installed onto electrical boxes into the neighborhood. Youth Farmers have been supporting the project through outreach, documentation, and hosting three events. At the Pocket Park Party All Stars were interviewing community members for the story of their object.

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YFMP highlighted on WCCO about Roots for the Home Team

While they may not have mentioned our name in the video, we sure are proud of our Hawthorne YFMP youth and their work with Roots for the Home Team. Here is the video from WCCO news!

Way to go Sergio, JP and all the other Hawthorne Youth that continue to participate on this project. We are glad to also be partnering with Community Design Center on the East Side and Emerge Community Development.

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Lyndale Builds New Farm in Whittier

This last weekend Lyndale LEAD staff led a community groundbreaking celebration for our brand new farm site in the Whittier neighborhood. Over 40 youth and a handful of adults came together to stake and till 13 garden beds and build and install 3 raised beds. We didn’t just go to work though, we had a blast chalking up the sidewalk, painting garden signs, playing soccer, and having a yummy lunch.

Before we got into it last weekend, a few weeks ago our Thursday All Things Food Program visited the site to build a compost bin with the Compostodores. Below are photos from both events.

A special thanks to the City of Minneapolis for making the space possible, to the Whittier Alliance for their support, and to Old Arizona’s youth programs to coming out and helping us build our new farm!

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YFMP Helps Build a New Farm at Jackson Elementary in Frogtown

Last Saturday, community members in Frogtown, master gardeners, youth from the Wilder Foundation’s Youth Leadership Initiative, and staff from Jackson Preparatory Magnet built a new garden in the neighborhood.  Volunteers worked hard to build eight new 4’x12′ raised beds at the school.  Jackson students will plant the new garden this spring with a variety of crops including collard greens, herbs, corn, tomatoes, and peppers.

Frogtown youth fill a garden bed with dirt.
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A Day in February

Even in winter Youth Farm is busy all day everyday! Here are a set of photos all snapped on Thursday February 24th. The Farm Stewards were in our Cherokee School Greenhouse reviewing the growth of onion starts, micro greens, and more. Later that night we had a crew of over 20 Lyndale Youth Farmers cooking up their dinner of veggie enchiladas, cactus bread, and a salad at Zion Church. I snapped some shots of our enchilada crew at work.

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Farm Stewards at the Immigrant and Minority Farmers Conference

Lead staff Alon sharing his farming story, © Brian Peterson, Star Tribune

This weekend our Farm Stewards attended the Minnesota Food Association’s Immigrant and Minority Farmers Conference. The Farm Stewards attended workshops ranging from the history of farming in Minnesota, sustainable agriculture, and even how to get started with chickens. Teng Lee was even written up in the Star Tribune’s coverage of the event! Check out the article.

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Support YFMP with a year end contribution

Support your Community by Supporting Youth Farm 

At Youth Farm and Market Project (YFMP), we respect our roots and our history.Without ongoing support, we would not be where we are today. We would love to have your support.

Click Here to support Transformative Youth Work

Your contribution today can support YFMP Youth-Led Food Movement that is impacting the communities you live in.

Over the past year, we have seen the following significant growth:

  • SECURED MULTIYEAR NATIONAL FUNDING
  • INCREASED NEIGHBORHOOD REACH: Two new neighborhood programs 
  • INCREASED LOCAL EMPLOYEMENT: 60% increase in full-time staff positions
  • EXPANDED PROGRAMING:  Introduction of our Farm Stewards Program

YFMP is only as strong as our community and that community includes supporters like you. Your strong contribution will allow YFMP to continue to be a leader in the Youth-Led Food Movement in the Twin Cities. In order to continue with our aggressive expansion and reinvestment into the local community, we have set a goal of $25,000 for our winter fundraising efforts.

Giving to YFMP could not be easier. In addition to the traditional mail in check or credit card gift, online giving through GiveMN.org is the most secure and easy way to make a one time or recurring donation (a $10/month donation goes much further than a one time $50 donation).

The coming year promises to be an exciting one of new growth, new neighborhoods, and many new youth. Contributions from community members like you, assure our continued success and growth. Contribute today and help us continue to have a positive impact on the youth and communities that we serve.

Sincerely,
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Gunnar Liden
Executive Director