Winter in the AFC Greenhouse

It’s a frigid January afternoon in North Minneapolis. The skies are gray and a fresh layer of snow coats the ground. The air is still and the neighborhood is quiet, seemingly devoid of life. Just when I feel ready to succumb to the winter blues, I step into AFC’s deep winter greenhouse, shedding my winter coat and find myself transported into a new ecosystem. The bone-chilling cold of Minnesota winter escapes me as I inhale the scents of fresh earth and soil and embrace the sauna-like temperatures.

Since joining AFC as the new urban agriculture program facilitator, I have experienced Minnesota winter in an entirely new way. Winter is usually a time of hibernation and melancholy for me, but this year has been different. My days have been spent in the warm, sunny greenhouse building raised beds, filling trays with soil, planting seeds, watering seedlings, researching plants, and planning the upcoming growing season – all tasks centered on new life and growth. These activities have brought hope, inspiration, and excitement, feelings that are sometimes hard for me to come by in the dark, cold days of winter. On this cold January day, I spotted a small lamb’s quarter plant growing in the corner of the greenhouse in; a welcomed reminder that new life and growth can occur year round.

Though I wasn’t physically here when the greenhouse was first being built, it’s exciting to bear witness to the finishing touches. We got the electricity connected, and our electrician Larry finalized the wiring to power the greenhouse, giving us the ability to turn on lights and control the internal temperature with fans and heaters. We’re also expecting the plumbers to come soon to connect our water line, saving us a trip to the church next door for water. And, more soil will be delivered to fill all the raised beds we built.

I’ve had the opportunity to meet several friendly neighbors who stop in to say hello, curious to check out the new structure in the neighborhood. One neighbor told me about her past experience studying botany, and another asked us to start a few seeds for her. Through these interactions, I’ve been thinking about how the greenhouse (and gardens in general) serve as places for both reflection on the past and hopeful anticipation for the future. My hope for the future is that the greenhouse becomes a place of gathering, healing, and relationship building where community members from all walks of life can come together around growing.

One of AFC’s Urban Agriculture teams’ main goals for this season is to reduce food waste by ensuring that everything we plant and harvest has an end destination. In recent weeks, we’ve connected (or re-connected, in some cases) with various restaurant owners, food distribution non-profits, grocery stores, and other businesses to establish partnerships for the season.

We’re also excited to welcome youth from AFC’s Youth Training and Opportunities Program (YTOP) into the garden! With the guidance of our new YTOP Program Facilitator, we’ve been working on fine tuning our urban agriculture curriculum for the youth to engage in farming, learn about food-related topics, and help out in the gardens again this year.

With the arrival of Spring, things are coming back to life in North Minneapolis both in and outside the greenhouse. The seedlings are beginning to sprout and I am hopeful that the upcoming growing season will be full of new life, learning and growing together within the Appetite for Change community and beyond.