Spring News From NCFA
Dear Friends and Supporters,
After a long, cold, rainy start to spring, the growing season is finally here! The NCFA team is gearing up for another busy season of planting crops, gleaning, making farmer purchases, and of course sharing lots of food with our neighbors. Please see below for more details on what we’ve been up to and what we’re planning. We hope to see you at one of our future events!
In Solidarity for a Better World,
Andy, Mae, Will, Sasha, Alison, May, Mark, Celeste, Maria, Noah, Fatuma, Abby
(The Workers of NCFA)
Program Updates
Foodshare
Volunteers at the Hamline University food shelf receiving food from NCFA.
Our foodshare program continues to grow, supplying even more fresh, healthy, and culturally appropriate food to our neighbors across the Twin Cities. We rescue around 33,000 pounds of food every month, most of it fresh produce. In addition, we purchase another $1,000 of food from commercial sources to fulfill special needs of community kitchens. Thanks to grant funding from Hennepin County and other sources (see more below), we are excited to purchase even more food from local BIPOC farmers this year! Supported farms include Dream of Wild Health, a native-run farm in Hugo, MN; Kilimo Minnesota, an African immigrant farmer training program; and The Farmers Collective, a group of BIPOC farmers in Minnesota.
We have lots of plans for the coming year! Our foodshare team is preparing for another season of gleaning excess produce from local farms. Big thanks to everyone who has volunteered and helped make this program a success. If you’d like to be notified of volunteer opportunities in the future, please sign up to our volunteer list below.
Garden
Garden Coordinator May posing in front of some of the Walker Church raised beds (before they were planted.)
Last year, we transferred management of the garden at Charles Horn Towers to the Somali American Farmers Association. Though we will miss that beautiful plot, we are happy to announce that this year we will take over stewardship of the garden at Walker Church, our new office location! We plan to improve on the current composting system, build additional raised beds, and coordinate food production with other community food distributions based out of Walker Church. In addition to this, we will be growing food for distribution at Merriam Station Community Garden in Saint Paul, and are assisting Justice Squad and Brothers EMpowered with their garden projects. We will also continue to grow food and expand community reach at our garden in North Minneapolis. NCFA worker Celeste is stepping into a garden coordinator role (along with May, who was hired for the position last year) to bring additional knowledge and experience to the garden program and help with this expansion.
Celeste and May are also planning garden-related events for the season at both our North Garden and Walker Church sites. Keep an eye out for more details on those events in the future! You can also check our website for upcoming happenings.
Both our gardens will need additional volunteer help soon! We’re so thankful for all the volunteers who joined us in weeding, watering, and harvesting produce in the past. If you’re interested in volunteering this season, please email Celeste and May at garden@ncfa-mn.org.
Planted beds at Walker Church with new Garden in a Box raised beds.
Other Updates
Grants
We are very grateful for funding from several sources to continue purchasing produce from local BIPOC farmers! A huge thank you to Hennepin County for allocating approximately $50,000 for food purchasing from farms and commercial sources; an anonymous donor for granting $10,000 to purchase produce from five African women farmers at Kilimo Minnesota; Alerus for $7,500 towards farmer purchasing; and Andersen Corporate Foundation for $5,000 to be split between gleaning and food purchasing from Dream of Wild Health Farm. Purchasing directly from local farmers wouldn’t be possible without this additional grant support.
Take Part in Strengthening Food Sovereignty
Join North Country Food Alliance in strengthening food sovereignty in the Twin Cities Metro Area!
As a community-funded non-profit, we rely on your generous contributions to distribute food completely free-of-charge. With your help, we share healthy, culturally-appropriate food with thousands of our neighbors every week.
Thank you for your ongoing support!