Young people from diverse backgrounds do the meaningful work of growing and enjoying nutritious food.

This article first appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of Northern Gardener magazine. Visit our shop to order this or other available back issues.

STORY MARK-PETER LUNDQUIST PHOTOS URBAN VENTURES

Fourteen years ago, the Urban Ventures Farm began an experiment in feeding families, motivated by this question: Can an urban farm located in a challenging neighborhood operate an organic farm stand that provides freshly harvested food at no cost for food-insecure families? Beyond food access, we also focused on the important role nutrition plays in a child’s development—eating fresh, healthy food not only makes them strong but also helps them feel better overall.

Today, the farm helps more than 12,500 participants (7,000 of whom are children) develop healthy eating habits. This is made possible by learning how to grow and consume healthy food, participating in nutrition education (1,400 children involved) and making 75,000 pounds of organic produce accessible through the Farm Stand on the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis.

Every week, hundreds of kids from Head Start and Minneapolis Public Schools come tumbling out of buses, followed by elementary, middle, high schoolers and families who participate at the Urban Ventures Farm in Lakeville, Minn. Structured farm field trips include identifying and harvesting food from the farm, preparation of nutritious snacks during cooking classes and lessons about the life of chickens, ducks, bees and the plants themselves. High school youth learn farm skills that are more exacting and will be applied to weekly farm chores.

Throughout the year, Urban Ventures leads seasonal events featuring our homegrown produce: salsa making, cooking classes, pressing apples for cider, carving pumpkins and enjoying elote from our just-picked sweet corn are some favorites. Every year, youth turn the seasonal goodies they make into a farm cookbook that we publish and distribute to families who want to cook with their kids. Our diverse array of programming brings the community together across all ages, emphasizing the value of making local connections between diverse neighbors.

The Urban Ventures Farm and Nutrition Program first approached the Garden-in-a-Box program as a possible solution that would give us more space to grow food. The singular tasks in operating a successful urban farm are finding space and soil. The program offered a solution to both.

We started with four boxes on our parking lot and presently operate 25. We have been successful with strawberries and raspberries but found that herbs have opened the doors to connect with our indigenous neighbors who love papalo, cilantro, epazote, ruda, mint, parsley, oregano and basil. Our neighbors eagerly look forward to our market days as volunteers stand ready to cut and bag fresh herbs that will be used in numerous family recipes and in our cooking classes. Children are exposed to new flavors from prepared samples and are encouraged to experiment with the brassicas grown in our hydroponic greenhouse.

Besides the support from Garden-in-a-Box, Minnesota Green has been there when disease, insects, pests and drought have sought to ruin our growing season. Minnesota Green has enabled the development of our Beginner Farmer program, which provides irrigation, tools, land and coaching for 35 local families who are on the road toward self-sufficiency.

The Urban Ventures Farm incorporates sustainable growing practices that benefit our ecosystem. We have planted trees known for their absorption of carbon and toxins, dedicated space for pollinator gardening, established six bee hives, used waste from chickens and ducks to provide nutrients for the soil, kept plant waste to zero thanks to thousands of worms, built 10 super-sized compost bins and incorporated 25 nest boxes from the Wild Farm Alliance to increase biodiversity.

Our future aspirations for the farm are simple: to meet the nutrition needs of low-income families by increasing access to a robust selection of fruits, vegetables and herbs, empower youth with the knowledge of living healthily and build a thriving community around the shared value of nutritious food.

Volunteer Opportunities at Urban Ventures

May – June

Planting at the Lakeville Farm

July – August

Cultivating at Lakeville Farm

September – October

Harvesting at Lakeville Farm

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