photos provided by Minneapolis Edible Boulevards
By MICHELLE SHAW, Minneapolis Edible Boulevards
Do you live in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood? If so, you can now join your neighbors who live in Cedar Riverside, Ventura Village, Midtown Phillips, Phillips West and East Phillips by applying for an edible boulevard.
Hindolo Pokawa, the new environmental justice community coordinator for the Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association (PPNA), has been leading the effort to bring the two groups together. He is just as passionate as Minneapolis Edible Boulevards about having Powderhorn residents participate in this movement. “Our human and ecological relationships are based on extracting and exploiting each other and the environment. If we do not interact, know how people are feeling, or know the impact of our extractive and exploitative dynamics, ideas would never generate,” Pokawa says. Both groups are intentionally setting out to be inclusive, work towards food justice, and heal our environment together.
So what exactly does that mean for the participating Southside Green Zone neighborhoods listed above? Minneapolis Edible Boulevards (MEB) has funding to go towards teaching people how to transform the space between sidewalks and curbs into an edible boulevard, in addition to paying for soil testing, seeds, seedlings, organic soil, and compost. An application is posted on the our Facebook page, which you’re invited to join, or reach out to the email below to get the application link sent to you if you’re not on Facebook. For those who live in a nearby neighborhood that isn’t currently participating, contact your neighborhood association to let them know if you’d like them to create a partnership with Edible Boulevards.
All are invited to attend MEB monthly cooking classes being held at local community gardens over the summer. We’re excited to welcome two new cooking instructors for 2022: Derek Nicholas from the Division of Indian Work, and Natalia Mendez from Lengua y Corazon, in addition to Kelly Shay of Harmonious World, who has been teaching classes for the last year.
We can’t wait to grow with you in one way or another! Contact MinneapolisEdibleBoulevards@gmail.com with any questions.
Upcoming “Hearty Meals from the Garden” Summer Cooking Classes (see Facebook for details)
July 9: Natalia Mendez–Celestial Garden at 2210 Emerson Avenue N
August 13: Kelly Shay–Urban Agriculture Initiative Garden at 2526 W Broadway Avenue
September 10: Natalia Mendez–Tamales y Bicicletas Garden at 2820 15th Avenue S
October 8: Kelly Shay– Four Sisters Farm at 2839 17th Avenue S (between Bloomington and 19th Avenues)
