Harnessing the Light ☀️
The spring equinox is here and the growing season is upon us! At Sharing Our Roots, our greenhouse is key to extending the growing season and protecting against extreme weather. Every couple of years, the plastic needs to be replaced due to sun and weather damage. Alissa and Nicole tackled this project with smiles on their faces, happy to spend time soaking up the sun and improving infrastructure for our farmer cohort.
Becoming Changemakers
We model community-based farming rooted in organic and regenerative practices; our impact captured the attention of Marbleseed, a nationally recognized leader in the organic farming movement, and they awarded us the Changemaker of the Year Award. Our farmer cohort is composed of 11 farm teams, representing 40 families, and led by farm manager Alissa Jacobsen. In the past year, Sharing Our Roots has elevated our farm program to strengthen livelihoods, expand market reach, and build business skills. In this moment of recognition and celebration of our cohort, our spirits filled renewed hope that our impact is not only appreciated, but inspiring others to join us in transforming our food system.
Sharing Our Fen
Imagine our surprise when we discovered that in the back 11 acres a severely-degraded fen was still showing signs of life! Since Sharing Our Roots began stewarding the land, we immediately stopped conventional practices of mono-cropping, spraying chemicals, and suppressing native plant life. As a result, native species began to repopulate the wetland and our Natural Lands manager, Nic Nelson, now has an incredible opportunity to lead the restoration of this rare ecosystem.
Restoring the Land With Fire 🔥
Fire can be heartbreakingly destructive, but it can also be a powerful tool when used carefully—as Indigenous people have known for thousands of years. Here at the Sharing Our Roots Farm, we’ve been using fire as a tool to help manage our prairies and wetlands since 2021.
We recently wrapped up our spring prescribed-burn season, which was our most successful one yet! We safely burned more than 20 acres of land over two days in May, with the help of many volunteers.
Celebrating Margaret’s Year of Service
This month, we are celebrating Margaret Anderson, whose Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA service term ended at the end of July. Margaret started with Sharing Our Roots in August 2023 and in just a year, did tremendous capacity-building work, including supporting dozens of community volunteers and Carleton College students in spending regular time at the farm.
The Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA position is part of a three year commitment between Sharing Our Roots and Carleton College’s Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE). Each year of the program provides an opportunity for an Americorps VISTA to complete a year of service focused on the programming expansion and improvement of organizations centered on anti-poverty work.
Growing Local Food Networks
Beginning and emerging farmers — especially those who don’t inherit a family farm – face an evergreen challenge: finding a market for their harvest. Local and metro area farmers markets are a popular choice but have an upfront setup cost, weekly time commitments, and no guarantee of selling all crops during a bumper week.
Wholesale, the typical route of larger farmers, may be far more attractive, with contracted rates and guaranteed sales. However, those contracts are generally only available to growers with a proven track record for harvesting large yields of a particular, standard crop; there is no flexibility for unforeseen crop loss or damage. Thus, wholesale contracts can be initially out of reach.
Growing Connections
As part of our mission of nourishing community, our Community Connectors initiative supports 154 local, low-income families grow healthy, fresh produce in 7 community gardens across Rice County, including a large garden at the Sharing Our Roots Farm.
These gardens provide space to grow culturally-significant crops that may be difficult to find commercially, but land access is just the beginning. Community gardens also provide vibrant social spaces for neighbors, many of whom are recent immigrants. “Our gardeners come from different cultures, different countries, and speak different languages,” says Antonio Alba-Meraz, Community Connector Program Manager, “the gardens are a form of support, where cross-cultural relationships are the glue.”
Farmer Highlight: Canaan Greens Farm
Esther Ondeiki and her family have been working with Sharing Our Roots as vegetable farmers since 2021.
In this interview, Esther shares her experience as an organic farmer in Sharing our Roots. We discuss her journey finding the farm, the differences between farming in Kenya, her home country, versus in the U.S, and how Sharing Our Roots has aided in that transition and supported her family.
Supporting Farmers Directly
Sharing Our Roots provides a wide array of farming infrastructure, equipment, and facilities for our Commons Cohort farmers, but custom needs for each farm operation vary. To help cover gaps, Sharing Our Roots is providing direct support in the form of microgrants to Cohort farmers.
Farmers are eligible for up to $1,000 per farm operation annually, freely given. Farm teams are asked to submit a simple application that outlines how the funds will be used and what impact it will have on their ability to successfully farm.
Empowering Farmers, Nourishing Communities
Last season and beyond, we’ve heard the same piece of feedback - farmers require more access to local market opportunities to sell their produce. Wholesale accounts or farmers’ markets can have steep entrance barriers, such as wholesale packaging requirements or high farmers’ market fees.
We are working to bolster our market and wholesale opportunities for Cohort members this growing season, with both grant-funded opportunities and farmers’ market options available.
Building Strong Community Partnerships
We at Sharing Our Roots are eager to highlight our ongoing partnership with Carleton’s Center for Community & Civic Engagement (CCCE), which brings Carleton students onto the Sharing Our Roots Farm for hands-on, experiential regenerative agriculture learning.
Since July 2023, Sharing Our Roots has been a host site for a Campus Compact Americorps VISTA position, co-hosted by the CCCE. This position and its current holder, Margaret Anderson, have been an integral part of building capacity and engaging student learning at the farm.
Practicing Community Care
At Sharing Our Roots, we believe that the power to heal our lands, nourish our communities, and prepare emerging farmers lies in the remarkable potential of acting from care for all parts of our ecosystem, human and otherwise.
Our work was recently highlighted thanks to Lillian Berets (she/her), a 2023 Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies graduate from Carleton College, who discovered Sharing Our Roots’ work through the Center for Community and Civic Engagement.
Carbon Drawdown in Soil: What is the Potential?
Climate Land Leaders are eager to address climate change on their lands, and they know that they first need to reduce emissions (decreasing or eliminating pesticide and fertilizer use, for example).
Over the years they also look to draw down carbon into the soil. But what is the carbon sequestration potential for these farms? Carol and Peg Bouska, Sally McCoy and Ann Novak are making big changes to transform cropland around the edge of their farm to prairie strips.