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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.