We are very excited to let the community know that the beloved neighborhood garden, The Story Garden, is growing! For those who might not remember, or weren’t here at the time, 14 years ago a tornado came through the Northside and took the house on the corner of 35th and Humboldt, and the home at 35th and Girard. Community members arrived on Humboldt two years after the home was removed and started digging in the ground, thus creating the first steps to building the neighborhood garden. The empty lot across the alley on Girard has sat empty the whole time since it is too narrow to build a home according to new City regulations. This has left it abandoned for more than a decade.
This year the lot came up for auction and Hennepin County purchased it. For years, the volunteers at the Story Garden have dreamed about what could be possible if we could grow in that space. Divine timing has brought us here. The Folwell Neighborhood Association, The Story Garden Managers, and Hennepin County have been in dozens of conversations discussing what it would look like to create a partnership in being stewards of that land.
In October we signed a contract to bring that abandoned space to life for community connection and enhanced food production. Before this year is over, our hope is to have a large shed built to hold larger work tools. Multiple raised beds have been purchased and have been assembled, and a few problematic trees will be cut down. Over the next couple years we are making plans to possibly build a greenhouse, plant an orchard, build an outdoor education station, and add more pollinators on the avenue. The hope is to create a companion space to the Story Garden that extends the growing season and increases neighborhood food education and participation.
This will not be The Story Garden 2.0, but rather, we are looking at what the garden’s name will be. We got lots of suggestions at the Block Party/Pumpkin Give-a-way in October, but nothing has been decided yet. Progress has been happening fast on that property, and it feels very exciting to see it start to take shape. The land has become activated and alive with energy.
We feel so honored to be asked to expand the land we get to steward and are looking for folks who might want to join us in this work. If that’s you, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Danielle at 612-227-0410 or danielle@gmail.com.