Table of Contents Learning From Gardens01

Frogtown Farm

The Community Garden

During our Studio’s visit to Frogtown Farm we came to learn about what it took to make this garden successful. Even though the pandemic had made opening the community garden nearly impossible, the leaders at the farm along with the rest of the community came together to grow food. This act

of defiance was so important to the

people in that moment in time. The farm felt separate from the outside world, like it was still alive and well, even while everything else within the city was shut down. The garden required the collective energy of the community gardeners and the neighborhood, but it gave back so much in return. What I learned here is that to truly benefit from gardens, they require our attention, our time, and our energy. To benefit from

a garden requires one to return often and to give something of themselves to it, and in return it will give something back to them. The Joy Garden

Within Frogtown Farm another temporary garden space took shape. The Joy Garden, created on site by two local women, was a bounded space filled with vegetables, pollinator plants, and colorful signs displaying emotions. This

garden did not need a large budget or special materials, but instead utilized

what was already on site. The plants were largely vegetables, a staple at Frogtown Farms. The paths were made of burlap sacks likely found in a nearby storage shed, and the entrance was made from woven vines. Even with these rather non-traditional garden elements, the Joy garden made me feel peace and comfort.

Father Hennepin Bluffs Park

Several of us in the studio came to a new realization while on a trip to Father Hennepin Bluffs Park, an urban park near the core of Minneapolis. While we were admiring the fall colors we became mesmerized by a waterfall created by the infrastructure of the Xcel Energy spillway. How could we find such beauty in something so foreign to nature? There used to in fact be real waterfalls here, falls that were sacred to the Dakota people.

This was a moment of clarity for me. We had no say in when we were born. We

came alive into a world that was already

highly manipulated. Ancient and sacred rivers were exploited and commodified to benefit a monopoly of industry. The river became useful for only the purpose of transport, and hundreds of plant and animals species were forced out because of the new changes to the river. Yet here we were, marveling at the ugly beauty of this Mississippi River stream. This moment stuck with me throughout the semester. It drove me to ask question about the place of human beings in nature. I began to wonder that if we humans were truly a part of the natural world, than what could be defined as nature, and what could be called artificial? Beavers dam rivers and drastically change their hydrology; are they not of nature?

This awakening sparked momentum for me to start defining a new age of awareness for mankind’s place on this

Earth. Where is the line drawn for taking only what we need? And how can we give something back to these shared earth places?

This site visit made me want to focus on showing people their place in this world to force a collective awakening. Hopefully

then, we as human beings, can form a renewed reciprocal relationship with this planet, and this river once again.