Youth Farm Makes Summer Gardening Fun and Educational

School is out, and a diverse group of youth in the Lyndale area are having a great time hanging outside for a few months. While some folks might assume that those kids are getting into trouble, instead they are spending their summer in the Lyndale Youth Farm Program, learning about gardening, healthy eating and their neighborhood.

It's not all "eat your broccoli," either — they say they are having a fantastic time doing it.

"You get to hang out with your friends and still give to people at the same time," said Jessica, a middle-schooler, as she pointed out some glistening peppers.

She's one of about 50 kids who show up regularly to the Lyndale neighborhood Youth Farm program to work the land three days a week for eight weeks during the summer. With assistance from staff members, they grow, nuture and reap crops from onions to raspberries to potatoes, in a few gardens near the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church.

On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, everyone meets at 9 a.m. at the Lyndale School to start the day with some interactive games. Program Director Phil Rooney leads the group, which maintains three and half different gardens and serves lunch to all the kids and staff.

Their plots are behind the Horn Towers, near the Lyndale Elementary School, next to Zion Church, and the largest is just off Pillsbury Street. In groups of 6-8 children, they tend the different patches.

The youngest, called Youth Farmers (9 to 11 years old) perform various tasks like thinning crops, weeding and turning compost. All-Stars (aged 12 to 13) also lead garden tours for visitors and 14 to 18-year-olds act as Project LEAD junior staff members, helping the adult staff manage each site.

Many participants return each summer to Youth Farm. Grace, an All-Star at the Horn Towers garden told Patch, "This is my fifth year."

She let me know that, in fact, a classmate of hers over near the plot of beans had her beat. She had been coming to the Lyndale Youth Farm for 6 years.

"Kids either have to live or go to school within the zip code (55408)," explained Rooney. "Kingfield is actually outside of our zip code, but alot of the youth there go to school at the Lyndale School, so we do draw in a fair number of youth from there."

That means many South Minneapolis kids have access to Youth Farm and as a result, it's a diverse bunch.

In addition to caring for the plants, the youths administer a buying club that distributes food to families, do art with local creatives and help prepare a nutritious and culturally appropriate lunch spread.

"We have a couple of rules with lunch," said Rooney. "You gotta try everything — at least a little bit. And you can't say yuck or gross. So if you don't like it, you have to say why you don't like it."

It's all part of the larger Twin Cities' Youth Farms' fivefold mission with all of its garden sites across the Twin Cities: to build young leaders, to promote healthy bodies and minds, to contribute to the positive identity of children and youth, to create neighborhood connectedness and opportunities for contribution, and to develop and nurture healthy relationships.

The program seems to be accomplishing its goals, according to a University of Minnesota study by the Prevention Research Center. The children in Youth Farm try more vegetables, have more interest in cooking, and know what it means to work and help in the community.

The kids in the Lyndale program seem to represent that. They were happy to tell Patch that they've learned more than just how to grow produce.

Over at the Pillsbury garden, August, a four-year veteran and All-Star summed up her experience.

"In school we have to act differently because we want people to accept us. But at Youth Farm, I feel like you can just be yourself," she said. "I feel like it's made me want to be myself everywhere, even in school and wherever I go."

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Don't miss the Lyndale Youth Farm Program's Harvest Festival on August 10 at Zion Lutheran. For more information, check out the YF website.