Gary Johnson, Community Relations Developer at Valley Natural Foods in Apple Valley, is a busy man with big goals."We're trying to get the community to be smarter about their environment," he tells me, "we want people to have a positive experience with gardening, to have some success, and to have a non-retail experience with our co-op."
We're looking at a grassy area just off of busy County Road 11, approximately 64 by 40 feet. Gary tells me that there's space for 22 keyhole gardens and 34 field crop areas here, and that many of the garden spaces, which will be ready for planting in mid-late May, have already been claimed. I'm amazed and impressed by what Gary and the Valley Natural team are pulling off in this relatively small area. Gary hands me a colorful brochure and refers me to the Co-op Community Garden Vision printed on it:
People will drive by:
and ask, "What is this all about?";
then think, "I want to do that, too";
then drive by later and know, "I did that, too";
then drive by and say, "I helped others do that, too."
Gary JohnsonThe community garden, approved by Valley Natural's co-op member/owners in 2009, has been a long time coming -- it takes time to do things right. Designed by Dan Halsey from the Permaculture Research Institute, the garden will feature integrated pest management, intense-and-diverse plantings, a rain garden, and a learning space. Gary says there may even be apple and plum trees.
Gardens and More Gardens!
Amazingly, the community garden is just one of several garden initiatives currently being undertaken by the folks at Valley Natural. Gary shows me another area, just south of the co-op, where employees will be growing still more food.
This garden, which is about to start its second growing season, will produce fennel, dill, tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, garlic, herbs, and much more. Last year, the more than 300 pounds of produce grown here was donated to Dakota Woodlands in Eagan. "Is that why it exists?" I ask Gary, "To grow food that can be donated to people in need?" Not entirely.
Gary tells me that this garden serves as a "nice, active, peaceful green space" for co-op members and the community. It's a place for people to learn how to garden, but also for them to relax and enjoy the beautiful colors. The garden allows Gary and the team to try out new things, like container gardens, and to see what happens.
Surveying the garden spaces that surround Valley Natural Foods, I'm reminded of The Work to Be Done, one of my favorite-ever Kurt Vonnegut pieces, written for Rolling stone magazine in preparation for the coming year 2000. Here's an excerpt:
As I read the Book of Genesis, God didn't give Adam and Eve a whole planet.
He gave them a manageable piece of property, for the sake of discussion let's say 200 acres.
I suggest to you Adams and Eves that you set as your goals the putting of some small part of the planet into something like safe and sane and decent order.
There's a lot of cleaning up to do.
There's a lot of rebuilding to do, both spiritual and physical.
And, again, there's going to be a lot of happiness. Don't forget to notice!
What painters and sculptors and writers do, incidentally, is put very small properties indeed into good order, as best they can.
A painter thinks, ''I can't fix the whole planet, but I can at least make this square of canvas what it ought to be.'' And a sculptor thinks the same about a lump of clay or marble. A writer thinks the same about a piece of paper, conventionally eleven inches long and eight and a half inches wide.
We're talking about something less than 200 acres, aren't we?
Seeing what Valley Natural's team is doing with a few strips of land by the highway is inspiring, affirming, encouraging, exciting, and other good things. They're turning the land into "what it ought to be."
"I have a vision," Gary says, "we'll have kids here being read to, we'll have acoustic music, and opera, and jazz. There'll be a 5K race here in May, and Farmfest later in the year." It's a lovely vision, and the ground is ready. So is the community.
Valley Natural Foods is located at:
13750 Co. Rd. 11
Burnsville, MN 55337
(952) 891-1212
Hours:
Monday-Thursday: 8am-9pm
Friday & Saturday: 8am-8pm
Sunday: 10am-8pm
Lee Zukor is the founder of Simple, Good, and Tasty. Email him at lee@simplegoodandtasty.com.
