The core of Twin Cities Food Justice’s (TCFJ) work is addressing hunger and food waste in our communities. We are honored to have 150 volunteers who pick up food that would otherwise be wasted from food distributors, restaurants, farmer's markets, and grocery stores, and redistribute it directly to local food shelves, affordable housing communities, kitchens, and other hunger-relief organizations. We know that hunger often intersects with other conditions of vulnerability and stress, including: housing instability, economic hardship, medically complex needs, barriers to transportation, and much more. These are the communities we serve. Their perspectives guide our work. 

Homegrown Minneapolis has partnered with TCFJ and Freedom Works in North Minneapolis to launch a new program to address the needs of those who are food insecure by making healthy produce available all winter long. TCFJ volunteers are picking up food from farmers' markets, delivering it to Freedom Works where students in their job training and culinary arts program clean and prep it before vacuum sealing and freezing it. TCFJ will then distribute everything from spaghetti sauce and ratatouille to carrots, beans and corn to their food shelf and meal partners throughout the winter. We are grateful for the support we have received from Homegrown Minneapolis and look forward to watching this program (and our gardens!) grow. 

For more information, email executivedirector@tcfoodjustice.org. 

Learn about the other Homegrown Community Projects funded by the Climate Legacy Initiative

How to join a Twin Cities community garden and save grocery money 

Jeffrey Loesch always enjoyed eating fresh vegetables during the summertime, but his backyard wasn’t well suited to sustain a garden. 

Finding a community garden just three blocks from his south Minneapolis home solved his problem. 

This year, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board had 330 applications for 166 plots, and each community garden has a caretaker who helps gardeners with growing, occasionally placing compost on beds. 

The city rents out 60 lots to groups as part of its Garden Lease Program, according to Grace Rude, public health specialist with the city. This year, 11 people requested new garden lots, prompting the city to add seven. 

For more information visit the Star Tribune’s website

 

Fall City Trees sale now open

The City Trees program is offering $30 trees now through September 30.

Minneapolis residents and property owners can purchase up to three trees per address. Tree options include:

• Shade
• Fruit
• Flowering
• Evergreen

For more information visit the Minneapolis Shopify website

 

Here’s what Chef Yia Vang thinks you should order at his new restaurant, Vinai

Chef Yia Vang’s new Hmong restaurant, Vinai, opened in Minneapolis’s former Dangerous Man taproom space on July 30, almost four years after it was first announced. If you’ve been following along with Vang’s story, you know that much has led to this moment: a scrappy pop-up operation; a food hall stall and then a restaurant; 18,500 galabaos prepped and served at the State Fair; a nimble pivot to a summer residency; numerous construction delays and financial setbacks.

For more information visit Twin Cities Eatery

Garden Party – September 7 

Join PLANT-GROW-SHARE at Bryant Community Garden on Saturday, September 7, from 10am to 1pm for a few hours of work, play, and a community meal 

• When: September 7, 10 – 1 p.m. 
• Where: 3858 Columbus Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55408 

 

2024 Minneapolis Monarch Festival / Festival de la Monarca – September 7 

 

Seeds for Culture – September 15

Midwest Farmers of Color Collective, Plant-Grow-Share, and Ujamaa Farming Cooperative Alliance are collaborating to host hands-on workshops on seed harvesting and community building around cultural seeds.

• When: September 15, 10 –2 p.m.
• Where: 3701 3rd Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55409

Register for this opportunity using a Google Docs form

 

Farm 2 School BBQ – September 18

Eat delicious local food, meet our farmers, and enjoy family friendly activities. In case of rain, the event will be moved to September 19.

• When: September 18, 4 – 6:30 p.m.
• Where: MPS Culinary & Wellness Services 812 Plymouth Ave North

Learn more about this opportunity on Eventbrite

 

Engaging in Policymaking for Food Systems, Waste, and Climate – September 19

Join this webinar to hear elected officials, including Maryland Delegate Lorig Charkoudian, and advocacy groups share tips and best practices for engaging in policy advocacy. Panelists will focus specifically on waste, food systems, and environmental policy and provide practical strategies for making an impact on the state and local level.

• When: September 19, 12 – 1:30 p.m.
• Where: Virtual

Learn more about this opportunity at the Institute for Local Self Reliance’s website

 

Minnesota retail grocery and liquor stores that offer Minnesota-grown and -raised products are encouraged to enter the 2024-2025 Minnesota Grown Retailer of the Year contest, which is now open for entries through October 11, 2024. 

Organized by Minnesota Grown and the Minnesota Grocers Association (MGA), the contest awards stores across the state for their creative displays that celebrate and encourage sampling of products from Minnesota Grown farmers and producers. 

Learn more about this opportunity at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s website

 

HFFI Food Access and Retail Expansion Fund – deadline October 14

The Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) Food Access and Retail Expansion (FARE) Fund is a new program that will provide $60 million in loans, grants, and technical assistance for the predevelopment, planning, and implementation of eligible food retail and food retail supply chain projects.

Learn more about this opportunity at Investing in Food

 

Lawns to Legumes – deadline November 30

Production Cook – Open Arms of Minnesota 

Open Arms of Minnesota (OAM) is a nonprofit that prepares and delivers healthy, nutritious food to people living with life-threatening illnesses. OAM staff members and more than 4,700 volunteers create meals specifically designed for our clients’ nutritional needs. We use fresh and, whenever possible, organic ingredients, including produce from our own 5 Open Farms urban garden locations.   

Learn more about this opportunity at Good Job Foods

 

Food Systems Education + Advocacy Manager – Pillsbury United Communities 

17 Food and ag approaches to tackling the climate crisis 

Although the food system generates one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, it has largely been excluded from the climate agendas of most governments. Only last year did the food system become a major topic of international debate, during the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference. 

But as Civil Eats’ reporting has shown, the food and agriculture system is full of examples of how farmers, ranchers, fishers, chefs, restaurants, grocery stores, and consumers are addressing climate change, with strategies that sequester carbon, slash emissions, save water, reduce plastics, and open new markets. 

Farmers, for example, are experimenting with the wild seed relatives of domestic crops that may be able to withstand extreme weather. Researchers have also discovered that kelp growing alongside mussels and oysters can act like a sponge, soaking up excess nutrients while increasing critical oxygen levels in surrounding waters. And lawmakers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are crafting policies that support local food systems and regenerative agriculture. 

Read the full article at Civil Eats