This is the big question facing the garden team and the gardeners at the Rice Street Gardens in the Rice-Larpenteur neighborhood in St. Paul.  The garden also borders Roseville and Maplewood and has been a community asset since its beginning in 2016.  A recent August “Garden Party” was part of the effort to make the garden “ours” for generations to come.

     St. Paul Regional Water Services, which serves St. Paul and surrounding suburbs, purchased the 13-acre property in 2014.  With no immediate plans for the land, the land, permission was given by the water department and the adjacent cities to start a community garden.    The garden space is on 2+ acres of the total 13-acre property.  McCarrons’s Pub, next to the site, continues to let the gardeners use their former well.  The city of Roseville delivers a truckload of compost weekly during the growing season.  A board of directors includes local residents, gardeners, advisors, and Pastor Dana Nelson of neighboring Galilee Lutheran Church.

     Today the Rice Street Garden is a community garden of 260 plots, each 16 x 20 feet.  The gardeners, many of whom live within walking distance, are mostly immigrants.   The gardens provide a way for them to reconnect with the outdoor spaces many of them knew growing up.  Growing their own fruit and vegetables means they are healthier while saving money.  It also means that they are able to preserve their culture and customs while sharing that culture with their new neighbors.  Many gardeners are elders, and this is a way for them to be with others and feel less isolated.  Gardeners come in many shades of color from white to brown to black and speak up to 12 first languages!  Many are Karen and Nepali and while translators are needed to help fill out applications, explain the $20 annual fee, and discuss the rules, sharing produce and smiles does not require spoken language.

     St. Paul Regional Water Services is trying to sell the entire 13-acre site.  The possibility of affordable housing is being talked about.  A community garden could fit into that plan but there are no guarantees.  If the mission of the gardens - - to unite diverse populations by providing the opportunity for families to grow healthy, organic foods in their own neighborhood - - is to be preserved, purchasing the garden land is best.  A fundraising campaign is currently underway to raise $1 million with two-thirds of that amount already pledged.  Seeing “the” Garden as “our” garden is an admirable goal and one that many of our church communities and individuals have been eager to support.  (The ELCA has supported the Gardens with Domestic Hunger Grants.)

Vern Rice and Vernita Kennen, members of the Saint Paul Area Synod’s Care of Creation Work Group, were part of the August party and celebration.  Our admiration for the efforts of the Garden team is enormous.  We encourage others to visit and see for yourselves a very dynamic community garden.