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A Sense of Where You Are: The Quickening

Part 6 in a Series

By Brian DeVore
January 16, 2025

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Note: This is the 6th installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series. 

When your context is farming in the city, everything is a little faster, denser, and louder.

“We grow everything very intensively,” said Elyssa Eull on a warm evening in early September while she stood near the entrance to California Street Farm, an urban vegetable operation that grows food on a third-of-an-acre. As she said this, a BNSF train engine rolled by a few yards away.

“Because it’s such a small area, the challenges I’m experiencing with soil health are quickened,” says Elyssa Eull, shown leading a field day on her vegetable operation in Northeast Minneapolis.

Aspiring and newbie farmers had gathered here on this particular day to see how this Northeast Minneapolis operation was able to make a go of it on land tucked between a set of railroad tracks and an open lot, just across the street from a collection of artist spaces called the California Building. The event was being put on by the Twin Cities Metro Growers Network, which is an initiative of the Sustainable Farming Association.

During the field day, staffers with the University of Minnesota’s Extension Service, as well as the local office of the NRCS and the USDA’s Farm Service Agency, were on-hand to share information on resources available to farmers raising food in urban areas. As she provided a tour of the well-tended vegetable plots and two hoop houses she uses to raise over 50 varieties of vegetables, Eull fielded questions about soil health, fertility issues, government cost-share funding that’s available, and the economics of producing food in the city. It was clear the field day participants were here to learn how to make a go of it in agriculture, even if the setting was concrete and curbs, rather than fields and fencelines.

During the 2024 growing season, the farm had 37 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares and marketed produce through a farmstand set up next to the plots, as well as via the Northeast Minneapolis Farmers’ Market. Eull, who’s 30, makes enough during the growing season to pay two part-time employees and to support herself. But she didn’t sugarcoat it: urban agriculture comes with plenty of potholes, particularly when it comes to soil health.

“Because it’s such a small area, the challenges I’m experiencing with soil health are quickened,” she said. “It’s like in one year I have three years of accumulation of disease, or stress, or using up those nutrients.”

The farmer has responded by focusing on utilizing cover crops and low-till methods to build the soil’s resiliency. Eull also removes the plastic from the hoop houses periodically so that natural precipitation can dilute salts that tend to accumulate in the soil.

Eull, who is a graduate of LSP’s Farm Beginnings course, feels she has the confidence to tackle such problems because raising food in the city on a commercial basis is starting to be taken more seriously. She’s benefited greatly from U of M Extension research and NRCS conservation cost-share programs that have in the past been mostly directed at bigger row crop farmers in rural areas. For example, one of her hoop houses was funded by the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), an initiative of the NRCS.

“I think  there’s a real awareness of urban farming being real farming,” said Eull as she headed over to California Street’s farmstand on a nearby street corner, brimming with late-summer bounty.

Brian DeVore edits the Land Stewardship Letter and produces the Ear to the Ground podcast.

Give it a Listen

  • Ear to the Ground 348: Urban Agrarian (Elyssa Eull)

Installments in the ‘A Sense of Where You Are’ Series:

  1. Introduction to the Series: A Sense of Where You Are
  2. Red Dresses & Magic Management
  3. In the Blood
  4. Seeking Signs of Life
  5. Forest for the Trees
  6. The Quickening
  7. Food Bank Booster
  8. First Things First
  9. The Big Picture
  10. The Snowball Effect
  11. 7 Years Later
  12. Against the Grain

 

Category: Blog
Tags: A Sense of Where You Are • California Street Farm • CSA • Elyssa Eull • Farm Beginnings • soil health • urban agriculture • vegetable production

Upcoming Events

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July 2025

Wednesday July 9

12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
LSP Lewiston Office Summer Potluck Lunch
Wednesday July 9
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
LSP Lewiston Office Summer Potluck Lunch
Land Stewardship Project, 180 E Main St, Lewiston, MN 55952, USA

Spring planting is behind us and midsummer is upon us! Take a quick break from all the action by celebrating summer with the Land Stewardship Project by joining us for lunch at our Lewiston office.

Our Summer Potluck will be held on Wednesday, July 9, from noon to 2 p.m., at our office in downtown Lewiston, Minn. (180 E. Main Street). This will be an opportunity to build community, hear from other farmers, socialize, and enjoy a great meal together. We also invite everyone to take a self-guided tour of the newly renovated spaces in our office that we have been working on over the winter. As a member-driven organization, this is your space too.

LSP will be providing the main dish (meat and vegetarian options) and we invite you to bring a dish to pass. This event is open to all, so please bring a friend or two as well. Let’s celebrate the joy of summer through good food and good company!

RSVP’s are encouraged, but not required. Hope to see you there — you can RSVP by e-mailing LSP’s Alex Romano direct.

Saturday July 12

10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Fishing, Farming & Food: Rush Creek's Fish Kill Anniversary & Why it Matters
Saturday July 12
10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Fishing, Farming & Food: Rush Creek's Fish Kill Anniversary & Why it Matters
Farmers Community Park, 23274 Arches Road Lewiston, MN 55952

During the Fishing, Farming & Food: Rush Creek’s Fish Kill Anniversary & Why it Matters event, the Land Stewardship Project will mark the three-year anniversary of a major fish kill in southeastern Minnesota that spawned citizen action and led to new public policy around how such events are reported. Join Land Stewardship Project and our partners at Farmers Park, Saturday July 12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Lewiston, Minnesota. Register here.

What to expect?

  • Fly fishing demonstration led by Minnesota Trout Unlimted and LSP member, Lee Stoe. Please bring your own fishing gear.

  • Minnesota Trout Unlimited & Izaak Walton League staff and members will be leading macroinvertebrate sampling of Garvin Brook and discussing what they tell us about the health of the stream.

  • Discussion on how regenerative farming systems can support healthy soil and clean water.

  • Opportunity to take action! Help prevent future fish kills by sharing how you think the Minnesot Feedlot Rule, which is open for comment through July 22, should be stronger. Postcards will be available to fill out and send with your comments.

  • Farmers Park is a great spot for birding. Please bring your binoculars!

  • You are welcome to bring your own snacks or picnic lunch; food will not be provided at this event.

LSP is partnering with several community groups for this event, including:

Minnesota Trout Unlimited, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Izaak Walton League, Food & Water Watch, and Savanna Institute

Register HERE. For more information, contact LSP’s Kate Rowe at krowe@landstewardshipproject.org.

Tuesday July 15

5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Organic Fruit & Vegetable Field Day
Tuesday July 15
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Organic Fruit & Vegetable Field Day
1805 Dudley Ave, Falcon Heights, MN 55113, USA

Join U of M researchers and Extension for updates on organic fruit and vegetable research and tour the Student Organic Farm and the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station in Saint Paul. Topics include: organic insect management, integrating livestock into vegetable farms, new crops for Minnesota, irrigation strategies, and more. Free to the public.
 
For details and to register, click here.

Wednesday July 16

9:30 am – 2:30 pm
Russell Hedrick Soil Health Event: Cottonwood County
Wednesday July 16
9:30 am – 2:30 pm
Russell Hedrick Soil Health Event: Cottonwood County
27092 Co Rd 8, Comfrey, MN 56019, USA

Details here.

Thursday July 17

9:30 am – 2:30 pm
Russell Hedrick Soil Health Event: Pipestone County
Thursday July 17
9:30 am – 2:30 pm
Russell Hedrick Soil Health Event: Pipestone County
518 30th Ave, Jasper, MN 56182

Details are here.

View Full Calendar

Recent Posts

  • ‘Fishing, Farming & Food: Rush Creek’s Fish Kill Anniversary & Why it Matters’ Event July 12 Near Lewiston July 8, 2025
  • Contributing to the Cause July 8, 2025
  • Contact the MPCA by July 22 About Revising its Feedlot Rules July 2, 2025
  • Tell Your Representatives: We Want a Farm Bill for All, Not a Tax Break for the Wealthiest July 2, 2025
  • U.S. Supreme Court’s Decline of Iowa Case Bolsters Local Control July 2, 2025

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