The chalkboard sign outside the Uptown Farmers stand at the Mill City Farmers Market reads, "We're more local than local," and it's not an exaggeration. Longtime gardeners John Sietz and Julie Aponte became first-time farmers this year, cultivating more than 50 varieties of vegetables on a trio of city plots within walking distance of their day jobs at the Wedge Co-op in Minneapolis. Traveling distance from farm to market: about 3 miles.
"We've been wanting to do this for a while," said Sietz. "It was just an issue of finding the land. We're both really interested in urban gardens. Cuba runs off of them, and they're very big all over Europe. There's so much space in the metro area that isn't being used. And the carbon footprint is almost zero, because we're so close to the market."
The stand's bountiful array of beets, carrots, cabbages and beans was drawing customers last Saturday morning, but what grabbed my attention were the luscious, deeply colorful heirloom tomatoes ($4 per pound). Sietz and Aponte grow 10 beautiful varieties, each one a glowing symbol of Uptown's previously untapped agricultural promise. "When the soil is free of arsenic and lead -- and we had it tested, and it is -- then it turns out that it's great for growing things," said Sietz. "It used to be a swamp, so the soil is really rich."
RICK NELSON
Uptown Farmers is at the Mill City Farmers Market, 2nd St. and Chicago Av. S., Minneapolis, Saturdays 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., millcityfarmersmarket .org. For a complete list of Twin Cities metro area farmers markets, go to startribune.com/taste.
