Frogtown Urban Farm Project Delayed By Sunday Storms

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- As many as 100 18-wheelers full of dirt were supposed to dump their load Monday at the site of the Frogtown Farm, a projected urban farm in the heart of the inner-city St. Paul neighborhood.  They didn't plan on Sunday night's thunderstorms.

"We got rained out," Organizer Cherry Flowers said. "It's unfortunate."

Flowers was able to talk with William Lund, a man known as "Tank," who is coordinating the dirt shipment. Because the soil at the farm site is soaked, the trucks would get stuck in the mud.

"80,000 pounds would get bogged down at the axels," Lund said. "Then you would have to unload them, and then try to pull them out. When I saw the problem here, I said, 'this is not going to work.'"

"That's not pretty," Flowers said.

When the land dries off, maybe as early as Wednesday, they'll mobilize the trucks and bring in the dirt, negotiating neighborhood streets before dumping the soil.  The 3,400 yards of dirt will be enough to cover more than two acres of land with 12 inches of topsoil. The plan is to start producing crops in the urban farm sometime next year.

"The plan this year is to cover cropping," Flowers said. "Two-thirds of the area is getting new soil this year, and it will all be cover-cropped.  That will help add nutrients to the soil."

At 5.5 acres, the Frogtown Farm bordered by West Minnehaha Ave. and Victoria St. will be one of the largest urban farms in the U.S., according to Flowers.  The farm is going up on a plot of land that was the site of the Wilder Foundation.

The farm is designed to feature year-round growing with the planned addition of a greenhouse and a community building.  This is part of a five-year effort by community members, the Trust for Public Land, and St. Paul Parks and Recreation.