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This farm team has been converting vacant lots to tiny farm plots all over Minneapolis since 2011.

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Tillamook

If you ever find yourself walking through the heart of Minneapolis, keep an eye out for something unusual: a farm.

What — a working farm plot in the middle of a city? Yep.

16 different farm plots, to be exact, across Minneapolis–St. Paul.


They look like this:

A Stone's Throw lot in the Twin Cities. Image by Carina Lofgren Photography.

Since 2011, Stone's Throw Urban Farm has been busy morphing vacant lots in the Twin Cities into farms that give back to local communities.

"[Our lots] range in size from 0.11 acres to 0.5 acres," farm employee Caroline Devany explained to Upworthy. "Most ... were formerly residential spaces, but several have had less conventional past uses, such as a bowling alley parking lot and [a] funeral home."

Houses, a bowling alley, a funeral home, all converted into small fields that produce a wide variety of crops: tomatoes, squash, peppers, onions, eggplant, greens, herbs, carrots, beets ... the list goes on.

A straight-up RAINBOW of veggies. Image courtesy of Stone's Throw Urban Farm.

So, tell me again why we don't just convert all our unused urban space into farmland?

Farming in the city is a bit out of the ordinary, so it understandably comes with a unique set of challenges.

Though a bowling alley may sound like a cool place to grow onions (or kale, or oregano), the soil quality of vacant lots is another issue entirely. Many of the plots used by Stone's Throw have soil that requires careful attention and added nutrients.

Stone's Throw uses waste from local breweries to produce compost that can help bring depleted soil back to life.

But being "part of, and accountable to, multiple communities," as Caroline explains, provides the farm with many opportunities for unique solutions to match those challenges.

For example, Stone's Throw recently began using waste from local breweries to produce compost that can help bring that depleted soil back to life. Old beer to veggie compost!? Yes, please.

A farm employee sprays crops with fish emulsion, a natural fertilizer. Image by Carina Lofgren Photography.

As a visible part of so many different communities, Stone's Throw tries its best to be a good neighbor — and it has many neighbors. The farm offers a sliding scale, EBT-accessible market stand and hosts volunteer and skill share opportunities for the community.

They also partner with rural farms outside the city (who lack the urban advantage of visibility) in a cooperative called Shared Ground.

Of course, this uncommon land use doesn't come without its naysayers.

The aftermath of the 2009 foreclosure crisis allowed space for new ideas about best uses for land. Areas that had previously housed commercial businesses were suddenly available for new, creative uses. That's what allowed Stone's Throw Urban farm to get up and running — with so many vacant lots, the city was open to using some of them for farming.

But Caroline explains that "as the market recovers, people are interested in seeing built development." Stores. Offices. Housing developments. "Traditional" urban land uses.

An aerial view of one plot in St. Paul. Image via Google Maps.

As a result, sustainable land access is one of the biggest challenges faced by Stone's Throw. In fact, the farm's future may depend on their ability "to better articulate the ways that urban agriculture is a form of development with many benefits to urban residents."

But the Stone's Throw team is determined and optimistic.

And they're not about to let the challenges of urban farming get in their way.

What's more, they're noticing changes in the way the community — and policymakers — talk about issues of food and development. And that gives me hope.

It's not easy to cultivate healthy and just communities, but a little grit and diligence can go a long way. A fondness for weeding probably doesn't hurt either.

Image by Carina Lofgren Photography.

A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

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Cameron House/Naughty Sheep

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Remember when "goat yoga" was all the rage? And then "cow cuddling" and "turkey cuddling" made everyone's bucket lists?

Now we can add "nuzzling with naughty sheep" to the mix, but with a fancy Scottish twist.

Less than an hour from Glasgow, Scotland, the Cameron House resort sits on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond, looking as if it were plucked straight out of a fairy tale. Sprawling green grounds, gorgeous lake views and a four-story castled mansion greet guests as their "home away from home" (only better), and a perusal of the reviews show guests raving about the 5-star resort's elegance, beauty and exceptional service.

I mean, just look at this place:

drone view of cameron house grounds and lakeCameron House sit on Lake Lochmond in Scotland.Cameron House


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Russell, the free-spirited crow, ventures away from the family's home from time to time, but never for too long. He always comes back and announces his return by tapping on the door, swooping in to lounge on the sofa, or awaiting Otto's return from school atop their roof.

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Crow Named Russell Waits For His Favorite Kid To Get Home From School | The Dodo


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Why you shouldn't throw your dishwasher pod into the bottom of your dishwasher

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