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Rice Street Gardens (RSG) Overview and Report —December 2022 Introduction and Summary After six years of operation, Rice Street Gardens is at an important crossroads where we are facing significant changes. For this reason our report this year will include more information than usual, with new sections on the garden history, its importance to both the gardeners and the community, and our options for the future. 2022 was another successful growing season, although unusually dry —water is available throughout the summer. The 260 gardener families continue to play a strong role in maintaining the grounds and equipment. We have also recruited a diverse group of gardeners to help make decisions about garden improvements. We are in the third year of our $4,000 per year grant from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) which has enabled us to hire an administrator, Dana Ferguson, who handles our communications. We are in excellent shape financially with about $7,378 in our bank account at the end of the year. We received a SHIP (State Health Improvement Program) grant of $2,300 which enabled us to buy a new wooden shed and tiller. In September we had a celebration potluck where we also updated many gardeners on our future outlook. A cheer went up when we said the gardens would continue as usual for 2023. This report has the following sections: 1. Importance of RSG to gardener families and the community 2. History of RSG 3. Details from the 2022 season 4. Future options for RSG 1. Importance of the Rice Street Gardens (RSG) to Gardener Families and the Community RSG is a symbol of growth and hope to a broad community. There are over 70,000 residents within three miles of RSG. Many of them live in apartments and have no opportunity for growing their own food. In fact, within walking distance to the gardens, many low income families are food insecure, and RSG provides an essential source of nourishment. Some depend on harvesting enough food to carry them halfway through the Minnesota winter. From the beginning, we have encouraged and prioritized gardening by recent immigrants. The majority of our gardeners are either recent immigrants from Nepal or Myanmar/Thailand and we know that there are at least ten other languages spoken by gardeners. In Minnesota, strong support is provided by several agencies to immigrants, but for only three months. They are then expected to find jobs, pay rent, and buy their food like everyone else. RSG is an option to use skills and traditions they have brought from their former countries. Sometimes one or more family members are left behind in this adjustment to life in the U.S., especially the elder members of the immigrant families, who aren't at school or work. During the days at RSG you will often see older people working in the gardens, sometimes growing vegetables and plants that they can't easily buy in our stores. Some gardeners even use traditional methods to process the harvest.