Hamline Midway Coalition

Join efforts to build a stronger local food system in our corner of St. Paul through the Midway Local Food Resource Hub! Together with your neighbors, you can access low-cost seeds and plants, free or low-cost gardening workshops, a tool-lending library, newly-established community gardens, and more. 

Is this the program where I can get low-cost seeds and plants? Yes! Become a member of the Hub (see below) to reap the benefits!

How can I get involved? There are many ways to become involved in the Midway Local Food Resource Hub. Contact Faith at faith@hamlinemidway.org or 651-494-7683 for more information on the following opportunities:

• Become a member! The Hub is membership-based. Members gain access to a supportive community and a variety of other benefits, including seeds and seedlings. Even if you don't garden, you can become a member to support the movement. Learn more about membership and sign up online here. Print applications will be available from various locations, including the Hamline Midway Coalition office.
• Volunteer. The Midway Hub depends on helpful people like you to staff seed and seedling distribution events, teach workshops, organize a tool-lending library, and more.
• Become a leader. The Midway Hub leadership team organizes events, represents the hub membership in the larger hub network, generates ideas, and sets priorities. The group includes people from several neighborhoods in this corner of St. Paul. Meetings are generally held the third Monday of the month from 7:00-8:00pm at the Hamline Midway Library auditorium (1558 W. Minnehaha Ave).

What is a Local Foods Resource Hub? Local food resource hubs are partnerships of individuals, organizations, and businesses that support residents to grow their own fresh produce, helping ensure access to healthy food. They are democratic organizations that are community member inspired, driven, and organized. The success of the program depends largely on community support and donations of time, money and resources.

Last year with the help of Gardening Matters, individual hubs organized two spring distributions of seeds and plant starts to their members, offered free and low-cost gardening workshops, and organized tool lending libraries. Last year, the hubs The network of hubs has five focus areas:

• Serve as local points of distribution for physical resources
• Provide physical space for education classes
• Focus on building leadership capacity at the community level
• Develop a community network of gardeners and urban farmers that are able to support one another
• Build community connections

How did this get started? The idea for local food resource hubs grew out of a similar effort in Detroit. Gardening Matters helped establish three local foods resource hubs in Minneapolis in 2011. HMC’s Local Foods Working Group decided in late 2011 to partner with Gardening Matters to establish a hub for the Midway area – the first in Saint Paul!

Is this just for Hamline Midway residents?
No. This was launched by Hamline Midway to serve its community members (residents, business owners, organizations, students, etc.) and to be inclusive of surrounding neighborhoods to create a strong local food system in this area of St. Paul. Neighborhoods officially included in the Midway Hub are: Como, Frogtown, Summit-U, Union Park, Mac-Groveland, St. Anthony Park, Hamline Midway, and North End.