Have a true plant-to-plate experience at Farm at the Arb

Many Minnesotans grew up on farms, or perhaps their parents and grandparents did.

Others have never set foot on a farm or haven’t experienced the joy of raising plants.

They’ve missed the earthy, tangy smell of manure; the perfume of flowers; the way grains wave like gold in the breeze. They’ve missed the satisfaction of digging a big fork into the ground to pull out potatoes that seem to magically appear from under the leaves – and turning them into dinner.

Visiting a farm concentrates the experience of growing things, much like visiting the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, where 1,200 acres of flowers, plants and trees bring nature to you in a whole new way. Every summer at the Arboretum, you get to experience both.

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A plant-to-plate series called Summer Fun at the Farm runs Saturdays at the Farm at the Arb through the harvest season. Visitors can harvest a different crop each week, enjoy cooking demos featuring the crop of the day, sample foods, play lawn games and more.

This Saturday, Sept. 6, the farm events culminate with an extravaganza called Field Fest, presented by KWS Seeds. People can dig up a sugar beet, compete for largest beet and get a bag of sugar to take home – bringing the experience full circle. The event also features multiple crop harvests, food trucks, a beer garden, beekeeping demonstrations, a scavenger hunt, family-friendly games and live music.

New this year at Field Fest: a celebrity baking showcase and book signing with Minnesota’s own Zoë François.

Summer Fun at the Farm and Field Fest both teach people how food is grown and where it comes from. Visitors can tour crop plots, food gardens, orchards and more to reconnect with nature.

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Many people know about the apples at the Arboretum but not about its agricultural production. Closing this knowledge gap is essential to understanding that we are all part of a food chain that begins with plants. Even meat, eggs and milk trace back to plants. And pollination, of course, is essential to food production – another lesson visitors can learn at the events.

The Arboretum works to inspire people to engage with gardening and to reconnect with any farming interest or heritage they may have. The Farm at the Arb wants everyone to feel like a farm family when they come, whether they live in the city, suburbs or rural areas. The hope is they will all see the rhythm in growing plants.

Summer Fun is included with general daily admission, which is free for members and ages 15 and younger and $20-$25 for nonmembers ages 16 and older. Field Fest requires registration at arb.umn.edu/fieldfest.

The events are rain or shine.

Lynette Kalsnes is the public relations strategist at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. She can’t wait to see how big the giant pumpkins at the Farm at the Arb will grow.

Kalsnes’ column on happenings at the Arboretum will appear periodically on the Eden Prairie Local News website. Contact her at arbpr@umn.edu.