Nina Escriva dunked heads of a large Chinese cabbage called pak choy into a tub of water, one after another, cleaning off mud at the base so they could be bagged and set aside. It was a sunny, cool Friday morning on Frogtown Farm in St. Paul. A group of nine workers, including volunteers and staff, moved through rows of ripe produce, harvesting buckets full of vegetables that would be distributed that evening at a local food shelf or sold the next morning at the market. Escriva was taking advantage of a new program this season to help at the farm once or twice a week in exchange for a share of the harvest. She’s lived in Frogtown for five years while attending Macalester College. Without a yard of her own, she looked to the farm for a place to spend time outside, to get her hands dirty, and to work alongside other people. “It’s very genuine community here,” she said. “They really care about agriculture, food production … about access to food.” Frogtown Farm is a 5.5 acre organic ur...
