The Nettle Bed

Mission: "Queers learn to farm in community!" We're queer and trans folks + allies who care about justice and relationships, learning urban gardening and homesteading, connected to a rural queer land project and farm in Wisconsin.

From www.ic.org/directory/the-nettle-bed/:

The idea for a queer- and trans- centered urban homestead began when the two queer farmers of Racing Heart Farm reached out to build more community around their duplex in the city. When they finally "bought the farm" in 2017 and moved out to the country to begin their queer land project, Heartland, three people moved into the top floor of the city house to form The Nettle Bed. Named for the medicinal wild plant being cultivated in our backyard, we hope this space will be one of nourishment, safety, resistance, and roots.

Our home is located on a bustling corner of the Phillips / Ventura Village neighborhood, a primarily working-class and POC neighborhood, and the historic birthplace of the American Indian Movement. The neighborhood is home to an active Islamic Center, American Indian Center, Waite House Community Center, indigenous art gallery, library, and several community gardens. We're also just blocks down the street from the Wildflower Worker and Rye House / Minneapolis Catholic Worker communities.

Daily Life and Dreams: We engage in community with our downstairs neighbors via weekly dinners and collaboration on some gardening and yard projects. The Nettle Bed has a large, fenced-in extra-large lot with raised garden beds, grass mowed by grazing rabbits, young apple and chokecherry trees, berry bushes, medicinal plants, rain barrels, and fire pit. None of us are experts at growing things, but we are learning as we go and hope to continue to incorporate permaculture design as we develop the yard. (Mushrooms? Chickens?) We enjoy gathering people for events that range from tender and reflective to joyfully rowdy, so far including: backyard concerts, Solstice bonfires, song circles, game nights, and weekly meals. Our downstairs neighbors have also hosted documentary nights and speakers about local organizing efforts. We seek to question mainstream American culture by living simply; talk about race, class, and gentrification; support each other in learning and unlearning; establish seasonal and yearly traditions; do things outside the house together (attend performances and actions, participate in neighborhood events, go camping, visit the farm); and build an extended community of warm, close relationships.

Opportunities out at the farm include: Helping on vegetable operation- big harvests, weeding, transplanting, processing (drying, fermenting, canning, freezing, cidering), Building projects (deck, dance floor, earthen oven, composting toilet, sauna, outdoor kitchen, cabin), Hosting workshops / skill shares, Creating an artist retreat/residency, Learning about chickens and sheep, Wild crafting/foraging, or starting a small business that requires a little land in the country (eg beekeeping).

A service of the Data Commons Co-op. The project has been supported by Equal Exchange, the Cooperative Charitable Trust, the USDA, and many others - thank you! Tech volunteers over the years include: Benjamin Bradley with support from GAIA Host. Ben Mauer with support from Quilted. Paul Fitzpatrick. Ronin Tech Collective, Brattleboro Tech Collective, Sligo Computer Services. Jason Lemieux. Default map tiles courtesy of MapQuest. Default map data (c) OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA.