Kieran Morris: The Revolutionary Power of Urban Farming 

We met Kieran at a local coffee shop near Macalester and sat down on the patio, sandwiched between a luxury condo building, a parking lot, and a row of shops. Kieran, sitting across from us, definitely looked like a gardener. His green army style jacket was complemented by a brown leather belt complete with gardening tools and a watch with an attached compass. Before we started the interview, Kieran wanted to hear about us, where we were from, what we study, and how we ended up conducting this interview. Intently listening, his eyes lit up on multiple occasions, at mentions of us being from Seattle and Brooklyn, our interests in Agriculture, Geography, and History, and at a mention of Hüsker Dü being an inspiration to move to the Twin Cities. In the interview that followed we got more than the description of environmental organizing and food justice that we were expecting. We listened in complete fascination for nearly an hour as he covered his experiences with urban wilderness, the revolutionary power of gardening, sustainable urban agriculture, and an insightful view of the cyclical nature of humans in relation to burnout.

Kieran grew up in the Twin Cities and attended the University of Minnesota where he studied history. From exploring the vast urban wilderness of the Twin Cities, camping in Northern Minnesota, and his family history with farming and gardening, his engagement with nature was a constant throughout his childhood. He described how his experience with urban wilderness “was formative for me and for who I am.” It became clear that these experiences directly influenced his environmental and food justice work which centers around gardening and urban farming. Many aspects of Kieran’s path towards activism strongly resonated with us. He described his idealistic, “the system sucks” style of thinking in college and how this theoretical framework changed in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the protests across the Twin Cities: “Seeing all the violence that was done to people and getting rubber bulleted in that, I was just like man, I actually want to gear my life towards doing something about this, just not thinking about it theoretically.” In the Twin Cities especially, and amongst the younger generation of organizers, these events were certainly formative to forming resistance and organization in response to the brutality. Police brutality, militarization, the inescapable grasp of capitalism, and the growing effects of climate change, are the reality in which young people–like both Kieran and us–live in. Drawing on the push from the uprisings, and a passion for change, Kieran started organizing around food justice and establishing his path to environmental justice.

The geography of space is strongly connected to the formation of communal identities and helps to shape the ways that activism can exist. In our interview with Kieran, it became increasingly clear that the Twin Cities, and Minnesota in general, are important aspects of his identity. Much of the unique geography of the Midwest comes from the Mississippi river. Kieran explained how the Mississippi is “paramount in the ways the cities are set up.” He elaborated that the river serves as a natural barrier preventing urban expansion and industrial development, something that is uncommon in many cities, such as Seattle and New York. This does not mean that the Twin Cities are exempt from the effects of urban sprawl, however, Kieran noted that “the way the city was built, accounting for the river, there is a lot more urban wilderness that you can access.” Additionally, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has enabled legal protection to prevent over-development on and around the Mississippi. Kieran explained that these protections serve as a “sort of buffer zone” around the river, allowing for the Mississippi to be enjoyed by people living in the Twin Cities. Kieran said:

A lot of my life living in town, I’ve just been exploring the area and figuring it out kind of. It’s a tremendous resource that we have in the twin cities. Going to other places I’m just like, man I can’t just go for a 10 mile hike in the woods by the river, but I can just do that in the Twin Cities if I wanted to.

Because of its geographical structure and spatial organization, environmental activism in the Twin Cities often presents itself in distinct and unparalleled ways. For Kieran, the Mississippi river allows for greater potential to make significant change through urban gardening and farming in the Twin Cities.

Over the course of the interview Kieran spoke of countless organizations he works with. From Project Sweetie Pie, to his work with the Twin Cities Community Land Trust, Urban Farm and  Garden Alliance, and his apprenticeship at the arboretum, it was clear that Kieran spends a lot of time with urban farming and gardening. All of his work centers around food justice, from his initial entry through food shelves, to gardening and training kids on farming. He explained that he is, “really into agriculture and guiding and all that stuff because those are the things that go beyond politics, and just connect us to the earth and solving these issues that are leading to real material damage in our lives.” His organizing, alongside his broader world view, is centered around a small community level. In response to one of our questions, he said clearly that urban farming and community gardening is: “One of the biggest steps [to creating community autonomy].” Because of its geographical structure and spatial organization, environmental activism in the Twin Cities often presents itself in distinct and unparalleled ways. For Kieran, the Mississippi river allows for greater potential to make significant change through urban gardening and farming in the Twin Cities.

Setting up the interview had been a little tricky, and we soon learned that Kieran and Project Sweetie Pie were in the midst of organizing a large event the week before we met. Kieran’s description of the event emphasized the joy inherent to community organizing.

It was a really awesome joyful event, there was dancing and some spoken word, I did a poem and Michael did a poem…it was just really fun. Moving forward we want to do more stuff like that where we are talking about what needs to be done, but we’re also making a space for the community to come prosper.

“His views on his own organizing, and broader food justice organizing, can only be described as deeply inspirational. In a world filled with climate despair and increasing environmental violence and injustice, Kieran looks to urban farming and gardening as a sign of hope.”

Deeply connected to this was how Kieran centers the importance of education and teaching gardening to young people. Central to Project Sweetie Pie is teaching youth how to garden, in what Kieran described as a “train the trainer” mentality and philosophy. He said that, “If you can get people involved from a younger age in growing this stuff, they grow up and they’re going to throw those seeds out–no pun intended–as they go forward through life.” Working with youth and communities in this area of food justice, clearly advances a sense of community sovereignty, central to Kieran’s broader philosophy of organizing.

The US continues to push the logic of industrialized agriculture and the western ideal that growing one crop at a time will maximize production yields. Kieran made it clear that the monocrop approach of agriculture does not actually provide more food; instead it destroys the soil, making farmland unusable in the long run. Kieran talked about how “Indigenous people had many different ways of working with the land to increase yield.” With polyculture, each individual crop provides a different purpose allowing for a more complex, collective, and healthy ecosystem. Kieran talked extensively about the importance of reintroducing permaculture farming and his vision for food justice incorporates these ideas of permaculture into urban farming.

Working with the land and figuring out ways to better the way that we live and provide food for ourselves that don’t require destroying a bunch of stuff, that’s a very human thing to do that people are doing and have done for a very long time.

He explained that we need to start utilizing urban spaces to produce food as we learn to adapt to the impacts of climate change: “To deal with the new world that is coming, we are going to have to make a lot more people-power, and that takes the form of urban farming.” One of the core beliefs of Project Sweetie Pie is that the food we produce should represent the nutritional needs and cultures of the people who are consuming that food. Kieran shared that Michael Chaney, the founder of Project Sweetie Pie continually says, “we will have achieved food justice when what is on shelves looks like what the people want to eat.” The first step in this process is providing people with the knowledge and resources to grow their own food, and that starts with workshops for community youth and spreading the benefits of permaculture and urban agriculture.

The problem of food insecurity is usually not caused by a lack of food supply, but is instead an issue of access. To address issues of food agency and access, Kieran looks to urban agriculture. “There’s so many ways to farm inside: vertical farming, rooftop farming, hydroponics, aquaponics, greenrooms.” The move towards urban agriculture, by utilizing the indoor and outdoor spaces outlined above, does several things to challenge the mainstream food system. Kieran’s vision for the future of agriculture can also be seen as a possible way to address land rights issues and land-dispossession. Reclaiming urban spaces for agriculture is a way for people who have been dispossessed from their natural resources to have agency over their environment. This is a potential way to address the unjust concentration of land and wealth.

Kieran’s vision for the future of food justice will create more food security, restructure traditional systems of agricultural power, respond to the real demands of people, create employment, and potentially even address land rights issues. This vision is beginning to become a reality through Kieran’s organizing with Project Sweetie Pie. Although this vision has not yet been fully realized, Kieran’s passion and ability to pass on his message allows for young people, such as us, to see his ideas as a reality for our future.

With everything that Kieran is involved in and constantly thinking about the future, he spoke candidly about being burned out and losing motivation at some points. “I’m doing a lot of different stuff at once, so I do get burned out quite a lot.” In environmental justice fights it’s clear that people need a break, and the toll on mental and physical health can often be too much. Kiern emphasizes that honoring these feelings is essential.

For about five years I’ve been practicing archery and I have a couple of friends who will go out and shoot with me. If I’m starting to feel rough in a day, I’ll just take an hour and go shoot arrows. Likewise with hiking or going to work in the garden.“The knowledge and passion that Kieran possesses is so powerful, and he made clear that the fight for environmental justice is in good hands. He left us feeling that we can do more, and that the start to pursuing environmental justice can be as simple as planting a seed, or ripping up one weed.”

He went on to discuss how we, as humans, have dealt with crises before, and will deal with them again. He emphasized that one cannot put the pressure on themself to solve the issues of environmental justice. We can fight for what we believe in, while still enjoying life and the things that have been around forever.

The things that do last are traditions…we can ground ourselves in music, cooking food, and going out and growing something in the garden and be at peace with the fact that we’re part of a cycle.

We walked out of the coffee shop, thanked Kieran for the incredible interview, and walked away in a sense of complete awe. The knowledge and passion that Kieran possesses is so powerful, and he made clear that the fight for environmental justice is in good hands. He left us feeling that we can do more, and that the start to pursuing environmental justice can be as simple as planting a seed, or ripping up one weed. Kieran has a strong power to inspire young people through his passion, story-telling, knowledge, and ability to connect. Being in his presence made us feel like his vision for the future is possible and imminent.