Apr 24, 2011

Open for Business: Egg/Plant Urban Farm Supply In St. PaulBy TwinCities.com

Tell us what your business does.

Egg|Plant Urban Farm Supply is a retail store that sells seeds, plants and supplies for backyard food gardening and homesteading in the city. In addition to plants, pots, soils, tools and fertilizers, we sell backyard chicken-keeping supplies, canning

Garden vegetable seeds in cans were photographed at Egg Plant Urban Farm Supply in St. Paul on Thursday April 14, 2011. (Pioneer Press: Richard Marshall) (Richard Marshall) and preserving supplies, cheese-making kits and indoor and outdoor composting solutions, as well as gifts and books on gardening and homesteading topics. We focus on organic and sustainable methods and products and aim to be a source of information and inspiration as well as high-quality supplies.

Why are you launching it now?

The past few years have seen increasing interest in growing and preserving food, backyard chicken-keeping, urban beekeeping and traditional skills such as cheese-making and canning. The National Gardening Association reported a 19 percent rise in vegetable gardening in 2009. Seed sales were up 20 to 30 percent, and the maker of Ball canning supplies reported a 40 percent increase in sales as well. People are interested in eating locally and organically and are increasingly willing to learn to do it themselves. In 2009, the word “locavore” entered the national lexicon, meaning a person who strives to eat locally grown food. Books such as “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver and movies such as “Food Inc.” and “Fresh” have brought backyard food gardening as well as concerns about food safety and support for family farms and farmer’s markets into the mainstream.

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