We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Queen Frye. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Queen below.

Queen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

I took a risk and decided to grow food in a large, vacant lot within North Mpls. I started out with $300 and was instructed to do something good with it. So I took the $300 and match that with my own capital and I began to grow only greens and cucumbers. The lot was huge and I had moved out of the neighborhood so I wasn’t sure how to monitor a garden miles away from home. This was also risky because I was growing food at large. I had never done grew food in a 1000lbs capacity. I had to open myself up to community as the the garden became and attractive place for people to spend their time and learn things. Being a lead farmer you have to take all kinds of risks from putting faith in the seeds that you are planting to planning an outdoor event and hoping for the good weather. Gardening is what I needed tough to help me process the grief of my Mother passing. Taking care of others and caring for live plants was the best was for me to make my transition. I started the garden just months after she had passed away. Another risk in this is processing other’s opinions about where and how I am growing food. Safety always comes first. Monitoring the plants, soil, air quality and activity at the garden. I am glad that I did step out and become a part of this urban agriculture movement in my city because we need people that know how to do this work to share the skill and teach others for the health of our future.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Queen and I am the owner of R Roots Garden, a private urban farm in North Minneapolis, MN. We have been growing food since 2019. We use the garden to teach folks how to grow their own gardens in short and easy steps. We also grow vegetables for local distribution. We are currently working on a great idea to start a garden center at the garden because we do not have not one garden center in our neighborhood and that is how we differentiate ourselves from other urban ag. ventures. We like to help people by sharing the knowledge of how to grow their own food and connect. them with a network of growers for them to continue building relationships and learning from others. We are most proud of our produce! We have great soil! We want potential clients to know that we are here to share knowledge, we want people to be self-sufficient and have access to real great food. We love to mix art with the garden, wellness with the garden. If you are in the Minneapolis area between April and October, stop by the garden.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Growing anything can be a challenge because to growing is unpredictably rewarding. When seeds don’t germinate, when the rain doesn’t fall, when the squirrels and rabbits eat at your crops, when the sun is just too hot or volunteers don’t show up. You have to keep planting, you have to keep weeding, you have to keep sniping, you have to keep sorting, you have to keep watering, you have to keep going. You have to have faith. You have to become resilient to what is actually happening and do not give up because when you think the plants are not! They really are and that’s the unpredictable reward. You will still reap a harvest.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I am in a place now where I feel like to need to pivot in business. Within the network of growers where I am from, everyone seems to have the same services to offer so I want to differentiate myself from the rest and bring something to our community that is stabilizing and sustainable for generations and that is opening a garden center.

Contact Info:

• Website: WWW.RRootsGarden.org
• Instagram: @RRootsGarden