The Super Bowl giveth, and the Super Bowl giveth some more.
Growers, volunteers and neighborhood residents gathered Tuesday at Frogtown Farm in St. Paul for pizza made from organic ingredients grown right on the premises and baked in a wood-fired outdoor bread oven.
The three-structure demonstration kitchen — which includes a storage shed, food prep room and bake house — is a $50,000 project funded wholly by the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee Legacy Fund. Architect Emily Stover donated the designs for the site, located on a hilltop off Minnehaha Avenue and Victoria Street.
By the time the Super Bowl kickoff takes place in Minneapolis in February, the Legacy Fund aims to deliver roughly $4 million in funding for “fun and fuel” projects throughout Minnesota — healthy food and healthy activities — through 52 weekly grants.
The money is raised by the NFL and the Super Bowl Host Committee. The “shovel-ready” projects have been preselected with guidance from the Minnesota Department of Health.
Eartha Bell, executive director of Frogtown Farm, said the structures that will house the outdoor oven aren’t quite complete — they’ll soon be covered with cedar shingles and a large awning, among other finishes.
But they’re far enough along to add a new element to the urban farming activities that roll out Tuesday evenings and Friday and Saturday mornings. Frogtown residents work the farm and bring home what they harvest.
Now, the Frogtown Farm organization will be able to demonstrate healthy cooking recipes using ingredients grown practically underfoot, a practice that gains heightened importance in a neighborhood where 35 percent of residents are under age 18 and 42 percent of residents live under the poverty line.
On Tuesday, young workers from Twin Cities-based Youth Farm made pizzas for the crowd. In went the Cherokee purple heirloom tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. Out came homespun deliciousness.
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That’s expected to happen again and again, said Seitu Jones, a Frogtown Farm co-founder who has already begun leading baking groups onsite.
“There’s a lot of community use of this kitchen,” said Dana Nelson, vice president of community partnerships for the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee.
The committee has made two previous donations within the city. In February, they donated $100,000 to St. Paul Parks and Recreation to install four permanent Sepak Takraw courts — two outside the Duluth and Case Rec Center and two by Loeb Lake in Marydale Park, near Maryland Avenue and Dale Street.
In May, the Legacy Fund awarded a $50,000 grant to support the Dayton’s Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services’ Rivoli Bluff Orchard Project.
