Putting the green into St. Paul's Frogtown neighborhood

Patricia Ohmans is the founder and director of Frogtown Green, a volunteer-powered, resident-led group that began in 2009 to create St. Paul's Frogtown Park and Farm. Chris Stevens is the former chef who is the group's only full-time employee.

Together, they and a cadre of volunteers and area residents not only work to beautify the park but have branched out — creating parklets and gardens, planting trees every fall and continuing to plant pollinator habitat throughout the neighborhood. They also sponsor dozens of community events on gardening, food and water quality.

Eye on St. Paul met with Ohmans and Stevens last week at the 13-acre park, while it was still snow-free, to talk about Frogtown Green and the reasons they invest their time and passion into beautifying the neighborhood. This interview was edited for length.

Q: Patricia, tell me your background.

PO: I've been running Frogtown Green since 2009, when we started the campaign for Frogtown Park and Farm. That lasted for a couple of years. And then the farm itself spun off to a nonprofit organization. Now, we continue with a broader, vaguer mission to make Frogtown the greenest neighborhood in St. Paul.

Q: That's a lot of work, because it's considered the least green neighborhood in St. Paul, right?

PO: I would say so. Our argument for the park and farm was that, per child, per capita, Frogtown has the least amount of greenspace. We have like 40 percent kids under the age of 18. So, we convinced the parks department and the city and the Trust for Public Land to create this new park in the city out of the former Wilder campus.

And then we moved on and built a couple of community gardens, started a tree planting program and we have a summer workshop program for kids we call Froglab.

Q: You're no longer officially connected to the park, but you still volunteer. What are you doing today?

PO: Frogtown Green helps to manage the non-farm part of the park. And we're planting bulbs today that were donated.

Q: How do you make sure those pesky squirrels don't dig up your bulbs?

PO: We were just wondering whether we should put mulch on top. They're going to get some. We're hoping for the best.

[Chris Stevens comes over to talk.]

Q: Chris, do you live in the neighborhood as well?

CS: Yeah, near Rice and Charles, over by the Capitol.

Q: Patricia, have you been in the neighborhood your whole life?

PO: No. I grew up in Latin America. We moved pretty much every year.

Q: Were your parents missionaries?

PO: No. My dad was with the State Department. We were peddling a different product. [laughs].

Q: Chris, tell me about you. How long have you been in Frogtown?

CS: Twenty-one years.

Q: What brought you here?

CS: My wife did. We met at Table of Contents restaurant on Grand Avenue. I was the chef, she was the sous chef. Her landlord had renovated a number of [Frogtown] houses. And we bought a house they had revamped.

Q: So, you're planting bulbs to beautify the entrance to the park?

CS: Yeah. We weeded the area, but never got around to planting anything. We were out of [bulb] stock and thought we'd just wait until next year. Then Egg-Plant [urban farm supply store] called and said they had a bunch of bulbs that aren't going to last. Do you have a garden you can put them in? So …

Q: Why do you do it? You're paid now, but you were a volunteer.

CS: We try to be good stewards. I mean this doesn't cause any harm. We try to plant trees. Teach people how to garden. It's nice being outside.

Q: Patricia, I'll ask you the same question.

PO: Well, if you want the psychological reason why, I grew up moving around all the time. So, by the time I was in college, I literally could live anywhere. And in 1981, when I was 25 or something, I bought a house in Frogtown. [Her husband is author Anthony Schmitz, who once ran the community newspaper.] And you can't leave when you're running the ... newspaper [laughs].

Q: Forgive my pun, but did you want to put down roots?

PO: I personally did, yes. He grew up in Waconia, all his life, same house. It only dawned on me recently that's what kept me here. Also, [Frogtown] is darned interesting. There are different cultures. There are all kinds of challenges and problems. But they're not so insurmountable that you think it's impossible.

Q: How do you keep efforts like this going long after you're gone? Chris, will you keep coming even if you're not paid anymore?

PO: I think we'll evolve. Volunteers do come and go. We've had a steady core of people. The tension for us right now is, OK, we have one paid person. How do we continue to motivate volunteers when it's not an emergency anymore?

Before AmeriCorps, Chris just showed up and was helping with the pollinator garden.

CS: It would be a fun thing to do. It's enjoyable. We started a restaurant [in south Minneapolis] in 2007 and I just wanted a change. To work outside. So, I think so.