Jake Spitzack
Staff Writer
Leah Mathiason was recently named West Sider of the Year by the West Side Community Organization, which presents the award annually to honor a resident who has demonstrated leadership on a major issue or made valuable contributions to the community. She was nominated by executive director of the West Side Farmers Market, Laura Fredrickson-Gosewisch, for her work at the market and with Growing Resilience on the West Side (GROWS), a coalition between businesses and individuals committed to making healthy food accessible to everyone in the neighborhood.
“It’s nice to be recognized and seen by your community but it’s not work I do by myself,” said Mathiason. “It’s about all of us working together.”
Mathiason was a founding member of the West Side Farmers Market in 2012 and became a vendor there last year under the name Rusty Patch Farms, selling vegetables that were grown organically at various urban gardens in the community. This year she was elected to the West Side Farmers Market’s board of directors and ramped up her production by joining Big River Farms, an incubator farm along the St. Croix River. The timing was perfect, as the two other weekly produce vendors at the market had to drop out for personal reasons and therefore she was the only one offering produce every week.
GROWS was established last spring and includes four community gardens that anyone can help maintain or harvest produce at for free: the Capitol View Communal Garden and Orchard, Robert Street Garden, Icy Cup Garden and the Garden of Good Hearts. This summer, Mathiason helped organize weekly educational programming for youth at the gardens in partnership with Minneapolis-based Midwest Food Connection. Additionally, four years ago, she spearheaded the Free Farmstand at Parque Castillo, which every Sunday in the summer gives away produce that’s donated from the farmers market and community gardens. This summer, volunteers also offered produce each Wednesday from a stand at Beautiful Laundrette, 625 Stryker Ave. Mathiason said they nearly always distribute all the produce at the stands and that it’s been a good way for neighbors to connect with one another.
“Last year we were chatting with some folks who stopped by and they started to talk to each other, and it turned out they were neighbors who lived on the same block for 20 years and had never spoken to each other before,” she said. “I think that’s what’s amazing about community spots like this. They are sort of intentional ways of bringing people together. It’s just one small way of building community and making our community stronger.”
A self-employed attorney and mother of two, Mathiason strives to connect community members through the unifying cause of food justice. The West Side community has a 23.4% food insecurity rating according to a 2023 report by Ramsey County and is identified as a “food desert” because of the considerable distance it takes to get to a full-service grocery store, especially on foot. GROWS is also a member of the Metro Food Justice Network, which helps community groups advance racial equality by transforming the food system.
“We need fresh food on the West Side, but also for me it’s about learning how to live in community with each other,” said Mathiason. “I think it’s something we’ve forgotten how to do and need to learn how to do again…. Everybody has something different to offer and I think if we all can learn how to lean on each other we’re going to be okay. The way that we live is so isolating. We’re all working and struggling and sometimes it feels like we’re all alone. I think that we really need to remember how to live in community again.”