2025 Urban Farm-to-Fork Dinners
Join me as we kick off summer, celebrating the bounty of Southeast Minnesota. Indulge in a unique culinary experience featuring menus crafted from the day's harvest, promising an irresistible journey for your taste buds.
6/21 - 7/26 - 8/23 - 9/20
About the Event
Kelly Rae Kirkpatrick hosts your Farm-to-Fork dinner experience on her urban farmstead in a downtown neighborhood of Rochester, Minnesota. With an abundance of veg and flowers, fruit trees, chickens, and a boulevard bioswale, this productive educational site highlights what regenerative urban agriculture looks like. Your enjoyment and attendance support Kelly's vision at The Garden Lab of an expanding urban farmstead, promoting food security and increasing fresh-food access.
Join us
A culinary experience with farm-fresh local ingredients, craft brews, and creative libations. Farm attire is encouraged!
- Saturday, June 21st
- Saturday, July 26th
- Saturday, August 23rd
- Saturday, September 20th
5:00 PM - Arrive and mingle while enjoying craft brews, libations and nibbles
5:30 PM - Urban Farmstead Tour
6:00 PM - Dinner of seasonal ingredients and locally sourced meats and cheese
Seating is limited to 36 people per dinner.
FREE Film Fridays in August
Join me on the terrace at 7:00 PM each Friday evening in August to watch inspiring films about our food system and environment. Bring your beverage of choice - I provide the popcorn!
2025 films announced in May
Below is the list of films offered in 2024
August 2 - River’s End (2023)
August 9 - Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf (2017)
August 16 - Fashion Reimagined (2023)
August 23 - Common Ground (2023)
August 30 - SEED: The Untold Story (2016)
River’s End
Get an inside look at California’s complex struggle over who gets fresh water and discover how big money and special interests take what they want. In RIVER’S END (2021), ordinary residents are left high and dry in a story that heralds an impending crisis - not just in California but worldwide.
Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf
In FIVE SEASONS: THE GARDENS OF PIET OUDOLF (2017), viewers are immersed in Oudolf’s work as we are taken inside his creative process, including abstract sketches, theories on beauty, and the ecological implications of his ideas.
Fashion Reimagined
Amy Powney was raised off-the-grid in rural England by activist parents. FASHION REIMAGINED (2023) follows her winning the coveted Vogue award for the Best Young Designer of the Year, despite her uneasiness with fashion’s devastating environmental impact. She created a sustainable collection from field to finished garment, transforming her business as a precursor to societal change.
Common Ground
COMMON GROUND (2023) unveils the dark web of money, power, and politics behind our broken food system. This sequel to KISS THE GROUND profiles a hopeful and uplifting movement of white, black, and indigenous farmers using alternative “regenerative” models of agriculture that could balance the climate, save our health, and stabilize America’s economy before it’s too late.
SEED: The Untold Story
Few things on Earth are as miraculous and vital as seeds. In the last century, 94% of our seed varieties have disappeared. SEED: THE UNTOLD STORY (2016) follows passionate seed keepers protecting our 12,000-year-old food legacy. In a harrowing and heartening story, we see a rekindled lost connection to our most treasured resource, reviving a culture connected to seeds.
Seasonal Plants, Cut Flowers & Seed Sales
“I loved getting my Friday pick-me-up bouquets from Kelly. Such unique blooms and color arrangements which brought joy to my whole week. Plus Kelly made it so easy to just grab your bouquet from a convenient spot!”
- Mary I.
Garden Tours
A garden tour is a great way to have fun with friends or your community group while honing your gardening skills. Learn new techniques that will take your gardening game to the next level.
Consider lunch on the terrace before or after your tour.
May - September
