Upstream
Photo
Fellowship.
Kenyan farming traditions — carried into Minnesota soil.
Photographs about family, memory, and the ways culture roots itself in new ground. Documenting the gardens, the labor, and the people keeping Kenyan tradition alive in Minnesota.
Preparing the Garden
A Kenyan Farmer in Big Lake
Community Farming in Minnesota
Farming as a Form of Memory
My mother was raised farming on my grandmother's land in Kenya. Every spring and summer growing up, that practice followed us to Minnesota. Family would gather to prepare soil, plant seeds, tend rows, and harvest vegetables that most American grocery stores have never carried. These photographs document that ritual.
The project examines how agricultural knowledge moves between generations and across continents. What began as necessity became tradition. What became tradition became identity. The garden in Minneapolis holds the same seeds as the shamba in Kenya.
As part of the Upstream Photo Fellowship, I brought this story into focus: farming not as labor, but as cultural preservation — a way of staying connected to people and places separated by distance and time.
My mother brought farming traditions from Kenya to Minnesota. What began as a way to grow familiar foods became a way to preserve culture, strengthen family bonds, and create a sense of home.
Mboga za Kienyeji
Many of the vegetables grown in the garden are traditional African green leafy vegetables known in Kenya as Mboga za Kienyeji. These crops are deeply tied to Kenyan food traditions and largely absent from mainstream American grocery stores. Growing them locally is both a practical act and a cultural one — keeping the flavors, the knowledge, and the stories alive.
Preparing
the Garden
Featuring Nemuel's mother, grandmother (in loving memory), niece, and a family friend preparing the backyard garden for the spring growing season. The labor, planning, and teamwork that happen before a single seed goes into the ground.
A Kenyan Farmer
in Big Lake
A member of the Kenyan community in Minnesota who raises goats, sheep, and chickens on his land in Big Lake. Nemuel reached out through community ties and he was generous enough to open his farm and allow the work to be documented. At the end of the visit, Nemuel was able to buy fresh organic eggs directly from the farmer.
Community Farming
in Minnesota
Photographed near Crystal Airport, where members of Minnesota's Kenyan community have long rented seasonal farming plots. A community member prepares his plot for planting — reflecting how farming remains central to Kenyan life in Minnesota, not just within one family but across an entire community.
