Yesterday I got my copy of the lastest Seward Coop Sprout! magazine in the mail, which means I can show you some photos that I took not too long ago. Pretty fun stuff – over the fall and winter most of the work I did for the coop was in the store, but they got me out in the neighborhood for some really fun stories. Namely,

The cover story was shot at the Seward Child Care Center. They’ve received a neighborhood grant from the coop to teach their kids about food. One of the teaching tools is a compost bucket, which they keep underneath the fish tank. They feed it their lunch scraps, and leaves, and keep it watered, checking in with the worms and keeping ‘em happy. If there’s one thing you want it’s happy worms. Ask any of these kids, they’ll tell you the same thing.

Next up was a house remodeled to Gold LEED certification a couple years ago – amazing and very personal in the way they used materials that in most remodel projects would’ve been chucked in the dumpster, to make a super livable and beautiful new home. Definitely check out the magazine for the whole story on this staircase and all the other sustainable touches. Pretty inspiring.

Lastly, we’re entering the inaugural year of Growing Lots, a new farm being created right on top of an old parking lot. It will operate on the community supported agriculture (CSA) model, which is a fairly cutting-edge idea for an urban core area not on one of the coasts. I got to photograph the team at Seward Redesign, an incredibly innovative real estate development firm who is sponsoring the project (among the many projects they’ve got going, all enhancing sustainability and livability in the Seward neighborhood).

How great a client is the Seward Coop, sending me to meet all these amazing folks?

David Abele gets to spend time in some pretty cool spaces.

David Abele, Lakes Sotheby's Realtor

He sells real estate in Minneapolis, specializing in the downtown market – a place full of windows looking out over the entire metro area. I photographed him in the Skyscape development, a beautiful high rise near the Metrodome – the first of the Sample Circuit sponsors to subject himself to a small portrait/interview experience for the Sample Circuit Blog.

I work with several realtors, and something that I really appreciate about those that I’ve met is their involvement in the community. There’s a real appreciation for neighborhood, and history, and how cities fit together. With David, one of the ways that interest manifests itself is through philanthropy: he’s been on numerous boards and contributes generously to many more that do important work downtown and across Minneapolis.

Plus he’s a really funny guy.

More work at chrisbohnhoff.com