Posted by Angie Stackhouse | June 9th, 2011

Angie Stackhouse is Bread for the City client and a local advocate for social justice issues, particularly for the homeless community. Angie has been helping Bread for the City with the food policy council planning process with the Health Affordable Food for All Coalition, and recently traveled attended a food policy conference with others from Bread for the City. Angie has blogged with us in the past about homelessness in DC.

I came to the Community Food Security Coalition’s local policy conference to find out how we can better serve the homeless community in terms of getting fresh vegetables in shelters. Once there, I met a lot of people who talked about how that’s just one important way among many that we can improve our communities’ food systems, improving our health while also developing economic opportunity.

And I realized that what we all want is healthy affordable food for all – so let’s do it!

How do we make that happen? First, you need to think about who needs to be brought to the table. You need to do the groundwork – going into the communities and asking people how they feel about their food choices and how they feel about not having fresh food in their neighborhood.

You also need to have people who know about things like zoning, people who are affiliated with the Health department (to highlight the importance of sickness & disease happening in the neighborhoods), and folks who have data linking lack of fresh vegetables to sickness and obesity (that’ll help convince City Council how important it is). Then, you start thinking about how to work together to make it happen.

I learned that having something like a food policy council can help make sure the City Council recognizes that people need fresh & healthy food. And I learned that successful food policy councils have participation and leadership from residents who themselves are struggling with these problems and searching for solutions.

But we also learned that you’ve got to be strategic. You have to know how to use the tools that you have with limited resources. Being strategic means being able to clearly define what you’re trying to do, which also makes people more likely to want to sign on.

So let’s get to work! Here are some of my favorite ideas from the conference:

• Gardening in a way that creates jobs, and supporting healthy foods in shelters will also encourage homeless people to participate in becoming healthy themselves, and feeling more empowered over their own lives. The Gateway Greening Project in St. Louis is one example.
• Food trucks is an awesome way to get food across the city while also creating jobs. Green carts in New York are an example of that.
• Transportation matters more for low-income residents. To engage in garden projects, markets, and so on, they may need additional support for travel to and from.
• Everything Cleveland is doing.
• Food justice can and should also mean economic justice. Bringing in healthy retail can support local job creation, for example.

And here’s what I’m going to be doing now that I’m back in DC:

• Check out the websites of all the organizations I learned about, including a business that specifically caters to the homeless community.
• Dig deeper into the mobile market and mobile garden idea and who’s working on it in DC.
• Start doing more outreach and organizing. We know everyone who needs to be at the table – let’s make sure they’re there.

Posted by Josh Singer | June 7th, 2011

I work at Casey Trees, a nonprofit dedicated to planting trees throughout DC.  I’m working on a new project focused on planting free urban fruit orchards.  My goal is to create fruit orchards in an urban environment that can be accessed, harvested and maintained by the community members as a sustainable means for organic fruit at little to no financial cost to the community.

Casey Trees is willing to provide the trees, equipment, technical assistance, and additional volunteers.  In return we need an active community investment to maintain and harvest the trees.  I hope to find this investment in pre-existing community gardens or similar community organizations.

We require a minimum of 10 fruit trees per planting.  If space is an issue we have access to espalier and columnar fruit trees, which can give creativity to an area.  We can also provide site visits to help with the planning process.

Pictured: Columnar, Espalier, and Multi- graphed espalier

This spring we planted our first urban fruit orchard partnered with the Beet Street community garden (http://www.beetstreetgardens.org/beat_streets_gardens/Welcome.html) at the Sasha Bruce half way house (http://www.sashabruce.org/). We planted sixteen dwarf fruit trees of a variety of species from figs, paw paws, apples, peaches, pears, plums, and cherries.  We chose dwarf fruit trees because of the limited space and for easier maintenance, since the garden will be taken care of by residents of Sasha Bruce and volunteers from Beet Street, a nonprofit that establishes and maintains community gardens at social service organizations.  All the newly planted trees in the pictures below have the green ooze tube bags at their base.

Pears and Apples (the apple in between the bushes is a columnar)

Once the fruit orchard is planted we will teach and assist the caretakers with different organic methods of pest and disease control, pruning, watering, winterizing, harvesting, etc.  Casey Trees is fully committed to the survival and production of these fruit trees.

The application deadline for fall planting is June 15^th and spring planting November 15^th.  The application can be found at this link: http://www.caseytrees.org/planting/tree-help/ctp/index.php

Sweet and Sour Cherries

For more information and application assistance please contact me at jsinger@caseytrees.org or (513) 594-4248 anytime.  Thank you.

Josh Singer | Tree Planting | Casey Trees

Posted by Jeremiah Lowery | June 6th, 2011

Last year, President Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 into law; the act also being a huge boost to First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move! Initiative”.   The new law is intended to improve the quality of school breakfast, lunches, and other foods sold in schools.

However, as politicians applaud themselves on taking a step to strengthen nutrition programs nationwide, a noteworthy movement to build a better food system is still ranging on in the nation’s capital. This movement is not being organized by politicians or in city hall, but in the classroom and organized by students who want a change in their school’s food program.

The ESL program at Cardozo High School is comprised of students from countries across the world, from Western Africa, China, to Latin America; which is why they are correctly referred to as “many languages, one voice”. For almost 3 years, with the help of Jenny Nelson the Education Coordinator, they have been trying to wage a campaign to change the food system in their school. Also, ESL students come from ethnic backgrounds that place an emphasis on prepared rather then processed foods, with many of the students being vegan; therefore changing the quality of foods in their school has become a very personal cause for the students.

According to Jenny, the students started out the campaign by trying to talk to the School Nutritionist. However, the School Nutritionist stated that the issue is “closed” and the students have plenty of healthy options at the school’s A La Carte line and with the weekly pizza (although pizza is one of the top 3 causes of child obesity). Jenny and the students will try to reach out to the School Nutritionist sometime in the near future, but they believe the path to changing their food program will probably not come through the School Nutritionist.

At the moment, Jenny and the students are at a standstill. They are still meeting weekly to think of new ways to organize around their cause. They have been trying to reach out to organizations like the Capital Area Food Bank and also officials in D.C. Public School System. Some other options have been to reach out to the Cardozo Alumni Association and also the Cardozo Student Government. Sadly, it has been very difficult because ESL students are marginalized, given their foreign backgrounds.

However, Jenny and the students will not be deterred, and their quest for a better food program is ongoing. While First Lady Michelle Obama is working on her “Let’s Move” campaign on the national level, these students have been moving, fighting, and are becoming an inspiration for a better food system for all of Washington, D.C.

As the campaign continues, I hope to have an update for DC Food For All soon. To get more invovled in projects like this, please visit: http://dcfarmtoschool.org/

Jeremiah Lowery can be reached at jeremiahalowery@gmail.com.

Posted by Gautam Mani | June 2nd, 2011

[Cross-posted on Beyond Bread]

Bread for the City’s Northwest Rooftop Garden “vine-cutting” ceremony officially marked the opening of the DC area’s largest rooftop agricultural site.

The goal of the rooftop gardens in both Northwest and Southeast is to provide a space for community members to engage with the production of fresh produce, and also to foster community among neighbors and allies.

One of the ways we can do that is by using the space itself as a site for growing dialogues.

So the week following the vine-cutting, we hosted a screening and discussion of the film A Community of Gardeners, which depicts how community gardens in seven DC neighborhoods have, in distinct ways, empowered individuals and groups. The standing-room only crowd included community activists, teachers, avid gardeners, BFC staff and clients, City officials, and other residents interested in BFC’s rooftop garden efforts.

Cintia Cabib, the filmmaker, introduced the film and answered questions. In addition, Dennis Chestnut of Groundwork Anacostia, and Bea Trickett of the Neighborhood Farm Initiative were part of the panel discussion following the film.

Posted by Louise Thundercloud | June 2nd, 2011

Louise Thundercloud attended the Community Food Security Coalition’s conference on local food policy, along with others from Bread for the City. Check back soon for more!

I traveled to Portland last week to attend CFSC’s food policy conference with a couple of goals: namely, to begin crafting language which will enable discussions on food policy to be translated into language, both indigenous communities and people within urban communities can understand. I wanted to be able to show those communities the connection between diet, fitness & health in practical terms, but to also connect those conversations to politically, the importance of being able to eat well.

I learned that all of us working on food justice have got a lot more learning to do, not just how to change policy to make fresh food available to people, but to get more at why it is people don’t have access, and how to better communicate with people who aren’t working in the field.

As someone with a lot of plains Indians blood, it sometimes becomes difficult for me to know how to fit into the food movement, because I know, politically, how much things have become turned around. When CFSC says, “we’ve got to save the farmland for farming” there’s no explanation of “why do you have that land?” and “why can’t I have that land?” – this causes some personal roadblocks at times.

I did see a good example of how tribal people are successfully changing the direction of disease with proper nutrition and exercise. One workshop was led by members Mvskoke Food Sovereignty Initiative, which has had a lot of success in stressing returning to and learning from tribal diets. They have seen big changes, an 80% increase in controlled diabetes, with the installation and implementation of their program.

I have some questions: 1) How do we frame the conversation for Indian people who have had their diets altered & changed by the dominant culture with disastrous effects? 2) How do we bring this conversation to the inner city, where many members tend to be more people of color, many who have eaten badly for generations? 3) How do we do that in keeping in mind that, more often than not, eating well is determined by one’s economical access?

The issue for me is to have these conversations in a good way, a way that does not disrespect anyone’s connection to their food. Then, there’s the sense that being able to eat well is for the privileged – it almost feels sometimes like a glass ceiling.

Takeaways and next steps

Overall, a lot more work to be done to fight the fact that many of the people who feel excluded from society then feel excluded from the movement as well. Prioritizing inclusion was central to this conference, and there was a real attempt to do things differently. They did a good job at bringing all these diverse people to the conference, but there was no clear sense of how the different policies affect different communities of people.

Here are my recommendations for CFSC and others in the food movement going forward:

• This entire conversation needs to be demystified. I think I have a fairly decent command of the English language, and I can only imagine how other people felt, listening to fairly conceptual discussions.
• Climate-food connection: If we do not consider the effect that climate is having upon our food sources, we are only destined to continue the cycle of having our food be a mess, as well as being an unreachable goal for many low income people. Things need to leave the realm of concept and become much more concrete.
• There needs to be space for the spiritual connection we have with the earth, with the food, with the relationship with what the food does to our body.
• There need to have more conversations about the politics of class & race, and the issues that cause food deserts, or poor health, in rural and urban settings.

For that final point, here are some articles I’d recommend to people who want to learn more:

• Divided we eat: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/11/22/what-food-says-about-class-in-america.html
• Strive to be average: brooklynmovementcenter.org/node/23
• Cultivating Food Justice …for whom?: http://wordsandnosh.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/cultivating-food-justice-2011/

We can all do our part to fight the culture of elitism and parliamentarianism that comes with movements like these. But it will take time to chip away at these issues.

Here’s what I’m going to do: start posting conversations about food justice on facebook. I want to begin asking people, what do they think food justice means, or food sovereignty? I want to make sure other people of color need are included in this conversation, and I want to start doing what I can to make these conversations accessible to people who have never considered food or food justice issues before.

I’d also like hoping to convene a summit or conference this fall, in order to create more of a climate for indigenous and other people of color to have conversations with those who do work in the food justice arena. Let’s have those who are working in food policy translate their work, and let’s have those who are impacted set the terms for the discussion.

If you are interested being involved, please contact me: indigneousfirstpersons@yahoo.com

Posted by Allison Burket | June 1st, 2011

[Cross-posted on the Neighborhood Farm Initiative's blog]

Every five years, Congress gets to work on the nearly 300-billion dollar piece of legislation known as the “Farm Bill” – an “omnibus” bill that addresses everything from farm subsidies to commodity growers to SNAP and other programs to support those in need, from foreign food aid to grants from community food programs.

These policies combined set the framework for what and how we eat, and whether our food is nourishing and affordable, what assistance our society provides to feed hungry people. Set to expire in 2012, the most recent Farm Bill included some improvements, but still disproportionately supports a food system dominated by the large-scale, agribusiness approach to agriculture.

At the same time, here in DC, folks have been talking about how our food system is broken – more than one in eight families classify as food insecure, and nearly half of DC residents are overweight or obese. While the NFI & the DC Field to Fork Network believes that community gardens and urban food production can be part of the solution to these challenges, we can also join our voices together to demand systemic change.

Across the country and here in DC, the support for local farmers, fresh and healthy food, gardening, and farmers markets has reached new levels of enthusiasm. That enthusiasm for a new food system, however, has yet to be translated into new food policy. To achieve a Farm Bill that supports the kind of food system we want – one that nourishes our bodies, our land, and our communities – we’ve got to get involved!

Here’s one opportunity: the Neighborhood Farm Initiative is hosting Food and Water Watch for a conversation about the Farm Bill at our next Saturday morning workday! Join us for the Mamie D. Lee Community Garden clean-up day on Saturday, June 4th from 10 a.m. – noon. Then, stick around for a potluck and discussion beginning at noon!

The garden is located right between the Mamie D. Lee school (100 Gallatin Street NE) and the Ft Totten Metro Station (Red, Yellow, & Green Lines) From the metro station, turn left (north) and walk up the sidewalk past where the buses stop.

Want to learn more? Check out Food and Water watch’s webiste, or one of my favorite facebook pages – Understanding the Farm Bill. Want to have one of these discussions in your garden or garden spaces? Contact khuynh@fwwatch.org or dcfieldtofork@gmail.com for more.

Posted by Kate Sims | May 31st, 2011

A Spring Harvest Celebration in D.C. Schools

“Salad greens! Salad greens!”  was the surprising, yet endearing chant heard loud and clear in the cafeteria of Bancroft Elementary of the Mount Pleasant neighborhood at DC Farm to School Network’s 2^nd annual Strawberries & Salad Greens event on May 25, 2011.  

Strawberries and salad greens from farms of the mid-Atlantic region were incorporated into the lunch menufor the day in all 123 DCPS elementary, middle, high schools and educational campuses. Other schools in the city to participate included Friendship Public Charter Schools, CentroNia/D.C. Bilingual PCS, E.W. Stokes PCS, Cesar Chavez PCS (all campuses), Yu Ying PCS, Washington Jesuit Academy, Next Step Public Charter School, and The SEED School.

33 cafeterias across the city also featured a “Where Food Comes From” table. Educational materials provided for those tables included a map and pictures of the farmers who harvested the plants, packets of seeds to grow the plants, and a strawberry and salad green plant to discuss with the kids the process of how part of their lunch was planted, grown, and then harvested.

Festive stickers with the Strawberries & Salad Greens logo were also provided to all students, which they wore proudly on shirts, hands, and even foreheads, as they munched and commented on the special additions to their school lunch: How does it taste? Sweet! Do you know where strawberries come from? The farm! A garden! What do you think these seeds need to grow? Water! Sun! Love! What do you eat strawberries in? Smoothies! Cake! Salad!

Strawberries & Salad Greens is just one example of how DC Farm to School Network is helping introduce fresh produce to kids and create an interest in tasting and learning about where nutritious food comes from.  

For more information on upcoming DC Farm to School Network events, please visit www.dcfarmtoschool.org

Posted by Barbara Fallon | May 31st, 2011

Food pioneer Dr. Oran Hesterman will be speaking about his new book, FAIR FOOD, Growing A Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All, at 7 p.m., June 6, at Politics & Prose in Washington.

While many books have given advice to buy local and eat organic. Dr. Hesterman is calling for a complete reform of the U.S. food system, to bring us back to health. The book deals with all aspects of a food system in crisis, including chemicals, shortages, mistreatment of workers, and unsanitary conditions. Hesterman, president and CEO of Fair Food Network, is a former professor of agronomy, and determined to help change how food is produced, packaged, and delivered.

Here in the link to the book’s website, www.fairfoodbook.org

Dr. Hesterman will discuss problems on a national scale as well as inequities in the food system here in DC — and positive steps being taken as well.