Imagine a forest that is open to all, providing food and sanctuary, right in the middle of Washington. While it might sound like a fairy tale, Ecolocity D.C. is developing a miniature version in the Pleasant Plains neighborhood and hopes to expand this vision throughout the city. While the sun powers the growth of the [...]
[Cross-posted from Capital Area Food Bank]
Whether you’re a master gardener or a terrified newcomer to backyard gardening (like me), you can help the Capital Area Food Bank relieve hunger with your extra squash and tomatoes.
The Grow a Row program connects D.C., Virginia and Maryland gardeners with CAFB partner organizations in their neighborhoods, creating “produce partnerships” that bring more nutritious fruits and vegetables to underserved communities.
We’ll set you up with someone who’s doing some good in your community, someplace where you’ll hopefully get a chance to see the positive difference your donation makes. Not only will you have someplace for that inevitable overabundance of one-thing-or-another, you’ll be a part of relationships that build stronger communities.
You’ll provide underserved communities with a resource they desperately need but have little access to. You’ll enjoy the unique satisfaction of filling a need while enjoying a stress-reducing, money-saving, earth-friendly hobby.
Best of all, you’ll get this great sign for your garden! For free!
You don’t need to quit your day job to grow food for the hungry. Whatever the size of your donation, we’ll find you a partner that will get your produce into the homes and onto the tables of your neighbors in need.
For more information, contact Alicia Camden at growarow@capitalareafoodbank.org
The sentiment repeatedly voiced by the speakers at Friday’s national panel on building local food security was “this is the best panel I’ve ever been on.” The statement held true for the audience as well, which included residents of DC, activists, gardeners, nutritionists, community leaders, and others. The panel drew points of connection and parallel themes between disparate initiatives in Washington, DC and some highly successful projects and movements in other regions of the country.
In the audience were quite a few leaders from Ward 8, where the event was being held – but they were outnumbered by predominately white people from other parts of the city. This, however, may reflect the cultural state of awareness of food issues, rather than shortcomings on behalf of the panel organizers, who outreached aggressively in the communities that lacked representation at the panel.
The panel represented several generations and fields of work. Maurice Small works in Cleveland, Ohio acting as the link between farmers and buyers. Malik Yakini is leading the urban agriculture movement in Detroit through a number of initiatives — in particular, he directs the Nsoroma Institute Public School Academy, an African-Centered elementary and middle school. He has also started a two-acre farm in downtown Detroit. Both are community organizers and farmers — but first and foremost, they reminded us, they are educators.
Michael Heller is a farmer who transformed a tobacco and corn farm into a 285-acre livestock and vegetable operation in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. He brought to the panel his perspective on scaling up urban farming as well as fostering community development within the framework of large scale agriculture in the U.S. He explained how Claggett Farm partners with Capital Area Food Bank to strengthen the link between farms and low-income communities. He also helped found Future Harvest, an organization integral to building the capacity of farmers in the Chesapeake reason.
Robert Egger, author of Begging for change, is currently doing research on food as a tactic for social change, and is president of DC Central Kitchen. During the talk he brought the work of food activists into the context of a movement – he called it “the currency of something different.” People want less money and instead people are seeking happiness and community, and food manifests just the tip of that change.
Carolina Valencia reseachers economic issues through her work for Social Compact, focusing on the informal cash economy, food access and small business development. She spoke to the market dynamics that underpin all of this work — and also reminded us that government officials themselves should be part of the conversation, as they can facilitate or obstruct so much of what’s possible.
The panel was moderated by a researcher from Michigan State University, Cheryl Danley, who was the technical assistant for the Kellogg-funded Food and Fitness Initiative. (She also went to kindergarden with Malik.)
The first question from the audience matched the tone of the panel: “What brings you to this work?”
By Matt Young
I’ve recently arrived in Washington from a place a whole world apart, New Mexico, and I’m still delving into how community works in the District. While my Congressional work to date has suggested a less than transparent, if not detached, relationship between the halls of power and the residents of the District, Rooting DC has given me a whole new perspective on the vibrant, stirring, service-driven nature of Washington, DC
The event brought together hundreds of activists, chefs, gardeners, farmers, community organizers, students, nonprofit professionals, and even politicians to bring a fully-integrated local food system to fruition. It represents a growing movement in D.C. to collaborate on how a local food system should look.
I found myself not just learning how to make a seasonal winter salad from Niko Welch; how to can lusciously spice-packed carrots from Liz Falk; how to realize and sustain a sustainable business model from Robert Egger; how to build kitchen connections between Mennonite farmers and inner-city youth from Kristin Roberts; and how to continually and passionately push for social change and a community voice from Andrea Northrup, Carl Rollins, and Parisa Norouzi.
I also learned that as disconnected as Capitol Hill may be from the rest of the District of Columbia and the country at large, that optimism, transparency, accountability, innovation, responsibility, and community exists at the level of grassroots food systems. Such values provide the root base not only for healthy produce and stewardship, but healthy societies and healthy ecologies.
With shovels a
nd forks, local food justice advocates will descend on the Historical Society of Washington tomorrow for Rooting DC, the District’s own urban agriculture forum. Workshops are organized around four themes–production, distribution, preparation and preservation–in order to explore how food finds its way from the field to our forks.
For the first time in it’s 3-year history, Rooting DC will feature cooking demonstrations. Steve Seuser, who planned and coordinated the demonstrations, says that presenters will share how to prepare cooked, raw, and fermented foods, as well as canning basics. In particular, the demonstrations will feature recipes that are fast and affordable for families, as well as processes for gardeners who grow a lot and aren’t sure what to do with the overabundance.
Tracye McQuirter, a nutritionist with the UDC Center for Nutrition, Diet, and Health, will present during Workshop Session 2. We talked with Tracye about the importance of eating hea
