This week it almost felt like we were presented with a hunger-themed pintrest board. A whole bunch of stories and organizations that probably each have inspiring and notable qualities. While the organization of options and groups was a bit overwhelming to me, there was one aspect of the webpage that I was immediately drawn to – a map. On this particular map there was a location geotag attributed to each article displayed on the page.

The map is the classic google map interface, and the tags become more accurately location based as you zoom in. I found this characteristic very intriguing because while it would make more sense to just show each location at it’s actual location at any scale, thats not really how people tend to think about themes and issues when it comes to food. For example, all the stories from the regional south appear to be located in the state of Virginia at the most zoomed out version of the map, however with one click they quickly all disperse to various states like Oklahoma, Georgia, etc. Compare this with someone’s, usually not from the south, understanding of “southern food”. I personally would not know the difference between Carolina barbecue and texas style barbecue.

So faced with this very intriguing map, of food, I began to think about the food maps we created at the beginning of this whole course. The way we tend to think about food starts out as very general: it’s tasty, we associate it with family and friends, and usually can help mark important moments in our lifetimes. The food maps we created helped explain time as well as our involvement and interest in FoodWorks. The food map on the grassroots why hunger page explained food themes across geographic regions. From these two sources it’s easy to tell that food can offer some pretty profound linkages over multiple mediums.

This article about Rufus and Demalda Newsome is a great way to end these blog posts, and a way to tie in all of the themes and topics that we have discussed throughout the course. Before I began to read this article, I was expecting another explanation about how a husband and wife were helping those in their community who were in need, but I got so much more than that. I read an article that touched on religion, social, political, economic, and community triumphs and failures.

What really struck me about this piece was the fact that Rufus and Demalda lived amongst the people whom they were helping. I thought this was great because it brought an even greater connection between all of the families that lived in the neighborhood. I think the takeaway from this is that food is a form of connection because it  brings so many people together from so many different races, creeds, and backgrounds. The ability for one dish or one ingredient to have the ability to strike up a conversation between people of different races, beliefs, creeds, and individuals who speak different languages is absolutely amazing.

The way this article ties in religion and social issues is also very intriguing because it shows how much food influences so many immediate factors in our everyday lives. I loved when Demalda mentioned that it was important to build a connection with the people she was giving food to by the way she framed the question. She mentioned that instead of educating about obesity; she would ask about family history in order to form a connection with those whom she was serving. Additionally, I think that Demalda being Catholic plays a big role in her interest with social justice and serving others. She has great care about these issues because through her faith and religion she is exposed to the methods of how to help those whom are suffering in this world.

Both Demalda and Rufus do so much good for people, but perhaps their greatest strength together is their ability to connect with the people they are serving because it forms a great deal of trust between the community; a community in which both Rufus and Demalda call home. This article shows how valuable living off of the land is today, and how a call back to the value of the land can begin to help solve many of the health and societal problems that haunt individuals today.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading through the narratives on the why hunger website, but the piece on the Youth Farm Market Project (YFMP) in particular got me thinking:

“Princess continues, asking what the women do to find healthy, affordable food at grocery stores. Someone mentions dried mangos. Another mother wonders where you can get those. Someone says Wal-Mart sells them cheap. Another woman says you can dry them yourself for cheaper. One mother says she grew up in Brazil and they ate all their meat and veggies fresh. Her daughter is big, she says. Really big and she has asthma. She’s worried she might get diabetes. But they have a garden in the backyard and they work together in it. She makes it fun for them.”

YFMP is a non-profit that works with children and parents in some of Minneapolis’ poorest districts to teach them about farming, eating, and overall health. This excerpt struck me because of the interplay and exchange of ideas and opinions between mothers that took place over the course of less than 15min. These women were all gathered together in a room to talk about issues plaguing their families and communities using food as the starting point. They were able to talk about what challenges they’re facing and get others’ feedback. This Youth Farm and Market Project (YFMP) provides mothers and daughters (often times the most neglected and underserved demographics) a place for problem sharing and solving. What stood out to me is that YFMP is a collaboration rather than an accusation. It promotes unity and camaraderie over than blaming and anger and focuses on the solutions.

In this space that YFMP has created, women and children come together to be agents of their own change. Unlike governmental policies which can be too rigid and not responsive enough, this form of problem solving and community action is incredibly dynamic and reacts to the unique challenge of individuals. In the exchange quoted above a question was raised and then answered in various ways by various community members so that now the questioner has all of this new information given to her by the people in similar situations to her so that now she can take all this knowledge and go out and try it for herself. Instead of having to start from the bottom, she now has a jumping off point as well as support along the way.

There is also something really powerful in having multi-generational female space available to talk about these deeply personal issues. Based off of the information in the grassroots why hunger article, YFMP has done an incredible job of creating a space where people want to be and where they feel comfortable sharing very intimate details of their lives. They are making real change starting from a place of openness and honesty. This is the way forward. Community engagement has a huge role in moving towards a more sustainable food future.

 

link to article: http://grassroots.whyhunger.org/clp-profiles/item/37-youth-farm-and-market-project#.VaWBL3hHNUQ

This summer we have had many conversations about the benefits of access to fresh and locally produced food- benefits to community health, social relations, economic development and many more. However, when talking about the benefits of fresh and local food access, it is important to make the distinction between locally produced items and self produced items. While these two categories overlap in many aspects, I truly believe there is an added benefit to self production, no matter how small the production.

I don’t have a garden of my own, but this thought came to me when visiting the home of my boss at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Ferd. Before we ate, Ferd and his wife showed me around their rather extensive backyard garden and new chicken coop. The garden included pretty much any summer vegetable you could imagine from squash to a variety of berries and fruit. The couple had begun the garden upon moving into the home 31 years prior. The garden provides the couple with an excess of produce year-round. Although they complained about the many Saturdays spent pruning and weeding, there seemed to be an inseparable connection between the gardeners and their garden.

I connected this experience to the story of Robin Forshee featured on the Why Hunger website. Robin was a recipient of an earth box (essentially window garden) courtesy of the Appalachian Sustainable Development program. As a low income, disabled and elderly woman, she uses this box to grow various herbs and small plants that she uses for making salsas and for cooking. She uses the herbs in ways that her grandparents and family have for generations and she even makes enough herbs to occasionally share with neighbors. Although the plants Robin grows do not provide much in terms of nutrients, she still visits the plants multiple times a day and describes her relationship with the plants as providing her life with joy.

Although these two stories may seem very dissimilar, at the root they portray the same truth about a personal relationship with crop production. The act of personal crop production, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, provides the individual with a vital personal relationship with nature.

Reading about Bed-Stay Campaign Against Hunger was inspirational. I don’t know many people who make such a change in direction during life as did Dr. Melony Samuels, whether gradual or overnight. I wonder if she always had a spark to help people, and the platform of helping just changed, but that is just friendly speculation.

The approach they take, in ensuring dignity and autonomy, is crucial as we’ve understood from the past, and the important work of reaching out to families and individuals to identify needs and opportunities should be the model of any service or technical organization. As they experienced initially, most people did not choose fruits and veggies at first because they did not know how to prepare them. Similarly, they avoid glass containers because some homeless shelters do not allow glass in their premises, thus solving a technical difficulty for some of their members.

My main interest in Dr. Samuels program is her focus on neighborhood efforts and personal development (both education and professional experience). I believe the future of urban food systems relies on this type of collaboration between blocks and neighborhoods, where productive land (soil or pavement or roof) is shared for such purposes.

I also appreciate the integration of livestock in urban environments, and I hope to see aquaponics systems as well. However, the problem with livestock at some cities is limited and limiting zoning and regulations. These usually relate to health concerns and esthetics, and are outdated at times. Luckily, there are movements to change these and I hope to see more animal production in cities. I say this with half a heart as I do belief we need to shift more to a vegetarian / vegan diet in the long run, but if urban agriculture is the solution than a transition period, or permanent, an introduction of hyper local animal products would also benefit if done correctly.

 

One of my favorite memories from last fall semester is from one Sunday night, after our house meeting at Weybridge House, when I accompanied my friend Marissa to a farm just down the road to milk a cow. Marissa, two other friends, and I each took a turn sitting on the milking stool in a small red barn and milking Luna, a sweet brown Jersey cow. We milked into a metal pail and, after pouring the first milk into a bucket for Luna’s calf, poured the rest into large glass jars. Marissa stuck some of these jars into the refrigerator in the barn, and we all helped carry the remaining jars back to the car to take home with us to Weybridge. Back at the house, the milk went into the fridge and house members drank it as raw milk or used it to cook. Although I only visited Luna once or twice during the semester, Marissa went twice a week every week and always returned with raw milk for the house. I loved knowing exactly where the all milk in the refrigerator had come from (some from Kimball Brook, and the rest from Luna), and being able to connect it with the experience of trying to milk (getting the technique can be a real challenge for someone who doesn’t have experience milking a cow!).

This is the first thing that came to mind when I read the Community Voices post about Bob St. Peter, a farmer from Maine working on food sovereignty and market issues from the farmer’s perspective. His take on the government crack-down on raw milk operations was especially interesting to me, since despite the fact that no one drinking the raw milk in Weybridge ever faced health problems because of it, the question of food safety still pops into my mind and I have a hard time deciding how I feel about the product. In this sense, I understand how food sovereignty becomes a highly personal issue. For me, part of what makes the local food movement seem so important is the idea that we can feed ourselves, and in doing so rediscover trust within the food system. As a consumer, I was hesitant to drink the raw milk because the lack of government support for that kind of product made me question whether I could trust its safety. However, when I think about the issue more, I’m not sure it makes sense that I had a hard time trusting the raw milk from Luna, where I was able to see the cleanliness and health of the cow and the cleanliness and cleaning process of all the equipment, while I in general I don’t question the quality of milk that I buy at the grocery store. I understand there are many reasons why this is the case and that regulation by the FDA is in place so that consumers can go to the store without worrying about food safety issues, but my own experiences have also demonstrated to me the value in the cause that Bob St. Peter is fighting for.

In general, I found the piece on Bob St. Peter extremely interesting because after working on a vegetable farm last summer, I realized how much I loved the act of farming and working with the land. The fifth days this summer have made me question a lot about what farming entails, especially in relation to the marketing and economic sides of the work. I love how the article frames the food system issues in terms of being able to feed ourselves, because for me, eating the food that I had helped grow in the fields was one of the most rewarding parts of my work. I hope that I’ll be able to do the same kind of rewarding work again, both logistically and economically, and Bob St. Peter’s approach to changing the food system -from the producers perspective- seemed new and highly relevant to me because of this.