Author: Mandy Kwan

When I was abroad in Madrid, Spain, my friends and I celebrated Thanksgiving. What made this special was the fact that our differences brought us together. We were celebrating Thanksgiving in a different country and we were sharing a part of our culture to other peers from different countries. It was a bit difficult to find a whole turkey and all of the staples that we may be used to in the United States. However, this allowed us to improvise and make the dinner unique. This Thanksgiving became a sharing of different foods, and I enjoyed the process it took to accomplish this Thanksgiving dinner. We had Italian food, Spanish food, a homemade pie, a desert from Australia, baked asparagus, homemade garlic bread, turkey breast, Jewish cuisine, and some really great wine. We all met at my friend’s flat that she shared with other international students, we cooked and baked together, and explained what each of us did for this celebration. For those who had never celebrated, they shared with us similar holidays or how they ate with their families, and the image of Thanksgiving that they envisioned. The Spanish language brought all of us together. My fondest memories included cooking and watching how all of our different cultures and differences actually connected us. This meal with friends whom I knew prior and with people I met that day ended up being not only nourishing and nostalgic, but gave me a sense of community that was created through food.

I am currently interning at Louisville Grows, a grass roots non-profit dedicated to urban agriculture, urban forestry, and environmental education. The second Amish principle resonated the most with me. Over these past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to meet many community members who garden or come to help out at the two community gardens that Louisville Grows has. Community gardens bring neighbors together, and it is great seeing everyone interacting with each other. The People’s Garden has two greenhouses, an area for community members, an area to grow fruit, and an area that grows local produce which is sold to different markets and restaurants around Louisville and at Louisville Grows’ monthly farmer’s market. The Shippingport Memorial Garden also has space for community members and children. We are working on a natural play area for neighborhood youth. In all senses, Louisville Grows is strengthening the practices of neighborhood. Whenever I talk to the community members who come to garden, they tell me how wonderful it is that the gardens are there. One woman told me that she never really knew her neighbors or stepped outside until she decided to garden at the Shippingport Memorial Garden. I consider myself very lucky to be able to see the beauty of gardening and its ability to bring neighbors together.

Back home, there are many community gardens where I always hear people chatting, and I would always walk by without paying attention to what the garden represented for my community. I never knew how land could bring people together until my experience this summer. Prior to this summer in Louisville, I didn’t think much about the community gardens, I just thought it was a great way to use land. However, I see that there are many more benefits to local and urban agriculture.

After reading this line, I find a feeling of tension. It reminds me of another saying about how the truth hurts. In our readings, I’ve found some of the things that I am learning about in regards to food very shocking. I did not know how food and the distance it travels had an effect on our well-being and health. What I mean by this is that Berry talks about how industrial agriculture now replaces people with machines and how we depend on fossil fuels to create and transport food to our plates on page 63. I have never really thought about food and people not farming as a loss of a skill that can be liberating and healthy. In our modern day and age, we are always talking about creating new jobs, new green jobs, and I wonder what it would be like to reimagine/recreate jobs that we have always needed such as farming, and created modern farming? What would that look like? Could we create technology that could keep farms close to us and food close to us? Would that mean figuring out how to put more gardens in cities? Could that mean creating a watering system that could water our plants depending on the weather and time of the day so that we can also be pursuing other interests such as computers or art? After all, we do need farms and growers in order to get food. So yes, I am joyful because I know that there is food in the world, but after learning some more facts, it is both disheartening and hopeful knowing that there is a growing concern for how we are getting our food.

In my work thus far, I have found it very liberating knowing all of the care that goes into growing and harvesting food. I love strawberries, and I recently learned about how they are harvested and how they are sold. That to me is a joy… knowing how the care and work that brought my food to me.