A Growing Movement

Back home from the American Community Gardening Association annual conference in Atlanta, GA.

Below you can see our Tallahassee Delegation (left to right): Qasima P. Boston, Robbie Estevez, Nathan Ballentine, Joyce Brown (to see Joyce's reflections on the trip, here's her blog), Thomas Lynch (below), Mark Tancig (above), and Merlin John Baptiste. After a day and a half of the conference-- where we joined over 250 other community garden leaders from 38 states and five countries--folks began responding to my introduction ("Nathan, from Tallahassee) by saying, "You're another person from there. How many of you are there?!" Aside from New York-- which brought a bus of 40 people-- we were one of the larger groups.

The conference was tremendous, both in terms of the quality of the people, the presentations/workshops and the tours around Atlanta. Here's a partial list of links to organizations/ farmers/ programs that presented or were referenced: Growing Hope in Ypsilanti, MI; GRuB (Garden Raised Bounty) in Olympia, WA; Farmer D Organics in Atlanta, GA; Johnathan Tescher with Georgia Organic's Urban Agricultural Training Program also in Atlanta, GA; Truly Living Well farm in Atlanta, GA; Austin, Texas' Sustainable Food Center; Portland, Oregon's Parks and Recreation Community Garden Program; and Sankofa Vision in Shreveport, LA.

Although the conference offerings were exciting, the piece that caused me the most enthusiasm was bonding and strategizing with our Tallahassee Group. (Below is a picture of us at the "Taste of the South" party Friday evening at one of Atlanta's Urban Farms.)

At the close of every day, we gathered for "report backs," at which we would update each other on the various workshops we'd attended, people and ideas we'd encountered and/or the local community gardens we visited separately. By splitting up, we were able to cover more ground, seeping up as much information and inspiration as possible.

On Sunday, just after the close of the conference, we gathered again; this time the conversation was focused on hopes and dreams for Tallahassee. We each filled out an index card with two prompts (#1 Inspired by the conference, what do you want to work on upon your return to Tallahassee? And #2 What is a challenge or question that you anticipate that you'll encounter as you strive for your dream?) and then presented our ideas to the delegation. I'd like to record here the dreams and challenges that we shared with one another.

Qasima wants to start a Youth Food Leadership Institute that will train young people to be community garden, healthy eating and living, and urban agricultural leaders; she hopes to involve and inspire them through the arts. She anticipates difficulties fundraising for such a project.

Mark wants to help "further promote community gardens in Tallahassee by getting more people involved. He anticipates there will be challenges associated with "finding out what people want and relating it to gardening."

Merlin John Baptiste wants to champion the founding of a school garden at Astoria Park Elementary. She also wants to create an agricultural "extention" program whereby Astoria Park students could travel to the Virgin Islands to learn at the many sustainable farms which Merlin knows about. Funding is an anticipated challenge.

Robbie would like to see the core group (our delegation to the conference) of "like-minded" community garden activists expanded. He also wants to establish regular meetings to solidify current and future relationships with other food garden/ community garden leaders. His question was: "Are you with me? and When's the next time we can meet?" A man of action.

Joyce wants "to create a product that will enable us to engage the community in community gardens" possibly employing the arts as a medium through which to approach/involve people. She anticipates it will be difficult to recruit stakeholders who have enough time to contribute meaningfully.

Thomas Lynch wants to champion a Farm to School Program for Leon County Schools. He anticipates challenges with "politics."

My dream is this: "I want to help develop and facilitate a series of workshops in Tallahassee that will network, inspire and equip emerging community garden leaders (specifically targeting teachers, religious communities, neighborhoods, youth centers and companies interested in starting community gardens)." My question is: "How do I make sure the groups I recruit represent a cross section of neighborhoods, race and income categories so as to ensure a dynamic process?"

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Thanks to all who supported our trip by purchase of Food Garden Consultation Certificates. It was a huge help. All told, the certificates covered the cost of three registrations. That's huge. Thanks.

Why Can I Eat Bread in France, but not the USA?

Updated 10/31/2017 as the National Organic Standards Board meets in Jacksonville, FL. This may well be the most important thing you read this year for your health. (Originally written in 2015 while I was traveling-- and eating bread-- with my wife in France.) I've got a food riddle for you from Paris, France: Why can I eat bread over here when it makes me sick at home? I'll share my best guess in a minute, but first, a little personal background. Since my senior year of high school, I've not been able to eat much bread at all. For five years, I was severely hypoglycemic, and everything I ate had to have more protein than carbohydrates. That meant, in effect, that I spent my years of college beer-less and eating lots of salad with meat on top. I ate tons of vegetables, very little fruit, basically no carbohydrates to speak of, meat, nuts, eggs, and cheese. If I accidentally ate, say, meat loaf that was, unbeknownst to me, made with bread in it, I'd spend the n

Man in Overalls - It's Like Washing Your Dishes

I often hear folks joke, "Yeah, I had a garden once. I put in all this money & effort, and I only got a handful of tomatoes. Each one of them cost $27!" And they usually end by saying something about not having a green thumb. My first tomatoes of the season I smile and think about a mental model I've been working on: Growing your groceries is like washing your dishes. While they're raving about how many plants they've killed, I'm thinking, "It's not your thumbs. I bet you don't have a sink. And if you do, are you using decent soap or that garbage from the dollar store? And did you mention you've never washed dishes before in your life? And you're surprised you broke a couple wine glasses with no more experience than a four-year-old?" My eyebrows furrow involuntarily belying my thoughts, "Really? That doesn't seem all that surprising to me." But, of course, not only would saying all that confuse people, it&#

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If you're interested in tech, pay attention to Silicon Valley. If you're interested in food and agriculture, Swannnoa Valley, more specifically Warren Wilson College , is the place to keep on your radar. Man in Overalls with (L to R) Mary Elizabeth, my wife and Rachel (Williamson) Perry, WW alum and herbal tea entrepreneuer I'm an alum and proud of it, class of 2008. I studied community organizing, wrote a 140 page thesis about social movements as my capstone. Nathan, as college Freshman on WW Electric Crew. (Look for the blue water bottle) It's a work college, one of seven in the country. Think universal work-study, so in addition to whatever one's academic track, students are also working in the cafeteria, the library, admissions, as carpenters, lock smiths, lab techs, and-- per the agricultural legacy of Warren Wilson-- as row crop, animal, and vegetable farmers, gardeners, and edible landscapers. Personally, I worked on the electric crew a

Man in Overalls - Growing Great Soil

Good soil will basically grow your groceries for you, but how do you build great soil? The answer is that there are two options: a quick & easy way and a DIY, hard(er) way. So we're on the same page, I'm continuing my #GrowYourGroceries The Easy Way series by digging into the how-tos of growing great soil. These stories and techniques will likely make the most sense after reading Geeking on Good Soil , my last update. (I outlined where I was headed in The Big Picture.) As I was saying, the easy way to build a great soil is to fill raised beds with a terrific compost-based soil mix like my Magic Mix to jump start your food garden productivity from year one. From there, seasonally, you simply top-dress each season before planting with another few inches of compost-based soil mix. This is how I manage my own food garden and those of my customers. Why? Because at the root of things, I'm a lazy food gardener, and long ago I decided to embrace it. 😎

Man In Overalls - My Compost System

Composting, they say, is an art form. But, truth be told, I'm just too lazy for all that. My own compost philosophy is, "Crap rots in the woods, doesn't it?" But really. :) Whenever I think of home gardening systems, I always reflect back on my grandmother. She gardened up until the week she died at 93. She planted by the signs and assured me that's why her collards were not eaten up by bugs and were able to grow for 3 years running and up to 8 or 9 feet tall. She had a little rototiller, planted straight rows, mulched by spreading leaves to keep the weeds down. She threw out a little 10-10-10 from time to time and kept the cabbage worms at bay with Sevin dust. She hoed if the weeds called for it. But mostly, she harvested. Her pots were always full and her freezer always stuffed with produce: collards, mustards, turnips, peas, tomato gravy, squash, you name it. Now, I don't use 10-10-10 or sevin dust, and I'm not big on tilling. However, the thi

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Welcome to mid summer in the Deep South! If you're anything like me, you're actively looking for excuses to avoid going outside this time of year. The heat doesn't so much radiate down from the sun as it seems to rise from the side walk. Rain helps- for about ten minutes- and then simply adds to the humidity as it vaporizes on the payment, so that it feels like you need a snorkel to make it from the house to the car, but of course, it only gets worse when you turn on the AC, and that first puff of hot air feels as though someone just wrapped your face in a plastic bag - not to mention that if you cut your grass yesterday, you're going to have to do it again... tomorrow. And, lets not even talk about how fast the weeds grow this time of year! Or the insects seem to multiply! Oh, home... :) Here's the good news: If your garden looks a little worse for wear, it's okay. Really. Mine does too. As much as I aim for- and largely achieve- a productive & beauti

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Man in Overalls

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