Skip to main content

Oakland's Food Justice

Last June, I got an email from Marcy Rosner, a native of Tallahassee that had been-- for a handful of years-- living in Oakland.  She was back home for the month and hoped to find some volunteer opportunities with community gardens or some other volunteer urban ag project in Tallahassee.  Eventually she linked up with Shelby Stec, an awesome FSU student that coordinates a garden at the Salvation Army on Jackson Bluff.

Last week, the day before catching a plane for the Bay area (for a visit to see my sister, Kelley), I sent Marcy my own email.  I'd been hearing reports about all kinds of food movement work in Oakland like this YES! Magazine article featuring the work of Urban Tilth.  I'd also heard stories about People's Grocery from Marcy, and, via Farm City, a book by Novella Carpenter, I'd heard about City Slicker Farms.  I hoped to see a bit of what's going on in Oakland with reference to the food movement and to catch a few stories.

Marcy invited me over to prepare and eat a meal with her roommate, Raquel, and her "Food Justice Homie, Marcelo."  We started by heading for the farmers' market in Berkeley, which they said was "the most expensive market around" because of its proximity to the "foodie ghetto" where restaurants like Alice Water's Chez Panisse are located in great plenty.  The prices, however-- for local, organic produce-- was about half that of Tallahassee's equivalent.  It felt like paradise.  The resulting meal-- Yum!-- was to die for.  Oven roasted root vegetable medley seasoned with fresh garlic and dill (beets, purple carrots, turnips, onion).  Fresh kale with garlic in orzo. Winter squash baked with Thyme and olive oil.  Fresh arugula-spinach salad with ripe persimmons, red onions with homemade balsamic/garlic/lime dressing.  And what else?  Fresh bread and local olive oil for dipping.

At the close of the meal, I confessed, "You know one of my favorite things about the food movement?"  My fellow eaters played along, "What's that?"  "That right there," I pointed to the table, "eating a meal like that is a direct action, a means of participating in the movement.  I love that!"

- - -

In addition to eating, I learned a lot about the "Food Justice Movement" in Oakland via Marcelo's stories.  A graduate-- like Marcy-- from the Ethnic Studies Dept at UC Berkeley, he is now pursuing his PhD looking at the ways in which WWII industry-induced migration changed the racial-ethnic composition of Oakland.  In years past, he was employed by People's Grocery.  Though no longer on the payroll, he continues to volunteer while also serving on the board of Planting Justice, another Oakland Food Justice organization that emphasizes Permaculture.

On Sunday, we took a look around Oakland.  Though it was raining, we were able to visit People's Grocery's non profit head quarters; the People's Grocery's California Hotel Urban Farm; DeFremery Park (one of the locations where People's Grocery distributes their Grub Boxes.  Interestingly, DeFremery park is also one of the historic sites whereat the Black Panther Party once served breakfast to hungry kids every morning, free of charge, which roots Oakland's current work in previous efforts);  Mandela Foods Co-Op (which is currently, according to Marcelo, the only grocery store in Oakland's city limits.  I.e., Oakland is a food desert.); lastly, we visited a new City Slicker Farms location within an Oakland city park.

Marcelo spoke repeatedly of Oakland's "movement culture,"its "shared movement spaces," and about Oakland's "Food Justice Movement."  The dynamism alive in Oakland is more than a handful of innovative urban agriculture, (healthy) "food-security," and sustainability focused "food resilience" efforts that happen to be taking place in the same city.  Instead, the many (MANY!) organizations and efforts complement one another.  For instance, OBUGs (Oakland Based Urban Gardens), as Marcelo shared, has a great relationship with the school system, so if someone comes along hoping to work with grade students, folks send them to OBUG's.  Additionally, the many projects are interconnected and mutually supportive.  Marcelo himself is exemplary: former employee of People's Grocery, board member of Planting Justice, co-op member at Mandela Foods, friends with staff at City Slicker Farms, mentoree of an Urban Ag professor at Berkeley, linked with leaders at Urban Tilth, part of a "New Narratives" Bay Localize! Working Group, etc.

If you do a little clicking around on these Oakland based organization and business websites that I heard reference to and/or saw, you'll get an idea of the networked nature of the Oakland Food Justice Movement:

Oakland Food Policy Council
Oakland Based Urban Gardens
Oakland Food Connection
Planting Justice
Phat Beets Produce
Urban Food
Mandela Marketplace
Mo' Better Foods
People's Grocery
City Slicker Farms
All Edibles
Planting Justice
Bay Localize
Kitchen Gardeners International

As People's Grocery's slogan captures, Oakland is engaged in a dynamic movement to ensure "Healthy food for all."

Lest we lose ourselve thinking about Oakland's example, it's good to keep in mind that we are well on our way here in Tallahassee.  Though most organizations and associations are not registered nonprofits, we have our own networked hub of urban ag/healthy food/food justice/food-security/community food resilience here at home:

(in no particular order)
Seven Tallahassee-area subscription community gardens
Over 25 Tallahassee-area school gardens
Tallahassee Community Gardens Institute (currently functioning as a network)
Project Food (an initiative of Qasimah Boston)
Second Harvest of the Big Bend's food security garden
Greater Frenchtown Revitalization Council
HEAT, Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee
FAMU's CESTA (Ag Extension)
FSU's Tallahassee Sustainability Group (student organization)
UF's IFAS (Ag Extension)
Damayan Garden Project
Tallahassee Edible Garden Club and Tours
Indianhead Acres Community and front/back yard gardeners
Red Hills Small Farms Alliance (email)
Apalachee Bee Keepers
New Leaf Market (Cooperative) + their amazing Farm Tour
Bread and Roses Food Cooperative
Tallahassee Food Policy Council
Slow Food Tallahassee
New North Florida Cooperative Assn. (Farm to School Prg.)
Not to mention the 1000's of individual folks with home gardens amongst whom are the true heros: gardeners that reap a bounty and share with their family, neighbors, friends, church members, and our area's under and un-fed folks.

We have quite a movement on our hands.  How do you hope to contribute?  What would you like to learn?

Most viewed Man in Overalls posts of all time

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&#

Man in Overalls - The Valley of Food & Ag Startups: Warren Wilson College

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

Man in Overalls - Summer Garden Blues & What To Do

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

Man in Overalls - How to Start a School Garden: Design

Before you get to build your school garden like this, before you can help kids get their hands dirty like this,  or teach kids in your school garden like this, there are a few things you've got to take care of first. The #1 most important thing you've got to do is build your team. I say- with no exaggeration-- that human infrastructure is THE most important aspect of developing a successful school garden. But, I already wrote about building your school garden team last time. Assuming you're on track with that, a simultaneous step is to begin developing your school garden design. Here are a few things to should consider as you develop a school garden design: Purpose In your school garden interest meeting, one of the first questions you should ask is: "Why are you interested in a school garden?" Interestingly, this question serves two purposes. First, it helps the team gel because there will likely be a lot of overlap in answers. This will

Man in Overalls - When to Plant Tomatoes

" Plant 'em in the spring. Eat 'em the summer. All winter without 'em's a culinary bummer ," as John Denver sings in "Home Grown Tomatoes."  So, just when should you plant* your homegrown tomatoes? Or, more generally, when should you plant your spring food garden? (For an abbreviated version of this post revised & published in Edible Northeast Florida, click here. ) Since tomatoes along with other spring favorites like squash, corn, green beans, cucumbers, peppers, and the like are "frost sensitive" (in other words, they'll die if it freezes), it's all about the "last frost date" for your area. Unless you're a weather savant and remember the last freeze for the past twenty years, you'll have to do some investigating. You could look up your Plant Hardiness Zone  on this cool "interactive" map from the USDA, and you'd learn that Jacksonville is in zone 9a, Tallahassee is in 8b, and At

Man in Overalls - An Ode to Collards (Now with my recipes)

I love growing my groceries in the fall - watching the miracle of growth, having ready-access to the freshest produce money-can't buy, the many flavors, getting to try new varieties - all while the temperature drops to more and more pleasant levels. I enjoy growing most anything in the fall, but, if I had to choose just one thing to grow every fall for the rest of my life, it would be collard greens, hands down.  It's a health thing and an effort-to-yield calculation, but in the beginning, the roots of my collard green passion were seeded by family. When I was a kid about 9 or 10, just a couple years into gardening in the front yard , my aunt, the family documentarian showed me a clipping of my late grandfather from the Graceville New (or was it the Jackson County Times?) beneath his 9ft collard greens that he had kept alive multiple years, growing them into small trees. Not to be outdone, my grandmother grew a collard forest of her own. Seizing the moment, my