Man in Overalls

My mother grew up in Jackson County on a small farm.  Her family grew cotton, corn, and peanuts like everyone around them.  Unable to pay the mortgage, her family planted crops in the spring; laid them by; headed to Michigan for the summer to pick cheeries, strawberries, peaches and the like before returning to harvest their crops in north Florida.  With the onset of winter, the family loaded up for a temporary move to south Florida to harvest citrus before coming back to north Florida in the springtime to repeat the process. I was raised by a farmworker who taught me to identify with folks tending our food, to recognize the skill and ceaseless work necessary to grow and harvest the groceries we can easily take for granted.  I was raised in a faith that is rooted in the cries of the enslaved Israelite people who were expected to make bricks without straw. From an early age, I heard words such as, "In Christ there is neither slave nor free...." It is with su...

Amidst the growth and details of plants, gardens, recipes, farmers' markets, kids' gardens , workshops and the like, I am sustained by encountering and re-encountering a few of my food movement role-models.  Let me introduce (or re-introduce) you to three people/organizations that I draw on regularly. Last Thursday evening, I joined the FAMU Environmental Sciences Student Organization for a screening of Urban Roots, a film about Urban Farming in Detroit. The film suggests that Detroit is paving the way and providing an example of what post industrial cities will or could morph into-- especially in terms of resilient, community-based food systems. An inspiring movie of possibility.  I was especially attuned to the words of Malik Yakini, Executive Director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network since we met and had lunch last November out in California at the CFSC conference in Oakland.  He is especially interested in involving black folks in urban ag...

It's that time of year: Folks ask me what I've been up to, and my consistent response is: "Gardens, gardens, gardens." Whether building and planting raised beds for folks who purchased Future Garden Coupons  or top-dressing and replanting with repeat customers, it's a wonderful whirlwind of business and plant growth. Here's a couple few pictures from the past week: Wendell, Nathan, and Bill - Piney Z farm boys Claudia and Tina after replanting their three raised beds. Accenting Kathy's existing garden with a couple raised beds down the middle. Going back Monday to spruce up and plant. Friday morning I stopped by FBMC Benefits Management where-- this past spring -- I installed their company wellness garden.  They started with four 4x4s, and now have requested I double their bed space by adding four more 4x4s, which they plan to plant, tend and harvest in order to donate to a food pantry through AmpleHarvest.org .  Below are the flags plotting ou...

Registration Info Here. "2011 Thriving, Beyond Sustainability Workshop" Featuring Growing Powers’ Will Allen DATE:   March 06, 2011 HOURS:    Noon- 6:30pm LOCATION:   FAMU Center of Viticulture and Small Fruit  6505 East Mayhan Drive (Hwy 90) Tallahassee. FAMU StateWide Small Farm Programs, local small farmers, and a coalition of sustainable food advocates including Tallahassee Sustainability Group, Man in Overalls with Tallahassee Food Gardens, Greater FrenchTown Revitalization Council,  Damayan Garden Project, Project Food, and Sowing Seeds Sewing Comfort Ministry, have worked together to provide a wonderful opportunity for the community to come out and learn from  innovative urban farmer, Will Allen,  founder and CEO of Growing Power, Inc. Will Allen , "Farmer, Founder, CEO of Growing Power" will be in Tallahassee for sometime in March for an all-day workshop to discuss the work and success of Growing Power's Commun...

Over the past year, I've received a good-handful of emails from well-meaning folks that want to contribute to Tallahassee's food movement.  The messages go something like this: "I'm a young person excited about growing my own food and am looking for a way to give back.  I'm thinking that I'd like to start a community garden for a ________ [insert: poor, Southside, Frenchtown or other lower dollar/power area].  What do you recommend?  How should I get started?" I never know quite how to respond.  On the one hand, I recognize that folks are sincerely interested in offering their time and energy to a) improve Tallahassee's food security b)increase the access to fresh food in Food Desert areas of Tallahassee, c) take on a sustainable project that reduces food miles , and d) to get to know folks outside their typical networks.  All that I admire and respect.  I also acknowledge that volunteers are critical for the food movement , and deserve appreciation...

Who's up for organizing a Tallahassee Crop Mob? USA Today, by Judy Keen The mob descended on Chris Wimmer's farm on a rainy Saturday bearing pitchforks and shovels. They went to work quickly, relocating a compost pile, digging weeds and hauling fencing. The Jefferson County Crop Mob, a group of mostly urban volunteers, spends one Saturday a month sweating for small-scale farmers such as Wimmer. In return, they learn about the food they consume and tips about organic and sustainable farming. "It's like farming 101," says Derek Bryant... Click here for more .

Every time I turn around, I learn about some new piece of the food movement.  It's abuzz like nothing I've ever been apart of before. A few weeks ago, my mother brought home and showed me a box of triscuit crackers.  On the back, there were three pictures. One picture showed a few people in a vegetable garden, and the other two depicted a single person tending container herb gardens in their window seal.  Under the pictures, the box read: " Join The Home Farming Movement ."  The small print is worth quoting at length: Everyone should have the chance to experience the simple joy of growing your own herbs and vegetables, no matter where you live.  Whether it's in your own backyard, on your windowsill, or in a plot you share with your neighbors, that's what home farming is all about.  Triscuit is working with Urban Farming to create over 50 community-based home farms across the country.  To find tips and to connect with other home farmers, visit t...

A recent article in the Jacksonville Times-Union, Poverty, But Obseity: The Hunger Paradox describes the ways in which the lack of nutrition in "energy dense" foods and the availability of healthy food have contributed to a simultaneous obesity epidemic and increasing food insecurity.  It's a great article about kids gardens, food security, nutrition, and the growing food movement.  Also, take a look at the following video about The Bridge Community Garden.  Great things are happening in Jacksonville.

Once you delve into the emerging food movement, it's amazing how much there is to it, how fast it's growing and how much potential it holds. In the past hour, I received an email from my father containing a link to " Garden Girl TV " with Patti Moreno, talked with a man that lives on Wakulla Springs road that has a one acre property on which he hopes to establish "an active edible landscape with naturally grown foods, free range chickens, rabbits, etc" and visited PathtoFreedom.com , a website that the fellow told me about.  There is so much going on. The Garden Girl's following You Tube clip about Raised Beds in the City is espcially interesting to me because it shows how to build a cold-frame overtop her raised beds for extended (early or late) season food growing.  Also, her chicken houses that fit perfectly atop her raised beds borders on brilliant. In addition to the last video, take a look at the Path to Freedom (or the Urban Homestead -- ...

Revive the Victory Garden In 1943, Americans planted over 20 million Victory Gardens, and the harvest accounted for nearly a third of all the vegetables consumed in the country that year. Emphasis was placed on making gardening a family or community effort -- not a drudgery, but a pastime... History of Food Gardening at the Whitehouse Teens 4 Good An innovative entrepreneurship program that revolves around a youth-led urban agriculture business. Amazing. "Started in 2005, Teens 4 Good has helped transform many neighborhoods in the Greater Philadelphia area by providing local food that tastes better, is better for the environment, and helps to stimulate our local economy." Growing Healthy Kids The nonprofit has established a goal of planting 200 gardens with children by March 2010. The program will target children ages 8 to 12, as research suggests children who plant and tend a garden are more likely to consume its vegetables. You can also take a look at their blog . Palm ...

Folks, the food movement is growing quickly in Tallahassee; however it is not root-bound within our home town. A few years back, I read a book named Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software by Steven Johnson. It's about how semi-connected individuals can work together as a coherent whole; the system can and usually displays an "intelligence" greater than that held by the component pieces and a productivity greater than the sum of its parts. In this light, think about yourself... or even all of us in Tallahassee who are "experimenting" with and "just beginning to" food garden. At first glance, it seems we are all fumbling with pests and heat and humidity beyond our abilities. Most food gardeners I talk to comment upon how they're not growing "that much." But, if we take a step back and look at the entirety of the city... or the country (or the world for that matter) we begin to gain a sense of the great a...