HFC's Food Organizing Summer
Written by Aliza McHugh, Tommy Hexter, and Sierra Barsten
Our summer has been unexpected if anything; while we had plans set up, graduations to attend, and perhaps traveling to do--pivots had to happen due to the coronavirus pandemic. While stressful and worrisome, this gave time for a massive reset and greater attention was paid to the needs at home. We highlight below some of the stories from staff and students at Herbicide-Free Campus who have been engaged in various local activities in their communities and local areas to assist in food recovery, food justice, agriculture, and sustainability projects:
Our Director of Partnerships, Aliza McHugh, had recognized early on in the pandemic that the community and school gardens in her city of Santa Monica were not being utilized to feed those who were hungry. Additionally, the creation of a new community garden would be delayed indefinitely. She called the city, the garden manager, and the sustainability department but was told that nothing could be done and they could not have any new volunteers at the time. A couple months later, a family friend began to collaborate with the school district and the community liaisons and found the need to continue helping families whose children usually get food assistance during the school year. Feeding Families Santa Monica was born--we worked to put over 90 boxes together for families in need using donations, purchased produce and other foods, including dried goods. Since beginning two months ago, they have also begun to re-do the elementary school gardens (with the help of the city garden manager!) that had mostly gone to seed when COVID-19 hit and Aliza has planted her former elementary school full of vegetables that will go into the boxes soon. She has also discovered the generous spirit of community organizations and businesses who have donated starts and seeds to help plant in the gardens. “It has been a true lesson in togetherness and resiliency, folks from all ages are coming together every Saturday to help sort, box, and give food away to our neighbors.” They hope to continue the work when the school year begins as well.
Aliza in the garden with zucchinis
Aliza’s little sister, Casey, planting some new starts at their elementary school
Our Grinnell College Fellow, Tommy Hexter, has been involved in the local foods and organic agriculture movement in Iowa since the Fall of 2018 when he founded Grinnell College Farm House, an intentional community centered around equitable access to fresh food that operates the only student garden in Grinnell. When his summer internship plans at TomKat Ranch fell through due to COVID-19, Tommy’s parents had just moved to Grinnell from Virginia and so he decided he would use his location in Grinnell and his extra time to ramp up his local foods project. With inspiration from the City Beet, a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Vancouver who turns lawns into foodscapes, Tommy and his dad turned their own lawn and the lawn of their close neighbor Ryan into big vegetable gardens. Additionally, Tommy was asked to take over a ½-acre organic vegetable garden outside of town from an Air-Force Veteran named Dwaine who is no longer able to care for it. With Farm House, two lawn foodscapes, and the ½-acre vegetable garden, our GC fellow, with a little help from his friends (including HFC’s Bridget Gustafson), is now tending 4 gardens and caring for over an acre of organic fruits and vegetables in Grinnell! Once a week on Saturday afternoons since the start of July, he has collected the bountiful harvest of the gardens, aggregated the extra produce leftover from the Farmer’s Market vendors, and set up a Free Farmstand on a centralized corner in Grinnell. In just 4 weeks, the Free Farmstand has provided over 200 pounds of free produce to over 50 families in the Grinnell Community, and each week that number is increasing! Tommy’s take on it: “Every manicured lawn we turn back into food is a move to decolonize aesthetics, build community, and feed the people nutrient-dense, regenerative food.”
Our recently graduated Loyola Marymount University fellow, Sierra Barsten, has been involved in food justice efforts through journalism and education. Currently working with Bay Area-based nonprofit organization Turning Green, she introduced a series of articles for publication on The Conscious Kitchen’s website that highlights the heroes of our food supply chain. Despite the limitations of the pandemic, she has been able to interview changemakers such as the female founder of Tomatero Organic Farm in Watsonville, the Farm Manager for Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project in Oakland, and the Indigenous co-founders of the nation’s only Ohlone restaurant, Cafe Ohlone. Through these interviews and articles, Sierra is able to positively utilize her white privilege by increasing exposure to the dire issues facing our food systems, and the solutions necessary to solve them. White supremacy, colonization, and capitalism are the greatest plagues of our nation and our food systems, and those that have been featured in this article series so far are fighting to change that. The BIPOC , organic, and urban farmers, chefs, and activists of our food systems are underappreciated and underserved. It is crucial, especially during times as turbulent as these, that people reconnect with where their food comes from, and work to protect the often exploited people involved in food production. In addition to her work in food justice journalism, Sierra has also been working with Turning Green to create educational resources for distribution in Bay Area school districts that can inform students about the food supply chain. By empowering students with knowledge about their food sources and choices, these educational toolkits can help young people to make informed decisions about their food consumption. You can keep up to date with stories on the incredible agents of our food systems on The Conscious Kitchen’s blog here.
One of Acta Non Verba’s gardens under the BART tracks; Aaron and his radish-loving dog in the garden