Enterprising activists grafting fruit on to public landscaping:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-guerrilla-grafters-20120912,0,7511481.story
Guerrilla Grafters
0 CommentsLeave a comment
civic engagement
Isaac #2
As reported earlier, the first market post-Isaac on Saturday was low-keyed but a real boost to the spirits. Much of the city was still without power and starting the post-hurricane work in the form of repairing tree and house damage. My friend and I biked from MidCity through Treme to the CBD. The market was small, small enough to allow those vendors that came to be able to work off the back of their trucks, but it was well designed. The only other Saturday market that exists in the city did not open so this was the only game in town for food, conviviality and news of farmers and fishers. These vendors have been through weather drama before, so when you come to their table and raise an eyebrow, they know to come to you and give you a short breakdown of any damage. Board President Margaret Beer was not only there as always on a Saturday, but making a point to ask each vendor how they did and taking a minute to discuss with me what she was going to do to comfort the family of the recently passed Jim Core, anchor farmer. Doing her job in other words.
After shopping and talking and visiting with everyone, we went across the street to the chocolatiers/coffeehouse Bittersweet Confections. Bittersweet is the first previous market vendor that has opened a storefront near a market. The owner had applied to be a vendor many times at the farmers market, but the committee (and myself, as the acting market manager at the time) had long worried about how the chocolates would last in the heat and other challenges of an open air market, so had regretfully turned her down more than once. Lucky for her, we began a winter fair trade/handmade/ recycled goods market that we called “Festivus, the Holiday Market for the Rest of Us” in 2003, where she was finally accepted as a vendor. Her goods and retail demeanor were so outstanding that the farmers market reconsidered and allowed her to come as a vendor, which has led to an well-loved full time business. This very Saturday was the first time I had spent time in her new location which is directly across the street from the Saturday market and the crush of market shoppers having coffee and waffles in their welcome a/c was a delight to see.
One of the faces in the crowd was Robin Barnes, who has become a very dear member of the market community since her arrival in Louisiana post-Katrina. She originally came to help with recovery as VP of an organization called Seedco Financial Services, which had helped small businesses find new locations, funds and a plan in post 9-11 lower Manhattan. Her insight and deep empathy for the plight of small businesses after disaster led her to Louisiana and to the market community where she was instrumental in the recovery of most of the family fishing businesses in our lower parishes and to African-American owned businesses throughout the city. Since her early days living in a sublet out of a suitcase, she has bought a house, made a life in our city and even named her lovely orange cat Satsuma L’Hoste after one of her favorite products and market families!
Now a Executive VP at GNOInc, she continues to find ways to include market small businesses in her multi-parish fight for economic viability. Seeing her this Saturday means that these stories will be shared with government leaders and more good advice will be given to the market from one of the few regional leaders we have.
The Tuesday market was slightly bigger, and included seafood for the first time since Isaac. 4 Winds Seafood was there (1 of the seafood vendors out of the regular 3) and said she did fine. Of course, she did fine because she and her family have moved away from their pre-Katrina parish St. Bernard to a slightly higher one (St. Tammany) where they are not in the flood-prone zone in their new parish. Also, her husband Ray had docked the boat well before high winds came. She brought some shrimp that had been harvested right before the storm and kept frozen with generators after freezing directly after harvest. This is how most of our shrimp is kept: a good way to see it directly is to watch one of the short videos I made while at marketumbrella.org under the Go Fish project name:
GoFish
I also noticed that the markets were having one of their market incentive campaigns, probably for SNAP users. The organization runs their matching programs very artfully I think: they work closely with their farmers product timing and their event plan to maximize small pots of money to bring new shoppers in and get some return visits in quickly. They usually run 4-8 different incentive campaigns each year and this year, even used Groupon to raise money for one of those campaigns. The Groupon funded the kids activities at the market-how it ties into incentives is that the organization runs one of their incentive programs year-round for kids; called Marketeers, kids receive a birthday postcard in the mail and they bring it to the market booth and get a 5.00 token. The Marketeers have an event on the first Saturday of every month.
Thursday’s market was also small but as welcome as one or two of these vendors only come to Thursday’s market so it was the first time they could check in. This is the smallest of all of the markets and still struggling to get its critical mass, as it’s the most recently opened (only a few years). Still, it’s across the bayou from my house and I appreciate the chance for a 3rd market day so always try to support it.
I ended the market week with cilantro hummus, Mississippi apples, Mississippi ground lamb, St. John parish tomatoes, St. Tammany baked goods and fresh watermelon juice, Mississippi goat cheese and fresh beans, Orleans parish peppers and honey and some strong CDM iced coffee. Now back to cutting those banana trees and picking up debris from the surrounding streets..
More news will slowly trickle from the lower parishes over the next few months, but only if someone is actively seeking that information. Of course, the market community will be among those staying in touch. I’ll be sure to share here too. Meanwhile, here is some early video from the edge of America’s land, Grand Isle.
Grand Isle
Drought
For those of you on the FMC Listserve (hopefully all of you!) you may have seen my post from a few days ago asking if anyone had a written drought plan for their market. Many of us in flood prone or winter storm zones have emergency plans for those type of weather events, but how does one create a plan for a “non-event” like a drought?
Raising money for vendors is difficult even in the most dramatic times, but to get support when conditions are just about invisible to the urban or suburban world is extremely difficult. Unfortunately, crisis propels project funding and no one has stepped forward on this crisis yet, but maybe it’s time a state association or a network of markets found some funds to create some templates and best practices so we can be prepared.
Outlaw gardens
A story about how front yard gardens are being mowed down by cities precisely following their zoning rules make me think:
Nothing is simple.
Many things have more than one accurate point of view.
And when you begin to create change, nothing is real until you can show its impact and it’s worth to the larger community.
And that for decades, food growing has been relegated to the rural communities, so much so that when urban and suburban citizens join or rejoin the good food revolution, they will often suffer from outrage from neighboring lawn champions or from outdated zoning requirements.
And yet, something troubles even me when I see a farm with dozens of different tools rusting along the back wall or when I see immaculate gardens with nary a weed. I think of what Gary Snyder said in an interview in the 1970s (and I’m paraphrasing from memory):
farming isn’t backbreaking if it’s done right. The problem is that we bought entirely into the 19th century well-ordered industrial European agricultural model which doesn’t necessarily fit everywhere.
So we can all learn and change. Farmers can simplify and share their plans, both to gradually bring those neighbors to a deeper understanding of what natural gardening is and to reduce the backbreaking nature of their dawn to dusk life and the amount of tools that it takes to keep that farm looking unnatural.
But it takes time.
http://pulse.me/s/axDYi
Top 5 Urban Farms in New York City | Inhabitat New York City
As one of the best entrepreneurial incubators of this century, I think small farms in urban, exurban and suburban areas are extremely useful and appropriate. In NYC, the juxtaposition of industrial or heavily urban areas next to active green space is startling to say the least. I wonder when cities will start to add edible landscaping (especially fruit trees) to their landscaping plans? I understand they won’t be putting them on the middle of busy streetscapes, but why not apple, pear, peach, cherry, citrus, avocado and such in quiet nooks and crannies of the city?
I think market communities could accelerate that by donating trees every year to their city, and even using the market community to work as volunteers to maintain them where appropriate. If every market quietly added some permanent food to their community, we might start another revolution of food returning to public spaces.
Top 5 Urban Farms in New York City | Inhabitat New York City – StumbleUpon.
The amazing collaborative food community of Ontario is coming together to hold a 2 day Urban Agriculture Summit on August 15-18, 2012. Will Allen is their keynote and if you haven’t heard him or had the chance to meet and experience his enthusiastic presence and take in some of his knowledge, this is a great opportunity to do it. Having just traveled up there, I know what I’ll be missing! I wish I could find a way to get back for this and learn more and share more about food systems. If you can make it, do so. You’ll thank me later.
Civic Economy Primer
“Against the context of rapid economic, social and environmental change, a collective reflection is taking place on how to build more sustainable routes to share prosperity. In the meantime, an increasing number and wide range of change-makers have already found ways to imagine and grow a different economy in our cities, towns, neighbourhoods and villages.
This publication presents 25 case studies of the civic economy – rooted in age-old traditions of the associational economy but using new organising tactics, ways of connecting with people and approaches to collaborative investment.
They show that the civic economy is already a real, vital and growing part of many places, which actively contributes to community resilience, everyday innovation and shared prosperity. They also reveal how local leaders – that is, all those working together to improve places and their economies, whether in the public, private or third sector – can create the fertile ground for the civic economy to flourish and grow. Most importantly, the remarkable achievements of these 25 trailblazers show why we need to get better at understanding and recognising the role of civic entrepreneurship and enable it to turn ideas into action and impact.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself, so why try?
Published
May 2011
Authors
NESTA, CABE, 00:/
Go to report
Psychology professor’s research relates food to moral identities | WWNO
Maybe it’s me, but I am not sure I follow this guy’s reasoning. Did the participants all have the same level of volunteerism before the study? Is this also true of people who, let’s say, viewed pictures of religious icons? Did they feel more or less altruistic afterwards? Are the findings correlation or cause?
“After viewing a few organic foods, comfort foods or control foods, participants who were exposed to organic foods volunteered significantly less time to help a needy stranger, and they judged moral transgressions significantly harsher than those who viewed non-organic foods. These results suggest that exposure to organic foods may lead people to affirm their moral identities, which reduces their desire to be altruistic.”
Psychology professor's research relates food to moral identities | WWNO.
Community
I am because we are.
Whiteness assigns unearned privilege in our society. Join others to learn how to undo racism in your own life, your own business, your own community.
Malik Yakini, Detroit Black Community Food Security Network
Life Skills Bread Baking Program: King Arthur Flour
An employee-owned company since 1996, King Arthur Flour has some impressive programs and values. Check out this wonderful baking program they offer
Who Fishes Matters: Fleet Diversity Matters to Local Food Systems
An excellent example of partner organization (a church council no less) explaining the need for a vibrant local fishing fleet. There are so many ways to work within ones community to ensure that your entrepreneurs have wide support. This is a great, great statement to read, to share and to seek out ways for your market and food system partners to come up with their own version.
Who Fishes Matters: Fleet Diversity Matters to Local Food Systems.
Oyster bed recovery from Gulf oil spill on advisory committee agenda
The local farmers markets starting losing their oystermen even before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The ecological consequences of being at the mouth of the river that drains 2/3 of the Continental US should have been seen as a crisis by every level of government long ago. Instead, the beds became increasingly polluted with runoff and then without proper levees in place Empire La (the home of oyster harvesting down here) was toppled and little money or energy was offered to rebuild it.
The good news is that there are smart scientists and fishers working on solutions, such as making new beds away from the river and pollution and introducing new types of shellfish, such as triploids quahogs. (Some information on these mollusks here. )
How do I know all of this? Why, because I go to the farmers market where it is discussed and shared regularly. Another way to measure the need for farmers markets is to add up all of the conversations that flow from the market square back to the habitats of the wildlife we want to save.
Oyster bed recovery from Gulf oil spill on advisory committee agenda | NOLA.com.
Helping Farmers Markets Grow 