Welcome to pictorial reflections of my engaged scholarship experience. I am studying Agribusiness Management & Entrepreneurship and had an opportunity to explore learning while leading which increased my capacity to listen and learn from people around me. And, in many cases while serving in my fellowship at Greensgrow Urban Farm, lead while being led.
I felt compelled to remain open to what was imparted by the people I interacted with publicly at events and Greensgrow. Also inspired to transfer knowledge guiding them to new possibilities. Listening and being open to the contribution of others is important and through this lessons can be learned.
I love the food in Philly! I tend to always lean toward cultural dishes when I dine out but this time with a new meaning... Thinking about the immigrants preparing my meals and the discourse around immigration taking place in our country presently.
JUSTICE FOR HEALTHY FOOD ACCESS
IN URBAN AREAS
Building a better, progressive and sustainable Philadelphia.
Greensgrow is a nonprofit and nationally recognized leader in urban agriculture for 20 years with a $2 million operating budget. They are dedicated to promoting social entrepreneurship through the reuse of land once deemed useless located on a one acre city block. In the process, reconnecting city dwellers with rural food producers thru the 700+ member CSA and promoting the greening of Philadelphia’s homes, roof top and backyard gardens at their retail garden center serving on average 20,000 customers per year. Unfortunately however, this farm is under threat of closing in 5 years because their land lease with the land bank expires and there is no guarantee it will be renewed due to influences in land use favoring real estate investors and developers.
It was fitting for my "social justice" fellowship to be at Greensgrow, located in a majority white neighborhood, Fishtown is known by most people of color as a section of Philly where racism prevails. Greensgrow recognizes this notion and just before I arrrived, the organization performed an internal examination of how they may be contributing. Impressive to me, Greensgrow explored "whiteness" under the direction of a consultant and underwent Anti-Oppression training to unlearn and undo.....see/click attached tool the consultant presented in the staff's meeting.
CO CREATING WITH THE UNIVERSE PLANTING SEEDS OF SUSTENANCE FOR HUMANITY
As a development exercise Greensgrow sent me, Farmer Marina and Farmer Tricka to visit Adrian at Heritage for a consultation on his soil cultivation methods. In exchange we offered a few hours of farm labor. On this day we harvested peppers and cherry tomatoes to be delivered to local restaurants.
In 2011, Methodist Services revitalized 4 of its 22 acres to establish Heritage Farm, cultivating vegetables, flowers, berries and an orchard. Equipped with four high tunnels and a greenhouse that greatly extend the growing seasons, Heritage Farm strives to bring care, attention to detail and passion to the treatment of their soil, vegetables, community and customers.
URBAN FARMERS FOR FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
Funded by the Public Interest Law Center, Soil Generation has created and organized a series of Vacant Land 215 events. These events have taken place across Philadelphia, addressing topics such as: The Philadelphia Land Bank, Sidelots, Sheriff’s Sales, Conservatorship, adverse possession and other mechanisms for preservation, starting a non-profit, community organizing and building alliances, addressing tangled titles, navigating the zoning process, stormwater management and much more.
I was surprised to learn urban farms leasing public land are under threat of shut down by the City without having their say.....
Organizing because they do not have legal protection to continue farming on Vacant Land 215 property.
Soil Generation members are under threat of shut down due to city's vacant land being sold to developers, gentrifying community.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR ME? THIS UPCOMING SPRING SEMESTER, A LAND POLICY RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP WITH VIETLEAD'S RESILIENT ROOTS FARM, A MEMBER ORGANIZATION OF SOIL GENERATION.
Resilient Roots Garden is an intergenerational community garden that provides high school internships with three goals:
To build local knowledge and intercultural and intergenerational unity around urban agriculture, nutrition, and social justice.
To increase access to – and empower community members to increase their access to – fresh, healthy, and culturally relevant food.
To leverage and expand existing agricultural markets with RR production in ways that will generate employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for both youth and elder farmers.