“They are not for me,” replied the women “some friends are down on their luck, so I’m helping them out with groceries.”

I love this time of year when tomatoes are a plenty.

I recently joined a farm co-op, where you work a few hours a week in exchange for vegetables, meat, and eggs. They just started the work co-op about a month ago, and conversations are plentiful among members about the positive impacts it is having on their lives. I was having one such conversation last Saturday as I helped clear out an area for fall planting.

We were chatting about the wonderful opportunity it gave us, the grounding feeling of working for our food and how rich we felt eating it, when a relation of the land’s owner came up to pick some tomatoes.

“What are you making?” asked my fellow co-op member.

“They are not for me,” replied the women “some friends are down on their luck, so I’m helping them out with groceries.”

As she worked her way down the tomatoes and to the peppers she explained that she was getting them everything they need to make a big of pot of chili, enough to freeze. Something to fill their stomach, and warm their souls.

Looking at the red tomatoes in her arms I couldn’t help but smile. It’s hard to feel down on your luck with a few of those at hand. There is something about a good meal that makes life feel abundant.

I hope that her friends feel abundance and love when they sit down to that meal of red hot chili.

Elise Springuel is an AmeriCorps*VISTA working with the Presbyterian Hunger Program and she likes her tomatoes hot off the vine.

As a young American in my mid-twenties, I am accustomed to a rather mobile lifestyle. I have moved in and out of six different cities in the past six years. I have family scattered in multiple states, and the majority of my friends live somewhere other than their hometown. This mobility is part of the culture in which many of us are immersed. There is nothing intrinsically good or bad about our mobility or our tendencies to wander. At the individual level, it is conducive to self-discovery, fosters curiosity and open-mindedness, and nurtures the adventurous spirit. The impact of the “mobile mindset” on the community level can be viewed from many angles. What interests me at the moment is how our sense of place and commitment to our immediate community affects what we eat and how our food is grown.

Read more…

Tomorrow is Independence day. The day we American’s celebrate the signing of a document that asserted that all men were created equal and with the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. On the Forth we normally assert those rights and pursue our happiness with flag waving, gracious displays of fireworks, and grilled food. I’m not knocking it, I enjoy a good cook out. But I do find it interesting that many think of this day as display of patriotism.

I hope to encourage my friends in the affordable housing field to not only allow residents to plant gardens if they chose, but to encourage it. A garden of flowers and/or vegetables goes a long way to making any place feel like home.

Community Food Assets:

Taking an Inventory

Pre- or Post-Triennium Youth Group Activity

From the Presbyterian Hunger Program

DOWNLOAD the ACTIVITY GUIDE

This interactive group study is designed to be a fun, informative way for youth to learn about food in your local community, as preparation or follow-up to Triennium themes of hunger and poverty alleviation.

Delve into the challenging issues of hunger and poverty using a positive approach! Studying the assets (people, programs, resources) in your community that help people get access to enough good food is one way to begin to understand food justice. All youth groups are invited to join in this activity!