The Nashville Food Project’s Blog
Elevating Voices: Mandy
Sometimes the path into community begins with a question. Sometimes it begins with research. And sometimes, if you follow that question far enough, it leads you somewhere you did not expect to stay.
For Mandy, that path led her to The Nashville Food Project.
Mandy first came into relationship with The Nashville Food Project through her PhD fieldwork at Vanderbilt University, where she studies immigration, racialization, and community resistance in Nashville. As she followed those threads, they began to converge.
“All paths quickly took me towards The Nashville Food Project,” she shared.
What began as research became relationship. She started working alongside the Grow Team and farmers at Growing Together Farm and has remained rooted in that work ever since.
Mandy’s research is grounded in the spaces where food is grown and shared. Her work, conducted in partnership with The Nashville Food Project, centers on the lived experiences of farmers and the ways community takes shape through shared land and labor. She studies not only what is grown, but what is made possible through growing.
Across community gardens and farms, people from many different backgrounds come together, bringing knowledge, memory, and tradition with them. In these shared spaces, something shifts. Farmers are not only cultivating food. They are actively remaking their worlds. Their work reflects the layered histories of Nashville’s land and the possibilities of what it can become.
Ask Mandy about food, and she will likely bring up kohlrabi. It has become emblematic of many things in her work, from community ties through root vegetables to transnational growing traditions and evolving foodways. Through her research, she has come to understand that food is always changing, shaped by the people who grow it and the communities that sustain it.
Stepping outside of what feels familiar opens up a fuller picture of the city. It reveals a Nashville that is not singular or fixed, but diverse, dynamic, and continually emerging.
“Food is dignity,” Mandy says.
Her path into food justice began in schools, working with Latinx students and supporting food pantries. There, she encountered a reality that reshaped her understanding of food insecurity. It was not only about access to calories. It was about access to foods that nourish in every sense, including culture, identity, and belonging.
She remembers sorting through pantry items and discarding expired food that did not always reflect what people wanted or needed. In those moments, it became clear that nourishment is about more than availability. It is about dignity.
At the heart of Mandy’s work is a belief that feels both grounded and hopeful. Communities know how to feed themselves. The challenge is access.
Access to land.
Access to resources.
Access to culturally affirming foods.
This is where the work of growing, cooking, and sharing food becomes something more. It becomes about transformation and about building food futures shaped by the people most connected to them.
At The Nashville Food Project, we see this every day in the gardens and growing spaces where knowledge is shared across languages, generations, and experiences.
Last season at the Growing Together Farmers’ Market, Mandy spent time encouraging kids to carve kohlrabi instead of pumpkins. It was a small moment, but it carried something meaningful. An invitation to try something new and to see differently.
Mandy’s story reminds us that food is never just about what is on the plate. It is about who has access, whose knowledge is valued, and whose traditions are sustained.
When communities have what they need, they do not just grow food. They grow connection, resilience, and possibility.
And in that, we begin to see what a more just and nourishing food system can look like.
National Food Waste Prevention Week 2026
There is a hard truth at the center of our food system.
Nearly 40% of all food grown for human consumption is wasted.
At the same time, one in seven Tennesseans, including one in six children, does not have consistent access to the food they need.
These realities exist side by side.
Not because there is not enough, but because of how our systems move, value, and distribute food.
What Food Waste Prevention Week Reminds Us
Each year, Food Waste Prevention Week invites us to pause and reconsider our relationship with food.
Observed this year from April 7 through April 13, the week brings together communities across Tennessee through events, conversations, and shared learning.
It is a moment to raise awareness, but also to take action.
To understand labels more clearly.
To plan meals more intentionally.
To store food in ways that extend its life.
Small shifts that, together, begin to change a much larger system.
An Invitation to Give Food
Reducing waste is one part of the story.
Sharing what we have is another.
In addition to financial support, we welcome donations of food that can be used as ingredients in nutritious, scratch-made meals. Whether it is fresh produce from your garden or surplus from a licensed kitchen, your contribution helps us turn food into care.
We receive donations by appointment so we can ensure every item is used well and with intention.
When you are ready to donate, our team will connect with you to understand what is available and how it can best be incorporated into our meals.
Get Involved
If you have food to give or would like to host a food drive, we would love to connect.
Reach out to David Frease at davidf@thenashvillefoodproject.org or (615) 460-0172 to coordinate your donation.
Because when food is shared, it becomes something more.
It becomes a way we care for one another.
Get involved:
Volunteer | Give Food | Donate
Elevating Voices: Brennan
Sometimes the path into community begins with a simple question: where can I show up?
For Brennan, that question led him to The Nashville Food Project. He was looking for something real. Something grounded. Something that mattered. And what he found was a garden.
Brennan came to this work with a belief that feels both simple and urgent: there is enough food, and everyone should have their share. That conviction led him to volunteer at the Community Farm at Mill Ridge, where he stepped into the work outdoors, in the dirt, among the growing things.
Looking back, that choice also brought him closer to memory. His mother loved gardening. Not always the work of it, but the knowing of it. The life within it. In some way, returning to the garden became a quiet way of returning to her.
At The Nashville Food Project, Brennan supports garden construction and planning, helping shape the spaces where food can grow. It is work that often happens behind the scenes, but makes everything else possible. Beds that hold seeds. Structures that support growth. Spaces that make gathering possible. Not everything happens at the table. Some of it happens before the table even exists.
Food has long been part of Brennan’s story. From watching cooking shows as a kid to working in food service to help pay for college, he learned early that food is more than sustenance. It is a way of showing up. “If I did the cooking, I could help carry the load at home,” he shared. Along the way, he noticed something simple but lasting: people want to share what they know. Recipes, techniques, stories. Food becomes a language we can all speak.
“Sharing a recipe or the experience of dining together creates a bond.”
In a world that often emphasizes difference, food reveals common ground. We gather, we eat, we share, and in those moments, connection takes root.
Each Christmas, Brennan and his family begin curing a country ham, a tradition passed down from his mother-in-law. What starts in winter is shared in summer. “It means a lot to her,” he says. “It’s a unique experience for me.” In this way, food becomes more than a meal. It becomes memory, relationship, and care carried forward.
Brennan puts it simply: food is even better when it’s shared.
That belief sits at the heart of our work. Our goal is not just to grow food or cook it, but to create the conditions where sharing is possible, where community can take shape.
There are many ways into this work. In the garden. In the kitchen. In the spaces that support both. All of it matters.
Because what we are building is not just a food system. It is a community shaped by care. And there is always room for one more at the table.
There is a place for you in this work
There is a quiet kind of work that holds everything together.
It does not always make headlines. It is not always seen. But it is steady, necessary, and deeply rooted in care.
It looks like showing up.
It looks like tending soil before anything has grown.
It looks like preparing meals that will be shared with someone you may never meet.
It looks like recovering food that might otherwise go to waste and choosing, instead, to give it another purpose.
This is what it means to be a service-minded community.
Service is often thought of as something big. A single act that makes a visible difference. But more often, it is made up of small, repeated choices.
A volunteer who signs up for a shift.
A neighbor who helps tend a garden bed.
A team that chooses to recover food instead of discarding it.
On their own, these actions may seem simple. Together, they shape something larger.
They build trust. They build connection. They build a community that takes responsibility for one another.
At The Nashville Food Project, stewardship is not separate from our work. It is how we do our work.
It shows up in the way we care for land through our gardens and farms.
In the way we prepare meals with intention, using food that has been grown, donated, and recovered.
In the way we reduce waste, knowing that every ingredient carries value.
Through efforts like Waste Not Wednesday, we are reminded that food recovery is not just about efficiency. It is about respect.
For the resources that went into growing that food.
For the people who will receive it.
For the system we are all a part of.
Service does not require perfection. It simply requires presence.
A willingness to participate. A willingness to care. A willingness to begin.
There is a place for you in this work.
And this April, there are many ways to step in.
Step Into the Work This April
Get involved:
Volunteer | Give Food | Donate | Attend an Event
National Agriculture Day at The Nashville Food Project
On National Agriculture Day, we honor the people and practices that make it possible for food to reach our tables.
It is easy to think of food at the point of consumption. A meal served. A plate shared. A moment of nourishment. But every meal begins long before that. It begins in the soil, in the steady work of planting, tending, and trusting that something will grow.
At The Nashville Food Project, agriculture is not separate from community. It is where our work begins.
Across our Community Agriculture Network, this work is already taking root. At sites like Growing Together Farm, the Community Farm at Mill Ridge Park, McGruder Community Garden, Our Hands Community Garden, and Southend United Methodist Church, neighbors come together to grow food, share knowledge, and care for the land. New spaces, including Hope Community Gardens and Donelson Community Garden, will continue to expand this work in the years ahead.
These are not just places where food is grown. They are places where community is built.
In these gardens and farms, people gather across generations and experiences. They learn what it means to steward land. They take part in the slow and intentional work of growing food. They see firsthand how small acts, repeated over time, can lead to something that nourishes many.
This is the kind of agriculture we celebrate.
It is rooted in care.
It is shaped by collaboration.
It is sustained by people who choose to show up.
As we look ahead, this work continues to grow. Through our community orchard initiative, we are expanding what it means to cultivate long-term nourishment. Orchards invite us into a different kind of commitment, one that looks beyond a single season and toward years of shared harvest. They create spaces where communities can gather, care for fruit-bearing trees, and build something that will continue to give over time.
This is what it means to reimagine our food system.
A healthy food system is not built overnight. It is cultivated through relationships, through shared responsibility, and through the belief that everyone should have access to the food they want and need. It is shaped by growers, volunteers, partners, and community members who invest in something larger than themselves.
On this National Agriculture Day, we are reminded that the work of agriculture is not just about growing food. It is about growing connection, resilience, and possibility.
And there are many ways to be part of that work.
You can apply to become a community partner garden.
You can learn more about our growing network of orchards.
You can become a garden or orchard steward.
You can volunteer alongside us in our gardens and farms.
You can apply for a garden plot and begin growing your own food.
Each of these is an invitation.
An invitation to step into the work.
An invitation to tend something that will, in time, grow.
Because nourishment begins here.
In the soil.
In community.
In the shared work of growing something together.
Community Agriculture Network Sites
Growing Together Farm — 299 Haywood Lane, Nashville, TN, 37211
Community Farm at Mill Ridge Park - 12944 Old Hickory Blvd., Antioch, TN 37013
McGruder Community Garden at McGruder Family Resource Center — 2013 25th Ave. N., Nashville, TN 37208
Our Hands Community Garden at Alameda Christian Church — 4006 Ashland City Hwy., Nashville, TN 37218)
Southend United Methodist Church — 5042 Edmondson Pike, Nashville, TN 37211
Hope Community Gardens — coming in 2026
Donelson Community Garden — coming in 2026
At the Table, Episode 2
Welcome to At the Table, a space where we share what is happening day to day at The Nashville Food Project and invite our community into the work.
Chef Bianca, our Chief Culinary Officer, and Peter Burns, our Director of Agricultural Operations, recently sat down to reflect on the season ahead and the many ways people across Nashville are stepping forward to get involved.
In our kitchens, volunteers are already hard at work preparing nourishing meals that will be shared with nonprofit partners across the city. Each week, volunteers help wash vegetables, chop ingredients, portion meals, and keep our kitchens moving. These sessions have become an important part of how we connect with our community, and we are always looking for new ways to welcome people into the process.
At the same time, our garden spaces are beginning to come alive with the energy of a new growing season. As the weather warms and the soil begins to wake up, we are seeing more neighbors, volunteers, and community groups showing up with excitement for the work ahead.
In response, we are inviting volunteers to join us in preparing our growing spaces for the season. This includes helping prepare fields, organize tools, and get the equipment ready that gardeners will rely on throughout the months ahead. These early days of preparation are an essential part of what makes the harvest possible later in the year.
Whether in the garden or in the kitchen, this work is powered by people who care about their neighbors and want to be part of building a stronger food system in Nashville.
If you have been looking for a way to get involved, we would love to welcome you. Volunteers make this work possible.
You can learn more about volunteering at
thenashvillefoodproject.org/givetime
There are many ways to support the work. You can join a volunteer shift in the garden or kitchen. You can participate in one of our upcoming events. You can also help by contributing items that our kitchens need most right now, including cooking oils, rice, and pasta.
To explore volunteer opportunities and upcoming events, visit
thenashvillefoodproject.org/events
Thank you for joining us at the table.
Chef Bianca, Peter, and the entire team at The Nashville Food Project look forward to welcoming you into our kitchens, our gardens, and our community.
Community food security grows when more people pull up a chair.
Thank you for being at the table with us. We look forward to seeing you in the kitchen, in the garden, and around shared meals in the months ahead.
Watch the full At the Table conversation
on YouTube or Instagram.
Featured Recipe from Produce Rx: Butternut Squash with Black Beans
Featured Recipe from Produce Rx
A Program of The Nashville Food Project
Food can do more than fill a plate. It can support healing, strengthen community, and help people care for their bodies in ways that feel sustainable and dignified.
Through our Produce Rx pilot, we are working alongside community partners to support better health outcomes through access to fresh, nourishing food. In partnership with Wayspring, we provide fresh produce for patients while care teams help coordinate access and provide ongoing support.
Together, we are building a model that strengthens dignity, connection, and well-being through food.
One way we support this work is by sharing simple, nourishing recipes that make fresh ingredients approachable in everyday kitchens. This month’s featured recipe brings together two ingredients that are both accessible and deeply nourishing: butternut squash and black beans.
The natural sweetness of squash pairs beautifully with the earthy richness of black beans, creating a dish that is hearty, flavorful, and full of fiber and plant-based protein. Meals like this remind us that good food does not have to be complicated. With a few ingredients and a little care, it is possible to create something both nourishing and satisfying.
Servings: 6
Ingredients
2¾ cups butternut squash, cubed (about 1 small squash, roughly 1 pound)
1 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon vegetable oil (or cooking oil of choice)
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup water
2 cans (15.5 ounces each) low-sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
½ teaspoon oregano
Instructions
Wash hands with soap and water.
Heat the squash in the microwave on high heat for 1–2 minutes. This softens the skin and makes it easier to peel.
Carefully peel the squash with a vegetable peeler or small knife, then cut into ½-inch cubes.
Peel and chop the onion.
In a large pan, heat the oil. Add the onion, garlic powder, and squash. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
Add the vinegar and water. Reduce heat and cook on low until the squash becomes tender, about 10 minutes.
Add the beans and oregano. Cook until the beans are heated through.
Recipes like this are a reminder that nourishing food can begin with simple ingredients and shared knowledge. Through Produce Rx and partnerships across Nashville, we continue working toward a future where access to healthy food supports not only nutrition, but long-term health and well-being.
Together, we are growing a food system where care and nourishment move hand in hand.
Recipe from the United States Department of Agriculture. You can find more recipes at https://snaped.fns.usda.gov/resources/recipes-and-menus
Planting the Future: Building a Community Orchard at Mill Ridge
At The Community Farm at Mill Ridge, the work of growing food often begins quietly.
A shovel pressing into the soil.
Roots spread carefully in a freshly dug hole.
A small tree placed with intention, knowing that years from now it will nourish people who have yet to walk this land.
This spring, that quiet work is becoming something larger. Together with volunteers, neighbors, and partners, The Nashville Food Project is planting a new community orchard at Mill Ridge Park. More than 200 fruit trees and berry brambles will take root here, expanding access to fresh fruit for growers and families across the Antioch community.
An orchard does not appear overnight. It begins with care.
Planting a tree may seem simple. But the details matter if that tree is going to thrive for decades. At our orchard demonstration at The Community Farm at Mill Ridge, volunteers will learn the foundational elements of planting fruit trees in a way that supports their long-term health. Many fruit trees are grafted, meaning two different parts of a plant are joined together to grow as one. The rootstock forms the base of the tree, anchoring it in the soil, while the scion becomes the branches and fruit-bearing portion above ground.
Where those two pieces meet is called the graft union, and it must remain visible above the soil line to protect the tree’s long-term health. Participants also learn to identify the root flare, the place where the trunk widens and transitions into the root system. Keeping this area exposed allows the tree to establish strong, healthy roots.
Understanding these details helps ensure that each tree planted today will grow strong enough to produce fruit for years to come.
Once the tree is placed carefully in the hole, soil and compost are returned around the roots. Volunteers break up clumps, remove rocks, and press the soil gently into place with their hands to eliminate air pockets and help the tree settle securely into the ground.
The final step is mulch. Spread in a ring around the base of the tree, mulch helps retain moisture and protect the soil while leaving the trunk and graft union clear.
Each step may seem small. But together they create the conditions a young tree needs to grow. The orchard taking shape at Mill Ridge is about more than fruit.
It is about expanding tree canopy in a growing part of Nashville. It is about improving soil health and supporting pollinators. It is about creating a place where neighbors can gather, learn, and steward the land together.
And it is about food.
One day, the trees planted here will produce harvests that nourish the Mill Ridge community and the growers who care for this space.
But first comes the planting.
Orchards are acts of patience. They require a long view. The trees planted today will grow slowly, season by season, shaped by the care of the people who tend them.
That is why the planting itself matters so much.
When volunteers gather with shovels in the soil, they are doing more than planting trees. They are investing in a future where nourishment grows in shared spaces and community takes root alongside the orchard.
This is how change often begins.
One tree at a time.
Elevating Voices: Barb Hoffmann & Mary Dionne
Together, their rhythm has been simple and steady. One experimenting. One anchoring. Both caring deeply about the meals that leave the kitchen.
March is National Nutrition Month, a time to reflect on the power of food to strengthen both health and community. At The Nashville Food Project, that power often shows up in simple, steady ways. In the hands that chop vegetables. In the meals shared across the city. And in the friendships that grow around a prep table.
Barb Hoffmann and Mary Dionne first met at The Nashville Food Project not long after volunteers returned to the kitchen following the COVID lockdown.
Barb was helping with prep. Mary was cooking. Somewhere between chopping vegetables and passing pans across the counter, they found themselves drawn into easy conversation and shared laughter. What began as small talk at a prep table quickly grew into something deeper.
Their friendship was sealed on an ordinary afternoon when Barb drove Mary D to an eye appointment. Outside the rhythm of the kitchen, they realized just how much they had in common. Kindred spirits, it turned out, are not always found through grand moments. Sometimes they meet over a cutting board.
Soon after, an opening appeared on Mary D’s cook team. She knew immediately who belonged there.
Since then, Barb and Mary D have spent Wednesday mornings side by side in the kitchen. Cooking, prepping, and bringing a little extra joy to the work of preparing meals for the community.
Salads have become their shared canvas. Mary D delights in creating dressings from whatever fresh ingredients she finds in the cooler. Barb prefers the quiet reliability of a recipe, happily chopping, dicing, and keeping their station moving while Mary experiments with flavor.
Together, their rhythm has been simple and steady. One experimenting. One anchoring. Both caring deeply about the meals that leave the kitchen.
Though Barb has recently moved away, her presence continues to echo through the space she helped shape. In every bowl of greens tossed with care, in every moment of laughter shared across a prep table, the impact of that friendship remains.
Barb and Mary D remind us that nutrition is not only about what we eat. It is also about the community that prepares it, the care that goes into each meal, and the relationships that grow along the way.
Thank you, Barb and Mary D.
Access. Dignity. Infrastructure.
National Nutrition Month®, a time to reflect on how nutrition shapes our health and our communities.
This year’s theme, “Discover the Power of Nutrition,” invites us to look beyond individual choices and consider the broader systems that influence how we eat and live.
At The Nashville Food Project, the power of nutrition is not just what is on a plate.
It is about access.
It is about dignity.
It is about the infrastructure that makes health possible.
Nutrition begins with consistency. It is difficult to make informed food choices without reliable access to nourishing food. Transportation, affordability, proximity, and stability all shape what is possible for families across Nashville.
Through our kitchens, Community Agriculture Network, food recovery efforts, and partnerships with more than 55 community meal sites, we build steady and dignified access across Nashville.
When meals are reliable, health becomes possible. Every day, thousands of meals move through our kitchens and community partners. Behind each one is a network of people and systems working to make nourishment reliable.
Garden plot rentals are available for those who want to cultivate food and connection in shared community spaces.
Volunteer in our kitchens to help prepare and share nourishing meals while building meaningful community connections.
Healthy habits do not exist in isolation. They are shaped by systems. Land access. Kitchen capacity. Transportation logistics. Cross-sector partnerships. Thoughtful stewardship of resources. When these systems are strong, nutrition moves beyond short-term advice and becomes long-term impact. When systems work, communities thrive.
Infrastructure is shaped by many hands. Farmers and cooks. Volunteers and dietitians. Neighbors who share a table and organizations coordinating behind the scenes. The power of nutrition is not only in individual decisions. It is in shared responsibility.
This March, as we recognize National Nutrition Month, we invite you to consider how access, dignity, and infrastructure shape the health of our city. Nutrition is more than a plate. It is the foundation of a more just and connected Nashville.
At The Nashville Food Project, we grow, cook, and share in ways that strengthen this foundation.
Through our network of community farms, we steward land and support neighbors who are growing their own food. In our kitchens, recovered, donated, and locally grown ingredients become nourishing, scratch-made meals. And through partnerships with community organizations across Nashville, those meals reach neighbors who need them most.
By connecting land, kitchens, and community, we stretch resources while strengthening food access across our city. Your support helps nourish neighbors and sustain a food system rooted in care, stewardship, and shared responsibility.
You can explore the impact of this work in our Community Impact Report, which highlights what supporters helped make possible over the past year.
Get involved:
Volunteer | Give Food | Donate
Access Matters
At The Nashville Food Project, we are building the infrastructure that makes nourishment predictable and dignified. This is proactive work. It happens in kitchens designed to recover surplus and prepare consistent meals. It happens in gardens where neighbors grow food that reflects their cultures and preferences. It happens in partnerships that align farmers, clinics, agencies, and volunteers toward shared outcomes.
March invites us to focus on what makes nourishment reliable.
In Nashville, food insecurity is not about scarcity. It is about access. Who can reach nourishing food consistently? Who can rely on it week after week? What systems make that reliability possible?
This month, our focus is clear:
Access Matters.
We are building the infrastructure that makes nourishment predictable and dignified. This is proactive work. It happens in kitchens designed to recover surplus and prepare consistent meals. It happens in gardens where neighbors grow food that reflects their cultures and preferences. It happens in partnerships that align farmers, clinics, agencies, and volunteers toward shared outcomes.
Healthy community does not begin in crisis. It begins in steady preparation.
Growing Nourishment That Lasts
There are several ways to engage this month as we continue building access across Nashville.
Growing Together 2026 CSA sales are now open. When you join our CSA, you invest directly in local growers and in a food system rooted in community and care.
Garden plot rentals are available for those who want to cultivate food and connection in shared community spaces.
Our Community Orchard application is also open. If your neighborhood, congregation, or organization is interested in planting fruit trees that will nourish your community for years to come, we invite you to apply. Orchards are long-term investments in shared abundance.
Join our Orchard Planting Party
On March 27 and 28, from 8:15 AM to 12:00 PM, neighbors, volunteers, and partners will gather at 12944 Old Hickory Blvd. for our Orchard Planting Party. Together, we will plant fruit trees that will nourish our city for years to come. This event is open to the public, and no prior gardening experience is required.
You can also strengthen this work through our monthly giving community, Seed Starters. Monthly gifts provide the steady foundation that allows us to plan responsibly, sustain partnerships, and grow meals season after season. Small, consistent support builds lasting impact.
Access is cultivated over time. With care, a handful of seeds can become hundreds of meals. A few hours in the kitchen can strengthen community. A monthly gift can sustain the systems that make it all possible.
This March, we invite you to grow nourishment that lasts.
Get involved:
Volunteer | Give Food | Donate
Elevating Voices: Bridget Bryant
Through farming, she has been able to grow and share produce in ways that connect her more deeply to community. Food has opened doors. It has introduced her to people she might never have met otherwise. It has created opportunities to teach others about the importance of caring for the Earth with intention and respect.
Bridget Bryant’s connection to The Nashville Food Project began at her son’s school.
The Nashville Food Project was there, inviting families to sign up for garden plots. Bridget added her name to the list. What began as a simple step into a shared garden space became something much deeper.
That relationship grew into a partnership. And that partnership helped her expand her work as a farmer.
For Bridget, growing food is not just a business. It is alignment. It is calling. It is the work she was meant to do.
Through farming, she has been able to grow and share produce in ways that connect her more deeply to community. Food has opened doors. It has introduced her to people she might never have met otherwise. It has created opportunities to teach others about the importance of caring for the Earth with intention and respect.
Working with the soil, tending crops, harvesting what has been nurtured over time, she sees clearly that food is a bridge. It bonds people across difference. Regardless of background, belief, or circumstance, everyone shares one thing in common: we all eat.
That shared need creates shared ground.
Bridget carries her family with her in this work. Her grandparents, Ollie Hardaway, Mary Hardaway, Early and Frankie Bryant. Her parents, Eddie and Glenda Bryant. Her best friend, Lisa Hinton. Her brother, Edward Bryant. Their legacy of resilience and care lives in the way she shows up to her farm and her community.
She believes in representing herself fully through her work. The way she grows. The way she shares. The way she teaches. It is all an extension of who she is.
For Bridget, working with the Earth is not simply an occupation. It is vocation.
And through that calling, she is helping cultivate a community where food connects us, grounds us, and reminds us that we belong to one another.
Elevating Voices: Bianca Morton
Food, for Bianca, has always been a connector. A way to show care. A way to build community. A way to express love when words fall short. Her life has been shaped by faith, purpose, and a deep belief that what we make with our hands can change what happens in the world.
Almost eight years ago, Bianca Morton was searching for work that felt purposeful.
As a chef, she had always loved food. But love alone was not enough. She was looking for mission. For meaning. For a place where food could be more than craft.
At The Nashville Food Project, she found it.
Food, for Bianca, has always been a connector. A way to show care. A way to build community. A way to express love when words fall short. Her life has been shaped by faith, purpose, and a deep belief that what we make with our hands can change what happens in the world.
She often speaks of “each one, teach one.” It is not simply a phrase. It is a way of living.
As a young person, Bianca was not exposed to the kinds of dishes she now curates and stewards. But she was formed by something more foundational: the act of breaking bread. Around her family’s table, she learned that food was not performance. It was presence. It was culture made visible. It was love made tangible.
Through her work, Bianca has built relationships with a network of neighbors she never imagined possible. She has supported individuals navigating barriers and helped create pathways into culinary skills through internships, volunteer experiences, food demonstrations, and hands-on training. Representation matters, she says. And in the kitchen, that representation becomes empowerment.
Food is not only nourishment. It is access. It is skill-building. It is dignity.
Bianca also shares openly about her own journey. Diagnosed with clinical depression in high school, she turned to food as a way to manage her emotions. At the time, she did not yet understand what that instinct meant. Now she sees it clearly. Food was not simply escape. It was medicine. It was a catalyst for healing and a pathway toward a healthier life.
That understanding shapes how she leads today.
Whether stewarding large-scale meal production or mentoring someone in their first culinary experience, Bianca approaches the kitchen as a space of care. A space where skill and compassion meet. A space where legacy is formed.
She speaks often of her grandfather. Of yeast rolls rising in the kitchen. Of recipes passed down not only as ingredients and measurements, but as memory and mission. She sees echoes of that same spirit in the founding vision of Tallu Schuyler Quinn: that food, shared with intention, can knit a community together.
For Bianca, this work is about the legacy of tomorrow.
It is about ensuring that the next generation experiences not only access to good food, but the power that comes from learning to prepare it, share it, and steward it well. It is about cultivating kitchens that do more than produce meals. They produce confidence. Connection. Care.
In every tray prepared, every intern mentored, every volunteer guided, Bianca is doing what she has always done.
She is breaking bread.
And in doing so, she is building a community where food is not simply eaten. It is shared as an expression of hope.
At The Table, Episode 1
This series is an invitation to slow down and pay attention. To notice what is showing up in our kitchens, our gardens, and our city. To reflect on how the simple, daily acts of growing, cooking, and sharing food are building community across Nashville.
Each month, you will hear directly from staff members about what they are seeing in their day-to-day work. What is shifting. What is needed. Where hope is emerging. And how you can join us in cultivating food security that is steady, relational, and rooted in care.
This month, we sat down with Maggie, our Volunteer Engagement Manager, and Brad, one of our Meals Coordinators.
What We Are Seeing
As the new year begins, we are already seeing an influx of support from volunteers and partners across the city. That encouragement matters. Community food security is not built alone. It is built together.
On the kitchen side, Brad shared that we are paying close attention to our dry storage. Pantry staples like oil, pasta, and rice remain essential to the meals we prepare each week. These foundational ingredients allow us to respond flexibly and consistently as needs shift.
Behind the scenes, we are also refining our donation sorting process to preserve more food on the front end. This helps us increase kitchen capacity and steward ingredients with greater care before they move into meal preparation. Thoughtful systems allow us to scale without sacrificing quality.
Partnership in Action
Maggie highlighted the strength of our long-standing partnerships with organizations on the front lines, including Open Table Nashville and Trinity Community Commons.
Recently, a group of dedicated volunteers fired up the smoker and prepared Hawaiian ribs served over pineapple rice. These meals were individually portioned and shared specifically with Open Table Nashville.
Moments like this remind us that hospitality is both practical and creative. It is planning and partnership. It is smoked ribs and rice. It is listening to what a partner needs and responding with care.
An Invitation
At the Table is not only about what we are doing. It is about who we are doing it with.
If you are already volunteering, giving, or partnering with us, thank you. Your presence strengthens this work.
If you are new and curious about how to get involved, we invite you to explore our upcoming events and volunteer opportunities on our website. Whether in the kitchen, in the gardens, or through financial support, there is a place for you here.
Grow With Us: Community Garden Beds Now Available
At The Nashville Food Project, growing food is about more than what ends up on the plate. It’s about stewardship, shared learning, and the relationships that form when neighbors come together around the land.
We’re excited to share that community garden beds are now available at McGruder Community Garden and Mill Ridge Community Farm for the upcoming season. These spaces are open to individuals and families who want to grow fresh food while being part of a supportive, connected gardening community.
Our community garden beds offer more than a place to plant. Gardeners receive access to shared tools, compost and soil support, educational opportunities throughout the season, and connection with other neighbors who are growing alongside them. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just getting started, these gardens are designed to meet people where they are.
At The Nashville Food Project, we believe growing food together strengthens both individual wellbeing and collective care. Our gardens are places where questions are welcome, learning is shared, and relationships deepen over time.
Garden beds are limited and available on a first-come basis. We encourage anyone interested in growing with us this season to register early to reserve a space.
What’s Included with a Garden Bed
Access to shared tools
Compost and soil support
Educational opportunities throughout the season
Community connection and shared learning
Garden Locations
Plots available: 500 square foot in-ground plots
Address: 12944 Old Hickory Blvd Antioch, TN 37013
Plots available: 4x8' raised garden beds
Address: 2013 25th Ave N Nashville, TN 37208
How to Register
Please fill out the application below.
Garden beds are limited, and spaces will be filled as registrations are received.
If you have questions about community gardens or the registration process, please reach out to gardens@thenashvillefoodproject.org.
We’re looking forward to another season of growing together and welcoming neighbors into these shared spaces.
Steady Care
Care is rarely dramatic.
More often, it is steady. It looks like meals prepared on schedule. Routes driven again. Kitchens opened on cold mornings. Volunteers returning, not for recognition, but because someone is counting on them.
For many of our neighbors, especially seniors and those who rely on regular meals, care is not an occasional kindness. It is a necessity shaped by consistency. Hunger does not pause for weather or calendars. Nourishment must remain reliable if it is to be dignified.
For us, care takes the form of rhythm. Food is grown, recovered, prepared, and shared not only in moments of urgency, but day after day. Seniors living on fixed incomes. Neighbors managing chronic illness. People navigating isolation. For them, a steady meal is more than food. It is reassurance. It is stability. It is the quiet knowledge that someone remembered.
This kind of care is built over time. Through repetition. Through trust earned slowly. Through systems designed to endure and people willing to carry responsibility together. It is not flashy work. But it is faithful work.
We often measure impact in numbers, and those numbers matter. But the deeper story of care lives in consistency. In the volunteer who learns a delivery route by heart. In the cook who prepares each meal with the same attention, whether the room is full or nearly empty. In the neighbor who opens their door each week knowing that care will arrive as promised.
Caring community is not built only in moments of crisis. It is built through reliability. Through showing up even when it is cold. Especially then.
This is how nourishment becomes human. Not as charity, but as relationship. Not as a one time response, but as a shared practice. Some neighbors depend on this work, and that dependence is not a failure. It is a reflection of our shared life together.
As this work continues, we remain grateful for everyone who makes steady care possible. The volunteers who return. The partners who remain committed. The supporters who understand that consistency is its own form of generosity.
Supporting neighbors day after day is how caring community takes shape.
Supporting neighbors, day after day
Steady care
Get involved:
Volunteer | Give Food | Donate
Winter Storm Fern Resources
Many of our Nashville neighbors continue to navigate the impacts of Winter Storm Fern. In moments like this, access to clear, reliable information matters. Below are trusted local resources to help neighbors stay safe, warm, and supported as recovery continues.
Last updated on January 31, 2026
COMPILED RESOURCES:
Food & Nutrition
2-1-1 RESOURCE CONNECTION
United Way provides 2-1-1 as a vital community service to help you connect to the resources you need. Specialists are available Monday through Friday, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm CST.
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WARM MEALS BY MADISON COMMUNITY CO-OP
OPEN DAILY | 752 MADISON SQUARE MADISON, TN 37115
11:00 am - Warm breakfast and the community space is open with family friendly activities
1:00 pm - Warm lunch and resources
5:30 pm - 8:00 pm - Warm dinner *7:00 pm
Shuttle will pickup at bring people to the shelter
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Mobile Pantry by by One Generation Away
Centennial High School | 5050 Mallory Ln
Saturday, January 31 | Distribution begins around 8:45 a.m.
Note: This distribution includes fresh produce and shelf-stable dry goods. Warm meals are not available at this site.
Life & Safety
Medical Support
If you or someone with you is experiencing a medical emergency, please call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
For non-urgent medical needs, you may contact the Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center to speak with an on-call physician: 615-327-9400
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Transportation to Warming Stations
Call 615-401-1712
When calling, please be ready to share your name, location, number of people needing transportation, mobility needs, and whether you have pets.
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Transportation to Emergency Shelters
Call 615-844-3399
This line provides access to emergency shelter transportation, including Nashville Rescue Mission, Room In The Inn, and overflow shelter locations.
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Warming shelters
They are available in Davidson, Dickson, Hickman, Montgomery, Robertson, and Williamson Counties.
Travel & Cleanup
Road Conditions
For the most up-to-date information on road closures and driving conditions across Tennessee, visit Tennessee Department of Transportation SmartWay.
Please use caution when traveling and avoid unnecessary trips when possible.
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Power Outages in Davidson County
If you are experiencing a power outage or need updated information, contact Nashville Electric Service.
Report an outage by phone: 615-234-0000 (available 24/7)
Text “OUT” to 637797 (NESPWR)
View outage maps and updates: nespower.com
If you see a downed power line, please stay away and call 911 immediately. Even lines that appear inactive can be dangerous.
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Property cleanup assistance
The Crisis Cleanup Hotline connects residents with volunteer groups who may be able to help with storm-related cleanup.
Crisis Cleanup Hotline: 844-965-1386
Available through February 13th.
Recovery & Support
Replacement SNAP benefits
Neighbors who lost food due to power outages may be eligible for replacement SNAP benefits through the Tennessee Department of Human Services.
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HOTEL DISCOUNTS FOR RESIDENTS
Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp and local hospitality partners are offering discounted lodging for residents displaced by the storm. Rates typically range from $70–$200 and require proof of residency.
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Caring for One Another
Extreme weather reminds us how interconnected we are. If you are able, consider checking in on neighbors nearby, especially those who may have limited mobility, rely on refrigerated medications, or face barriers to staying warm and nourished.
We encourage partners, volunteers, and community members to share these resources with anyone who may need them. Care and safety matter deeply in moments like this, and small acts of attention can make a meaningful difference.
Our hearts are with our neighbors as the city recovers. We look forward to resuming our work as soon as conditions allow, and we remain grateful for the community that continues to show up for one another.
Please stay tuned for additional updates.
Anatomy of a Meal
Have you ever wondered what it takes to place a hot, nourishing meal in a neighbor’s hands? For us, a meal does not begin in the kitchen. It begins much earlier.
What follows is a careful, collective process shaped by stewardship, skill, and care. It is the work of turning surplus into nourishment, and nourishment into connection.
Recovery
The first step is recovery. Across Nashville, food that is still fresh and abundant is often left without a destination. We work alongside grocers, farmers, markets, restaurants, and individuals to recover food that would otherwise go to waste. This is not about scraps or leftovers. It is about recognizing the value of food that has already been grown, harvested, and prepared with care.
Recovering food is an act of responsibility. It acknowledges that hunger and waste exist side by side, and that abundance can be redirected toward justice when we choose to act.
Prep and Cook
Once recovered, food moves into our kitchens. Here, volunteers, cooks, and staff prepare meals from scratch, guided by skill and intention. Vegetables are washed and chopped. Recipes are tested and refined. Meals are prepared with the understanding that the people who will receive them deserve food that is nourishing, thoughtful, and well made.
Cooking is where transformation becomes visible. Ingredients become meals. Surplus becomes sustenance. And strangers become neighbors through shared effort.
Delivery
Meals do not remain in our kitchens. They travel outward, carried by partnerships and logistics that make access possible. Through coordination with nonprofit partners across the city, meals are delivered to places where they can be shared with care and dignity.
Delivery is not simply about transportation. It is about trust. It depends on relationships built over time and a shared commitment to meeting people where they are.
Shared with Care
The final step happens around tables, in community spaces, and through organizations doing vital work across Nashville. Meals are served alongside programs that support children, seniors, immigrants, and unhoused neighbors. In these moments, food becomes more than nutrition. It becomes an expression of hospitality and belonging.
A meal shared with care communicates something essential. You matter. You are welcome. You are not alone.
Impact
Every meal tells a larger story. It is a story of hunger addressed and waste reduced. It is a story of volunteers showing up, partners collaborating, and systems working together in service of the common good.
This work fights hunger by increasing access to consistent nourishment. It reduces waste by honoring the value of food already grown. And it builds community by creating spaces where people come together around a shared table.
Be Part of the Journey
The anatomy of a meal is a collective effort. It relies on people who believe that good food should not be wasted and that neighbors deserve to be nourished with dignity.
If you want to be part of this transformation, there are many ways to get involved. Whether through volunteering, donating food, or offering financial support, your participation helps keep this cycle of care moving forward.
Together, we turn what might be thrown away into meals that strengthen our community, one plate at a time.
Steady Care on the Ground: Community Mapping in North Nashville
Care shows up where people pay attention.
In North Nashville, the ordinary work of getting through the day often carries extra weight. A walk to the bus stop. A trip to the grocery store. A short stretch of sidewalk. Broken pavement, missing curb ramps, and poorly maintained bus stops shape how neighbors move and whether food, services, and community spaces are truly within reach.
For the people who live here, none of this is a surprise. Neighbors know where the gaps are. They know what is broken. They know which places feel safe and which do not. What is often missing is a way for that knowledge to be seen, recorded, and taken seriously when decisions are made about transportation, safety, and access.
This is where community mapping matters.
On Saturday, February 7, we will gather volunteers in North Nashville to serve as Community Mappers. Together, we will walk through ZIP code 37208, documenting sidewalk conditions, bus stop safety, and walkability. This work helps ensure that conversations about food access and transportation begin with lived experience rather than assumption.
Community mapping is a form of care. It is an act of attention. By walking alongside neighbors and recording what is already known on the ground, we help make visible the conditions that shape daily life. The information gathered will become resident verified data that can support advocacy with WeGo Public Transit and Metro Nashville, strengthening efforts to improve sidewalk safety, transit access, and food justice.
Reliable meals depend on reliable pathways. For seniors, families, and neighbors who rely on public transportation, safety and accessibility are part of nourishment itself. Food access cannot be separated from the systems that determine how people move through their community.
No technical experience is required. Volunteers are asked to wear comfortable walking shoes, dress for the weather, and be prepared to spend most of the time outdoors. The work is simple. Its impact lasts.
As we focus this month on Building a Caring Community, this event reflects what care looks like in practice. Showing up. Paying attention. Standing with neighbors. Doing the quiet work that makes shared life more possible.
If you are interested in becoming a Community Mapper and helping build safer, more accessible pathways in North Nashville, we invite you to join us.
Community Mapping Event
Saturday, February 7, 2026
12:00 to 3:00 PM CST
Starting at The Nashville Food Project: 5904 California Avenue, Nashville, TN 37209, US
Together, we can help ensure that care extends beyond the plate and into the pathways that shape daily life.
Beginning the Year Together
January offers a moment to pause and reflect on what we have built together.
At its core, food justice is a commitment to consistent access to nourishing food. Not only in moments of crisis, but every day. It asks us to look beyond emergency response and toward the systems that shape how food moves through a city, and who is able to access it.
In Nashville, food access is shaped by income, transportation, and geography. Some neighborhoods are close to grocery stores and fresh food outlets. Others face longer distances, limited transit options, or higher food costs. Over time, these differences affect health, stability, and dignity.
Over the past 15 years, our community responded together. Through food recovery, gardening, cooking, and partnerships, surplus food was redirected. Fresh produce was grown and shared. Meals were prepared with care and offered in collaboration with organizations across the city. This work reflects more than distribution. It reflects shared responsibility.
Food justice recognizes that hunger is not simply about a lack of food. It is about access, infrastructure, and the choices communities make to care for one another. When we invest in long-term solutions, we strengthen not only individual well-being, but the health of the entire community.
As we begin a new year, we do so grounded in what we have already accomplished and attentive to what is still possible. There is more to grow, more to learn, and more to build together.
Stay connected. Step into the year with us.