Ode to Truck #1

Reflection by TNFP's Executive Director, Tallu Quinn

Truck #1, the original food delivery truck of The Nashville Food Project and our preceding organization Mobile Loaves and Fishes, has rolled its wheels out of the Woodmont Christian Church parking lot for the last time. The truck was damaged in an accident last month (the door to one of the sides scraped the side of building at one of our partner sites, pulling the whole “box” off center) and after meeting with multiple mechanics it was clear it had been damaged beyond repair. So we pulled it off the roads and received a settlement for the claim.

We offer gratitude for all the meals Truck #1 carried down the streets of Nashville and for the community that’s been formed around this activity of sharing food. The very concept of delivering food as a way of increasing access is a model we have both wrestled with and praised. We have been confounded by the logistics it requires and established a profile in our community for being experts at it over time.

We remember how the doors didn’t lock automatically, how the battery would quickly drain to empty when we left service lights on during mealtime. Countless drivers made countless truck runs to share food in countless communities since 2007, when it took its maiden voyage to Nashville’s former Tent City. As one founding board member wrote to me in an email, “I will forever love the community built around the cornerstone of that truck.”

It’s always good to take some time to reflect on what’s changing around us. A shiny new van has replaced the old truck, and is now fully outfitted to cart hundreds of meals across the city, keeping food at temp, with easy load in and load out. Truck #1, we are grateful for this community food work you set in motion… and as another one of our founding board members reminded me, “Another transition to something better; life is full of those.”

Growing Together’s New Fall CSA

By TNFP's Growing Together Program Manager, Sally Rausch

Purchase your Growing Together CSA share today!

While this year’s cold and rainy winter seemed unending, these sunny days and quickly rising temperatures are striking evidence that the growing season is among us! At The Nashville Food Project’s market garden, home to our Growing Together program, we’re seeing new growth all around. The cover crop is tall and flowering ready to be cut down and used as mulch or incorporated into the soil, leafy greens are getting bigger by the day, radishes are poking the tops of their heads out of the soil, and summer transplants are in the ground reminding us that tomato season is quickly approaching.  

Every day I walk through the garden I see something new or changing. And just as the garden feels constantly in motion, so too is the Growing Together program itself evolving and growing. This year our program has exciting news to share -- the Growing Together farmers will be growing for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program for the first time!

Currently, seven farmers participate in the Growing Together program, growing produce to sell through various markets around Nashville. All of these farmers came to Nashville as refugees from Burma and Bhutan and bring with them collective decades of agricultural experience and knowledge. This program is an opportunity for these farmers to practice their livelihood and their trade in a city with rapidly rising land costs, barriers to farming for so many who want to grow food, and in a state with some of the most historically anti-immigrant and refugee policies in the nation.

As this program has grown, the market outlets available in the program have as well. Two years ago, farmers primarily sold their produce at a weekly farmer’s market. Last year, farmers had more opportunities to sell through the online food hub Nashville Grown, a platform that connects local restaurants with local farmers. This additional market outlet allowed the farmers’ collective sales to nearly double from the previous year!  

As Growing Together continues to evolve as a program, we look for ways the program can grow that will offer opportunities for farmers to gain increased control over their growing and marketing processes. This year, the farmers are selling their produce at the Richland Park Farmer’s Market every Saturday, weekly to restaurants such as Thistle Farms and Two Ten Jack, regularly to a variety of restaurants each week through Nashville Grown, and (for the first time this year) through an 8-week fall CSA!

You may be asking... why a CSA?

CSAs are quickly becoming more widespread around the country, as the local food movement becomes more popular. A CSA model connects customers with local farmers by offering customers the opportunity to purchase a “share” or investment in a farmer. Typically, a farmer will offer a certain number of “shares” to the public - a weekly box or bag of produce from their farm. Interested customers purchase a membership in the farm at the beginning of the season and then receive a share of produce each week during the CSA time frame. Many farmers like this model as it allows for deeper connection with customers throughout the season who have chosen to support a farmer despite the possibility of crop failure, weather, or other uncontrollable circumstances. This decreases the farmer’s risk, and farmers work hard to ensure that their “shareholders” are getting a variety of delicious vegetables each week with the comfort of knowing they have a reliable and steady market for them.

Further, in the CSA model, the Growing Together farmers have the opportunity to gain even more control over what they are growing to sell and what goes into the CSA share each week. This way, a farmer can grow the food they also want to eat and use these varieties to fill their CSA box, with leftovers going home to be cooked into delicious meals for the farmer and their family rather than going to waste.

While Growing Together is a collective of seven farmers, the CSA will provide an opportunity for each customer to be connected with one farmer throughout the season. Each week, the customer will receive a bag of vegetables grown and harvested by that farmer, creating the opportunity for the customer to get to know the farmer as well as learn more about vegetables that may be new to them.

Just as our gardens require time and attention to see these momentous changes throughout the season, so too does our work at The Nashville Food Project require evaluation and evolution to ensure that what we do is on the pathway towards building greater community food security – the Growing Together Fall CSA is just one stone in this path.

And… If 8 weeks of local, naturally grown produce excites you, we invite you to purchase a share! Customers are encouraged to sign up and pay for shares no later than June 15th, an up-front investment in the farmers’ success. The CSA will run from September 1 through October 20, with pick-up of shares each Saturday at the Richland Park Farmer’s Market between 9:30 am and 12:30 pm. Learn more and sign up here.

Strobel Award Recognitions

It is with much joy that we share the news that three TNFP volunteers were recognized during at the 2018 Mary Catherine Strobel Volunteer Awards -- two as awardees, and one as a nominee! Cheri Ferrari received the Capacity-building Volunteer award, Media Star Promotions was awarded the Corporate Volunteerism award, and Warren White was a nominee for the Direct Service Volunteer award. The Strobel awards are always a highly competitive process, and we are thrilled for our volunteers to receive this well-deserved recognition!

Learn more about the incredible work of Cheri Ferrari, Media Star Promotions and Warren White below.

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Cheri Ferrari

2018 Capacity-Building Volunteer Award

Cheri Ferrari has touched every aspect of The Nashville Food Project (TNFP) through hours of intentional and comprehensive service. In 2015, she began volunteering as a Meal Prep volunteer, then quickly became a member of our team of committed volunteer cooks. Since then, Cheri has become an integral part of the meals team. She helps staff members prep and cook meals, she delivers the food to some of our 27 partner organizations, she helps facilitate volunteer groups of up to 10 people several times per week, recovers food from grocery stores and farms, and helps with organizing and cleaning our kitchens. Even our most regular volunteers are only able to commit to one of these activities -- Cheri does them all with a smile on her face and through a lens of supporting the staff and overall operations.

Cheri lives and serves by her motto of “whenever I can support anyone on this team, I do it.” She provided a minimum of 1000 hours tending to the operational needs of the TNFP Meal Program staff in 2017 alone. Cheri took it upon herself to learn all of the supporting roles in the TNFP Meals Programs so that she can fill in for staff members who are out sick, taking time off, or need general support.

In 2017, Cheri covered an employee’s delivery route for 6 weeks in order to understand The Nashville Food Project better and to learn every process from receiving food donations to preparing and serving a meal, allowing that staff member to follow her dreams of learning Spanish in an immersion program and to learn how to better serve TNFP. She even volunteered several hours when she was “off the clock” after spending 8 hour days delivering meals to our 27 partner organizations.

We are able to ask Cheri to fill in for staff in times of need without additional training which saves time, money and effort for staff members. Cheri’s time spent leading volunteer groups has enabled our Kitchen Manager to spend Friday’s as a planning period to more effectively plan meals, schedules and build relationships with meal partners. She even came into the office the day after Christmas to prepare for the first meal after the holidays while the office was closed and most employees were out of town. Cheri also took over the role as cook support so that David, a recently hired meals team member, could learn how to prepare the main dish. Then she offered the same experience to Nick, the meals assistant, so that he could learn how to prepare the side dish. Cheri’s training allowed our team to gain knowledge and experience, and ensures coworkers can gracefully cover for each other in the event of  an emergency, illness or unforeseen event.

Finally, Cheri’s work has led to an increase in work satisfaction because TNFP staff knows that there is someone to support them. As oft is the case in non-profit organizations, many responsibilities are assigned to few people which can feel overwhelming. Cheri’s contributions, presence, and fundamental support have led to a peace of mind that all TNFP staff members, community members, and program participants reap the benefit of.

We love you, Cheri!

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Media Star Promotions

2018 Corporate Volunteerism Award

Media Star Promotions began volunteering with the Nashville Food Project in 2015. Since then Media Star employees and clients have served hundreds of hours and implemented countless projects in four of The Nashville Food Project’s urban gardens. In 2017, Media Star Promotions donated 790 volunteer hours towards garden projects. Each month, Media Star employees focus on a new project, always asking TNFP what needs we have so that their service is truly supporting TNFP’s mission. Their 2017 projects included building a tool shed and shelving; building a roof for outdoor produce washing area; setting up tomato stakes and insect netting; creating a small gathering space for community gardeners including building picnic tables and a portable shade tent; and installing electric fencing for urban garden chickens.

Media Star Promotions provides their service through a national corporate service program allowing staff members to volunteer during a regular paid work day. The original purpose of the program was to serve six individual nonprofits within Nashville. However, Media Star Promotions leadership decided that they wanted to focus their attention solely on supporting The Nashville Food Project and providing the resources and labor that would allow TNFP to thrive. Media Star Promotions is so dedicated to TNFP that they influenced the entire national program so that every city focused on only one nonprofit for an entire year.

Media Star Promotions is set apart from other corporate volunteer groups because they are dedicated to seeing a project through from beginning to completion. For example, in May 2017 we approached Media Star Promotions with the project of building a permanent canopy over the vegetable washing station at our New American Market Garden. This wash station is where farmers process their harvest and prepare them for sale, improving both the shelf life of produce and the working conditions for the farmers. Media Star Promotions team members began building the tent, but quickly realized that there were missing parts. Upon recognizing this problem, Loren, the group lead, went to the local hardware store and purchased the missing parts while the remaining team members worked on putting together what they could. This story exemplifies Media Star’s work with TNFP. The team continuously provides comprehensive service seeing a project through and helping TNFP overcome barriers before and during all service projects.

Media Star also spent time creating a community gathering space in one of our gardens. They provided and assembled picnic tables and small portable shade tents. Building community is a part of the TNFP mission statement. This community area provides a space for garden trainings, potlucks, and a multitude of other community events. The space is also the only source of shade and seating in the garden.

Further, Media Star has contributed significantly to soil building and erosion control over multiple projects at several gardens. The soil in our gardens are the foundation of every seed, plant, and creature that is impacted by the garden. In collaboration with Cumberland River Compact, Media Star created and planted a riparian buffer that provided erosion control using native plants. This ensures the health of the soil for future farming seasons, as well as stabilizing the waterway banks, improving water quality in our watershed and providing habitat for wildlife.

We're so grateful for the team at Media Star Promotions!

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Warren White

Nominee for the 2018 Direct Service Volunteer Award

Warren has a passion for serving others driven by his interests in food and people. He combines these two motivators in his service at The Nashville Food Project where he regularly volunteers three times each week for a total of 7.5 hours. He also volunteers at other organizations throughout the week.

Let’s take a walk into a regular week of service with Warren White!

Warren’s Tuesday schedule shows how committed he is to his service TNFP. Warren starts his day by walking 3 miles to TNFP, arriving at 9 am to spend 2 hours in an active shift preparing for meals by chopping fruits and vegetables, cleaning dishes and equipment, and building relationships between himself, TNFP staff, and other volunteers. Warren takes a quick lunch then returns for an afternoon volunteer shift in the kitchen with more meal prep and kitchen support. He finally leaves around 3 pm and walks 3 miles to home.

Wednesday mornings he cooks at First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville and spends the afternoon volunteering in TNFP’s kitchen at St. Luke’s Community House. After his shift at St. Luke’s, he returns to First Unitarian Universalist Church where he cooks dinner from 3pm-7pm.

Thursday afternoons Warren returns to TNFP’s Green Hills kitchen for another 2-hour meal prep session, washing and chopping vegetables and preparing fruit salads.

On Saturday mornings, the volunteering continues when Warren bakes cookies and muffins for 6 hours to support the Unitarian Church and residents of Villa Maria Senior Citizen Complex.

On Sundays he sells half of those baked goods at the church where the profits go to scholarships supporting students without the means to attend summer camp and other special church programs. Also on Sunday mornings, Warren spends 1.5 hours making coffee and tea for church goers before the first service at 8am and also in between services.

There are other ways he aids others as well. Warren supports Safe Haven Family Shelter twice a month by cooking and serving meals to 10 families housed there, a Room In the Inn Winter shelter location 12/hrs a month through the winter, and he makes baked goods for the residents of Villa Maria Manor. Warren’s volunteer schedule may appear to be just a list of consistent service opportunities, but when viewed together, it is evident that Warren’s passion is to support people in poverty with a nutritious meal, believing that good food builds people, and people create strong communities.

Thank you, Warren, for all you do to support our community!

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Scaling Back Nashville's Free School Lunch Program

Note: Find information on 2018 Nashville summer meal program sites and times here. In addition to these sites, there will be a lunch served at McGruder Family Resource Center (2013 25th Ave N) Monday-Friday from 11:30 am - 12:30 am through July 27th 2018. No registration is required - any child under 18 can come and have lunch for free. A tent is set up in the parking lot behind the center.

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By TNFP's Office Manager, Elizabeth Langgle-Martin

I vividly remember the day in kindergarten when I opened my lunch, removed my sandwich from its plastic baggie and bit into it, only to discover it was two slices of plain bread. It’s a story that’s gone down in our family’s folklore. My sweet, young, probably exhausted, mom, in the morning rush and commute, forgot to put peanut butter, cheese, or anything that would constitute a sandwich between the slices of wheat bread. It’s funny, because I had a mother that carefully packed me lunches every day of my elementary school career. Veggie sticks, tuna sandwiches, raisins and apples. Granola bars, cucumber slices and thermoses of milk. My stomach was full and I could focus on the perils of learning cursive, fractions, and trading Beanie Baby cards.

I know that my lunch experience is not universal. In Tennessee, one in seven families doesn’t know where their next meal is coming from. Most of us can agree that a child who is hungry isn’t able to listen, learn, befriend their peers, and engage in a holistic school experience. When I read the news headlines that students’ access to free and reduced lunches was changing, I reached out to Madison Wall (Children Nutrition Advocate) and Keith Barnes (Director of Nutrition) at The Tennessee Justice Center to help me understand all the elements and what is at stake.

Please note, this is my personal interpretation of an hour-long interview. I’m new to this conversation and maybe you are too! Hopefully, my slightly bumpy explanation will encourage you to dive a little deeper into the way policy affects food accessibility in Metro Nashville schools.

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Federally funded free school meal programs in the U.S. date back to the 1940s. (Check out this handy factsheet). In 2013/4, the Nashville community became an early adopter of the Community Eligibility Provision (or CEP) – a program that allows school districts to serve free meals to ALL students, regardless of income. This meant that MNPS schools no longer had to enroll and closely track individual student eligibility. Among students, it reduced the stigma of receiving meal assistance and -- perhaps most importantly -- made sure no child needing access to nutrition was falling through the gaps.

But recently, it was determined that Nashville’s school system no longer meets the benchmark to fall under the blanket of this program. Barnes suggests that this can be attributed to a combination of things such as: the gentrification of urban neighborhoods, a tense time in immigration policy which discourages families without documentation to provide personal information, and even some economic improvements.

So what next? Metro Schools has announced that half of the city’s lowest income schools will continue to provide lunch to all children at no cost to the student. However, the remaining half of the city’s schools will return to assessing the students’ individual eligibility to determine who does or doesn’t receive free meals. Advocates are concerned that this abrupt change may result in students who have been relying on the free lunch program struggling to meet their nutritional needs during the school day.

The Tennessee Justice Center is asking for MNPS to continue offering a lunch to all the children enrolled at no cost to the student and their families, which they believe can be supported by a number of creative, sustainable funding solutions. In particular, they are advocating for school district leaders to implement an strategy to help all eligible families within the MNPS system to enroll in SNAP, which can both help schools receive additional federal reimbursement, and ensure that more eligible families have food in their pantries at home.

Program quality is constantly on TJC’s radar as well. For instance, Madison notes that the existing free breakfast program is hard to access for some students. For instance, if a free breakfast is offered until 7:45 am but the last bus doesn’t arrive at the campus until 7:50 am, that group of students is unable to partake. Madison works with schools to look at alternative ways to make sure that all students can access the meals that the school is paying for and preparing each day.

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So, the big question… How can the average Nashville resident (like me!) advocate for students to continue to have access to meals at no cost to the child during their school day?

1. Ask the mayor’s office to make an immediate investment of 7 to 8 million dollars to our school district to ensure that all students continue to receive uninterrupted access to lunch during their school day. You can email Mayor Briley directly at mayor@nashville.gov.

2. Sign up for email updates from The Tennessee Justice Center to learn more and receive prompts for accessible action items. You can also learn more and get involved in specific campaigns through their website, including signing up to be a Breakfast Champion. Supporting this proposed in-class meal model (Breakfast After the Bell!) would allow more students to eat the available free breakfast.

At The Nashville Food Project, we're working toward a vision in which everyone in Nashville has access to the food they want and need through a just and sustainable food system. We recognize that this cannot occur without the intentional and detailed work of advocacy and policy change, and we are thankful for the work of The Tennessee Justice Center and other similar groups as they seek to help increase access to nutritious food in our community.

The Heroes Among Us

National Volunteer Week, April 15th - April 21st, is a time to honor the volunteers that work by our side every day. This week we will celebrate each individual who has impacted our mission of bringing people together to grow, cook and share nourishing food, with the goals of cultivating community and alleviating hunger in our city.

South Hall Kitchen Volunteer, Rita Pirkl

What does it mean to be a hero? The first thing that comes to mind may be a cape and super powers. You may think of an extraordinary act of selflessness like carrying a person out of a burning building. Its true that this is an act of heroism, however, there are heroes among us that make just as strong of an impact but stay hidden in the bustle of everyday life. At TNFP, those heroes are our volunteers- those people that are the backbone of our organization and the foundation of every program. Their superpowers are weed wrangling, cooking, driving, and simply taking the time to support our community!

In 2017, we were able to grow 59,075 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables in our gardens and create 152,514 meals from scratch in our kitchen to serve community members through over 30 partners. Those impacts could have never been made without the support of 3,758 volunteers who served over 10,375 hours last year.

Volunteers at McGruder Garden

Each volunteer contributes to our mission. Garden volunteers help our produce thrive by maintaining the soil through tilling, broadforking, and weeding. They also ensure that the gardens are in their best condition for community gardeners by helping to maintain tools and garden infrastructure. Volunteers in our kitchens provide the tedious but necessary (and fun!) work of washing, chopping and preparing each element that goes into our meals, as well as cooking and serving meals to feed and empower thousands of community members. We are incredibly grateful  to all of our volunteers from individuals who have spent one afternoon in the gardens to dozens of regular, ongoing volunteers in our kitchens and food recovery. Thank you to the heroes among us!

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If you are interested in being a TNFP hero please sign up to volunteer at thenashvillefoodproject.org/givetime.

A No-Waste Cooking Class

Reflection by TNFP's Meals Director, Christa Ross

If you’ve been following along with The Nashville Public Library (NPL)’s Nashville READS Program this year you’re likely well into The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South by John T. Edge. He tells the stories of our history through food, with meals borrowing heavily from old Southern traditions, sorghum and soybeans. This book strums at my heartstrings as it walks through the many ways that food has touched the history of the South. He dives into difficult topics, discussing them as he circles around the pots of greens and pans of cornbread that fed the people fighting for change. As a native Nashvillian, these stories feel close to home. What I love best about this book, though, is it’s acknowledgement that the story of food is the story of people: a true history cannot exclude food.  People and food are inextricably linked in the past, present, and future.

This year, as NPL showcases The Potlikker Papers, we have partnered with them to facilitate two cooking classes on how to decrease food waste in the kitchen, a topic that is near and dear to our hearts. These classes are centered around decreasing personal food waste in our homes, which for us means changing the way we think in the kitchen. As they meal prep, our volunteers watch the influx of thousands of pounds of donated food come into our kitchens. We never know what’s going to be donated next and in order to be the best stewards of the incredible abundance we receive daily, creativity is key.

Common examples of avoidable food waste that we focused on with our menu are “scraps” or parts of food usually thrown away, expired or nearly expired foods, and “ugly” foods. According to the NRDC, “American families throw out approximately 25 percent of the food and beverages they buy. The cost estimate for the average family of four is $1,365 to $2,275 annually.” With 40 percent of all food going to waste in the United States, these household numbers contribute a huge portion to the total amount of food wasted. So when we created the menus for these classes, we focused on food that might typically be wasted in a home kitchen.

The feast:

• Vegetable scrap fritters (recipe here!)
• Yogurt sauce
• Rice cooked in veggie scraps & parmesan rind stock
• Carrot top pesto
• Apple peel tea
• Banana ice cream

We made the vegetable friters using scraps saved throughout the week at TNFP (broccoli stems, carrot peelings, zucchini ribbons, etc). This went along with a yogurt sauce for dipping made from soon-to-be-expired yogurt, garlic, green onion tops, and salt.

One of our favorite tips for decreasing food waste is stock! For this class we added onions, carrots, turnips (my personal favorite addition for an extra flavorful stock), celery, and garlic. For the last 15 minutes of cooking we added some parsley stems and a parmesan rind from a recently finished block. Cooking rice or pasta in this flavorful stock adds incredible depth and flavor to the base of your meal as well as lots of nutritional value.

We topped the vegetable fritters with carrot top pesto, another of our favorite food waste tips.  We like to make “pesto” with any combination of greens and nuts, often using up greens that are past their prime. Our no fail ratio for pesto is 1 cup chopped and packed greens, ¼ cup toasted nuts or seeds (favorites include almonds, walnuts, pepitas & pine nuts), 1 clove garlic, 1 T. lemon juice, ½ cup EVOO & salt to taste.

To drink we made apple peel tea, boiling the scraps with ginger and cinnamon, and is great hot or cold. Dessert was a decadent banana ice cream, one of our favorite ways to use bananas that have turned brown.

I can honestly say that being a part of this class was an incredible affirmation of our mission. Everyone in the class came together as strangers to learn.  As we began to cook the class came alive; we laughed, discussed favorite foods and kitchen tricks.

At the end of the class, as we sat down together to enjoy the meal, I circled back to some of Edge’s final thoughts in The Potlikker Papers. “New peoples and new foods and new stories are making their marks on the region. What was once a region of black and white, locked in a struggle for power, has become a society of many hues and many hometowns…” Our meals tell many stories, of the farmer’s who grew the food, of the volunteers who spent hours chopping and cooking, of waste diverted, and hungry mouths fed. A new kind of southern food comes out of our kitchens, paying homage to the land & served to the people, all people, whose stories are written in its history.  And after all, a shared experience makes a shared meal that much more meaningful!

We would love for you to join us for our second FREE class on April 18th at 5:30. To attend please email Malinda@thenashvillefoodproject.org to sign up and learn more!

Fannie Lou Hamer: Farmer, Activist, Visionary

As a staff, we're spending time over the next several months learning from people of color throughout history. A few weeks ago, we began by reading and reflecting together on the life of Fannie Lou Hamer, a legendary civil rights activist and founder of the Freedom Farm Cooperative. 

Fannie Lou Hamer

In 1969, the nation was reeling from the social roller coaster that many historians refer to now as the modern civil rights movement. The previous fifteen years gave birth to a litany of legal reforms through Brown v. Board, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which provided the legal momentum for equality that many civil rights activists had dedicated so much of their lives to achieve. This same time period also witnessed the deaths of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Medgar Evers, both of whom had put so much faith in American democracy to help right the wrongs of racism and poverty. While some in the movement continued to look to Washington for political reform, Fannie Lou Hamer desired more direct change coming from more local communities like her own in Ruleville, Mississippi.

Fannie Lou Hamer was unapologetically Mississippian. Born and raised in the Mississippi Delta, Hamer knew the lay of the land well and knew the unique challenges that other sharecroppers like her experienced. She knew the debilitating realities of poverty, hunger and racism and saw them all as interconnected social concerns. When Hamer was a small child, a jealous white neighbor poisoned her family’s livestock, consequently forcing her family to move to nearby Sunflower County and become sharecroppers. Her neighbor’s act of terror eradicated what little economic security the family had available. It is no wonder given this experience that Fannie Lou Hamer’s later activism included farming and land reform. Hamer knew that it is hard to be manipulated into a state fear when families have control over their food source.

Black landownership became an urgent task for Hamer. With the help of donations, Fannie Lou Hamer bought 40 acres of land in 1969 and started Freedom Farm Cooperative in Sunflower County. Hamer started community vegetable gardens, planting sugar snap peas and collard greens, and encouraged her poor neighbors, black and white, to farm with her. Hamer found economic empowerment in farming and saw it as the necessary solution against the guaranteed poverty of sharecropping. The rise of industrial agriculture also became a threat to the old sharecropping system as machinery began to replace and displace poor tenant farmers, which nearly doubled the rate of welfare recipients across Mississippi from 1968-1972.

Dependency on federal aid was not a sustainable solution for poverty alleviation according to Hamer. Creative solutions like Freedom Farm’s “pig bank” became a way to feed families and generate income. A sow would be given to a family on “loan” from the pig bank with the understanding that two of the piglets would return to the bank as “interest.” Families then cured meat from the pigs or sold their newfound livestock for income. Freedom Farm’s creativity was not limited to just agricultural reform, but Hamer’s vision included starting head start programs, affordable housing, and accessible healthcare services.

Freedom Farm Cooperative ultimately filed for bankruptcy after several years of operation. Though donations were plentiful at first, it became difficult for the farm to support itself with the limited revenue that it generated. Despite Freedom Farm Cooperative’s short lifespan, I believe Fannie Lou Hamer’s efforts are not in vain. Fannie Lou Hamer helped to mobilize her home community to break the triple threats of hunger, poverty, and racism through a creative imagination and down-to-earth-know-how. Fannie Lou Hamer is an inspiration to us all in a democratic vision where all communities, no matter race or class, are deserving of food and land as a basis for freedom.
 

Check out these sources to learn more about Fannie Lou Hamer and the Freedom Farm Cooperative:

Watch Fannie Lou Hamer: Stand Up, a short documentary on Fannie Lou's life

Fannie Lou is featured in The Potlikker Papers by John T. Edge, Nashville's current city-wide read. We highly recommend it!

Fannie Lou Hamer: The Life of a Civil Rights Icon, by Earnest N. Bracey

A Voice That Could Stir an Army: Fannie Lou Hamer and the Rhetoric of the Black Freedom Movement by Maegan Parker Brooks

For Freedom’s Sake: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer, by Chana Kai Lee

This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer, by Kay Mills

Wedgewood Towers Grows Community

The Nashville Food Project’s newest meal site is right around the corner from one of our Gardens at the Wedgewood Towers community, located in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood. This apartment complex has 121 units and is managed by First Cumberland Properties specifically serving low-income disabled and seniors over the age of 62.

Senior residents of Wedgewood Towers and students from University School of Nashville working on a craft together.

As long time residents of Nashville can attest, this is an area that has changed a lot in the last 10 years, and those changes have had lasting impacts on the Wedgewood Towers community.

A recent craft: paper rainbows and pots of gold in honor of St. Patrick's Day!

When Kita Davis was recently assigned as a social worker for this building, she polled the residents to better understand their needs. At the top of the list was access to food, healthy or otherwise. The last, walkable grocery store, a save-a-lot, was torn down for condos not too long ago. Most residents of Wedgewood Towers do not have access to regular transportation and have a hard time getting out. With no grocery stores within walking distance, it’s no wonder that access to healthy food is at the top of the list.

As a result, Kita reached out to The Nashville Food Project. Now, every Tuesday at lunch and Friday at dinner, residents of Wedgewood Towers gather together around activities and a hearty, made from scratch meal.

On Tuesdays before lunch the residents are joined by students from the University School of Nashville. Each week a different class comes and leads an activity for the community. One week it was a game, the next a computer lesson. Last week, in preparation for St. Patrick’s Day, the kids led a craft, making paper rainbows and pots of gold for the residents to decorate their doors with.

Lunch is served!

After the craft it was time to eat. Residents blessed the meal with words of gratitude before digging in. On the menu was barbeque chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, a kale salad & fruit. Similarly, on Fridays volunteers join the residents for a “lively game of bingo” while they eat.

Before this meal and these activities, Kita said that there weren’t many community wide activities at Wedgewood Towers. It’s taken a little while for the programs to grow but every week she has more residents coming back to join in and receive a meal.

Her goal with these meals and community times are simple, to promote wellness, build morale, and strengthen relationships between residents and staff, fostering a friendly atmosphere and a strong sense of community. And really, isn’t that what a shared meal is all about? Every week, Kita says, the community grows.

At The Nashville Food Project we embrace a vision of vibrant community food security in which everyone has access to the food they want and need through a just and sustainable food system. As the sweet potatoes from a local farm, the greens from our garden around the corner, fruit salad prepared by volunteers, and chicken donated from a local restaurant filled up these plates it all came together, a meal Nashville can be proud of.

Behind the Scenes for our Episode of Trisha’s Southern Kitchen

One day this past September, we were having a day like any other when we got an exciting call at The Nashville Food Project office. It was a producer from Food Network saying the network was interested in featuring us in one of their shows, and we were thrilled!

Earlier in the year, we’d had a dedicated volunteer and board member (shout out to Ann!) introduce us to a friend of hers - the one and only Trisha Yearwood. Trisha had joined us for lunch and a tour of our kitchen, garden and office at South Hall, and we were thrilled with how quickly she seemed to connect with our mission and the work we do here in Nashville. That connection really came through when her Food Network show Trisha’s Southern Kitchen featured The Nashville Food Project in a recent episode.

After the initial call in September, we followed up with Trisha’s producer and developed some ideas for the episode. Those ideas were pitched to the network and approved so we quickly went to work getting ready. There were calls with production and Trisha’s culinary team, and soon enough we had a plan for filming. Trisha and her sister Beth were interested in testing out some healthy recipes that could easily feed a crowd, and we knew they just had to join us for a meal.

Just a few months after that initial call we had a whirlwind day of filming. Trisha, Beth and an incredible film crew were in our kitchen and prep room much of the day, all while volunteers kept our usual work going. Trisha and her team were incredibly gracious and such fun to work with!

The day ended with our weekly Tuesday night dinner at Trinity Community Commons where our mission came to life for everyone involved. Over a delicious dinner, we enjoyed fun conversation, took lots of photos and reveled in the excitement of sharing our story in such a big way. We walked away with new friends from the crew, many who told us of plans to come to more meals at Trinity.

We are unbelievably proud of the episode that Trisha and her team put together. If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t worry! If you’re a cable subscriber, using your cable authentication code, you can find and watch the episode on the Food Network app on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, or iTunes. You can also find it at https://watch.foodnetwork.com/live/. At the top right corner of the page, you'll see a button to sign in through your cable provider. Then you can look for "Trisha's Southern Kitchen" Season 11, Episode 9.

And, of course, we can’t help but share the delicious recipes that Trisha shared with us!

Try them for yourself:

Beet & Citrus Salad

Spring Garden Pasta Salad

Braised Pork & Veggie Pockets

Fruity Crumble Bars

Oh, the Places You'll Go

A simple ingredient - tomato, lettuce, carrots - can touch thousands of lives once it comes through the doors of TNFP. With every crop that we grow, and every meal that we make our ultimate goals are to alleviate hunger and build community. With such lofty goals it’s no wonder that hundreds of people are needed to make this a possibility, and, in return, thousands more are touched by the respect and love shared within their meal. In this blog we will follow the journey of one ingredient in our meals last week: big, beautiful, leafy kale. 

Photo courtesy of Sweeter Days Farm

With every meal, our goal is to support the community through a multifaceted approach. For this reason we love to grow produce in our gardens. But when that is not possible, our next favorite option is to buy local, naturally-grown foods from other community members. Our meals team is working on a new program to purchase "2nds" from farmers in the hopes of decreasing the waste from our city's food stream by diverting into our meals. This week, we purchased three bins of kale from Sweeter Days Farm to use for the entire week in our South Hall Kitchen. The kale was pulled to make room for new crops and would have otherwise been thrown away.

Our meals team works hard to come up with a plan to use every bit of food that comes our way, and that requires a lot of help. TNFP Intern Kate helped wash and cut the kale for a salad. Kate is a part of Lipscomb University’s IDEAL Program which is a two-year certificate program designed to support students with intellectual or developmental disability. Students in this program take classes, participate in internships, and enjoy the college experience. At TNFP Kate provides assistance in the South Hall kitchen. “I wash fruit, cut up fruit for salad, help prep cookies, vegetables, and snacks.” Kate does much more than help with meal prep. She brings a level of energy and enthusiasm that is passed to everyone working alongside her which helps make the finished product like kale salad that much more incredible.

Although a kale salad always hits the spot, we like to get creative with our meals and use the ingredients that are available. TNFP volunteer cook Shellye and her team prepared a strata with the kale, other veggies, and ham. Almost every meal that comes from the South Hall kitchen is prepared by volunteer cook teams. Shellye explains why she committed to volunteering at TNFP as a regular cook. “I’ve been volunteering here for five years, and I really enjoy the camaraderie of cooking with others and meeting a need to feed healthy food to people who really need it.”

Paula (center) serving kale salad at John Glenn & Peggy Ann Residential Housing.

When it comes to sharing food, the purpose is not simply to serve a meal but rather to make connections, meet our neighbors, and find commonalities. Long time volunteer Paula and a group of new volunteers served the meal, complete with kale salad, at John Glenn & Peggy Ann Residential Housing. As a volunteer for over five years she has volunteered in almost every role at TNFP with her family. “I love the mission of bringing good food to people who need it. Food is a common denominator. I like to serve meals in my own home and bring a little bit of home to people who may not have it right now. It's rewarding to serve food.“

The last stop on our journey is in the hands, hearts, and bellies of the people with whom we share our meals. John L Glenn and Peggy Ann are residential centers in North Nashville run by National Church Residences, an agency that provides affordable housing for low-income seniors. TNFP serves 60 hot meals to residents here each week. Victoria at John Glenn and Peggy Ann Residential Housing says “The food has been really, really good and the [volunteer] servers are kind, generous and considerate. It’s a blessing and we look forward to it every week!” When we talked several residents were sitting around a table with their food chatting with each other, visiting with family, and talking to volunteers.

“Food is a common denominator.”

— Paula

Something so small as a few bins of kale can truly make an impact on hundreds of people when communities are so tightly woven. Each person in Nashville is connected in a powerful way, and though it may not be a connection that is seen at all times, it's there. As Paula mentioned before “food is a common denominator.” And in this story the denominator was kale.

For Everyone Born

Reflection by TNFP's Office Coordinator, Elizabeth Langgle-Martin

"For everyone born, a place at the table; for everyone born, clean water and bread, a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing; for everyone born, a star over head." - Shirley Erena Murray

Lately, I’ve heard a lot of discussions surrounding the proposed changes to the existing SNAP program. If you’ve been on social media or even scanned the news, you most likely have caught wind of the conversation.

First of all, what is SNAP, and who does it serve? SNAP (Supplementary Nutritional Assistance Program) was formerly known as the food stamp program. SNAP is the federal benefit with which families around the United States purchase food items from grocery stores and farmers’ markets. The USDA reports that two thirds of SNAP participants last year were children, elderly, or had a disability. In January of 2018, 81,809 individuals in Davidson County alone received SNAP assistance. Currently, eligible individuals or families receive their approved amount of funds each month directly to a debit-style benefit card. The allotted amount can be spent on eligible food items from participating vendors. The average amount of the benefit tends to be about $1.52 per eligible person per meal.

Recent proposed changes suggest eliminating the debit type card which allows participants to choose ingredients and construct meals like non-participating families. These benefits would be replaced, at least in part, with a monthly government issued box of non-perishable staples. Reports suggest that these boxes would include items such peanut butter, pastas, and canned vegetables.

These proposed changes have The Nashville Food Project team actively thinking and talking about why we believe access to fresh foods and freedom of choice when thinking about food is essential to effectively supporting the families that rely on SNAP to supplement their grocery budgets and make ends meet.  

Here are some of our reflections on what we believe are essential components to good food support:

Access to fresh foods  

We believe that all people deserve access to fresh, nutritious food. Take a look at TNFP’s vision statement: “The Nashville Food Project embraces a vision of vibrant community food security in which everyone in Nashville has access to the food they want and need through a just and sustainable food system.” We believe that a just and sustainable system means families having access to foods that haven’t undergone extensive processing, foods that contribute to a healthy lifestyle. Fresh lettuce, ripe tomatoes, and peaches that aren’t drowning in heavy syrup shouldn’t be considered the food of the elite.

Self-Determination and Dignity

Years of working with individuals who are straddling the poverty line has taught me that people are the experts of their own experience. The most resilient folks I have known are people who manage to grow riverside food gardens while living in a tent or who hand deliver a birthday card after spending the night sleeping on a church stoop. In college, one of my professors once said that if someone’s situation or struggle was simple, they would have already figured it out themselves.

Poverty is the result of complex systems, years of discrimination, resource access issues, and income inequality. Removing everyday choices and elements of self-determination from SNAP participants inherently suggests that their experience of poverty is purely the result of a personal failing, a failing so great that they now require someone who hasn’t struggled in the same way to tell them what is or is not acceptable to purchase, prepare, and serve to their families. Many families already feel an element of shame for needing to utilize a supplemental program, but to remove the ability to shop alongside non-participating families would further alienate already marginalized groups of people.

Value of Cultural Identity

Do you have a favorite holiday dish that your grandmother made or a cake that your family bakes for every birthday? Many of us were raised with meals and recipes passed down for generations. However, traditional meals for a new American family from Burma might look very different from someone raised in urban areas of Chicago, which would vary greatly from meals prepared in New Orleans.

Food is deeply personal and tied to who we are and where we are from. We create traditions utilizing food and share who we are with others through its preparation. When freedom of choice is eliminated from the foods we eat and replaced with “cookie cutter options,” we discount the way that culture and tradition influence our eating habits and vice versa. We believe that limiting control over one’s own food choices, choices that reflect one’s tastes and traditions, would render a serious flaw in any type of nutrition assistance program.

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While SNAP isn’t a perfect program in its current state, it’s essential that any changes to the program serve to increase participants’ access to a variety of fresh foods and allow for food choices that reflect the nutritional and cultural needs of each participant. Without these, any program would be a step backward.

Obviously, SNAP is not the only way to increase access to fresh, nutritious foods for families in need. Here are a few things you can do to help support and increase in fresh, nutritious food for families experiencing food instability:

1.       Share extra fresh produce from your gardens with a local food bank (or if you are in the Nashville area, with The Nashville Food Project, of course)!

2.       Support community gardening initiatives which increase land access for under-resourced neighbors to grow their own food.

3.       Help de-stigmatize nutrition assistance programs such as SNAP by sharing factual, well researched information. Here is a good starting point to learn more.

Most importantly, we must remember that there is enough. It’s easy to fall into a mindset of scarcity. However, it’s essential to recall that 40% of the food produced in the United States goes to waste. There is plenty of food to meet the needs of all people and plenty of room at the table. 

Small Seeds, Big Lessons

I met Bridget on a bright, sunny day. Like most conversations in Nashville the weather was the first thing we talked about. It wasn’t a topic to break an awkward silence, rather Bridget was enthusiastically sharing that she was hoping for a few more weeks of winter. She explained that some of her seeds need cold weather when they are planted in order to flourish so she’s hoping the sunshine will hold off for a few more weeks. This is just one of the many lessons that Bridget has learned in her time as a community gardener at Wedgewood Urban Garden.

Bridget grew up helping her grandfather in his garden. She enjoyed helping him harvest black eyed peas and picking flowers with her grandmother. However, she says that her community garden was the first growing space that she was able to call her own. I asked Bridget to explain how being a community gardener over the past four years has impacted her life and she shared her life lessons with me.

Treat the earth right and it will return the favor

Growing a plant is a simple balance of water, soil, and sunlight but it takes time and attention. Being in tune to the needs of plants and patiently watching them grow gives you an appreciation to how delicate the act of growing is.

“I pay attention more to nature and gardening has made me appreciate it on a whole other level. ”

When you give the earth and plants what they need they will give the same back. Last year Bridget grew enough produce to make a meal every day. Even last week she made a dinner with bell peppers that she harvested and stored last summer.

Don’t be afraid to try new and different things

Christina Bentrup, former TNFP Garden Director, spent time with Bridget in the garden probing her to try new things. “She would say ‘try this’ and eat something right off the vine! I’ve learned that from her.” This was the first step in her trying new things - she seeks new vegetables for her garden, like kiwano and squash, and grows them using trial and error. This process has been a gateway to Bridget’s personal growth.

“Now, I’m not afraid to try bigger things in life. What could be the worst thing to happen? You fail. Then you try again. If you don’t want to try again then you keep moving.”

Don’t judge a plant by its foliage

Bridget’s favorite addition to her garden is kiwano, an African jelly cucumber. It took a long time to grow with an abundance of leaves but no fruit in sight. While preparing to pull the plant from the ground she was surprised with several cucumbers tucked under the fence. Unlike local varieties that soak up the sun, these cucumbers were hiding beneath a plethora of leaves. The taste and texture of the plant was equally unexpected. “It was interesting to see people’s reactions to how [kiwanos] look. They look like a weapon but you cut it open and it’s so opposite of its hard and thorny exterior...[It’s] soft and gooey on the inside.” It was so tasty that Bridget is growing it again!

Share what you learn

Growing a garden has pushed her toward healthy eating. “It feels good to eat what you grow, I know what I’m putting in my body.” Bridget has started a chain reaction in her community. She sells and shares her vegetables with community members, co-workers and friends and created Zysis Speaks, a blog sharing tips for gardeners growing in small spaces. She has seen the impact that her produce has made with others. “Last year I grew spaghetti squash and posted live videos, pictures, and info about how to cook it. The next thing you know someone else posted their pictures showing that they did it, too. If I hadn’t grown it I probably would have never tried spaghetti squash.”

Find your roots

The connection of growing her own plants has led to healthy changes in eating and appreciating the beauty of nature.

“When you go to a grocery store and buy a flower there’s not a connection.
There’s not a part of you in that plant. But if I’ve touched a plant,
a part of me is in that plant.”

In her garden she has also developed a new connection to her grandparents and ancestors who had a farming background. “Now I can understand why my grandfather planted black eyed peas. I also think of my grandma out there picking peas when I’m here in the soil and the dirt.”

Reach for the sun

Bridget noticed that some seedlings were growing tall and skinny, and she wondered why. She learned that when plants are not getting the sunlight that they need to grow they will elongate towards the sun.

“[The plant] will reach to get where it wants to be. If plants can overcome their struggles so can I.”

For more tips and information, view Bridget’s blog Zysis Speaks or follow her Facebook page. If you are interested in signing up for a community garden plot at McGruder Family Resource Center or Wedgewood Urban Garden please submit an application at bitly.com/tnfpgardenapp.

Introducing Children to New Foods

If you’re looking for ways to get kids to try new and nutritious foods… we are right there with you! Through our meals program, The Nashville Food Project serves nutritious meals and snacks to about 370 different children each week across a number of sites. Our meals team works hard to pack our menus with fresh and nutritionally-dense ingredients -- especially fruits and vegetables. At the same time, we’re giving equal priority to ensuring these meals are culturally appropriate and, of course, delicious. As you can imagine, finding menus that meet all these parameters can be a challenge, especially with often-times picky kids! Here’s some of what we’ve learned about introducing new foods to children.

Start early. If you can, introducing a variety of foods to kids at a young age goes a long way. We see this difference in the kids we’ve been serving from a younger age - offering them new fruits and vegetables daily. By the time they’re older, they’ve seen these foods so many times that it’s become familiar.

Exposure and persistence. Repetition is vital to introducing a child to new foods, and what they’re willing to try can change through different stages of development. Toddlers often like a new food after trying it 5-10 times. Kids aged 3-4 may need to try it 15 times or more. All to say… keep at it! It’s a process.

Make it fun. How you present the food definitely affects how the kids react. If you’re excited, the children will mirror your excitement and follow your lead. Sometimes kids are turned off by the look of a new food, so try different, fun presentations. We have a lot of fun turning healthy snacks into fun animals and characters, and the kids love it!

Don’t force it.  Negative reactions to new foods is totally normal! Kids may use food as a way to control their environment because they don’t have a lot of other choices they get to make for themselves. When you can, focus on giving options and encouraging trying new things.

Try different flavors and preparations. If they don’t like a vegetable one way, try a different seasoning or a different way of preparing it. We often try more nutritious takes on foods that are familiar and comforting, like a greek-yogurt based salad dressing instead of ranch.

Balance. If you’re introducing a food you know will be unfamiliar and challenging, offer it alongside a familiar favorite. Or chop up vegetables and incorporate into dishes that are already favorites (for example, adding sauteed squash to a marinara sauce).

Connect to the source of the food. Many studies show when children interact with and understand the source of the food they’re eating, they’re more excited to try it. We’ve seen this first-hand hosting groups in our gardens and our kitchens. Get your kids more involved in growing and preparing the food the eat, and they’ll definitely get more excited to try the fruits of their labor (pun intended).

What are your tips and tricks for getting kids to try new foods?

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: The Elements of Good Cooking

At The Nashville Food Project, we are continually looking for opportunities to learn from and with one another as we go about our work. So it’s not surprising that some of our staff and volunteers decided to read and get together to discuss a book on the elements of good cooking: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat. And, of course, it’s been a great reason to get together and share a meal!

Our review? Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is your gateway to being able to cook without a recipe! It breaks down the processes that take place in your kitchen every single day, making it so easy to understand what is happening with your food and why. With it's beautiful illustrations and straightforward explanations, it's a quick and interesting read that will change the way you think about cooking -- and the way your food tastes -- through use of four elements (you guessed it!): Salt, Fat, Acid, and Heat. It also has an incredible index filled with kitchen basics, cooking how-tos, and recipes.

Here’s some of the things we took away from each chapter:

“The thing that has been the biggest takeaway for me is the idea of salting from within. Whether salting pasta water, creating osmosis in boiling veggies or denaturing meat by salting early before cooking, salt plays such a vital role and has many dynamic qualities in all of its uses. My food is forever changed!” - David, St. Luke’s Meals Manager

“Find an olive oil you love, store it out of the light and heat, pay attention to the production date, and use it quickly (because it doesn’t take long for it to go rancid!). I also learned you’re should heat your pan first and then add your oil.  You can test with a drip of water for pan readiness.” - Cheri, Volunteer

“I learned the most in the acid chapter.  The other 3 elements are all things that I consistently taste and adjust for but learning to taste for acid has improved my cooking immensely! I've been adding splashes of vinegars, lemon juice & even wine more frequently and love the results.” - Christa, Meals Director

“Look at the food, not at the heat source! That means looking for sensory cues (sizzles, spatters, steam, browning…) rather than obeying a set time at a certain temperature. I always thought about heat in cooking as the oven or the burner, but also learned to pay attention to the temperature of the food itself.” - Grace, Impact Manager

Have you read it? Tell us what you think!

Learning as a Collaborative Community

Though the days are short and the winter air is cold, gardeners are planning and training for the growing season ahead.

Wednesday morning we arrived at Hillcrest United Methodist Church and followed the signs to the room where Growing Together winter trainings take place. Esther was the first farmer to arrive -- true to her punctual nature. Esther and her husband Thomas have been in the program since its inception in 2013. Both arrived to the US as refugees from Burma and found a new home in Nashville. Thomas has a background in farming and agriculture from his roots in Burma. Over their time in Nashville he’s shared his knowledge with Esther and she too is now a highly skilled farmer and Growing Together veteran. As each farmer walks through the doors the room becomes a space for learning, sharing, and building.

We are At-Once Both Students and Teachers

At TNFP we believe that every person has wisdom to share and lessons to learn. We can learn from the experiences of others if given the opportunity to listen. This value is foundational to the design of both TNFP’s community garden program and market garden program, Growing Together. Beyond simply providing access to land, these programs facilitate space for knowledge-sharing through regular trainings. From the moment the gardens close in October, TNFP program staff are planning the trainings for Growing Together farmers and community gardeners. These trainings officially began in January for the Growing Together program and the New American community gardens.

Both programs work with community members who originally came to the US as refugees from Burma and Bhutan and who have agrarian backgrounds of varying degrees. For some, they began farming in childhood growing the vegetables that were used in family meals. For others, they grew crops in the hopes of selling them in the markets and to make a living.

Growing Together: Sharing Knowledge for Collective Success 

The Nashville Food Project's agriculture training program Growing Together is designed to expand access and opportunity to people from agrarian backgrounds. Through our program, farmers gain access to land, inputs, seeds and training, and continue to build upon their farming skills and earn supplemental income though the sale of their produce.

You may be wondering -- if the farmers and gardeners have such a deep founded knowledge of farming, why do they need trainings? These trainings aren’t about one “expert” conveying knowledge to a group. Instead, these programs create a multi-generational space for community building and knowledge sharing. Our Growing Together Program Manager, Sally Rausch, shares, “This is a collective project, and part of the training is how people work collectively using the same resources. The trainings offer both opportunities and relationship building so they can be a successful collective.”

Through end-of-season interviews the farmers expressed that they wanted more marketing outlets and to improve their sales. This feedback has been heavily incorporated into this year’s trainings. The trainings will cover topics like marketing outlets, customer preferences, and planning crops so that they will be at peak harvest quality for customers looking for their unique crops. At the most recent training, farmers were asked to share what sold the best at the Richland Farmers’ Market and what items didn’t sell as well. Then they planned out what crops they wanted to sell through the farmers market, Nashville Grown, and through a new CSA program that the farmers are piloting this year. By working together and sharing feedback, farmers are learning how to best plan and sell their crops through individual outlets as well as through their collective outlets as a group.

During the training sessions, the lines of student and teacher are blurred. Each gardener and farmer has a plethora of knowledge to share. After three training sessions Sally mentions “Gosh... I’ve already learned so much from the farmers. It’s my goal to have the trainings be an interactive experiential classroom where we are all learning from each other. I want to get to know the farmers and learn about their perspective and experience because they know how to grow really high quality produce… I think about my job as, ‘How can we integrate that valuable experience into the trainings to go even deeper and support the farmers in being more successful?’”

Community Gardens: Building a Foundation through Past Experiences

TNFP's community garden program facilitates three community garden sites across Nashville, providing access to land, supplies, and ongoing training. There are two New American community gardens, with these spaces held for Bhutanese and Burmese community members of any skill level. These sites begin trainings in January with the growing season kicking off in March. There are two neighborhood community gardens in North Nashville and Wedgewood Houston. These sites start trainings during the growing season with plots open to neighbors.

The New American community garden training is more comprehensive covering topics that all gardeners should know to succeed like what crops grow best in Nashville and when they should be planted. The purpose of these trainings are to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Similarly to the Growing Together program the topics are chosen based on gardner feedback during end of season evaluations and challenges in the previous seasons. Our Community Garden Manager, Kia Brown, explains, “In the past there has been a difficulty in understanding the irrigation system that we use. This year as a planning stage we are going in depth on how the system works, how to fix it, and how to plan crops so that they work best with it.” In this scenario Kia observed that the gardeners’ traditional farming methods did not work with the irrigation system offered last year. To overcome a problem that so many struggled with she has planned an in-depth training on irrigation.

In all TNFP programs there is an opportunity for everyone involved to be both teachers and learners and create a flow of knowledge sharing. Kia shares that she wants to explore the three sisters planting method. In this method each plant has a purpose - corn is used as a trellis for pole beans and squash is planted at the base to reduce weeds. Kia says, “it uses a comprehensive system where everything grows and dies at the right time all while something else is taking place. It’s something I’ve learned from the gardeners and that I am still learning about.”

TNFP garden training programs allow gardeners to expand on the skills they already have and learn from the trial-and-error of others while also gaining the opportunity to be introduced to new farming methods and tools that may bring them success. Garden trainings are a space created for all involved to learn and grow from one another embodying our value of learning. For more information about our garden programs please visit our website.

Food is Comfort

The statistics of domestic violence in our country are staggering. One in four women in the U.S. experiences intimate partner violence in her lifetime. Approximately 15.5 million children are exposed to domestic violence every year. And in our own community, The Metro Nashville Police Department received over 26,600 reports of domestic violence in 2014 - that’s one report every 20 minutes.

In January 2017, we began a partnership with the YWCA, providing weekday dinners for their Weaver Domestic Violence Center. This 51-bed shelter is the largest domestic violence shelter in Tennessee, providing a safe space for women and children escaping domestic violence (men are housed at another partner facility).

“The women, the children, our staff - anyone who walk through these walls - deserves a clean, welcoming, healthy place,” says Laura Clark, the Residential Coordinator at the shelter for the past 17 years.

The YWCA empowers domestic violence survivors to take control of their lives, while offering them safety and the resources to ensure their self-sufficiency. The YWCA’s programs are designed to empower women and offer opportunities for self-determination in every area of life, including the design of their food program at the shelter.

“Food is so powerful...And sometimes the women couldn’t eat what they wanted. They couldn’t buy what they wanted. Everything was locked up. Everything was centered around the control of their abuser.”

— Laura Clark

In contrast, the two kitchens at the shelter are stocked with pantry items and ingredients for the women and families to have access on their own schedule. They have spaces for any of their personal food, and can add requests for spices or other pantry items to a community shopping list.

"At first when they talked about having (TNFP) I didn’t know exactly what it was – they started and thought, ‘Oh my gosh - I don’t know why we couldn’t have found you all years ago!’"

The dinner meal at the shelter, provided by TNFP, is advertised to start early evening, but the women can come at whatever time works for their schedule. “Many of the women work, have school, and are taking care of their kids. When they come here, we want to offer at least one good meal a day – which is (TNFP),” Laura tells us.  “Food is comforting. And our goal is to make sure they’re fed and they’re taken care of – it’s just one less thing to worry about.”

When asked about how the food has been received, Laura shared, “I have seen positive impacts. Some of the women have never eaten like this. It’s healthy, and it’s flavors that you don’t get just anywhere - even in the restaurants,” she adds, smiling.

“This is a different way of life for a lot of these women and kids. And I’ve seen a difference. I’ve seen a difference in people and the way they eat.”

And of course, this is just one small piece of the much broader impact of the YWCA’s work. In 2016, the YWCA served 453 adults and children at the Weaver Domestic Violence Center, providing not just a safe space, but also case management, safety planning, support groups, and counseling.

We are so grateful to be a partner with the YWCA in this important work! Learn more about the YWCA’s mission and programs on their website.

Nothing Wasted: Summer Gardens

Every fall, when we start to feel that first nip in the air, it signals that it’s time to close our summer gardens. While we’re still planting heartier winter crops during these colder months, we do have to harvest all those spring and summer crops still left at the end of the season. It’s a time we look forward to around here, a time when we get our creative juices flowing to come with new ways to save and use what’s left in our gardens.

This time of year, the most common things left in our gardens are herbs, peppers, eggplant and green tomatoes. For the peppers, we like to dry them with ristras, and use the dried peppers in all sorts of different recipes. To use up the other veggies, we love making eggplant parmesan, salsa verde and stuffed peppers. Most of these freeze well so you can enjoy them long into the winter.

The herbs, though, let us get really creative! We like to dry them in our dehydrator and use them in tons of handmade products that we sell around the holidays at our now annual event Scratch Made. We make a number of teas, herb-blended salts, simple syrups and more.

Here are some of our favorites and things you can expect to see at this year’s Scratch Made:

Herbal tea blends: We love a good tea around here! Some of our favorite tea-making herbs are stinging nettle, peppermint and lemon balm. At this year’s Scratch Made, you’ll find tea blends for women’s health, relaxation, general health and a yummy one just to brighten your day.

Herbed salt blends: These are always a crowd pleaser. This year, we’re bringing back favorites like dill salt, gomasio and our Italian blend with rosemary, parsley, thyme, tarragon and oregano. New this year, you can buy hand-made za’atar and a zesty lime salt.

Simple syrups: Flavor-infused imple syrups are great for adding to coffees and cocktails. This year we’ll offer ginger, rosemary, jalepeno, turmeric and lavender simple syrups.

Salve and lip balm: Don’t forget the bees! We always love making products that make use of beeswax from our bee hives. This year we’ll have the popular comfrey wound salve and an all-natural lip balm.

This year we’ve added a new product: fermented hot sauce. We used lots of hot peppers grown by the Growing Together farmers to make this delicious sauce that we’re excited to share with you. If you want to make your own, here’s our recipe:

Ingredients

1 cup hot peppers, washed and stemmed (about 6 medium-sized peppers), we used jalapeno, serrano and cayenne peppers
1-1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp sugar, optional
1 tbsp whey
Water
White vinegar to taste

Directions

Place hot pepper, whey, salt, sugar and enough water to cover in a jar, and seal. Place har in a warm place (around 70 degrees is optimal). Over the next 3-5 days, gently agitate the jar 1-2 times a day. You’ll notice the brine will become cloudy.

Blitz the peppers and seeds in a blender or food processor. Be careful not to splash. A well-ventilated area is best for this. Pour the puree into a jar. Add white vinegar to taste. Store in the refrigerator. This will keep for several months.

Rhythm in the Kitchen

It’s a rainy and foggy Friday Nashville morning. The day brightens as I enter The Nashville Food Project kitchen, greeted by committed volunteers, Joyce and Marirae. The space is full of joy. On the menu: fish tacos, slaw, and sweet potatoes.

Every Friday, Joyce and Marirae work together to cook a meal to share with the residents of Vine Hill. One would think this pair has known each other since college, but after talking to them, you learn that their story starts here, in the TNFP Kitchen. 

Joyce: Marirae and I met right here in the kitchen at TNFP when it was called Mobile Loaves and Fishes. We met about 6 years ago.

Over the years, the two have had various others join them on the weekly Friday morning cook sessions. Now, Joyce and Marirae cook together every single week and deliver that meal at least once a month. 

The stories of how they joined the TNFP family are different, yet still bring them together for the weekly cook time:

Marirae: My story’s a bit funny. I joined a group of “food people.” One of them had a party at their house. I noticed a letter addressed to Mobile Loaves and Fishes (ML&F). I kept seeing the trucks and thought, “I want to do that”. After asking around, someone put me in touch with Tallu, and I began volunteering! In the meantime, this transitioned from ML&F to TNFP. 

Joyce: I go to church at Woodmont Christian. After retiring from my regular day job, I had some free time and knew I wanted to volunteer here and work. I talked to Tallu about it, and here I am. 

The kitchen gets warmer as the sound of sizzling oil in the pan starts to fills the room. When Joyce and Marirae are not at TNFP, they are very busy running their own businesses. Joyce is self-employed in accounting and rental management while Marirae is a personal chef that cooks and delivers healthy food. They make the weekly commitment to serve others in spite of their busy lives. 

So I asked them: What is it that brings you back? What is your favorite thing about TNFP?

Joyce: My favorite thing about TNFP is working with Marirae.

Marirae: Working with Joyce, and I love the vibe. I love feeding healthy food to people instead of “junk.”  I love Tallu’s good spirit, and everyone that works here is kind.

As the meal progresses, I watch the two move around the kitchen, working seamlessly to complete the meal in time. There is a calming flow to them that allows me to interview them all without being in the way. They begin putting the fish tacos together. 

 According to the pair, they “party like rock stars” when they have free time. They go on double dates with their husbands, go out to lunch, dinner, and see each other a lot. In fact, during the interview, the pair made lunch plans for that day!

Watching their cooking rhythm is mesmerizing so I asked “If you describe your cooking rhythm in a music genre, what would it be? Could it be fast like Hip Hop or slow yet upbeat like Jazz?”

Marirae: We have comedic rhythm.

Joyce: We laugh a lot.

Marirae: And I swear a lot! 

Laughter and the sizzling of the tortillas continue throughout the small kitchen as I leave. Joyce and Marirae continue cooking, as they have done together the past several years. The happiness within their friendship is evident, and anyone that enters the kitchen can feel the joy. It’s enlightening to learn of a relationship that began at this organization and has been cultivated ever since. We could all stand to be a little bit more like these two.

We All Need Something

For the past few school years, the seventh and eighth graders at Abintra Montessori School have been filling our prep room each month. There the students clean and chop vegetables, assemble sandwiches and snacks, and put together beautiful fruit salads while listening to fun tunes with our staff. It’s a partnership that we have grown to love and one that we’re proud to hear is essential to the education of Abintra students.

“Volunteering is an integral part of our curriculum,” Abintra Middle School Guide Kim Blevins-Relleva tells us. “We’re trying to teach students to think critically about the world.”

She explains that there is a social justice component to Abintra’s educational philosophy, teaching the students that what they do in the community matters just as what they learn in the classroom matters in their daily lives. 

Abintra looks at volunteerism as so much more than an opportunity for students to feel better about themselves, but an opportunity to make a positive contribution. 

“We believe that access to food should be a basic human right, but it really is a privilege here in our community,” Kim tells us. She says that food insecurity is a reality that many Abintra students struggle to relate to so it’s that much more important for them to realize the impact of the work they do in The Nashville Food Project kitchen. Each time the students help with meal prep, they look at our meal partner map to learn more about where the food is going and the work it is supporting.

In our kitchen, the students get so much more than a fun volunteer activity. “They enjoy being entrusted to do jobs that typically adults would do - cooking and chopping. At The Nashville Food Project, they’re treated with respect by the staff, and they get to see the final product of what they’ve created,” Kim explains.

Kim tells us that the school tried many different organizations before settling on The Nashville Food Project as the regular volunteer partner for their middle school. They looked for an experience that taught their students that we all need each other in some way. “No matter who you are or what your life circumstance may be, we all need help.” 

Here at The Nashville Food Project, they found a similar philosophy that blurs the lines between giver and receiver, one in which we recognize our interdependence and our shared basic needs. 

Having the Abintra students in our kitchen has become something we look forward to as each school year nears. They’ve just rejoined us this month, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome them back.

Learning Together

We often say that food has the power to transform lives, and we see this so clearly in our Growing Together program. Growing Together is The Nashville Food Project’s agricultural micro-enterprise training program. Through it, we work to expand farming access and opportunity to a group of growers who are originally from Burma and Bhutan. Through the program, farmers gain access to land, seeds, training and collective sales outlets, supporting them as they grow food to sell and earn supplemental income for their families.

While food is the tool of Growing Together, education and transformation are the results of the program, for both The Nashville Food Project and the participating farmers. Not only do the farmers learn important skills from our staff, but they learn from each other, and we learn from them! We recently sat down with one of these farmers, Chandra Paudel, to talk about what he has learned and what he has shared with others by participating in this program.

Chandra, like the other Growing Together participants, worked as a farmer in his native country of Bhutan. While he began the program with vast farming knowledge, he tells us that he has enjoyed building upon that knowledge. 

“This year I learned about how to look for pests and control them,” he says, adding that he has also “Continued to build on the bed preparation skills.” 

Growing Together Program Manager Lauren Bailey can attest to that. “Chandra’s plot is meticulous; the time and care that he devotes to tending his plot is unmistakable.” 

Chandra says that in addition to honing his farming skills, he has also learned more about budgeting, record keeping and crop production planning. On one Saturday each month you can see him at the Growing Together booth at the Richland Park Farmers’ Market. There Chandra is able to interact directly with his customers, showing them new types of produce not often grown in Middle Tennessee, while gaining the skills and knowledge necessary to grow for and sell at market. 

Lauren tells us that Chandra manages his household and his plot, while also working as a paid leader of the Growing Together community, giving him added responsibility of upkeep of the common areas on the farm. 

“Chandra shares so much with the community of growers and the staff,” she tells us. Lauren explains that Chandra truly is a leader in his Growing Together community. “He embodies this leadership in his willingness to take on new techniques and apply information that staff share in trainings and meetings. I think of him as an “idea champion”. If staff suggests a certain pest control practice or harvesting tip, he is often the first to positively respond with an eager nod.”

Growing Together is strengthened by Chandra and farmers like him, who enrich the practice by sharing of themselves. The reality of community-shared farmland can often be messy and unpredictable, but this incredible community makes it work with their willingness to learn with us and one another.