Well done Michael Hamm, Greg Knowles, Deborah Gallegos and Akyya Mayberry!!
Lunch Is The Lesson from Michael Hamm on Vimeo.
I’ve been initiated into the glorious world of mushroom hunting. I have always reveled at the diversity and beauty of fungus. I am often the slowest hiker oohing and ahhing at the crazy colorful formations pushing out of a wet layer of humus. Only on rare occasion did I think I seen an edible variety- Trumpets of Death and Morels. I have now been shown how to spot delicious Golden Chanterelles in nearly my own backyard. A generous friend, Lauren, decided to share the wealth. She blindfolded me and drove in circles to confuse the location before we arrived at a seemingly average hiking spot. Apparently, there is no aura of heavenly light where edible mushrooms are to be found.
The mushrooms don’t sit pertly on top of the ground. They lay buried with only an odd mound of leafy looking orange peaking out.
I thought maybe Lauren had x-ray vision but it turns out that once you had a sighting and plucked your first bouquet of meaty funnel shaped fungus, you are on high alert for more. It was thrilling and even more amazing is that I have significant poundage to cook with for my Thanksgiving feast (I already ate some so I know my family is safe). Hopefully I won’t be itching at a poison oak rash over dinner.
The week is speeding by but before it is slips away, I must mention the food systems work happening in Oakland. A new report is out called Cultivating The Commons: An Assessment for the Potential of Urban Agriculture on Oakland’s Public Lands, by Nathan McClintock and Jenny Cooper. The report presents the amount of public land potentially available for urban agricultural use. By using aerial photos, geographic information systems (GIS), and site visits the authors identified 1,200 acres of open space, most of which are within 1/4 mile of public transportation. They believe with this land available for urban agriculture, the Oakland community could produce between 5%-10% of the city’s vegetable needs.
The report offers a helpful discussion on food deserts and excellent graphics to illustrate how potential sites might be used. It is worth the read. If you want to get deeper information on Oakland’s urban political ecology, check out Nathan’s paper on From Industrial Garden to Food Desert: Unearthing the Root Structure of Urban Agriculture in Oakland.
Perhaps dovetailing with this effort is the recent news that Kellogg Foundation has selected Oakland school district as one of the nine school districts nationally to receive a collective sum of $32, 450,00 over a three year period to increase access to healthy food and physical activity for vulnerable children and their families.
I took the leap…I made the jump…I…ok ok. The rabbits are here. Vienna Blue Rabbits, which came to be known as American Rabbits (or was that Freedom Rabbits?) after WWII. The buck was named Virgl and the doe, my small friend Neehal just named Lisa. Why Neehal? Why “Lisa?” Why not something like Franziska? Either way, I now welcome Virgl and Lisa to the farm. These bunnies are already a year old so I won’t be cooking ‘em up. They will help me start off a breeding program.
A very cool detail in acquiring the rabbits, the breeder, Shayne (a 4H leader in Alameda), asked to barter an urban farm basket worth the cost of $40/rabbit. So I got to go through and price out a basket of farmed goods. A few key items such as Lauren’s membrillo, and persimmons from her yard, and our tomatoes, organic Meyer lemons, and backyard honey brought the basket to $80 in the blink of an eye. I threw in some Vin de Noix as a sign of my gratitude to Shayne for being so cool as to barter.
So now I begin the adventure of rabbit keeping.
The last week has been filled with people I adore. There was garlic planting and discussion with Stefani and Eric, tea and rabbit talk with Lauren and Violet, and brunch with the fabulous Marcel. It seemed only a perfect end to the week by having an unexpected dinner with Danny Glover. I am not good at celebrity gossip and know very little about most people in the limelight. So when discussion ensued and Mr. Glover was on fire about civil rights, economics and community development, I was shocked and delighted. I have met a few prominent individuals from the film industry and never had the opportunity to be so engaged in a lively discussion on current affairs and practical approaches to create better communities. It appears Mr. Glover studied economics and community development at San Francisco State University (my own undergraduate alma mater). He has been an active advocate for decades and his knowledge of history, economic systems, environmental practices, and community is deeply admirable.
Mr. Glover believes that our current economic condition is not the fault of any one person, or even a handful of people, but rather it is the system we all buy into, literally. He outlined urban economic development as problematic but pointed out that it has only been in practice for the last two hundred years. He encouraged knowing one’s history and understanding the system of capitalism. He also asserted that the only way to shift paradigms is by getting off your comfy seat and working as a community toward change. The deeper questions are what change do we need to see? Is there a best approach? Can we “reverse” damage done at this point? He then turned to me and asked me what I thought could be done.
My answer is that we can only do our part. Meaning, paradigm shift happens one person at a time. If we change our own “systems” and habits and then bring those changes to the community, we are working toward the change we want to see. I gave the example of the food system. It is possible to use a “food lens” to understand the overlapping and urgent problems of global warming, energy crisis, food security and economic downturn. As food is essential in our daily lives, it is also a central and natural force to organize communities. By applying the food lens to urban systems that account for flow of resources, capital, community wellbeing and the corresponding ecosystem it is possible to develop a food system that sustainably contributes to quality and livable neighborhoods, meet the health and nutrition needs of residents, and promote economic vitality, social justice, local self-reliance, and environmental sustainability. To my great surprise Mr. Glover was fully aware of urban farming and garden education and the immense impact it has, particularly on youth. He told a vibrant story of the Catherine Ferguson Academy in Detroit.
The 13-year-old academy, is a school for pregnant and parenting teens. Named after Catherine Ferguson, a slave whose freedom was purchased before she founded the first home for unwed mothers in New York, the school offers a program that helps its students learn about agriculture. Paul Weertz, a science teacher at the Academy is an urban farmer. On his farm, over 10 acres in seven locations around the city, he harvests hay, alfalfa, honey, eggs, and goat’s milk. With the support of the school’s administration, he developed an agriscience class, which works like any standard science class. But, in addition to tests and lab work, the students also learn animal husbandry and how to grow food. The school reports that nearly 100 percent of the students at the Academy are placed in post-secondary college programs. And that the school has sharply reduced the likelihood the girls will have another baby while still in their teens –by more than half of the national average (1/4 of adolescent mothers will have a second child within 24 months of the first).
Though garden based education is not solely responsible for these changes, it has played a significant part in the overall approach of the school. That was the point Mr. Glover was making, garden based education, community gardens, and urban farming play an important role. He noted that garden based education has shifted the development of these teens. Sound familiar? Sounds like the work of Urban Sprouts in San Francisco (coincidentally my husband was wearing his Urban Sprouts shirt which gave me an opportunity to mention their work).
Though I understand appropriate food systems is not an issue everyone wants to take up, my point which seemed to be shared with Mr. Glover, is that we need to change our understanding of community, our place in it and our consumptive habits, all of which starts right now in your own household. Because as Mr. Glover so aptly put it, whatever it takes “this shit has got to change.”