HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY, WITH LOVE FROM WORKING FOOD

The history of Valentine’s Day is complicated and there are many claims to its origin, but February 14th is celebrated the world over as a Day of Love. Here at Working Food, we put our hearts into GROWING, LEARNING and EARNING in steady pursuit of a robust and sustainable local food community – every day! In this issue, you will experience the love each of our programs puts into the community.

In this season of love (and reflection), we are reminded of something Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” The idea of mutual experiences and interdependent systems is at the heart of Working Food’s mission and vision. And we’re excited about the possibilities as we move forward into 2023.

Also, this month and into March, we’ll be putting the finishing touches on our Amazing Give Campaign. Our theme this year is “ I Am Working Food”, featuring stories about the people who run our programs, use our facilities and support our vision. We’ll be connecting on our social media platforms, through email and with some “behind the scenes” tours!

The Amazing Give event will be live on Thursday, April 20th, 2023 — share your LOVE of Working Food by logging on and giving as generously as you are able. Your gifts will be used to support operations and programs that are active all year long.

“We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality”. We cannot think of better words to wish you a Happy – and meaningful – Valentine’s Day.

YOUTH PROGRAM

Worms. Love.

Maybe not two words that we usually put together, but as we finish our unit on worms, compost, and decomposition the association feels natural. Seeing kids fall in love with worms tells us love is always possible, even in unlikely places.

After years of doing some variation of this unit of learning, we see the same pattern nearly universally – the progression from negative reactions like fear or disgust to positive feelings of empathy, love, curiosity, and connection.

It brings to mind the now-classic conservationist quote from Senegalese forestry engineer Baba Dioum “In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught or allowed to experience.” To empathize with and be curious about the experience of being a worm is to begin to recognize the life brimming all around us – the varied and incredible existences of the urban wildlife all around us, from bees to squirrels to chickadees.

In our unit we explore the vermicompost – closely examining the decomposing food that becomes our nutrient rich soil through the endless work of decomposers. We watch the worms use their long, simple bodies to explore their surroundings. We look for adult and juvenile worms as well as worm cocoons which allows us to note the health of the population (do they have enough resources and the right environment to reproduce?). Typically, students start out watching from a distance. They might scream or jump as they watch the worms. Some might keep their distance from the table. But slowly curiosity overpowers fear or squeamishness. The students approach the table, gloves on, and gently pick up a worm, letting it explore their glove. They look at it with their magnifying glasses and grow more quiet.

Then one intrepid student takes off their gloves and lets the worm crawl on their bare skin. Others soon follow. By the end of the class there are whole worm societies the kids have created – houses of soil, families of worms with names and relationships. This transformation usually takes less than 30 minutes.

Once we have empathy and understanding for what we see the rest can follow so much more easily, like an interest in the decomposition process and interest in our soil (as important for the future of our wonderful and diverse planet as the megafauna we learn to love more easily!) But just as importantly there is an empathetic gentleness that emerges when we work with small animals that are more vulnerable than ourselves. We quiet down. We notice. We love! That extends to the worms, of course, but I think it also begins to extend more easily to each other. And as all big changes start with something small, I think that experience matters.

 

SEED PROGRAM

At Working Food, we like to think that every packet of seeds we put out into the world is filled with more than seeds. Hope, magic, and love are packed into those tiny time capsules.

Each seed we sow is carefully tended, and offered what it needs to germinate: okra asks for a little nip and a soak to wake up, larkspur asks to be chilled before planting, peppers ask for heat and patience. Directly sown or transplanted into well nurtured soil, we spend months caring for them – as many as 9 months for some. We patiently wait weeks or months past their typical harvest time as a food crop for seeds to arrive. While waiting, we sometimes battle killing freezes, destructive winds and rain, intense heat, armadillos, and insect pests. It’s all worthwhile when the flower show starts.

The profusions of little yellow mustard blossoms, showy okra flowers, and enormous squash blooms summon the bees, butterflies and beetles who feed on the flowers’ sweet nectar while performing the ancient and critical task of pollination. Those hardy pollinators make our work possible, our plates full, and connect our living plants to future generations. Nearly every bite of food we take relies on these steadfast insects.

Flowering is followed by fruiting, and then seed. However the seeds arrive – in a dried pod or a fleshy fruit – we harvest them at the precise time they are viable; weather and other factors sometimes make our harvest window small. Once harvested, the seeds go through several processes that result in clean and beautiful seed.

The seeds are then weighed, entered into our database, tested for germination rates, and put into storage or made ready for distribution. Our seed packets feature local artwork, and are labeled and filled by hand. All the magic, love and hope we shared throughout the growing season is embedded into those beautiful seeds. Scoop by little scoop, filling thousands of packets each year, we celebrate and imagine the many places these little seeds might go! Share the love — visit our online seed store.

“I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.” ~Henry David Thoreau

CULINARY PROGRAM

 

This month, we will be piloting a brand new idea that we hope will grow over time.

Through a very generous gift from Infotech, Working Food will partner with the family services arm of Habitat For Humanity to host an evening of local food and community.

“Home Grown For Home” will allow Habitat clients to prepare easy, nutritious one-pan meals that feature fresh, local ingredients. They will spend an evening cooking in our community kitchen with our Kitchen Program Director Robert Colon and after producing and consuming a communal meal, they will take meal kits home to do it all again in their own kitchens.