At the Seeds for Learning farm, we’ve wrapped up our growing season and it’s time now to reflect on this past year and think ahead to the spring. For the time being, the Beyond the Farm blog will be on hiatus. We encourage you to maintain your commitment this winter to local, affordable, accessible, healthy, organically grown, fresh food. There are a number of ways to continue to cultivate your knowledge and passion and to be a part of the Seeds for Learning mission.

Here are some suggestions:

1. In Philadelphia, you can still support local farmers all winter long. Shop at the year-round farmers’ markets hosted by Farm to City at Suburban Station and Rittenhouse or the Food Trust’s farmers’ markets at Clark Park and Fitler Square.

2. Think critically about food. Feel the pulse of Philadelphia’s movement to improve food access, food security and healthy living – start by looking at the Philly Food for Thought blog.  

3. Challenge yourself to use fall’s fresh fruits and vegetables three times or more in your weekly meal plan. Think creatively about apples, pumpkins, Brussels sprouts, kale, chestnuts and turnip greens. Recipes and tips from The Daily Green can get you started.

4. Volunteer at a food bank to learn more about how a lack of access to fresh food affects your community – and to become part of the solution. Find your local food bank through Feeding America.

5. Stay on top of the latest discussions around childhood obesity by signing up for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s news digest.

6. Curl up by the fireplace with a good book about food. Try some suggestions from Slow Food USA’s staff and board. 

7. Join the national movement to raise a healthier generation of kids through the Let’s Move campaign. What will your role be?

8. Not ready to give up on your garden for the winter? Try some DIY tips for extending your growing season.

This past summer, over one hundred youth leaders were in attendance at Rooted in Community National Network’s (RIC) 13th annual conference hosted by University of Pennsylvania’s Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative.  RIC is a national grassroots network that empowers young people to take leadership in their own community.  The yearly conference mobilizes young adults to speak out about issues concerning the current food system, the effect on low income and minority communities and how they plan to change the system to better serve their communities.

This year’s conference was especially important since this was the first time a Youth Food Bill of Rights, a statement of what youth demand of their food system, had ever been drafted. The youth leaders voiced their discontent with the current food system, industrial farming practices, poor access to low income communities, the rise in diet related illnesses and much more.  The Seeds for Learning students were in attendance with more than 72 other food justice organizations at the National Constitution Center.  One goal of the gathering was to demand a change in the Farm Bill, which largely supports industrial farming methods and subsidized cash crops.  Ultimately, through urban and rural farming and activism, RIC hopes to continue the legacy of young leaders who are actively influencing the national and global food systems.

Youth Food Bill of Rights:

1. We demand respect for Mother Earth, for the Food Justice and Food Sovereignty culture, and for the indigenous cultures that are working to establish their own autonomous food systems. All must respect and protect the land that grows our food.
2. We demand an end to the mistreatment of workers, farmers, animals, and the environment, that is caused by our current food system.
3. We demand government funding for more nutrition education, and awareness in our communities, and for all communities. Education on things such as, but not limited to, health, seasonal produce, and diet related diseases, farming, organic, sustainability, alternative methods of farming and any and all subjects that those communities demand. People have the right to know what’s in their food, and to decide what to eat.
   We promote educating parents on nutrition and healthy lifestyles.
   Schools in our communities and all over the world must establish and be leaders with the tools and education that promote a healthy lifestyle. We recommend that schools recognize youth lead fitness programs as tools for success.
4. We the youth demand more healthy food choices in our schools, and in schools all over the world. We want vending machines out of schools unless they have healthy choices. We need healthier school lunches that are implemented by schools with the ingredients decided on by the Youth. We demand composting in schools and in our neighborhoods.
5. We the youth call for the termination of any and all Genetically Modified seeds, plants, and produce. We want a policy from the governments all over the world that ends GMO’s, no exceptions.
6. We the youth absolutely don’t want any chemicals or pesticides in our food!
7. We the youth demand a ban on High Fructose Corn Syrup and other additives, and preservatives that are a detriment to our and our communities’ health. This must be implemented by our government, and governments around the world.
8. We demand food that is grown within a 100-mile radius of our homes. We don’t want food traveling thousands of miles using up fossil fuels to get to our homes.
9. We the youth demand that everyone working in the food system must be treated with respect, treated fairly, and earn at the minimum, a just living wage. For all those that are working in the food system we demand a model like the Domestic Fair Trade Association to be implemented.
10. We demand the implementation of regulations from all governments and peoples on a global scale that prevent corporations from globalizing our food systems and our world as we recognize this as seriously costly to global and local human health.
11. We demand an end to the subsidy of cash crops, including corn and soy beans. Rather than our tax dollars going to subsidies for industrial farming, we demand financial support for small organic farmers.
12. We want a restructuring of the process of being certified organic and fair trade. This must come from the people, and from grassroots movements across the world.
13. We the youth demand that a policy be enacted allowing for unused land to be made available for communities to farm and garden organically and sustainably.
14. We believe farmers and all people should have the freedom to save their seed. Any law that prevents this should be reversed; no law shall ever be made to prevent seed saving.
15. We demand an end to industrial farming, which accounts for one-third of the greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Tighter regulation and steps must be made that will decrease the amount of emissions every year.
16. We demand more farmers’ markets instead of supermarkets. The number of farmers’ markets must be increased every year until there are more farmers’ markets than supermarkets.
17. We demand the continuation and respect of all cultural history and significance of food and agriculture. We must work to restore, remember, and regain our food culture, practices, and traditions in farming.
18. We want healthy options in corner stores while empowering the community to make better food choices. We demand more jobs for youth to work with our communities to make this happen and help them control their food systems.
19. We demand school assemblies to recruit more youth to promote food justice. The continuation of the movement for Food Justice, Food Sovereignty and cultivation of future youth leaders is necessary for feeding our youth, our nation, and our world.

… and come back in the spring!

These past few weeks have brought a lot of precipitation. Biology 101 tells us that water is one of the essential ingredients for life to be sustained on Earth. Unfortunately, too much of a good thing isn’t good anymore.

Beyond the monstrous puddles that welcomed students back to Martin Luther King Promise Academy this fall lay the Seeds for Learning farm and greenhouse, which didn’t receive the water well either.

The damage that we saw before our eyes was disheartening, Rows of crops were flooded. Watermelons and cantaloupes had exploded. The fruit of the tomato and sweet pepper plants were molded from the continuous moisture.

Harvesting for the markets and CSA this week was rough. All that survived the flooding (besides the weeds, of course) was the okra, string beans, hot peppers and eggplant.  Once the land dries out, some of our summer crop may come back.

However, another signal that the summer season has ended is the influx of grasshoppers on the crops. They come in as the last pest to eat any of the summer crops left by other pests.

All in all, our season will be cut short due to weather. For farmers, if it’s not one thing, it’s something else. It’s an occupation with many variables. When everything is favorable, though, the products we harvest are beautiful.

In May, my husband and I became new homeowners. For us, renting was a rough existence: one where we had to build a tolerance to loud neighbors, unresponsive management and cramped spaces. We made a promise to ourselves that when we bought a home we would grow with our surroundings. To fulfill this promise, one of our goals before moving to Philadelphia was to get to know our neighbors and become more responsive to our community. So after a friend suggested I give my neighbors a portion of my Seeds for Learning CSA share, I began to think of more ways to use food to promote community. (In case you are not familiar with the term, a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, is a way for the public to buy directly from a local farm. The farm offers “shares” that must be purchased and in return the public can receive a weekly box/bag/basket of seasonal produce throughout the growing season.) Recently, I have begun to knock on my neighbors’ doors to talk to them about the CSA.  I explain what a CSA is and my interest in sharing my food with them each week. 

Here are some other ways to draw in new friends, build current friendships and support local farmers:

• If you receive a weekly CSA share, invite friends over for a regular gathering and allow them to “shop” from the excess food you may have. This has been a practice of ours for the last two months. We have shared our Seeds for Learning CSA share with friends who meet weekly at our home. It is has been a great opportunity to share recipes and discuss urban farming.
• Organize a U-Pick group with others in the community. U-Pick farms allow the public to pick their own fruit and produce from their fields during the growing season. You can create a calendar with your neighbors so once a month assigned people can go and pick for the rest of the group. This is also a good activity to bring the children and youth in your community along!
• Drop off holiday/seasonal gift baskets (something as small as a few freshly baked cookies or as large as a gift basket of local seasonal eats) to your neighbors.
• Ask old friends or neighbors if they would be willing to organize a buying club with you. Buying clubs are a group of people who order wholesale items (e.g. locally raised beef or pork) together and meet at a predetermined location to divide up the order.

Food is a great communicator of love.  Something as simple as sharing a meal with a neighbor can build relationships and unity.

What are some ways you have used food to engage your community?

I’m not a native Philadelphian – but don’t hold that against me. I live in Mt. Airy, in the Northwest section of the city. I still clearly remember my first ride up Lincoln Drive on a September day – trees fully leafed out, the green giving way to tinges of red and yellow – the promise of beautiful fall color just days away. I fell in love with the big, old trees, walkable streets, First Fridays and the granola-crunchy feel of my neighborhood. I happen to aspire to granola-crunchiness… but I digress. I love Philly – the people, the diversity, the noise, the energy – even the fact that my 3-year-old now says “wudder” (as opposed to “water” for you non-Philadelphians).

The flash mobs in my adopted city are dampening my love glow. I’m as appalled as the next person by the violence and destruction, but it frustrates me to hear my fellow Philadelphians say, “Now I’m afraid of Black teens.” I’m shocked that people make the leap to racism so easily. I encounter so many amazing young people every day – some of whom you may have heard about on this very website. We have watched these young men and women struggle and succeed, fail and try again – many of them facing challenges I could not have even imagined when I was their age.

It’s not an easy job, growing up – especially if you are a young person of color.  One researcher, James Garbarino, describes the serious social conditions youth of color face as “social toxins” – a phrase that pretty accurately reflects how poisonous the social environment is to a person’s well-being. These toxins seriously impede healthy development for young people and place them at a much greater risk than their more privileged peers. Not surprisingly, they often act out in destructive ways.

Public policy that blames the youth and depicts them as the source of their own problems fails to deal with the biggest challenges facing our young people. It’s easy to lay blame, easy to label “these young criminals,” easy to indict parents and bad neighborhoods. It’s definitely easier than looking critically at why. Why are these young men and women acting out in violent and aggressive ways – and what can we do to help?

We have to look beyond the individual behavior to the ways that social, political and economic forces shape the development of young people. Youth development as a field has progressed over time from a “problem-based” approach to an “assets-based” approach – from looking at youth as problems to be fixed to looking at them as youth with assets to be developed. Both approaches however, ignore the broader social, political and economic context in which urban youth are growing into adulthood.

Here’s an alternative: A social justice approach to youth development analyzes the power in social relationships and supports young people to negotiate the use and misuse of power in their lives.  Youth can be encouraged to think critically about systemic injustices and learn how to take action to address those injustices. A social justice approach helps youth to be aware of their personal potential, the responsibility they have to their community and the landscape of broader humanity. Thus reducing self- and community-destructive behavior.

Seeds for Learning is just one example of a social justice youth development model. We use food justice and sovereignty as the vehicle to empower youth in Northwest Philadelphia.  Any number of vehicles can be used, just pick an injustice. Let’s bring the love back – less name calling and “cracking down” on the youth, more empowerment and engagement. Beyond guiding youth to healthy adulthood, a social justice approach works toward building a more equitable society through the engagement of critically conscious citizens. Isn’t that what we all want?

Click here to listen to a recent WHYY Fit story about our Community Lunch program. Thanks to Therese Madden for profiling our program, and to Chef Valerie Erwin of Geechee Girl Rice Cafe for the delicious lunch she worked with the students to prepare!

For most people August brings a lot of things like hot days, last-minute vacations and school supply and clothes shopping. For us at Seeds for Learning, our minds are running in two different directions: fall planting and fall programming.

Fall Planting

The growing season consists of three separate plantings. We plant for spring, summer and fall. Each planting season can accommodate specific crops. In general, spring and fall harvests include cool weather crops like lettuce, carrots, mustard greens, turnips and broccoli. The summer harvest includes fruit-bearing crops like cucumber, squash, tomatoes, peppers, melons and okra. Here at the farm, we are watching our summer crops become exhausted and beginning to prepare spent beds for fall planting. Using our crop plan from the last year’s season, we rotate the location of our fall plantings. Crop rotation is a critical technique for organic agriculture. Rotating crops prevents crops from depleting the soils of the same nutrients. The crops that we plant now will take our season through mid-November, which allows us to provide fresh, chemical-free produce to the community of West Oak Lane as the chilly weather sets in.

Fall Programming

With the start of the school year for all the youth of West Oak Lane, Seeds for Learning will be preparing for our educational components. Our high school students gained much experience in growing, cooking and selling food to their community this summer and our K-8 campers learned about climate science in their new outdoor classroom space at the farm. For the fall, Seeds for Learning will continue to educate our student farmers about food justice and the food system. We will also be continuing our new group (formed last spring), Sprouts for Learning. Sprouts is a K-5 afterschool program that teaches science and nutrition using our garden plot.

Our team is looking forward to a successful and fun fall season!

“Oooohh ohhhh aahhh ahh, I’m a monkey!” exclaims 9-year-old Daqwan as he jumps onto the tree. Daqwan is one of the campers in the Atmosphere Investigators day camp that Erik and I teach as Bridging the Gaps interns. The camp, run by the Seeds for Learning program, is split up into age groups and Erik and I have been working with the K-2 and 3-5 age groups, but we also have had kids as young as 3 years old come in.  Neither Erik nor I have had any experience teaching kids that were so young, and we were anxious about what to expect. We had big plans to teach them about the greenhouse effect, carbon dioxide emissions and a range of other topics, but the kids had their own plans in mind too.

The big test finally came during the first day of camp. Our lesson plan included a demonstration with a basketball and a globe illustrating the changing seasons. We quickly learned that teaching kids was not as easy as we had thought. Between transporting 3-year-old Nunu to the bathroom every five minutes and making sure 9-year-old Taylor was not playing too roughly with the others, our minds tended to stray from the lesson plan at times. 

However, as camp progressed, we figured out different ways to keep the kids occupied.  We discovered a nearby playground where they could run around and release their endless supply of energy in the mornings – and fulfill part of the physical activity component of the camp. The kids were fascinated by the numerous groundhog holes, so we picked apples from a nearby apple tree and left them outside the groundhogs’ holes to see what would happen. When we returned the next day and the apples were gone, the kids were delightfully surprised; this impromptu activity highlighted how outdoor education is ideal for building skills in scientific inquiry. Also, Erik and I learned that our campers loved arts and crafts, so we kept them busy with the activities we planned such as painting compost buckets, building terrariums and a range of other activities.

After this experience, Erik and I are amazed that any of us learned anything in elementary school. Not only did our teachers keep us under control, but it is surprising that they were able to teach us anything. This experience has left us with a newfound respect for elementary school teachers.

Zena Yusuf is an intern from the Bridging the Gaps (BTG) summer internship program. BTG helps students in the health and social services fields gain a broader understanding of the factors that affect health in underserved communities. In the fall, Zena will be a second year Master’s of Public Health student at Drexel University where she will concentrate in community health and prevention.

Have you carefully scanned the label of one of the country’s most popular producers of chicken lately? You might notice some of their packages read “Vegetarian Fed.” Seems promising? After all of the negative publicity the documentary Food, Inc. has created over chicken farms it would seem they are finally making a change. Vegetarian = good.

If I had seen the words “Vegetarian Fed” a few years ago it would have made no impression on me at all. I never used to give any thought to where my food came from before it arrived in my refrigerator and would not think it necessary to do any further investigation into this vague wording. After getting involved with the Seeds for Learning program, however, I have been giving much more thought to what’s in my food and where it comes from. So, after researching the complexities of the industrial food system, I learned that chickens are omnivores – not vegetarians. And when a company proudly advertises the fact that their chickens are vegetarian-fed they mean that they have raised their chickens on a diet of soybeans and corn feed.

This type of manipulation is not new. It is the art of branding. At its best, branding can inform public awareness, making consumers more educated about where to spend their money. At its worst, branding plays on our ignorance, especially our ignorance of our food system.

McDonald’s knows a lot about the public image of their food. If you were to search for McDonald’s commercials from the 1970’s, ‘80’s and early ‘90’s, the focus is on the “freshness” of the food. You will see sliced tomatoes and onions, a hand model delicately placing the sesame seed bun on top of a beef patty oozing with oil. Currently, the company’s focus is the “McDonald’s experience.” You will see beautiful people smiling and having endearing and, sometimes, hilarious exchanges. The food has become so ingrained into our culture all we need are regular reminders that we have not visited McDonald’s in a while. The branding is brilliant!

Branding creates the face of a product and can make or break an eater’s decision about what food to buy. What we eat is not about what we know to be true, but what we perceive to be true. We construct a view of our food by piecing together the various ideas that others convince us to believe, whether it’s our grandmother’s age-old advice or the warnings of a blog author or the wording on a package of food. Persuasion is the reason we might believe that our food has to be shipped from other states or that high fructose corn syrup has no adverse effects on our health. As eaters we have forgotten to ask questions and think critically about ourselves and our food.

To become educated eaters, we must begin to have the same expectations of the companies who produce our food as we do for our doctors and our politicians: transparency. We demand transparency by supporting local farmers, articulating the standard of food we want to see in our grocery stores and corner stores and continuing to educate ourselves about the intricacies of our food system. As eaters, as consumers, we have the power to counteract the effects that branding has on our culture. When we take the extra step to educate ourselves, we can shape a more accurate view of what we are eating.

We are a Food Justice program. That means that we focus not just on growing vegetables and selling them at the market, but also on education and empowerment around food, health and sustainability for our students and the greater community. One of the skills that we have been eager to offer our students – a skill that is essential in transforming communities – is the ability to speak publically about the knowledge they have gained in the program. At Seeds for Learning, we talk a lot about the value of spoken word: the wisdom and knowledge that gets passed on through generations by story telling and the sharing of history and struggle, defeats and successes, information for planting seeds and recipes for cooking local food. By way of voice, information and wisdom and perspective have become means for survival, organizing and liberation, for every people struggling throughout history. 

As a program committed to the thriving of culture and community in Philadelphia, especially in the mostly Black neighborhood where Seeds for Learning operates, we are devoted to the continuity of this practice and of working with our students towards gaining the respect of the community as public speakers – as leaders – on issues of imminent concern. We want our students to feel powerful and comfortable sharing verbally what they have learned and inspiring others to think critically, to question and to take action. 

So, this summer, our Community Lunches have a new component. Before the meal, our students will be offering a 15-minute interactive presentation focused on different aspects of Food Sovereignty. This allows our students to build their skill set and to place themselves as leaders in the community around food and food sovereignty. It also allows us, as a program, to focus more directly on the true goal of Community Lunch: to bring together the people of West Oak Lane for the sake of building relationships and momentum around transforming food and health in the neighborhood.