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Youth. Food. Community.
Summer is Coming The days are getting warmer and we’ve started planting. Visit a farm, market, or workshop this season to reconnect and see what’s new!
Digging Deeper and Growing Roots This TFP staffer goes back into the fields season after season to train our next generation of leaders. Meet Greater Boston Program Coordinator Katherine Evering-Rowe After graduating from college, Katherine EveringRowe’s interest in food justice and youth work led her to work as a crew leader in The Food Project’s Summer Youth Program (SYP). This summer was both fun and challenging, she remembers. “I loved doing field work with my youth … and seeing them become more confident, able, and excited to do agricultural work and bring their knowledge back to their families.” After another summer as a crew leader and a year studying for her master’s degree in educational studies at her alma mater, Tufts University, Katherine took on a full-time staff role at The Food Project. Katherine, our FAO Schwarz Family Foundation fellow, works as the Greater Boston program coordinator and balances a full academic load at Tufts. During the school year, she coordinates and supervises the Boston-MetroWest Academic Year Program, also known as D.I.R.T. crew (Dynamic, Intelligent, Responsible Teens), a group of 12 youth who completed SYP last summer. D.I.R.T. crew members, along with two teenaged assistant crew leaders, spend the year deepening their knowledge about sustainable agriculture, food justice, and social justice by leading volunteers on TFP’s farms, volunteering at the Pine Street Inn (a hunger relief organization), and working on independent projects that promote local, healthy, affordable food. As summer approaches, Katherine is busily preparing for her new responsibilities within the
I remember them telling us, The city is too loud And the country is too quiet, Your words will never be heard. We responded with a carrot in the dirt, The rolled-up sleeves of a sweaty shirt. We seized pitchforks like we’d revolt, And planted gardens as loud as hope.
Summer Youth Program. In this supervisory role, she will be facilitating workshops and leading daily activities for work crews at The Food Project’s Boston and Lincoln farm sites. As an on-the-ground logistical manager, she will be the organizational face of The Food Project for all of the youth she oversees, and will also provide critical support to crew leaders and assistant crew leaders. This summer, Katherine will be one of three supervisors leading programs in Boston, Lincoln, and on the North Shore. In what will be her third summer with The Food Project’s Summer Youth Program, Katherine is eager to see returning youth take on leadership roles. She’s excited, she says, to see “youth that I’ve gotten to know over the past few years … mentor new groups of Food Project youth.” Katherine also has high hopes for the incoming teens who are experiencing The Food Project for the first time. “I think that our summer program is really eye-opening and it can feel very life-changing in a positive way to a lot of our youth.” In her experience, many youth leave The Food Project at the end of the summer with a different perspective on the world. “They feel comfortable here … they feel a greater sense of confidence because they’ve been able to be themselves in front of people who were once strangers … By the end of the summer they are a little bit more confidently themselves than before.”
Lucas Munson first joined The Food Project in the summer of 2011 and has since participated in our programs as a crew worker, an assistant crew leader, and now an intern. This is just a small sample of the great writing that Lucas and his peers are publishing on The Food Project’s blog.
Read more and keep up to date at:
thefoodproject.org/blog
Food for Thought: Partnering with Gordon College and The Family Dinner Project On a snowy winter evening, farming is probably the last thing on the minds of most students at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass. But inside one building, the conversation is buzzing about food and the people who grow it. While their classmates are busy reading textbooks and poring over their professors’ notes, these students are immersed in a different type of learning. At the front of the room, three teenagers from The Food Project’s Internship Program lead a discussion about the Immokalee tomato growers in Florida. Students weigh in with their thoughts about workers’ rights and how to get justly produced and healthy food to people at an affordable price. This workshop is just one in a series about food justice that The Food Project’s interns are designing for students from Gordon College. This winter and spring, The Food Project is partnering with both the college and The Family Dinner Project to create a cohesive series of food justice and food system workshops. Typically, groups experience these “Food for Thought” workshops as a one-time event that can be paired with a trip to one of The Food Project’s farms. Accordingly, the sessions are designed to be introductions to these topics. This year, the interns have decided to add further impact.
Staff and interns from The Food Project are working together to adapt the existing workshop model into a format that provides a broader framework for understanding food justice and oppression in the food system. These more intensive workshops will focus on topics such as food production, local food economies, ideal food systems, and food sovereignty. At each workshop, the facilitators – TFP youth interns – guide their audience to focus on actions they can take to create a more just food system in their communities. Gordon College students leave each workshop with one action in mind to test and implement. By the end of the workshop series, they hope to create a plan for simple actions that students can take to make a meaningful difference, one step at a time. According to Food Project Intern Supervisor Christian Appel, “[I hope that] the Gordon College students … are able to see beyond the goals of the food movement and recognize how they can actively organize against injustice in the food system.” After completing the series, many of the Gordon College students will volunteer with The Family Dinner Project, a Massachusettsbased organization that strives to bring families and communities together over shared meals. For instance, one group will participate in the Lunch Mentors Program. The “lunch bunch,” as they like to call themselves,
A Year in Our Greenhouses
For the teenagers at The Food Project, this workshop series has been an exhilarating experience in connecting their discussions of social justice with their food systems work. As they lead the workshops, they also strengthen their facilitation skills and deepen the knowledge and insight they have to offer to the older students in their audience. Over the next few years, The Food Project hopes to implement this type of intensive workshop series with a variety of visiting groups. Through this extended experience, participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of justice in the food system and leave with the ability to effect change in their communities.
= 10,000 pounds harvested*
As we look forward to summer, The Food Project’s greenhouses are already bustling with activity. Sites of all-season action, each of these structures plays an important role in crop production for the farms, as well as the communities we farm in. Here’s a little more information about our greenhouses and what makes each one unique.
Lincoln Greenhouse
eats lunch once a week with students at Ford Elementary School in Lynn. During the meal, they facilitate conversation and serve as positive mentors for their young companions.
= 10 visiting students = 10,000 seedlings = 10 volunteers = 10 youth
3,000 ft2 in Lincoln, constructed of galvanized steel, wood end walls, and a plastic roof First constructed in the 1990’s, this has been the workhorse of The Food Project’s seedling production for many years, originally providing for all of our farms. Transplants are sprouted as late as August before the space is converted for storage and curing of onions, garlic, winter squash, and sweet potatoes. A visit to this greenhouse always finds thing buzzing with more than a dozen beehives sitting just outside the door. This spring will see the addition of a couple hundred-foot long high tunnels which will help to extend the growing season and protect high-value crops.
*all produce harvested both in the greenhouse and from food projec 2 Sp ring 2 0 13
Youth. Food. Community. Our Food on Your Plate TFP partners with chefs in all of the communities where we farm. Many buy produce for their restaurants and some even come out and cook on our farms. Meet the Chef: Randy Platt, EVOO Restaurant in Cambridge, Mass. Randy Platt is a sous-chef at EVOO Restaurant in Cambridge, and a loyal buyer of greens and tomatoes grown in our Dudley Greenhouse. Platt has been working at EVOO since 1998, when he came on as a line cook. He has been sous-chef since 2005, and is now the “right-hand man” to head chef Peter McCarthy. At EVOO, an acronym for ‘extra virgin olive oil,’ Peter, Randy, and their team cook up an ever-changing menu of eclectic new American cuisine using organic, local, and sustainable ingredients. Tell us a little about EVOO. What sort of food do you serve?
Why does EVOO purchase locally grown produce?
Which dishes at EVOO have featured Food Project produce?
My standard answer to what kind of food EVOO serves is ... delicious!
Over the 14 years of EVOO’s existence, our operating philosophy has steadily progressed to be more local and sustainable. EVOO purchases from local and regional producers because we believe in developing mutually beneficial relationships, enabling the increased diversity of our region, and reducing our negative impact on the environment. And, the products are fresher.
We typically feature Food Project lettuce for our green salad in combination with other ingredients. The Food Project’s pea shoots are served with a beet salad at Za (our other restaurant, located right next door, as well as in Arlington); with a savory goat cheesecake; and with Nantucket Bay scallops with smoked pigskin risotto. Finally, Food Project spinach is part of our current chicken entrée.
In general, we try to start with excellent raw ingredients and treat them with care. We are inspired by many of the world’s cuisines, and, often, we are inspired by individual ingredients.
Why does EVOO purchase food from The Food Project?
Greenhouse Manager Danielle Andrews stopped in to deliver salad greens to Randy and his team.
We believe in The Food Project’s service to the community and for the past 14 years have participated in the guest chef program each summer [during TFP’s Summer Youth Program]. We buy produce from the Dudley Greenhouse because it is of excellent quality. We can depend on The Food Project’s greens during the time of year when local greens are in short supply. Also, it’s really cool that you are growing it in the city of Boston.
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Dudley Greenhouse 10,000 ft2 in Boston, constructed of steel and polycarbonate A hub of commercial production and community action, this greenhouse anchors our Boston growing sites. Visiting any day of the week guests might find tomatoes being harvested for EVOO and Henrietta’s Table, a school or church group tending their garden, or even a workshop on growing your own food. This is the home of our Grow Well, Eat Well, Be Well workshops.
Are there other local farms that you partner with?
We have developed relationships over time with many local farmers of vegetables, fruits, and livestock. Our partners include Verrill Farm, Kimball Farm, Drumlin Farm, Red Fire Farm, Hutchins Farm, and Eva’s Garden, just to name a few. We are thankful that the local community of farmers seems to grow every year with an everexpanding variety of foods to offer.
The Food Project’s mission is to create a thoughtful and productive community of youth and adults from diverse backgrounds who work together to build a sustainable food system. Our community produces healthy food for residents of the city and suburbs, provides youth leadership opportunities, and inspires and supports others to create change in their own communities.
Glen Urquhart School 7,000 ft2 in Beverly, constructed of aluminum and glass Truly a multipurpose space, half of this greenhouse operates as a classroom while TFP grows all of the seedlings for our North Shore operations (and some of our partners, too) in the other half! The last of 28 greenhouses that once stood on this site, this beautiful structure recently hosted friends of The Food Project for a delicious Sustainable Sunday Supper created by our friends at Chive Events.
ct farms utilizing seedlings
555 Dudley Street Boston, MA 02125 120 Munroe Street Lynn, MA 01901 10 Lewis Street Lincoln, MA 01773 ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE
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What’s happening? Upcoming events and dates to remember
Growing Hope
City Farm Fest
Come see what’s growing in the neighborhood by taking a tour of The Food Project’s Dudley Greenhouse, neighborhood gardens, and West Cottage Street Farm.
WHEN: Saturday, May 11, 11 am to 3 pm
Greenhouse and Urban Farm Tours
Saturdays at 9:30 am May 4 & June 1 in Boston Food Project youth will lead the tours, which begin at the Dudley Greenhouse. Tours take place rain or shine.
To sign up or get more information, contact us at: 781-259-8621 x15 or events@thefoodproject.org
Join The Food Project CSA and eat fresh all season long Enjoy fresh, locally grown vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Provide meaningful work opportunities for local teenagers. Support our work distributing fresh, healthy food through
hunger relief organizations.
Available in neighborhoods throughout Metro Boston and the North Shore!
Delivered into your community or pick it up right on the farm
WHAT: Join us for our annual celebration of spring and the start of a new growing season. We will be celebrating with a plant sale, children’s activities, food, and more! WHERE: Dudley Greenhouse - 11 Brook Ave. in Boston
Celebrate the Harvest WHAT: Join us for The Food Project’s annual gala. This wonderful evening will include one-of-a-kind auction items and delicious food prepared fresh from the farm. WHEN: Tuesday, September 10, 6:30 pm WHERE: WGBH Studios - 1 Guest St. in Boston more info at: gala.thefoodproject.org
Give a teen a job on a farm . . . and see what grows! We urgently need contributions to help pay for youth stipends this summer, and hope you will help spread the word far and wide!
DONATE TODAY! Your gift will be matched, dollar for dollar. challenge.thefoodproject.org
online @ thefoodproject.org/csa sign up today: on the phone 781-259-8621 x21
Katherine & Lucas worked together last summer to lead a crew. Look inside to see what they’ve been up to lately!
10 Lewis Street Lincoln, MA 01773