Here is a fantastic project that is being done by a former NFI/Rooting DC volunteer, Natasha Bowens, which spotlights the story of a young, female farmer of color and her journey and experiences in feeding her community sustainably, in addition to exploring the history, culture and stories of agriculture in communities of color. Please check out the excerpts below from the indiegogo.org fundraising page for the project, as well as the full project and budget description. Also, please consider making a donation to the project so that Natasha may be able to see it through to fruition.

Here is a little more information on the story and the project from the fundraising website:

the story

// natasha bowens // writer / farmer / activist

My name is Natasha and I am a writer, food justice activist and farmer…a young, brown, female farmer. I put emphasis on those things because of all I’ve learned throughout my journey of growing food.

A desire to feed my community sustainably and give back to the land led me on an eye-opening journey full of history, culture and self-discovery. I not only learned how to grow food, but I was reminded of those that came before me – and shared the same skin color as me.  Those who dug the very first furrows of our fields and who poured sweat, blood and tears into the foundations that make up our agricultural system today. These communities are now, shamefully, on the brink of extinction. Farmers of color hold the dual titles of making up the majority of farmers worldwide, with the shittiest end of the stick in the global agribusiness industry. (this is especially true for women)

I saw these faces and voices missing from the movement to change our food system which has recently been picking up steam in the aisles of Whole Foods and with films like Food, Inc.

So I set out on a mission to find fellow brown farmers and hear their voices for myself. I began documenting my farming journey on my blog Brown.Girl.Farming. and subsequently wrote a series entitled The Color of Food for Grist.org. The response from this community was overwhelming and The Color of Food documentary project became the inevitable next step.

the project

The Color of Food tells the stories of our Black, Latino, Asian and Indigenous farmers and the history, fight for survival and beautiful culture that makes up our agriculture.

While revealing the intersection of race and food through the personal stories of farmers of color, this project will also explore the agricultural history and traditional food and farming knowledge passed down within in each community. This photo documentary will also address the movement for food sovereignty and issues with land loss which we see taking place globally today.

These stories and images will be captured with my lens and pen, and published in a photo-essay book, posted via photo/video blog, and exhibited at food justice and food sovereignty events around the country. The documentary will live on and enhance the network within the COLOR of FOOD directory – the global map and directory of farmers of color I founded in 2010.

**This fundraising campaign aims to support the project across North and South America over the next year, further travel and documentation will have to come later with more funding!

Community Education Group (CEG) has been awarded funding through the US Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and DC Community Health Administration, to support a new and innovative Capacity Building Program, offering free hands-on technical assistance, individual organizational consultants and relevant trainings to eligible community and/or faith based organizations in Wards 7 and 8.  CEG’s Fresh Start wants to help build a brighter future for our organizations, our community, and our people.

While CEG’s Fresh Start is a Capacity Building Program, we take into account your busy schedule and strained budget.  Our services are FREE and RELEVANT.  CEG’s Fresh Start will be at no cost to you, offer our experienced consultants to support your organizational growth and development to increase your ability to meet your agency, client, and community goals.

There are three levels of participation, with one micro-grant award of $5,000 in each category, allowing guaranteed inclusion for your organization.

Category 1:   Provide community garden space to needy individuals and publicize the free/reduced fee.

Category 2:   Make available free, locally grown food in Wards 7 and 8, using a “learn for food” model.

Category 3:  Provide regular physical activity in group settings through classes timed so that potential participants are already on site.

Please see below, links to the Overview of the program, requirements, and application.  The application should be submitted to emily@communityeducationgroup.org or fax: 202 543 9146 due by 5:00, October 21, 2011. Please forward on to those organizations who might be eligible to participate in this exciting program.

Community Education Group Fresh Start Overview of Program

2011 CHA Application

Emily Weaver, Executive Assistant
Community Education Group

Phone: (202) 543-2376 x107 • Fax: (202) 543-9146
emily@communityeducationgroup.org • www.communityeducationgroup.org

Emily Weaver

Executive Assistant

Community Education Group

3233 Pennsylvania Ave, SE

Washington, DC 20020

202-543-2376 x107 (phone)

202-543-9146 (fax)

oct1stflyer

Local Foods, Local Chefs Program Kicks Off October 1:  Arlington restaurants to feature locally-grown food

Throughout the month of October, dine at participating Arlington restaurants and enjoy a meal made with locally grown and raised ingredients. Supporting local vendors strengthens our local economy. But supporting local farmers goes even further. You’ll be helping to keep farmland in production and your food is fresher — often picked just the day before.

Event kickoff: October 1

Join the Local Foods, Local Chefs Kickoff October 1, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Whole Foods Market, 2700 Wilson Boulevard, where you’ll enjoy some tastings and get a chance to meet local vendors, farmers, and chefs. In addition, learn more about the benefits of local foods at a book talk and signing with Diane A. Welland, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Local.

Participating restaurants:

Each of the Arlington restaurants below will feature meals made with locally-grown ingredients throughout the month:

•   Busboys & Poets, 4251 S. Campbell Ave.;

•   Domasco Trattoria Moderna, 1121 N. 19^th St. (inside Hotel Palomar)

•   Eventide Restaurant, 3165 Wilson Blvd.

•   Pete’s New Haven Style Apizza, 3017 Claredon Blvd.

•   Restaurant 3, 2950 Clarendon Blvd.

•   Santa Fe Café, 1500 Wilson Blvd.

•   Silver Diner, 3200 Wilson Blvd.

•   Sweetgreen, 4075 Wilson Blvd.

•   Whole Foods Market, 2700 Wilson Blvd.

•   Willow Restaurant, 4301 N. Fairfax Dr.

And more…

Learn more about the program>>>

For more information, call 703-228-6417 or visit the project web page.

Local Foods, Local Chefs is sponsored by Arlington County, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment.

Vote to help us to share $65,000 from Nature’s Gate to benefit our youth education program, LEAF.

We’re up to 470 votes today and growing, but we still need your help to reach 3,500 votes to be a finalist in the national “Gardens for Good” contest to share $65,000 from Nature’s Path.  We have 3,000 subscribers on this list. So if each of you clicks today, we’ll reach 3,500 votes and be a finalist to share $65,000 in grant funding! (No Facebook or Twitter account necessary!) Our entry is listed under my name, “Helen Yuen.” Can you click on “Vote” here today with one click?

Last week, we entered a contest launched by Nature’s Path organic food company. Thank you for getting us to 470 votes. But it’s not over! We need to reach 3,500 votes to be a finalist to share $65,000. Can you keep us in the running?

Voting Takes Just a Second!

Can you click “yes” today to help us fund our farm education program for impoverished youth? This is a direct link, so you do not need Facebook or Twitter. Just click “vote” on this page.

Please don’t delay. It takes just a second to click and we can only be a finalist with your help. Voting ends next Friday September 30. Soon! Each day that passes, the gap widens between us and the top contenders.

We can’t do it without you.

The top 5 U.S. and top 5 Canadian vote-getters will be reviewed by Nature’s Path, and they will choose 3 nonprofits to split $65,000. Right now, the nonprofit in 5th place has 3,000 votes. We have 470, so if you and each subscriber on this list clicks, we’ll have nearly 3,500 votes and be a finalist. Can you click today?

Daily voting is ok until Sept 30. These are the last days so don’t forget to click once a day and spread the word to your friends!

Thank you for supporting us! 

Helen Yuen
Communications Fellow

P.S. If each of you on this subscription list clicks to vote, we’ll reach 3,500 votes and be a finalist to share $65,000 for our youth program! Click here today. Thank you for rooting for us!

From the Virginia Cooperative Extension:

(This joint VCE – ACOAN workshop is for community gardens organizers.  It is for new and established community garden organizations, neighborhood associations, DOD and local government recreation programs, non-profits, schools staff and volunteers, service clubs, and Extension professionals.)

Have you thought about starting a garden within your community next year?

Is sustainable urban agriculture an interest of yours?

Are you looking for ways to get your neighborhood, family, workplace or classroom connected to the land?

Is local food production or food security a concern of yours?

If so, join us for a free workshop entitled

“Building Communities Through Gardening” on

Tuesday, October 18th from 8:30 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.

at the

Fairlington Community Center,  3308 S. Stafford St., Arlington VA 22206

Pass the Word!!

Come learn more about starting and managing your garden, receive valuable resources and checklists, and learn about best practices from your neighbors in the Arlington and Alexandria communities.  Please click on the link below for a flyer with more information.  Please RSVP to alexcoan@gmail.com to sign up for this workshop.

VCE Flyer “Building Communities Through Gardening”

We look forward to seeing you on October 18th!  Please contact me if you have any questions.

The DC Field to Fork Network, as a collaboration and conversation between many organizations that are helping to change the way that Washington, DC thinks about, acts upon and approaches food, has been a crucial part of holding together this community, educating people about gardening, food, nutrition and cooking. The Network is a cornucopia of organizations, from community gardeners and mentors, to educators for youth and elderly about nutrition, gardening and cooking, to advocates for food security and food access within the District. Everyone plays an important role in carrying out our mission in Washington, DC and due to this work, people are more well educated about food and healthy choices, community gardens have been thriving in spaces which were once  abandoned lots, and residents are pushing for more positive change.

Washington, DC has certainly been making strides in these aforementioned arenas due to this grassroots, “bottom-up” social movement, as are many other cities, towns and regions throughout the United States. However, it is a well-known fact that many locale still have serious obstacles in the form of policies and ordinances which are sometimes still used to hinder such progress in the area of cultivating local foods, communities and education about gardening, human well-being and social justice. Community and private garden initiatives are sometimes made to cut short their operations due to some “legality”.

Recently, one unfortunate turn of events is threatening the work of a local teacher and gardener in Memphis, Tennessee. Though this event is certainly outside the local scope of the Washington Metropolitan region, it hits home in the hearts of many who have met similar obstacles here in our region. Urban gardening is something which many are pursuing whether to supplement the family’s diet or income, and is a topic which continues to grow more ubiquitous in the awareness of the general public.  Culturally, farming and urban gardening is resurfacing in conversation as being an integral part of our heritage and is a part of the cultural fabric which ties us together as communities and as a whole with the natural world.

So why are people still going to jail or being charged of breaking town and city ordinances over the issue of their garden? This is a serious question that we need to engage with if we are to continue to push for change on the local, state and national level in the ways that we view our cultivation, production and consumption of foods.

In this recent case of injustice, Adam Guerrero, a math teacher at Raleigh-Egypt High School n Memphis, Tennessee, has been working on growing a garden, composting, vermiculture, and keeping bee hives at his home. He does this in addition to being a full time math teacher. Coming to his help are three students from the school, who have been mentored (after school) by Mr. Guerrero and have been learning and helping with the gardening, vermiculture and bee keeping that is going on. What a great instance of education and mentorship of young people that is going on outside of the school classroom! However, Mr. Guerrero has been ordered to take apart his garden as he has been cited for being a “public nuisance”.

Please read more about this case through the Tree Hugger Blog (linked to in the above paragraph) as well as an article published by the Memphis Flyer on September 15, 2011.  One way you can help is to read and sign the petition that will be sent to the judge who will hear Guerrero’s case later this week. Other suggestions about how you may be involved are listed at the bottom of the Tree Hugger blog article.

Keep on gardening!

Thursday: Urban Ag on the Move!

Our 3rd annual film screening fundraiser Urban Agriculture on The Move! A Film and Food Event is coming up on August 11th! We’re cooking up lots of local fare this week and are excited to share it with you.

Doors open and refreshments served at 6:30 pm. Film screening will start promptly at 7:30 pm, with discussion to follow. It’s at the Letelier Theater, located in the Georgetown neighborhood at 3251 Prospect Street, NW, Upper Courtyard.

Buy your tickets now and then let us know you’re coming on Facebook.

We’re still looking for a couple of last-minute volunteers – please reply here in an email if you’re interested!

And many thanks to our sponsors, including: Silver Spring Farmer’s Market, Mount Pleasant Farmer’s Market, Wegmans, Trader Joe’s, Harris Teeter, GLUT Food Coop, Whole Foods, Barrel Oak Winery, and St. Stephen’s and the Incarnation Episcopal Church.