| Friday night, I showed up around 5:30pm because a free dinner of chili and cornbread was promised. I'll go just about anywhere if you promise me free food - particularly when I know that it's being provided by people who are as food conscious as I am. The chili was vegan and DELICIOUS (with optional cheese provided) and I am always so grateful when meals provided at events is vegan while allowing vegetarians and omnivores to add non-vegan items if they wish. It's so much more inclusive to do it that way than to top everything with cheese or meat and expect your veggie guests to pick the animal products out.
I decided to help work the registration table. Part of my instructions including offering people the available child care and Spanish translation services. How impressive - that they arranged to have child care and Spanish translation services! And the printed schedule handout was offered in Spanish as well.
Child care apparently involved making balloon hats.
I was also simply amazed at the very wide array of people who came to spend their Friday night listening to speakers talk about food justice. Young and old came, some from organizations and some not, and best of all - people of all ethnicities were among the attendees. We live in a very multi-cultural city and yet recently I found myself at a (non-food-related) progressive political event with all white and mostly middle aged attendees. So it's good to see that this conference managed to reach ALL segments of our society and not just the upper middle class white ones.
From there, we had speakers from the South Central Farmers from Los Angeles, who are now the subject of the award winning documentary, The Garden. You can see more about them on YouTube. Here's a bit more info on the film:
In the wake of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, hundreds of mostly Mexican-American families came together and turned one of the nation's most blighted neighborhoods into a 14 acre urban oasis-complete with guavas, papayas and enough fruit and vegetables to feed hundreds of families. But now bulldozers are poised to demolish their garden...
The Garden is the unflinching look at the struggle between these Latino urban farmers, the City of Los Angles and a powerful developer who wants to evict them to build warehouses. A gripping story of the country's largest urban farm, backroom deals, land developers, green politics, money, poverty, power, and racial discord. The film explores and exposes the fault lines in American society and raises crucial and challenging questions about liberty, equality, and justice for the poorest and most vulnerable among us.
The we had our keynote speaker, LaDonna Redmond, and she was fantastic.
As I wrote previously, I was inspired by her story several years ago when I heard it told by someone else, and this was my first chance to hear from her directly. She's a mom from Chicago whose son was born with severe food allergies. Her quest to feed her child healthy food turned her into an activist and she's worked with her community to start up an urban farm and to bring in a new store that sells real food. (You can see more about her work here or in this YouTube video.)
The night ended with music, dancing, and an after-party. I was plenty sick with a nice fat migraine after LaDonna's talk so I just went home. After all that hard work and with so much more to come in the morning, I have no idea how the organizers had the energy to go to the party.
Day Two
Saturday started with me in bed, nearly oversleeping the panel I was supposed to speak on. But I can tell you what I missed while I was sleeping. Malaki Obado Ogendi, a local foodie who came here from Kenya, spoke about the lessons we can learn from traditional farming. I got to hear him speak later at a beekeeping workshop and now I'm kicking myself that I didn't hear him speak at 8am. (I'm telling you, if you ever want to make sure I don't come to ANYTHING, put it at 8 in the morning.)
Next up was the first of four workshop sessions.
Session One:
- Introduction to urban food production: a hands on workshop at the Seeds of City Urban Farm
- Nutritional Racism: causes and solutions to disparities in access to healthy food
- What's up with Water? the effects of water rationing on local food production
- What is the Farm Bill and how can it be used for change?
- Building Your Own Solar Oven (Part 1)
- Cooking for Social Change: the role of chef's in re-localizing our food system
- Fruit Jam: get up to your elbows in tasty goo and produce some seasonal delights
Solar ovens
Session Two:
- Waste reduction, recycling and composting (presentation in Spanish w/ English translation)
- Rainwater harvesting and grey water systems: a virtual tour and "how to" info session
- Globalization and the Corporate Food System: the role of media and multinational food business
- Bottom of the barrel: why does San Diego have the worst food stamp participation in the entire country and what can we do to change it?
- How to start a community garden in your neighborhood: from permitting to site selection, this workshop will help you take your first steps
- What is a "food shed" and how many people can San Diego's sustain?
- Growing a medicinal herb garden: a hands on workshop at the Seeds of City Urban Farm
- Building Your Own Solar Oven (Part 2, must have attended session 1)
I spoke on the globalization panel. I was very, very impressed with the knowledge and the preparation of the others on the panel. The one point I think we skipped is that all of the bad things that happen due to "free trade" aren't just distant bad things that happen in far off lands. It's not ONLY about empathy for people in other countries. We're hurting our own country and our own people too.
Next up, lunch! I enjoyed connecting with a few friends who I don't get to see nearly enough. We intended to just get some food and chill out on the grass, but we ended up getting side-tracked by all of the events going on - plus a few interesting tattoos:
I guess when you get a bunch of foodies together, you find foodie tattoos.
A little outdated but still funny.
There was a band, and they played music I like! (Like songs from Hair and some Bob Marley)
OMG too cute for words!
Check out this adorable children's show of people dressed up like fruits and vegetables who were dancing and singing about how you should plant them in your garden:
After lunch, I went to workshops on beekeeping and backyard chickens. The chicken diary is posted at the link, and the beekeeping diary is forthcoming very soon.
Session Three:
- Cooking with solar ovens: tasty recipes for an afternoon treat (sun willing)
- Tank tilapia and hydroponic food systems: how to turn your home into a water-based food paradise
- Deconstructing race and class in the food justice movement: an exploration of the movement for folks who want see meaningful change
- Utilizing art to reveal food system waste: a hands on art installation to let loose the creative side
- School gardens and food justice: insights from teens
- Backyard Bees and homegrown honey: what you need to know to do it right
- Bringing farmer's markets to low income communities: addressing unique challenges and exploring creative programming
Session Four:
- Chickens in the City: how to get started and how to keep the ladies of your coop happy
- Public Policy and San Diego's Food System: mobilizing a grassroots platform for change
- Seed saving and swap: learn how to seed save at the Seeds of City Urban Farm and bring your own varieties to trade with others
- Ferment Culture: hands on tempeh and beverage making
- Spreading the word through food writing: our fabulous foodies will show you the ropes and show you how to get involved
- DIY medicine making: salves, lotions and tinctures for your health (bring small jars to take medicines home with you)
- Container gardening: the small scale path to homegrown delights
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