Growing more farms and more food

One Friday afternoon at Whitelock Community Farm I found myself confronted by an 8-year-old who was pushing the carrots on anybody who would listen. Every few minutes, when somebody new walked up to the weekly farm stand, he exclaimed how sweet and delicious the carrots were and proceeded to enthusiastically chomp on a long, slender carrot with the greens still attached.

Creating artisanal food districts in Baltimore

Take a walk through Highlandtown or Station North and it’s clear that Baltimore has done an exemplary job of creating an environment that is not only welcoming to artists, but encourages their creativity. From housing communities and educational opportunities to tax breaks, Baltimore has rolled out the welcome mat, and like a friendly neighbor brought […]

Chicken Masala with a side of mentoring

In Maryland more than 207,000 children are at risk for hunger. The same number of young people are unsupervised during the after-school hours. The child who goes home to an empty house is likely to be the same child who may not have access to food between the end of the school day and the […]

Creating a healthier Southwest Baltimore

In Southwest Baltimore—as well as in communities across the country—our behaviors have led us to unhealthy lives and lifestyles. The increase of chronic health conditions (e.g. high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and stroke) is affecting younger individuals and not enough people are concerned. In some neighborhoods in Southwest Baltimore, the life expectancy is 10-15 […]

A fresh new alternative

Everyone has an opinion about school food. That’s because everyone who has attended school is a subject matter expert—those who finished high school have been exposed to approximately 2,400 lunches that were either eaten, ignored, or trashed.  Our consciousness of the nutritional value and quality of ingredients of these meals heightens when we send our […]

We are the experts we seek

Our society teaches us to seek out “experts”— to fix our cars, heal our bodies, manage our relationships, resolve our conflicts.  You’d think we can’t do much for ourselves.  We’ve created a “nation of clients.” Remember the commercial that shows a big-bellied man sitting at the lunch counter with massive indigestion?  The message of the […]

Protect our children

My audacious idea is that we all commit to protecting and nurturing our children. Protecting our children requires responsible parenting. It is unacceptable that any child lives in a home where he or she is not wanted and cared for. It is up to us as a community to show all children that they have […]

Operation Pawpaw: a (food) security plan for Baltimore

According to farmers and environmental activists, both the supply and the demand for locally sourced food have increased exponentially each year. The benefits of this movement are many, from the preservation of farmland (and the slowing of sprawl) to the reduced carbon load (grocery store produce travels an average of 1,500 miles to your table).  […]