Dear Lovers of Food and Justice,
My wish is that today’s love letter can be a refugium in time for you.
Biologists describe refugia as places that have escaped the worst of regional ecological change and provide habitat for endangered species. Living within this era of hyper-technology and attention capitalism, “ample time” can feel like an endangered species. So, take a big breath and be here now with the words of this love letter. May it be a temporary refugium as I share a beautiful scene. Let me take you there.
My life partner, Haeja, and I drove about 45 minutes southeast from Warren Wilson College to visit with Carlos at the “urban” garden behind Calvary Episcopal Church in Fletcher, North Carolina. His partner, Delia, a co-founder of Tierra Fertil Cooperative, was driving her daughter all the way to Charlotte and back that day for medical care, so we didn’t get to meet her. I had the chance to speak with Delia earlier and everyone speaks glowingly of her! Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see their production farm in Leicester, NC, 25 miles northeast of the garden. So, another visit is essential!
Meeting Carlos, one of the core leaders of the cooperative, was a joy. When we drove up -- careful not to park too close to a tombstone in the adjacent cemetery -- Carlos was tending the garden as he often does after a full day of work in Asheville.
The garden was gorgeous. Bees were carousing the basil flowers and marigolds, the strawberry leaves were lush, the carrots were fluffy and full, and the greenhouse was nurturing the recently planted seeds of winter greens.
Tierra Fertil is clearly a place where they are intentionally creating a refugium.
Tierra Fertil Cooperative: a refugium for immigrants in Western NC
Started by folks from El Salvador and Mexico, this habitat is social and economic as much as ecological. They have built a place to grow food, share it, and be agents in their community. The cooperative provides access to the resources and capacity needed for production and to cultivate food justice and racial equity. The community members are reclaiming agrarian and cultural knowledge, while increasing their autonomy, capacity, and collective power. The goal is a more sustainable, fair, and equitable life for the Latinx community and other people of color in the area. And their vision is becoming reality.
Since cooperatives are less known by many in the U.S., it’s worth explaining that coops are “an autonomous association of people united voluntarily to meet our common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically controlled enterprise.” (International Cooperative Alliance)
The Tierra Fertil farmers’ cooperative is not just fulfilling personal aspirations but it prioritizes community ambitions that include access to healthy, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food, and food sovereignty.
Tierra Fertil runs an Escuela Campesina (Farm or Peasant School), which reconnects the Hispanic community members to their ancestral relationship with farming and nature. With pride, they share and recover knowledge and skills about farming, food, herbs, cooking, culture and the impact on individual health and community well-being.
And Tierra Fertil’s ‘Abundancia’ food program has been distributing nutritious and culturally appropriate food to Hispanic families since the pandemic in 2020. The boxes are packed with masa for making tortillas, eggs, fruit, and supplemented with produce straight from the farm and garden, and they reach more than 150 families each month.
We at PHP -- and you -- through gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing, have the honor of supporting this wonderful community and cooperative!
Speaking of rebuilding community, some restaurants off the coast of Italy are trying something unique to our times.
One More Thing I Love:
Something lovely is happening on the Italian island of Sardinia. Fifteen restaurants are running a one-month pilot to counter family dinner times where everyone stares silently at their phones. During the month, they're asking families to tuck the phones away for the meal. But they’re not just saying "no phones," the waiters hand each family a little "reunion kit," a box designed by the Italian federation of pediatricians. Yes, we’ve gotten to where doctors need to prescribe conversation!
The kits are filled with games, drawings, and questions to get parents and kids talking to each other. For example, "How was your day?" The whole initiative was conjured by a woman named Anna Cau, who was a judge for children during her career. The restaurant owners had noticed how families increasingly came in chatting, but then go quiet, sometimes even handing a phone to a young one to keep them occupied. Now, during the pilot, that silence has been replaced with the sounds of families catching up and laughing. Often the conversation will get going without even opening the kit – but sometimes a little prompt helps.
More Beloveds: My Seestar S30 and the Orion Nebula
This nebula, also called the Great Nebula, was looking photogenic one early morning in October. The Orion Nebula spans 20 light years and was the scene of some drama about two million years ago, when three stars - AE Aurigae, 53 Arietis, and Mu Columbae, seen in the upper quadrant - escaped. They are now speeding away at 62 miles a second from their home in the nebula. Astronomers suspect a nearby intermediate black hole (about 200 solar masses) was the motivation, but we may never know.
I took this with my portable $350 smart telescope, which is smaller than a loaf of bread. I’ve been happy with the photos, and thrilled to dive deeper into the mysteries above.
Garden Update
We ate the last of the garden tomatoes in our salad today and the winter cover crop has covered everything with a blur of green. A friend brought me some empty milk jugs and a bunch of native plant seeds, so I’m ready to dive into the world of natives and pollinators!
As we descend from summer’s heights toward the cold of winter, last week’s Calendar of the Soul verse from Rudolf Steiner seems like a fitting way to end this letter.
To fire thinking’s radiance
Forcefully within myself,
Find meaning in experience,
From World-Spirit’s fount of strength —
For me is summer’s heritage
Is autumn’s calm and winter’s hope.
As the days shorten and the darkness enfolds, may you kindle the inner flame and be well until next time!
Warmly,
andrew
Learn more and donate to the Hunger Program via our website at pcusa.org/hunger.
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