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Seeds of Solidarity was established ten years ago by partners Ricky Baruc and Deb Habib. It provides people of all ages with the inspiration and practical tools needed to sow, grow, harvest and market farm-fresh, organic cuisine within their local communities. During the 1930s, the Quabbin reservoir was created to supply the state’s capital, Boston, with its drinking water. This involved the flooding of four adjacent towns as well as a fertile valley, causing much of the region’s agricultural land to go out of production. Local mills closed and an economic depression took hold of the area. More than 60 years later, the Seeds of Solidarity Farm and Education Centre, which is run ‘off the grid’ using solar energy, has been making fundamental strides towards the regeneration of agriculture in the region. Since the organisation’s humble beginnings, Ricky Baruc and Deb Habib have turned their 30-acre plot of barren, infertile land into productive, ‘living’ soil. Solar greenhouses mean that every week for nine months of every year, 40 organic varieties of speciality greens, including 16 varieties of garlic, are harvested, eco-packaged and then bio-driven a maximum of 15 miles to their intended restaurants, markets, schools and community kitchen tables. “Transforming marginal land is the future of agriculture,” says Deb Habib. “Turning our local resources into abundant soil gives birth to beautiful food and community vitality.” Seeds of Solidarity has recently partnered with six schools in the Quabbin region and set up a Cultivating Healthy Communities programme. The idea is to address the problems of obesity and physical inactivity, educate teachers, pupils and their parents about the harms of inadequate food and the benefits of quality produce, while encouraging school kitchens to opt for locally grown, fresh food rather than frozen, processed, reconstituted or canned. One course, Reading, Writing and Wellness, merges nutrition education, gardening and ‘slow’ cuisine into the school curriculum, while after-school workshops host guest chef speakers and provide lessons on seed growing, transplanting and composting. “It’s so much cooler to eat something after you’ve helped it grow,” says Lillian, a participating student. One school, on a cold Autumn morning, asked its 700 pupils and teachers to walk to their lessons and, in return, they got a warming breakfast of local eggs, maple syrup and home-cooked bread made with carrots plucked from the school’s own garden. The Seeds of Solidarity Farm and Education Centre offers internships in direct connection with their educational programmes each year. These courses are designed for undergraduate and graduate college students, who are seeking hands-on experience in both environmental and social justice education. There are also farm apprenticeship schemes and short term volunteering opportunities. The Seeds of Leadership Garden, a programme specifically aimed at teenagers, inspires them to use their hearts, minds and bodies to cultivate food and work towards a better future. “The Seeds of Leadership Garden is a growing, learning experience that has made me a more open-minded person. It is a place you can go and everything is ok. When you go back home... things are not necessarily ok. Through this, you know you’re making the world better... maybe not perfect, but better,” says teenager, Kirby. Seeds of Solidarity also sponsor an annual community festival, which is organised by 15 neighbourhood volunteers and has earned the reputation as being one of New England’s finest art and culinary events. Now in its ninth year, the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival honours the more important aspects of sustainability, while hosting the cultural and agricultural bounty of the region, such as the area’s celebrated 16 varieties of garlic. Known light-heartedly as 'The Festival that Stinks', it provides a venue for 90 regional art, farming and food vendors, as well as performers, attracting at least 10,000 visitors each year. It serves to unite residents, whose livelihoods are connected to the land and the arts, with those from outside the region. The Festival makes a point every year to cause minimal impact on the environment and it carries the motto 'Waste Wise and Litter Free'. The event organisers proudly boast being left with only two black bin liners of non recyclable rubbish after the entire two days, even though they attract such huge crowds. To do this, they use only compostables, biodegradables and recyclables, while musicians perform on a solar powered stage and all event vehicles are vegetable oil fuelled. With the transformation of wasteland into a bountiful farm, the initiation of a huge, flourishing festival and the establishment of innovative education programmes, Seeds of Solidarity are revitalizing the region, while being a working example of how nature’s resources herald the power to heal the morale of any living community. Contact: Seeds of Solidarity Levi Baruch gathers the harvest First published in Living Lightly Issue 39 Spring 2007 – Positive News Subscribers Magazine This is one of many stories available from Positive News newspaper. For more stories like this please visit: www.positivenews.org.uk (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.) |
Sarah
Wilkinson explores how a non-profit, grassroots organisation in the town
of Orange, in the northeastern state of Massachusetts, is benefiting its
community while also helping to regenerate its economy.