From Food Ministry to Slow Foods

 Two weeks ago I wrote a piece about the beginnings of Tucker’s first organic community garden venture, the . In a follow-up article I described how the garden’s by-laws and structure make sharing, caring, and community-building an integral part of HPCG’s existence. The fact that DeKalb County’s Natural Resources Management Office decreed that any community garden must adhere to organic methods of fertilization and pest control have helped to create a culture that prizes education, cooperation, and community capacitation. How-to classes are available to all members, besides which HPCG’s website makes resource materials freely available.

Volunteer work is another indispensable facet of HPCG’s mission. Members devoted their time to building the garden from the ground up, a feat that required focus, collaborative connections among members, borrowed or donated tools, and occasionally free lunch. This community spirit has spread in ways I will explore below.

St. Martin de Porres Food Ministry

“Dedicating plots to growing food for a local pantry was always part of the garden plan.” Susan Farrar, co-president and a founding mother of the Garden told me.  “The trick was to find a local pantry that would accept fresh produce.” Due to time and logistical considerations, many food pantries only accept non-perishable items. Unfortunately, this prevents the most nutritious, healthful foods getting out to those who arguably need it most. Lack of access to food retailers, availability of nutritious foods, or affordability of foods create a circumstance known as a “food desert” for low-income populations, especially in urban areas.  Compounding this difficulty is an economic climate that has led 716,749  Georgia household to seek food stamps in 2010 – a 23.2% increase from 2009.  As advocates for healthy foods and community empowerment, the founding members could not pass up an opportunity to tie HPCG’s mission to this larger issue. 

Their first attempt – a pantry run by several local churches – failed to yield results. Fortunately, a timely article in Tucker Times profiled the Food Ministry of Holy Cross Catholic Church on Chamblee Tucker Road. The Friends of St Martin de Porres food ministry, directed by Mike Hardin, is an all-volunteer non-profit ministry dedicated to feeding the homeless and needy in the Atlanta area. Funded by donations from Holy Cross parishioners and an annual “Street People’s Show”, this food pantry manages to provide fresh produce to the populations it serves. A few members of HPCG also belonged to Holy Cross Church, which made the tie inevitable.

When Lisa Shinew, the Garden co-president, contacted Hardin, he jumped on the idea right away. Not only did he encourage the idea of dedicating four garden beds to the food ministry’s work, he also visited the garden bearing a list of potential crops the ministry might find most beneficial.

HPCG delivered its first food donation – zucchini – to the Friends of St. Martin de Porres food ministry at Holy Cross Catholic Church on June 30th 2010. Since that time, HPCG has delivered pounds of fresh produce to the ministry, every Tuesday and Friday morning that they can – allowing for harvest and volunteers’ schedules. The four plots thrive in part thanks to board member Deborah Ashley, who coordinates planting, watering, harvesting, and delivery duty.  

Le Cordon Bleu

 What do a prestigious culinary institution and a fertile vegetable garden have in common? Food! Certainly Shinew and Farrar thought so, as they sought to contact Le Cordon Bleu, introducing themselves and the garden, feeling out for collaborative possibilities.

As it turns out, they needed no introduction. Glenn Mack, Le Cordon Bleu’s president, had driven by Henderson Park the day before he received Farrar’s email and had remarked on the garden’s “amazing progress.” This initial outreach led to a meeting with chef instructors Gina Melita and Amy Ponzoli. As heads of Le Cordon Bleu’s Atlanta Slow Food Club, these instructors felt a natural kinship with the organic garden’s efforts, which led to LCB volunteers participating in HPCG’s work day scheduled for September 25th.

The slow food movement, founded in 1989, emphasizes the need to respect the natural cycles that bring tomatoes to the table and squash to the pantry. Slow food advocates seek to “counter the rise of fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat.”  Chefs Melita and Ponzoli must have known what a great opportunity to bring the Slow Food concept home the LCB/HPCG volunteer effort would provide, since the experience allowed LCB students and their families to participate firsthand in the very process that makes the food they learn to prepare so marvelously come to light. The hard work and patience required to see the digging, building, planting, and tending process through to the end allows the food artist to understand the medium he or she is working with.

Henderson Park Community Garden members, on their end, benefitted greatly from the extra pair of hands, and from the snacks these professionals prepared, using ingredients from the garden. This was not the first time that LCB chefs had HPCG’s fresh produce at their disposal, however. The Garden had an opportunity to donate produce for the Taste of Le Cordon Bleu event for the Atlanta Chapter of Le Cordon Bleu Alumni Association on September 11th. Eggplant, peppers, okra, and tomatoes, in addition to basil, rosemary, and thyme from Henderson Park Community Garden graced the banquet table of LCB’s alumni event, further cementing the ties between those who care about food – whether how to prepare it, grow it, or otherwise invest love and care in seeing its best, most nutritious qualities come to life.