The Food Project: Youth. Food. Community.

Here at The Food Project, Thanksgiving is admittedly one of our favorite holidays. After growing food, harvesting food, selling food, cooking food, sharing food, eating food, and talking about food all year, it's only natural that we are excited for a day dedicated to food and people.

Thanksgiving is a day for spending time with family and friends, cooking, eating, and embracing traditions new and old. Like all holidays, however, the experience of this day is different for everyone. Last week, I asked some of my co-workers here at The Food Project to share their favorite memories of Thanksgiving.

For many of us, Thanksgiving is about family...

"It's the one weekend when my family and friends all converge on my hometown." - Allison Daminger, Community Programs Associate

"I always love having multiple generations under one roof and spending as much time as we can outside." - Polly Reeve, Director of Development

Read more

Marlie Hands Out SmoothiesLast month, The Food Project celebrated Food Day in grand style by hosting celebrations at our offices and farms and attending festive events across Massachusetts. Over a period of more than a week before, on, and after Food Day, TFP staff, youth, partners, and community members participated in food-focused tours, workshops, panels, and more.

Read more

Winter CropsPlease join The Food Project on Tuesday, November 20^th for a Fall Festival and Market in the Dudley Greenhouse! From 4:00-7:00pm, we will hold a family fun event to celebrate fall, Thanksgiving, and the end of the harvest season. 

Produce from The Food Project's farms in Dorchester and Roxbury will be available for sale, including a variety of root vegetables and greens. Come buy delicious, fresh food to adorn your Thanksgiving table or to store away for the winter. As always, we accept SNAP/EBT, WIC coupons, senior farmers' market coupons, debit, and cash.

In addition, TFP youth interns will be running fun and educational activities for children and families. Outside the greenhouse, the Mei Mei Street Kitchen food truck will be selling some delicious snacks and drinks.

We look forward to seeing you there! 

Read more

Anna, Anthony, and Eli Lead the TourOn Saturday, Food Project staff, interns, community partners, and guests meandered their way around the Dudley Hub, visiting and learning about the various urban agriculture initiatives in the neighborhood. As they walked, they discussed the neighborhood highlights they saw, their own experiences with food and agriculture, and the implications of urban agriculture on this neighborhood and on the rest of the city. At one site, they paused to applaud a community gardener who had taken over an abandoned plot and donated the food he grew to hunger relief in his community. At another, they learned about the native Roxbury Russet apple variety, one of the oldest apple varieties cultivated in the United States.

Read more

The Community BayWhile many of Massachusetts’ farms are harvesting their last crops of the season and preparing for rest, the Dudley Greenhouse is just starting to blossom. Food Project staff and community members spent the month of September welcoming new partners to the greenhouse and preparing for a winter of delicious vegetables.

In July, the Dudley Greenhouse received 18 applications from groups looking to grow food and learn together in the greenhouse's community bay. The greenhouse advisory group selected eight groups to share space and resources in the greenhouse during the upcoming year. The new groups include local elementary schools, community gardeners, and refugee groups. Each week, FoodCorps Service Member Marlie Wilson welcomes second and third grade classes from Mason and Winthrop Elementary Schools to the greenhouse to learn to grow food and explore gardening, nutrition, and plant science.

Read more

October 16 - also known as World Food Day - marked the start of nearly two weeks of events here in Boston and around the country to highlight the wealth of activities and opportunities around food in our communities. On Tuesday evening, TFP Director of Community Programs Brandy Brooks joined Vivien Morris of the Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition and Karen Spiller of the Boston Collaborative for Food and Fitness for a roundtable discussion on urban agriculture and food justice hosted by Common Boston.

Read more

On Wednesday, October 10 and Thursday, October 11, The Food Project will be participating in The Boston Foundation's Giving Common Challenge. The Giving Common Challenge is a 36-hour online event to drive donations to participating nonprofits. From 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, Food Project supporters can donate to us through our profile on the Giving Common website. In addition to the donations collected, The Boston Foundation is offering $150,000 in prizes to participating organizations for various accomplishments, such as most money donated during particular time slots or the highest number of unique donors. Please check out our Giving Common profile and help us win some prizes! Gifts of any size are appreciated - from $25 to $5,000!

Read more

Read more

Judy Prepares Chard Before the ClassOn Saturday, The Food Project held a cooking class called "One Vegetable, Four Ways" as part of our ongoing Grow Well, Eat Well, Be Well workshop series. The class focused on cooking with an assortment of hardy, leafy greens and learning techniques to use many varieties interchangeably. Food Project staff Kathleen Banfield and high school senior Judy Merisier led the class.

To begin, attendees tasted four types of sautéed greens – collards, Lacinato kale, Tyfon-Holland greens, and Japanese Sharaku spinach, all cooked individually - and talked amongst each other to compare flavors, textures, and what they liked or disliked about each variety. The tasting sparked great conversations, as people had varying opinions about their favorites and which one was most bitter! To highlight variations of a simple stir-fry, participants sampled greens cooked with coconut milk, and then with curry powder - both were well liked and delicious.

Read more

Governor Patrick at the West Cottage FarmOn Tuesday, September 18, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Commissioner of Agriculture Greg Watson joined representatives from The Food Project (TFP), the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), and Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) to tour urban agriculture initiatives in Boston's Dudley Street neighborhood. The group visited The Food Project's urban farm on West Cottage Street, the Dudley Greenhouse on Brook Avenue, and several community gardens on Brook Avenue. Along the way, Governor Patrick chatted with neighborhood growers about their gardens, what they are growing, and why gardening is important to them. "It was exciting to see how much of an agriculture supporter our governor is," remarked TFP Director of Community Programs Brandy Brooks, “and how knowledgeable and interested he is [in urban agriculture].

Read more