Community Garden Scholar

As of this month, I've officially joined the  NH Food Alliance  (NHFA) Network Leadership Team and  The Community Kitchen  (TCK) Board of Directors. I was honored to be invited to serve by both fantastic groups, which are doing excellent work across New Hampshire and the Monadnock Region, respectively. I look forward to using our collective capacity to build more thriving, community-based food systems and aligning efforts between higher education and neighboring partners. On a related note, dissertation research is now in full swing as I round out the last phase of my doctoral program and welcome teaching and research opportunities in 2020.  Connect with me  any time!

Sharing this article from the Yarden of Eatin' blog ( Eat Local Monadnock ) which is an excellent  resource for all things food, farming, and community in the Monadnock Region.  Community Garden Connections was grateful to the Monadnock Food Co-op and the patrons who rounded up their change to support community gardening efforts in Keene. Thank you!

This month I was invited to the US Food Sovereignty Alliance 's Northeast Assembly, where courageous and thoughtful people from several different tribes and countries organized around the deep work of reclaiming the rights of workers, women, migrants, and poor people to land access, fair labor, and traditional food ways. I learned about connections between food sovereignty, agroecology, and food-as-medicine, and between current agricultural movements and and their historical framing in the context of colonization and white supremacy. This is heavy and important work that requires open-mindedness, vulnerability, and willingness to speak and listen to personal truth; I was fortunate to be in the company of such an inclusive and dedicated group to engage in this experience. In small groups, assembly participants conducted a conjunctural analysis of food sovereignty in the Northeast region. This is a new process for me that involves dialogue to identify: structure (economic, poli...

I have been learning a lot about autoethnographic research over the last month. While methodological openness is a key virtue of autoethnography, “venturing into the unknown of self-study can be intimidating, especially when no guide provides an overview of how the methodological processes interrelate” (Struthers, 2014, p. 83). My current proposal is guided by scholarly advice not to “fall into presenting an overly intellectualized and reified map” (Anderson & Glass-Coffin, 2013, p. 58) but to remain open to adaptation, innovation, and learning as I go. Here's to the scholars who are forging and foraging our way through the tangled fields of knowledge! P.S. I am offering "Focus Fridays" for anyone doing research, writing, or creative work and could use a dedicated space in which to immerse.  Remaining dates in Antrim, NH: June 28; July 12, 26; August 2, 9, 16, 30; September 6, 20, 27  Additional dates at Antioch University New England: July 19; August 23; S...

On March 15-16 I will co-present "Feed & Empower: A Network-Based Approach to Regional Food Security & Justice" with Sarah Harpster, the (Keene, NH) Community Kitchen's Gleaning Coordinator and Rachel Brice, Community Garden Connections (CGC)'s Westmoreland Garden Project Manager (by remote). The presentation is part of the Universities Fighting World Hunger Summit presented by the University of Southern Maine's Food Studies Program, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and Campus Compact Maine. The Summit program and USM website have details.  The Summit's theme, "Fighting Hunger in a World of Plenty: Shifting Power and Taking Action," is related to my dissertation proposal, which looks at the experiences of various stakeholders in community-based food systems (CBFS) (specifically involving higher education institutions) through the lens of community empowerment. I'm honored to be co-presenting with two women who embody the...

Here are some of the places you'll find me through the next two months. I hope to see you there! Friday, February 8: Soup Day presented by Community Garden Connections at Antioch University New England. 11 am until soup runs out. Ingredients grown in the campus garden. $3 donation suggested, not required. Monday, February 11: Community Food Assessment planning meeting at Antioch University New England Wednesday, February 13: Community Table , presented by Windham County Grows Thursday, February 14: Visit to the campus garden and cafeteria at Franklin Pierce University Friday, March 1: First Friday Free Co-working at Hannah Grimes Center Monday, March 11: Soil Health for Vegetable Producers at Stonewall Farm, presented by Cheshire County Conservation District Tuesday, March 12: The NH Food Alliance and NH Farm to School present the 2019 NH Food System Statewide Gathering : Cultivating Our Collective Voice, at University of New Hampshire Friday, March 15 & Saturd...

I wrote this paragraph as a first assignment for Dissertation Seminar, which I'm completing this spring. It's about what feeds me as a community-engaged scholar and the bigger picture I hope this work will serve. ​Energizing my work is the desire to introduce a new phrase to the constellation of local/alternative food research that includes food justice, food sovereignty, food dignity, food access, and food security. This phrase is food empowerment and is based on the premise that the current industrial food regime has created drastic environmental and socioeconomic imbalances that perhaps an empowerment agenda can help correct. Despite their popularity, community-based food system (CBFS) efforts such as community gardens, community-supported agriculture, gleaning, cooperatives, etc., struggle to be self-sustaining and meet the long-term needs of hungry people. Further, where higher education institutions are involved in CBFS, their engagement with local stakeholders has produc...

I recently passed my qualifying exam, a major milestone in the PhD journey and a significant moment as a researcher and writer. My next move is to finish drafting my dissertation proposal for review my advisor and second reader to review, and then bring a third outside reviewer on board. This is what I'll be working on this winter. In the meantime, I thought I'd share my two concluding paragraphs (edited) from the qualifying exam, along with some upcoming activities related to the work this week. To articulate community garden projects in higher education contexts (CGP-HEs) as a reflection of both food justice and civic ecology means digging deeper into the meanings of both community and gardens . Each term is a richly interactive space where learning and action occur within boundaries of time, culture, and geography, with competition and cooperation creating the potential for interesting problems and surprises. Based on the idea in community garden scholarship that “ comm...

Sharing from the  Food Systems Leadership Network  newsletter: Monday Nov. 19: Fail Fest Submissions Due Submit your failure  and be in the running for a $250 prize! This is a great opportunity to think back on something that didn’t go quite as planned… or maybe missed the mark completely. What happened? What did you learn? Submit to present your failure during December’s live Fail Fest where participants will vote on the most epic failure and have an open forum to share their own experiences and lessons learned. Step One:  Submit your failure Step Two:  Register for the Dec. 5 Fail Fest Step Three: See you Dec. 5! Tuesday Nov. 20: Extended Deadline - Non-Profit Boot Camp RFP: Communications Course, anyone?! We got some GREAT proposals for the spring Non-Profit Boot Camp series, but there’s one topic that you’ve been asking for that we didn’t see in the mix: Strategic Communications. We’ve extended the deadline in the hopes of finding a communica...

On November 2, I will be presenting at the  Horace Mann 2018 Spirit of Service Awards , "celebrating those who bring the Antioch University mission to life through their commitment to community engagement, diversity, lifelong learning, and social justice" ( AUNE ). Please join me ! Other fall events and activities where we can connect: Hancock Elementary School's Harvest Fest with The Cornucopia Project on October 25 Soup Day with Community Garden Connections at Antioch University New England on October 26 and continuing every other Friday through the fall semester Monadnock Food Co-op's Annual Meeting on October 26 Dance Party at The Hive (Hannah Grimes Center) following on October 26 Keene Farmer's Market on October 30 Feast on This! Film Festival  with Monadnock Farm & Community Coalition on November 8-10 Thanksgiving Farm Fare at Stonewall Farm on November 16-17 Broke Arts Fair in Peterborough on November 17 Let's connect!