After a long hiatus, Fork & Spade is back! At this time of year, it’s easy to feel dragged down by the cold and the continuing uncertainty and isolation of the pandemic. Fork & Spade is here to remind you that spring is just around the corner, and that our local communities continue to care for each other even when (and maybe especially when) the season is dark.
The ground may be hard as a rock right now, but the Grow Food Northampton Annual Seed Swap is the little bit of light we need to get us through to the season of fruit and flowers. The seed swap will take place Saturday, March 19, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Grow Food’s Winter Farmers Market, held at the Northampton Senior Center.
All donated seeds, plus extras provided by Grow Food, will be available for pickup and free of charge. Please note that depending on the amount available, there may be a limit on the number of seed packets each person can take.
If you’d like to donate seeds to the swap, there are two ways to share. You can stop by the contactless Seed Deposit Box on the first floor of the Arts and Industries building at 221 Pine St. in Florence; or drop off seeds at the Winter Farmers Market (again, at the Northampton Senior Center) on Feb. 5, 19 or March 5, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Please make sure that any home-harvested seeds are in labeled envelopes, with the name and variety of the plant clearly written and not more than 2 years old.
Grow Food encourages folks to shop at the market afterward and enjoy a variety of vegetables, maple, honey, candles, beef, pork, eggs, herbal products, houseplants, yarn, pies and more.
Just a few blocks from Holyoke City Hall, the Dwight Street community garden, newly established last summer, has already become known as a community anchor. Proposed by the Holyoke Redevelopment Authority, this urban renewal project came about after the Holyoke chapter of Neighbor to Neighbor recognized that a community garden is an essential component of a larger resiliency hub, including not just free access to fresh produce but to neighbor-to-neighbor education and community as well.
In only its first season, Neighbor to Neighbor and a team of 20-plus rotating volunteers have donated over 100 pounds of produce to the community, hosted free cookouts for neighbors, and participated in city meetings where they often share more than just their hopes for the garden.
Just as important, the garden has provided a safe and peaceful gathering space for a community so often threatened with disenfranchisement, police surveillance and the threat of harm, and has also proved to be a space where a variety of ideas can be not only shared but also put into practice. Last summer, gardeners from a variety of backgrounds and traditions shared their knowledge in a collaborative effort, demonstrating to one another that there is not just a single way of doing things but a wide range of techniques that can be used to raise a fruitful harvest.
This summer, Neighbor to Neighbor will be furthering this idea of shared knowledge with some gardening workshops. Follow the group on Facebook (search for Dwight Street Garden), Instagram (@DwightStGarden) or reach out to terry@n2nma.org to sign up for the garden newsletter.
Northampton finally has a Friday Meal. The new year has brought with it the addition of a new day to the meal schedule at Manna Community Kitchen. Up until this year, there has not been a consistent free meal offered in Northampton on Fridays. It’s been Manna’s goal to fill that gap by adding this day to their regular schedule.
Thanks to the generosity of Edwards Church, Florence Bank and Greenfield Savings Bank, Manna’s Friday meal is now a reality. The lunchtime meal will be served at Edwards Church, 297 Main St., between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and is open to anyone who may be in a need of a fresh and nutritious meal.
Manna is also looking for volunteers to help prepare, package and serve the Friday meal. If you’d like to lend a hand, sign up at their website: mannanorthampton.org. Currently, Manna is providing every volunteer with a rapid COVID test upon arrival and requires masks to be worn throughout the shift.
Climate Action Now, in collaboration with Grow Food Northampton, is continuing its “Food Sovereignty Series” this winter on Zoom. The public is invited to all their events, which are free. The series focuses on the intersection of inequity, racism, industrial food production and the climate crisis, and presents regenerative farming, forest protection and community-building as essential to protecting our ecosystem.
The next talk, on Feb. 15 at 7 p.m., will be a showing and discussion of the powerful “Soul Fire Farm” keynote address by Leah Penniman, who co-founded Soul Fire Farm, an Afro-Indigenous centered community farm dedicated to uprooting racism in the food system. In March, Climate Action is looking forward to hosting a bilingual event led by the Pioneer Valley Workers Center.
Climate Action Now invites everyone to view their earlier talks at climateactionnowma.org, accessible under the Farming, Forests, and Food Systems tab. To stay updated on all their events, sign up for their newsletter at climateactionnowma.org/newsletter/.
In late January, the Hampshire County Food Policy Council invited all members of the Hampshire County community to join the council during two launch events.
For the past year and a half, a group of community members who are typically underrepresented in decision-making in Hampshire County has been working to determine the decision-making method, governance structure and partnership policies for the council. This method of determining the council’s structure was conceived of as an alternative to the typical development of such groups, where professionals set the agenda and then struggle to recruit community members who are marginalized by the conventional food system to join.
This experiment in asking community members to set the table to their own liking was funded by the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission and supported by a partnership between Cooley Dickinson Health Care, the Collaborative for Educational Services, the Hilltown Community Health Center, and Hilltown Community Development.
The Hampshire County Food Policy Council’s mission is to cultivate shared governance as well as a countywide network that builds the power of community voice to make food policies more equitable, honor diverse cultures and help local food economies to flourish. Anyone who shares the council’s vision of a resilient community-owned regional food system where all people are empowered to live more joyful and gratifying lives through access to affordable, healthy, locally grown food of their choice is invited to become a council partner.
To learn more, visit hcfpc.collaborative.org.
Francie Lin is the food access coordinator for Grow Food Northampton. She can be reached at francie@growfoodnorthampton.org.