I have some very exciting news that I am wanting to share with you all.......
My friend Sarah and I are starting a non-profit organization called non other than "Farmers in the dale". Our vision for this organization is to have families and individuals host backyard gardens or small farms and then donate the harvests of food to our local community of impoverished families that can't afford or do not have access to fresh produce. We will be hosting a free farm stand weekly all year round in various areas of our town especially those in food deserts who have to travel distance to get access to fresh produce.
In Kern county we have 3 food deserts! I didn't realize that we had any and having 3 really surprised me! Some of you might not know what a food desert actually is? A food desert is defined as "urban or rural areas where residents do not have access to healthy affordable foods. These areas have limited access to supermarkets and in some cases are saturated in unhealthy food options like fast food restaurants or convenience stores that do not offer healthy food or fresh food options. Food deserts affect a large portion of the American public."
Arvin, Lamont and weedpatch are the 3 food deserts that we have here in Kern County and though these areas are often considered "Agricultural" areas, the residents that live in these areas have no or limited access to stores that carry fresh produce or are unable to afford the produce that is grown there. So our "Farmers in the dale" are going to try and reach these rural areas as well as other areas in our town where families relying heavily on public assistance programs can get fresh, organic produce to feed their families for free. A lot of people don't realize that these public assistance programs limit greatly the accessibility or ability to buy fresh produce based on the small amounts of funding they are given. if you only have $3 to spend a day it's often more practical and logical to spend that limited amount on cheap, boxed, highly preserved convenience foods then to spend $3 on a bag of grapes.
When you are hungry your body goes into a survival mode that triggers the need for as many calories as it can possibly get access to and processed foods hold greater caloric value over fresh produce, though the produce is ultimately better for your body nutritionally, when you are hungry and your body is trying to survive, it is looking for greater calories. The problem with not getting enough fresh produce and healthy food into your system is the health problems it creates. Kids who eat nothing but processed foods that are filled with sugar or broken down into sugar in the bodily system have very negative affects on their growing and developing bodies and brains. So many children these days go to school hungry or loaded down with sugary breakfasts, it is having negative affects on the abilities to focus on learning. Imagine sitting in a desk with your tummy growling and you're so hungry you feel physically sick and can't concentrate on anything the teacher is teaching because your thoughts are on the time, when will lunch time be here? When can I make this pain go away? or for the child that had sugary cereal and cheap processed food for breakfast is fidgeting in his or her seat because the sugar gave him negative energy that needs to be run out at recess, he can't focus on what the teacher is saying because any minute now the bell is going to ring and he's bursting with the sugar high the processed food has given to him. After awhile his body crashes because the sugar energy has been run off but it also brought down his blood sugar levels to a very negative level. Now he can't concentrate because he feels physically bad, shaky, weak.
My best friend is a Kindergarten teacher, she teaches in an area where the families are poor. In her school they have a garden, she teaches a lot on where food comes from and encourages kids to get interested in agriculture and farming because no matter how the world progresses, FOOD is a basic human need. A lot of her kids are getting access to what real produce looks like straight on the vine for the first time in their lives! So many of her students have never tasted carrots or seen what a radish looks like in person. Los Angeles and the surrounding areas have a lot of food deserts and though you can occasionally find a small farm here and there in an area that is mostly city, there's a great need for fresh food and healthy produce there and I'm sure if you research your own areas of town or the towns surrounding yours, you can find a need too.
So here we are, organizing our organization, getting things ready to launch, recruiting volunteers that are willing to host gardens or small backyard farms or donate produce from their already established gardens and farms, getting our tax ID and all the other legal legitimate things that go into starting a non-profit, creating an official website, launching social media pages to help connect us to the families in need and the families that are wanting to help....I'm amazed at how much work goes into these types of things but I know it's all worth it! I'm hoping to encourage other people in other areas beyond our county of Kern to start their own version of "Farmers in the Dale" and to help the food deserts that surround their towns.
Beyond the free farm stand that we will be hosting weekly, we are also hoping to not just provide free fresh produce but to also help the families in need start their own backyard gardens to grow fresh food and to learn how to cook basic dishes using the food they are getting from our farm stand. We have such a vision for this organization and our excitement grows and grows as we get closer to the action of launching everything that will make us officially an organization. The support we are getting from friends and family helps fuel our excitement and also humbles us to know that we have such an amazing group behind us that are willing to help how they can and are offering different services and ways to help us make this a possibility. We want to create something that is going to reach so many in need and we need all the love and support we can get from the people we have in this wonderful community that we live in. As we get things going we will be informing everyone on all our social sites and I of course will be blogging about this beautiful adventure we are embarking on! Please check back often to see what we are doing :-) See you all soon!!!
