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Beets grown by Resiliency Garden
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Volunteers for Resiliency Garden construct raised garden beds that are distributed to the food insecure.
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A volunteer for Resiliency Garden works on constructing the raised garden beds. More than 70 have been donated to recipients in the local community.
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Greens grown by Resiliency Garden
Shannon Hicks-Pope cried when she saw aisles of empty shelves during a grocery shopping trip a few weeks ago, her first during the pandemic. The Hopewell teaching assistant’s worries are shared by many Americans newly facing impeded access to nutritious, affordable food.
In the grocery store, the end of the food supply chain, she says everyone was shellshocked.
“I just had my little list, and when we were walking, we were meeting eyes with people, and everyone had this look, like this was just crazy,” Hicks-Pope says. “We’ve never seen things like this.”
Local food justice advocates including Duron Chavis of Resiliency Garden Initiative say the current situation exposes the precarious nature of a food system that relies primarily on transported goods instead of locally sourced, fresh food, and this growing food insecurity highlights inequities that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chavis, along with organizations such as the nonprofit Shalom Farms, is working to improve food access during the pandemic through revamped distribution strategies, new grow-your-own food initiatives and continued local sourcing.
“There’s so many different pieces to the food system, and no one organization can do it all,” Chavis says. “The work we do around teaching people to grow their own food is complemented by organizations like Feed More, who do direct donations … and organizations like Shalom Farms, who do direct [growth] of produce and get it into those communities.”
In mid-March, Resiliency Garden launched a program to build and donate 24-square-foot raised garden beds for food-insecure area residents, along with access to online growing tutorials. Chavis says the beds have the potential to produce over 70 pounds of food annually and can yield kale, russet greens, collard greens and mixed greens in two to three weeks. As of early April, Resiliency Garden had distributed over 70 beds.
A recent recipient of a garden bed, Hicks-Pope says that bulk grocery visits in order to limit trips to the store are a financial struggle for her and her husband. She hopes to begin to grow enough produce to put a dent in her grocery bill and cultivate self-sufficiency.
“It’s empowering to be able to grow your own food,” she says. “If the store doesn’t have it, I can go out and pick a couple of potatoes and onions, and we are good for the night.”
Michael Jackson, a local subsistence farmer, grows fruit, nuts and vegetables on an acre of land surrounding his home. He says he is able to meet almost all of his food needs and believes it’s a viable cost-saving measure. Although resources such as space, finances and time vary by household, Jackson encourages people to use what they have in order to experience the health and financial benefits of urban agriculture.
Since COVID-19 descended on Virginia, Shalom Farms has reduced weekly deliveries to convenience stores, while still distributing the same amount of produce, and hired farmworkers due to a decrease in volunteers.
Through Shalom’s Healthy Corner Store Initiative, in partnership with the Richmond Health District, the nonprofit provides produce to convenience stores in food deserts. Shalom’s mobile markets also serve residents in public housing communities.
Dominic Barrett, executive director of Shalom Farms, says they are exploring the possibility of phone orders for pickup at their mobile markets. The Powhatan farm has been experiencing increased requests from food pantries and Feed More, as well as apartment communities hoping to be added to the distribution lists and general queries surrounding food access. Community Supported Agriculture cooperatives such as Farm to Family have also reported a marked uptick in online delivery requests and walk-up business at their mobile markets.
As food donations from area supermarkets to food banks drop nationwide, Barrett says the heightening food crisis can serve as a reminder of why a strong local food system with a short supply chain is so valuable. The silver lining: A renewed focus on local food, and greater empathy for the food insecure.
“It’s been interesting to see how this crisis has caused so many folks of relative privilege, means and access to step back and think about the food system a bit,” Barrett says. “They are getting a tiny glimpse of what millions across the country have been dealing with.”