My most recent projects have mostly been outside of school. Every Thursdays and Saturday mornings I attend a youth workshop at Added Value, an urban farm in Red Hook, Brooklyn. On Thursdays, we conduct workshops that involve youth empowerment by conducting workshops that have to deal with connecting the food justice movement to other issues such as the lack of love for a community such as Red Hook. Right beside Red Hook is Carroll Gardens, one of the nicest neighborhoods in Brooklyn, which is dominated by mostly Caucasians. Red Hook is slowly gentrifying, but the comparison between the two neighborhoods in terms of what should be in a good community is extreme. In Red Hook, there are few supermarkets that supply fresh and healthy foods, so we look to Added Value as the change that we seek.
The first time I went to Red Hook was last spring, on a Saturday morning during Added Values farmers market. The organization that I work with, the New York to New Orleans coalition, sold our t-shirts to buyers at the farmers market. I was taken on a tour of the urban farm by a high school student that had been working there for a long time. The next few times I went, we conducted workshops that had our students engaged. The first workshop we did was set up with at least 20 students. One student held onto a piece of string and said something that he/she thought that a good community needed. They would then pass the string to another person in the circle until everyone held onto a piece. Then at least three of us were told to drop our pieces to see what would come of the web that was created and the web flopped and appeared destroyed. This activity was supposed to symbolize what would happen to a community that did not have these aspects, like Red Hook. We then grabbed a pair of scissors and cut off a section of our web to hold onto what we made together (I made mine into a bracelet).
The next few times I attended Added Value, we went through a composting workshop where students were taught the process of turning, the worm bins, and so on. I think composting is vital when working on an urban farm because not only does it reuse old food that would have just gone to waste, but it also creates some of the most beautiful soil. I learned how to properly compost this summer, but doing the process in New York somehow seemed to resonate with me more.
I am currently working on making the green roof at School of the Future a productive site where students can learn, work, grow and eat. We've got at least 10 students on deck now, with our 'club name', The Green Thumbs Project. Some of our many ideas include: growing produce that we would be able to supply to our schools cafeteria, painting a new mural to make it more attractive (the revolution needs sex appeal), and growing and selling sprouts to make profit. The few students who are participating are becoming more committed, and the more people that we have involved, the more creative ideas that are circulating.
As for my food ways, which I have already described in previous assignments, I hardly ever buy outside food. I constantly make my own food, including lunch, which can be extremely expensive by my school. I also only carry a refillable water bottle as to not waste plastic. And, the only liquids that I drink are water and tea.
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