Top: Participants meet and greet between sessions at the Everybody Eats 2.0: Food democracy session at Trinity Church. Bottom: Children painted slogans and art during the conference.
Photos by Belinda Thurston
By Belinda Thurston
A karate dojo in Flint started a garden. It created job opportunities for teens and fresh produce in a post-industrial desert.
Lansing eastside youths are building box gardens. They learn to build them, the kinds of vegetables to plant, and how to install them for their neighbors.
And Dr. Melvin Jones, pastor of Union Missionary Baptist Church, changed his diet to combat health issues.
They all met at the Everybody Eats 2.0: Food Democracy conference (http://www.every-body-eats.com/) Feb. 23 at Trinity Church on Dunckel Road. The second annual conference not only emphasizes the need for attention to the quality of food we eat, but how cultivating food systems, community gardens and eating habits help build healthy communities.
The conference was “an opportunity for people to meet and network who might not otherwise have the opportunity to meet each other,” according to Julie Cotton, an academic specialist in the Sustainable Agriculture Department at Michigan State University and one of the conference coordinators. “And for me that’s really the key when you’re working in community-driven movements to get people who are interested in the same thing together in the room who might not normally be because you’re much stronger together than you are individually.”
There were almost 30 panels and more than 20 exhibitors from across the state sharing everything from community gardening efforts, to food banks and neighborhood centers, to protecting wolves and making farms on flood plains.
This year there were about 350 who attended the conference, according to Kyle Whyte, another conference coordinator.
The conference started four years ago as the Growing Our Food System conference. The goal is to help create a more equitable food system in the greater Lansing area, Whyte said.
Participants ranged in ages including youth.
Marjia, a Lansing Eastern High School, student attended the conference. She did not wish to share her last name.
Marjia is a member of the Allen Neighborhood Center Youth Service Corps. (http://allenneighborhoodcenter.org/people/youthservicecorps/)
Youth Service Corps is a 15-member job and life skills training program for youth ages 11-17. It is free to join and participate. Through projects such as Garden-In-A-Box and Edible Park, Youth Service Corps is a fun way to get involved and work towards a sustainable, healthy, and networked community on Lansing’s Eastside.
She said she enjoys being a part of the “Garden-In-A-Box” program because it feels good “just knowing I’m making a difference, even if it’s a small difference.”
“Like I’ll never forget the first time I planted a garden in a box,” she said. “We went to the lady’s house and she was like ‘Thank you so much, now I can actually grow things…”
“It was just amazing to know that I was a part of something a lot larger than myself. And even when I do leave, because I’m graduating soon and I will be going I can know that I helped this club even a little bit. It’s amazing.”
Laila and Marissa, Pleasant View Magnet School students, were found snacking on some of the free cookie refreshments between sessions.
“This summer, me my aunt and her kids, we’re going down to Florida for a week,” Laila said. “And I’ve decided that I want to help make a garden for her kids so they don’t have to always go to the store and buy apples and stuff and onions. So that I can just grow them and they can just go to the backyard or something and just pull them out of the ground.”
How does she think it would feel to help grow food?
“I think I would like it because I like helping people a lot,” she said.
The two keynote speakers shared unexpected stories.
Dr. Melvin Jones, shared his personal story about becoming more healthy with exercise and a vegan diet. He said he and his wife both stopped eating meat and animal products like milk and cheese. He said his health greatly improved and he has even stopped taking some prescription medications.
Jackie King, co-founder of Kings Karate (http://www.greeningofflint.cas.msu.edu/) shared the story of his Karate dojo’s garden that was created from an abandoned lot in Flint. Today they produce enough food to have a stand a two farmers markets.
“The presence of trees and open space has a positive effect on the spirit of poor people,” King said during his keynote.
“So many of us feel overwhelmed by the problems we encounter and we wonder what can I do? Me?”
“Peel up the asphalt! Let the dirt live!”
Karate-Ka bought a plot that was being dumped on and cleared it and dug up the asphalt and built a hoop garden with solar panels and a chicken coop and composting.
“Don’t be ashamed to get your hands dirty,” King said. “Dirt is what you’re made of, so it’s good. Have fun doing it. Rejuvenate yourself.”
Whyte said this year’s conference “was bigger than last year, and had greater and more diverse offerings.”
“Next year will be even better as we engage more with community members and past attendees regarding the program development.”
This was printed in the March 10, 2013 – March 23, 2013 Edition
