Food for Thought Fridays: 8/13

For the Navajo Nation, a Fight for Better Food Gains New Urgency, The New York Times (August 8, 2020):

In the emerging COVID landscape of new gardeners, the global indigenous food sovereignty movement leads the way, teaching us what the human right to food means both in concept and in practice. Separation from ancestral lands and foodways have contributed to health disparities underlying the unequal burden COVID-19 has posed on Indigenous nations in the United States. Ms. Brown, Mx. Etsitty, and Mr. Earle are three Diné (Navajo) community members growing food and saving seed as powerful acts of resiliency that attempt to correct legacies of historical wrongs.

‘Sharing Square’ in Belchertown Community Garden helps feed community, Mass Live (July 30, 2020):

Gardeners tend extra spaces in a community garden in Massachusetts to donate food to their local senior centers and food pantries. An eight-year old dubbed the extra spaces ‘sharing squares,’ which are planted in low-maintenance crops like green beans and zucchini. Watering and weeding are shared amongst the gardeners. “We want everybody to have access to good, healthy food. It shouldn’t just be that if you have the money to buy it or the time or space to grow it yourself.”

Meet the Gleaners, Combing Farm Fields to Feed the Newly Hungry: The New York Times (July 6, 2020):

A long-standing tradition to support the poor, with many inspired by the Jewish story of Ruth, gleaning parties organize around the country to respond to short-notice calls to harvest produce farmers cannot sell and distribute the food to local food pantries and distribution networks. With farmers losing food-service contracts during the coronavirus pandemic, volunteer gleaning groups help to make sure those crops get to people who need it instead of going to waste. Many new volunteers are signing up to work outside, a safe socially distanced activity, in order to help their neighbors during this tough season. [Visit the National Gleaning Project website to find a gleaning organization near you, helping both farmers and the hungry.]