Rick BurnetteApr 124 minGood Trouble Gardening"Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year,...
Rick BurnetteFeb 172 minThank you!Only a few months after celebrating Thanksgiving holiday we experience another dose of gratitude. At the beginning of each year, we tally...
Rick BurnetteJan 73 minCultivating Food Solidarity Through Participatory Learning and ActionOn a recent Saturday morning, over 30 Immokalee neighbors gathered in the Misión Peniel garden for a brief time of exchange and...
Rick BurnetteOct 7, 20212 minTwo Churches Reconnect to Cultivate Food and Beloved CommunityIn April, Rick Shaw, pastor of South Venice (Florida) Baptist, reached out to inquire about church members visiting Cultivate Abundance...
Rick BurnetteJul 9, 20212 minCan Doughnuts and Coffee Help Make a Difference in Immokalee?From January through June 2021, Cultivate Abundance grew and collected 22,482 lbs. of local produce – amounting to 72,780 food servings –...
Rick BurnetteJul 1, 20213 minTortillas for the Glory of GodSo whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31) When poverty, unrest, climate change...
Rick BurnetteApr 6, 20213 minA Year of COVID-19 Response in Immokalee: What Have We Learned?Recently, I shared about insights gained from a year of Cultivate Abundance’s response to farmworker food insecurity during the COVID-19...
Rick BurnetteFeb 15, 20214 minGardening Lessons and So Much More Learned in 2020The beginning of the year is probably the busiest time for nonprofits as we crunch numbers from the previous year, analyze the data and...
Rick BurnetteNov 5, 20204 minEveryone Gets a FishMy Facebook friend, Greg, recently reflected on the old phrase, “Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for day. Teach a man to fish, and you’ll...
Rick BurnetteAug 20, 20203 minGardening Without a GardenCultivate Abundance aims to saturate the farmworker town of Immokalee, and eventually other food desert communities, with locally-grown,...
Rick BurnetteJul 8, 20207 minFood Dumping in a Food Desert: Irony in Florida’s Tomato CapitolFriday, June 12 Friday afternoon, June 12, was scorching hot in Immokalee, Florida. Practicing social distancing, we were sharing food...
Rick BurnetteApr 25, 20202 minMan Cannot Live by Tomatoes AloneThe current COVID-19 pandemic has exposed weaknesses in the US food system, with the farm town of Immokalee right in the middle of the...
Rick BurnetteApr 9, 20205 minWhat One Year of Home Gardening Can ProduceIn terms of food production, I’m not quite sure what to call myself. I suppose I’m a home gardener. My residential plot is approximately...
Rick BurnetteMar 13, 20203 minWhite Vans and Community GardensThursday is harvest day in the garden behind the food pantry in Immokalee. During this cool season time of year we gather lettuce,...
Rick BurnetteSep 17, 20194 minTime to Celebrate One Year of Gardening at Misión Peniel (Even If There’s No Cake)A few weeks ago, as I planted cowpeas between the stalks of a maturing stand of Guatemalan corn, I had a flashback.
Rick BurnetteJul 4, 20193 minOh, the Food You'll Grow! (with apologies to Dr. Seuss)Cultivate Abundance has many local partners that join with us in food solidarity. Some were born and raised in Southwest Florida. But...
Rick BurnetteMay 28, 20195 minConnecting the Gardening Dots in AbacoIt was my first trip to the Bahamas, not all that far from my Florida home. Traveling with Mark Buhlig – Missouri pastor, church...
Rick BurnetteFeb 12, 20194 minTwo Tons Divided By 51 PoundsRecently I had a pleasant morning devoted to harvesting produce. From my own carambola tree, a little over 40 lbs. of starfruit was...
Rick BurnetteDec 14, 20184 minWanted: Positive Deviants (Part 3) – MariaMy friend, Brad, is almost as nosy as I am as we’re both always on the prowl for interesting gardens. And though we wholeheartedly...
Rick BurnetteDec 3, 20184 min21 Immokalee GardensIt’s a hot October morning in Immokalee and dozens of volunteers are gathered on a concrete slab behind the Misión Peniel building. ...