The past three weeks have offered many opportunities to explore food policy and retail, hang out with some polled herefords and sweat in a triple digit heat wave. During this period of time, the 5th day curriculum transitioned from the agricultural production side to the institutions that specialize in what to do with what is produced.

4th 5th Day: Sustainable Meat Production
With an excessive heat warning for the day, we met at Bellarmine and started down the path of discussing meat. The consumption of meat is, I believe, one of the most controversial topics to discuss in looking at social justice, environmental impact, morality and nutrition. Surprisingly, there is only one consistent vegetarian in the group which offered fertile ground to explore these different impact areas of meat production and consumption.
We headed north on 71 out of the city to Fox Hollow Farms where we were greeted by our host, Maggie Keith. She quickly rattled off a list of activities she had already knocked out for the day as well as the cattle crew and the rest of the farm. We realized that 9:30 am was late on this farm. We hopped into a mule ATV and the back of a pick-up to travel across the road which splits the property and by the sweet smell of manure, knew we were going to meed the herd. After a quick history of the farm and Maggie's family, a cowboy sauntered over, authentic down to the boots but missing a six gun and the faded ring on the back left pocket from repeatedly sitting on a dip can. Entering the paddock a group of 20 heifers lowed and eyed our group as we discussed some of the finer points of raising grass fed cattle, processing, marketing and breeding. I could see in the eyes of the interns the juxtaposition of the promise of a delicious steak and the cute calf standing by his mother.
Getting back into the vehicles the mercury was creeping close to three digits, perfect time to work in the garden. As a group we weeded the okra, ground cherries, tomatoes and peppers followed by laying a thick layer of mulch, the best tool to fight water loss during the drought. At the end, with a nice coat of sweat, we ate cucumbers right out of the garden while talking about the business model of the farm and the challenges which Maggie has faced.
Moving the mobile chicken tractor was next (see picture below). I provided a crash course in chicken raising for meat and eggs before we set about our task of catching 15 chickens and getting them back in their coop. As anyone with chicken experience knows, this can be pretty challenging. 20 minutes and a skinned knee later, the chickens are in the coop, and we drop the pin in the hitch to move the chicken trailer to set up their new home.
At 1:30 we succumb to the heat and proceed into the Fox Hollow Farm store where you can not only purchase beautiful meats, dairy and value added products, but can also have a fresh burger raised within a half mile of where you stand. As the grease dripped down their chins, I realized this was the wrong place to bring the crew if I wanted to make vegetarians.

5th 5th Day: Food Policy
Ties, skirts, and slacks replaced the tank tops and ball caps of the prior week. Over the course of the day we would meet with the heads of the Jefferson County Public School System Nutrition Service Center, movers and shakers in the Health Department and the mayor of the city.
The JCPS NSC is a plain brick building from the outside but few realize it is a national model that is well on its way to change school lunches from the stereotype of a drab, soggy, sustenance on styrofoam to a nutritional, local, tasty meal where students have input on what they eat. The history of the site quickly developed into a conversation that spans federal guidelines on school lunch to the purchase of thousands of pounds of local food to stats on free and reduced lunch prices and participants. After a tour of the production kitchen, built to centralize the food production of the 100,000 student school district, we discussed the tough reality of food and nutrition having to overcome a budget and fight for education time as core content becomes more specific to raise test scores.
Marigny Bostock and Teresa Zawacki welcomed us to the health department. As you might imagine the discussions encompassed just about every institution we had interacted with so far, deeper societal trends, larger governmental projects and backyard chickens. Mayor Fischer arrived and, after delineating his perspective on the food reality in Louisville, he helped us recognize some of the issues specific to Louisville such as trying to cement a local food culture that is also nutritional and healthy for the community. He challenged FoodWorks to find the gaps in the Louisville food system and said he expected to meet again at the end of the summer for a report.
Over the course of the day we discussed a wide range of topics as well as explored some of our own thoughts as we gained insights into new perspectives. Overall the impression was positive as we saw two major pieces of the city making positive steps to try to fight the tide of disease and behaviors that are negatively associated with food.

6th 5th Day: Food Retail
In planning this 5th day, I tried to encompass as many models of retail possible. That is how I justify not allowing time for lunch. We are in places that purvey food all day. Not a big problem. We started by meeting a local hero, Ron Smith, founder of the Root Cellar. We book ended the day with Ron, visiting his current store in the morning that acts as a 6 day a week farmers market for the farmer and his future site in an old textile mill in the afternoon. Ron embodied the business model of one person going forward and fighting tooth and nail to create a living, a viable business and something to help the community.
We drove to Butchertown, east of down town, passing the Swift butchering plant which offers an authentic aroma to this area of the city. Here we met with the founder of Rooibee Red Tea who offered insights into the creation of an organic food product, its marketing and the potential growth models. Going three blocks to the west onto Market St., we sat at a large conference table with the head of Creation Gardens, a produce provider for restaurants and other large institutions within Ky and the surrounding states. The presentation offered a macro level perspective of the production of produce in America, the challenges of providing local foods and the impacts of changes in production systems.
Traveling to the west end, following the tip by Mayor Fischer, we arrived in the Park Duvalle neighborhood, a recently revitalized area but until three weeks ago, a food desert. The change we came to explore was the First Choice supermarket, a collaboration between Metro Government and a local supermarket ValuMarket. I was filled with warm fuzzies as I saw the dedication to the community seen in hiring people from the neighborhood, murals that include the managers faces and foods that match the wants of the community while providing access to good food at a fair price.
To get to Rainbow Blossom, a 35 year old local grocery that provides not only local produce but healthy foods and supplements, we hopped on 64 and traveled back east. Ron Auerbach, the owner, greeted us as we entered, just having finished with the local TV station WHAS who was documenting their 35th anniversary as a business. Tracey, one of the most passionate people I have ever met, toured us through the store expounding the role of Rainbow Blossom in Louisville's food system as well as in her life.
To end the day we headed to my neighborhood, Germantown. We walked to Hauck's, a relic of the local corner store that has been in the neighborhood for close to a century. Strolling back through Germantown, we arrived at the Worsted Hope Mills and below timbers whose size can no longer be found unless you cut a redwood, listed to Ron as he shared his vision of how his model will grow.

Discussion Questions: Please feel free to chime in and become part of the conversation

1) As a group, we have a general abhorrence to industrial meat production. How do we change the system and culture to create a healthier, more sustainable, and humane system to produce meat?

2) How can we mesh a healthy food culture to the local culture which has a foundation in fried chicken and hot browns?

3) In researching meat, policy and retail, socioeconomic status seems to dictate what foods are available to you.  What are some of the ways Louisville is succeeding in tackling this condition? Where do you see potential to ameliorate this problem in the city?

4) Open forum: Post as question.

Fox Hollow Farms, Cowboy Up.
picture by Charlie Steinberg

picture by Charlie Steinberg

Catching chickens!

Chicken Tractor Ho!

Was it tough eating this in the cattle paddock?
picture by Charlie Steinberg

Netting up for the NSC kitchen.

Keeping it real at the Health Dept. 

Ron at the Root Cellar, Old Louisville

Park Duvalle murals and frozen section.

The home of dainty.

I was cornered on Sunday night by the interns after a dinner they had prepared for some of the supporters here in Louisville. After assuring they would not jump me, they proceeded to say that they had these questions about food, justice, inequality, and a multitude of the other topics which they wanted to discuss as a group in a dire way. The problem was that all of the 5th days are so packed that we had no down time to sit and talk, and by the end of the day everyone is dog tired and not in the mood to have a round table. As a teacher I was stoked that they had been thinking beyond the 5th day. I was also exceedingly happy that they felt comfortable approaching me and asking for the time they needed to continue the thought process and learning. I am also hopeful for the future because the dedication and passion is oozing from these interns for positive change.


2nd 5th Day


By 8:30 am my car was packed with bbq, trowels, grub hoes, pepper plants, macoroni salad, a stack of reading, my friend and guide for the morning: Robbie Adelberg, and myself. Few people know that combination is the perfect setup to study community based small scale sustainable agriculture with 14 FoodWorks interns. After coming together and discussing the schedule, topics and goals for the day, we jumped on 264 to 3rd St going to the south end of Louisville to visit one of the refugee gardens in the city. Our destination was located behind the New Heights Baptist Church on Southside Drive. A community garden of over an acre made of 30' by 30' plots and a menagerie of ethnic and personal identities. We sat in the shade as our guides Lauren Goldberg and Robbie explained how many refugees end up in Louisville through church efforts, family connections and the city's reputation. Many of the these refugees are coming from camps and situations where the concept of a normal traditional lifestyle is alienated. With the help of dedicated people such as Lauren and Robbie, places with land like the church are linked with the refugees in a relationship where expansive lawns can be tilled and cultivated to provide an outlet for a cultural, historical, ancestral connection that has sometimes laid dormant for decades. The gardeners were from three main ethnic groups: Bhutanese, Karen from Burma and Burundi. Each section of the garden reflected a different agricultural heritage and perspective on food production shown in the inter-cropping of corn, beans and squash in the Burundi plots and the use of complex trellising systems for bitter gourds in the Karen areas. As we toured the garden, the families and personalities came out of the arrangements and the cultivation of the fields. One of the most interesting plots was that of the actual church members who decided to garden with the refugees to whom they had lent the land. The contrast between the church plots with straight lines, wide spacing and recognizable vegetables demonstrated the diversity not only within the garden but in the city. 


We traveled to the People's Garden in Shawnee Park, the far west end of Louisville, for the afternoon. There we met Valerie Magnuson and her two Vista volunteers. We arrived at the tail end of a group of elementary age students who were exploring the garden and trying to show their pride in the harvest by boldly biting into fresh raw red onions. Valerie circled us under a tree and, after introductions, told us the story of the garden. It was a story with racial undercurrents, socioeconomic conflicts, public hearings and a gradual reconciliation.  Through the story, just as we have seen the complexity and layers behind food, we saw the many cultural connotations residing in a garden and how many feelings may be conjured as one is planted. We then moved to the garden where we loosened soil, weeded strawberries, mulched trees, and hoed ground, but more importantly we talked. We talked about our days and thoughts. We talked about the role of different people in the internship and food system. We talked how people rarely talk now: face to face, bare feet in the soil, over future food. 


3rd 5th Day


Many of the interns realized a new appreciation for labor intensive sustainable agriculture as they experienced oddly shaped sun burn cause by shirt straps and acute cases of dehydration this morning. We arrived at Field Day Family Farms at 9:45 am and already walking in the sun was enough to start a good sweat out. Immediately we were shown the finer points of pulling, cleaning and tying garlic by Ivor Chodkowski of Field Day Family farms and set to work. The interns rotated between the garlic stations and pounding steel posts into the ground to help trellis tomato plants in the coming weeks. As the groups progressed, proud smiles of accomplishment emerged from the three generations of workers we had in the field. I fired up the cob oven built by the Food Literacy Project who graciously allowed us to use their beautiful outdoor kitchen. After a presentation by Shadae of the Food Literacy Project on the state of obesity, diabetes, and nutrition in the city, we designed our own pizzas using local squash, beets, leeks, sweet and hot peppers, oregano, thyme, radish, red onion, basil and arugula pesto and garlic. After lunch we piled into the back of Ivor's pick-up and took a tour of the farm. From the bed we picked his brain over his definition of what is local and sustainable, the reasoning behind his choice to not apply for organic certification, his future in farming and the expansion of food systems for local people. In leaving for the day, each with a bulb of garlic from the harvest, we were faced with the many contradictions in American society as Field Day Family Farm is bordered by a massive golf course which to me represents one of the most resource intensive and least productive mono-cultures created by humans. 


Numbers for the 2nd and 3rd 5th Days:
-Firsts for Interns: Eating woodsorrel, lambsquaters, rosel, sweetgum......weeds. Riding in the back of a pick-up. Harvesting garlic. Using a post pounder. Traveling to the West End. Using a cob oven. 
-Hundreds of bulbs of garlic pulled. More impressively, thousands of cloves harvested. 
-27 handmade locally sourced ingredient pizzas cooked and consumed.
-4 ethnic garden personalities observed.
-3 hours and 45 minutes of Rowan at the farm harvesting garlic, beating all of our bets.
-14 sunburnt, dehydrated interns
-1 teacher content to sit inside on a computer on another 94 degree day. 


FoodWorks Interns and Others:
      Questions for discussion (all are invited): 


1) In opening the People's Garden in the west end of Louisville, many issues came to the forefront regarding race, socioeconomic status and the convergence of diverse perspectives. Are these programs such as the People's Garden, Healthy-in-a Hurry groceries, Fresh Stops, etc. a form of cultural colonization? Are they a form of behavior modification? Or are they a concerted effort by a piece of larger community to preserve itself and quality of life?


2) I have an aversion to lawns and golf courses. I see them as resource intensive, inefficient uses of space and time as well as demonstration of wealth. I understand the need for common spaces such as public parks, lawns on campuses and areas for larger congregation for celebration, protest and communion. Can someone please continue the conversation began last Thursday defending the individuals right to their lawn and the use of resources in preserving that space?


3) In discussing many of the issues the interns have been confronting, one of the programs supporters broke all of the issues down to a "class issue." I know collectively we have a problem with reductionist reasoning but can all of the issues we have been dealing with be broken down to a simple case of class disparity?


4) "Good food is truly brain food; it gives your mind something to chew on. It brings new meaning to the phrase 'food for thought.'" -Sam
Last week Sam posted this sentence in response to the second blog posting. In teaching my students at Fern Creek High School, many of them fought tooth and nail against learning the story behind their food. They said I was ruining food for them. Many seemed to appreciate the non-thought that went into eating. How can we mesh the two contradictory definitions of good food?


Check out pics from the 5th Days:

Rocking out at the People's Garden moments before Robbie river-danced.

Using the action hoe and planting. Yeah!

Getting intimate with Bermuda Grass.

Breaking up the grounds.

Ivor shows the proper stance for pulling garlic which is ironically the
same for using a pitching wedge.

Garlic and squinting.

Surprisingly, Charlie made that face after each pull. 

After removing the bees, we cooked the pizzas.

TEAMWORK!

Contemplating the mysteries of sustainable ag.

 We met this morning at the dorms ready to dive into the world of soil production like a red wriggler in six and half months aged compost. I bravely led the FoodWorks caravan across the city to Breaking New Grounds, a non-profit composting company who has composted over 150 tons of organic waste in the past 5 years while creating a natural fertilizer and soil amendment. Amanda and Peter greeted us and gave us a tour of the facilities. While exploring the gardens, compost heaps (hot, fungal inoculated and growing) and the vermicompost (worm poop) facilities, we delved into the biology, chemistry, economics and logistics of creating and running a non-profit industrial level composting operation.

After our tour and questions, we got to work. Some of us went with Peter to the composting area to cover a new batch of Heine Brother's Coffee grounds with wood chips to balance out the nitrogen/carbon ratio. Others went with Amanda in the pick-up to deliver a garden bed built of locally harvested eastern red cedar and a load of compost to the growing community garden at 17th and Osage sponsored by New Directions. The rest were left with me to master the art of handling power tools, constructing garden beds and getting ripped. The results are shown below but for you that like numbers:  (7) 4' by 8' cedar beds constructed, (3) beds delivered, set and filled, 100s of shovels of mulch thrown, 15 lunches consumed, 23 minute average for  bed construction by veteran Food Works masters of the power tool, 1 exhausted teacher from Louisville and 14 interns who have already impacted the Louisville food community.

Check out the pics below.

FoodWorks Interns and Others:
      Questions for discussion (all are invited):     

     1) What is good food?
     2) If we are what we eat and we are what we eats eat and we ask that question again we get to plants unless you are an Inuit, then I can say we are made of soil. Could I make the argument that Breaking New Grounds is in the process of building America nutritionally, economically, socially and agriculturally?
      3) Open ended comment: What was your epiphany? What was the life changing learning experience?

Peter welcomes us to Breaking New Grounds as Amanda giggles at a joke I made and stretches

We try a variety of hand poses as Amanda describes the finer points of  turning organic matter into  new soil.

Worms at work. Better than a cubicle?

Multitasking defined: mastering the art of power tools while jumping on one leg.

All foremen wear pink shirts in Food Works.

Covering the grounds.

Mastery shown.

Two thumbs up!

Here we go...

My name is Joe Franzen. I am an educator in Louisville, Ky, and this summer I have been offered the opportunity to go on a gastronomic, economic, agricultural and social adventure with a small group of graduates and undergrads from Middlebury College in Vermont (see official write-up below). The following blog will document our thoughts, travels, relationships and discoveries as we explore the food economy, system and community here in Louisville. I invite you to follow and comment. Our goal is to spark thoughtful conversation and create a network of connections between the institutions and ideas locally, nationally and globally. Here we go.

The mission of FoodWorks Louisville is to attract talented Middlebury College students to participate in a nine-week competitive paid internship program centered on the local food economy in Louisville, KY. FoodWorks Louisville will provide meaningful four-day/week internships, an educational set of high content “Fifth Day” presentations and projects, with student housing provided at Bellarmine University, and profound personal engagement among Middlebury alumni, interns, members of the local food sector, and the Greater Louisville community. For more information, contact Ann Curtis, acurtis@middlebury.edu. 502-459-3876