FoodWorks Louisville 2012: July 2012

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.