Leading up to our launch as Cultivate Charlottesville almost a year ago, we picked the words GROW | SHARE | ADVOCATE as shorthand for our mission work toward a healthy and just food system in our city. On the surface, the word "share" represents our urban agriculture work of sharing food grown in and for community. But we also recognize the integrated work of each of our programs—City Schoolyard Garden, Urban Agriculture Collective, and Food Justice Network—for a common goal, and sharing can be seen as central to all of our work.

We share garden space with students and staff at the schools (and we're delighted to have youth in-person during the day again), we share resources with so many partners in the community, we share the voices and experiences of residents from different neighborhoods, and we share important information about racial and food equity with you.

In April we invite you to participate in a handful of events (see below) as we share an opportunity to discuss the community and city priorities outlined in the Food Equity Initiative Policy Platform and gratitude for all of the partners and volunteers with whom we work side by side for a food-E (food equity) city for all. We hope you'll join us!

Cultivate team members at the Charlottesville City Schools R.E.N. Event Saturday, March 27. Clockwise from top left: Sarah and Jordan help pack bags; Jayleana holds her drawing of carrots for March's Harvest of the Month; Rosa and Yolonda sharing peace; Jayleana with her brother Legend and mother Tami passing out bags of all the fixings for a vegetable soup

 CITY SCHOOLYARD GARDEN                                            

Thank you Mr. Harden in the Garden by Mackenzie Morgan

This past year, one of our founding Garden Coordinators left his role at Johnson Elementary. Rick Harden came on as one of two parents overseeing the Johnson Garden engagement in 2012. A man of many skills and talents including beautiful woodworking, Rick ran the garden at Johnson Elementary school for 7 years. While at Johnson, Rick designed and built raised beds, benches, an accessible bed designed with engaging all Johnson students in mind. His most recent woodworking projects included benches that made their way to numerous schools and garden locations and the wonderful outdoor mud kitchen at Johnson. Rick cultivated a garden grounded in exploration, inquiry, and fun.

 URBAN AGRICULTURE COLLECTIVE                               

A Season for All Things by Richard Morris

Brush aside the straw and leaves.

With hori hori, the black dirt cleaves.

Beneath these furrowed rows to reap,

my Yukon Gold and Vidalias sleep.  

Spring arrived in the Piedmont as it always has, borne on the back of Winter and cloaked in a dazzling display of daffodils. This time of year, chill mornings give way to crisp days that make even the most hardened urbanite yearn for the thrill of garden soil beneath bare feet. 

A few weeks earlier, the UAC crew of farmers, Jenifer, Nik, Michael, and Rich, ventured into the heart of the old garden at Friendship Court. There, outfitted with wheelbarrows, shovels, and heavy rakes, they toiled in the rich black soil that has rested undisturbed for over a year. In short order, they harvested about 24 square feet of soil and transported it to the 6th Street garden’s raised beds where it became a fertile blanket for the season’s crop of yellow onions. 

In just a little time, green shoots dotted the two raised beds, and below the surface, golden bulbs began the months-long process of growing into onions. A distance away, Yukon Gold potatoes lay nestled into two 50-foot rows. In a few weeks, they will be joined by rows of kale and collards, and in a month still, the garden will be filled with green seedlings of tomatoes and beans, squash, and peppers. 

This will be the last season for the 6th Street garden. In 2022, new housing will grow where green shoots once sprang from the soil. Spring is a time of new beginnings, but for the 6th Street garden, it is the end of a season. A season of growing. A season of giving. A season of sharing its gifts with the community. 

 FOOD JUSTICE NETWORK                                                 

Advocating for Food Equity by Gabby Levet

The Food Justice Network officially released the Food Equity Initiative Policy Platform, which includes input from over 300 community members, 125 youth, and 10 City departments. The recommendations include strategic values, funding priorities, and concrete goals, policies, and practices for City Departments to deepen their capacity for food equity. Here’s the full Food Equity Initiative Policy Platform: https://cultivatecharlottesville.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Food-Equity-Initiative-Policy-Platform_final.pdf

Cultivate Charlottesville Food Justice Network will be working with City Departments and Charlottesville School System towards implementation of these priorities. Sign on to show your support for these recommendations and for the Food Equity Initiative goals for cultivating a healthy and just food system for ALL Charlottesville residents at tinyurl.com/feisupport. Activate the Food Justice Network March-May 2021 Advocacy Toolkit for ways to advocate for food equity to City leadership. https://cultivatecharlottesville.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Food-Equity-Initiative-Policy-Platform_Advocacy-Toolkit-March-May-2021.pdf

For more details visit the take action page on our website: https://cultivatecharlottesville.org/what-is-food-equity/take-action/! If you want to engage further, consider joining for our Community Roundtable: A Seat At The Table: Sharing your perspective on the Food Equity Initiative Policy Platform happening Thursday, April 29 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm. You can register for the Community Roundtable here.

For more information or to join Food Justice Network full team meetings, contact Gabby Levet at gabby@cultivatecharlottesville.org

CULTIVATE EVENTS                                                             

 CULTIVATE SOCIAL JUSTICE BOOK CLUB                    

Here are a few of the titles we are reading:

In Solidarity with the Asian American Community, Launch

What the Farmers’ Revolution in India Says About Big Ag in the US and Worldwide, Indra Shekhar Singh, Civil Eats

Tipping is a Legacy of Slavery, Michelle Alexander, The New York Times

CULTIVATE IN THE NEWS                                                 

From all of us at Cultivate Charlottesville—a hearty thank you to the many new supporters that have pitched in to keep our work going to build food equity during COVID-19 and beyond.

At Cultivate Charlottesville we believe that working together to grow gardens, share food and power, and advocate for just systems cultivates a healthy community for all.