Future Foods collaboration with Hartwick College
This past year we were in class with Dr. Carlena Ficano and her students at Hartwick developing a subsidized 10 week CSA for 10 families. We spent the winter over Zoom classes, working with students and chef Kara Lewis on a project that would begin to address food insecurity in our area. Our questions included: Why should the healthiest food go to the highest bidder? How can local producers more effectively feed our region? How do students envision their futures? How do we commit to social and environmental justice in the face of a world-wide pandemic and climate change?
Dr. Ficano and students Emily Edmunds, Lydia Marteney, Roxanne Mitchell, Keif Timmins were instrumental in driving the work. Through the course of the class, we developed a partnership with a local social service agency, Catholic Charities. We conducted interviews with families because we felt it was important to have a personal connection to the individuals we serve, and to also understand their dietary needs. Kara Lewis then meticulously developed and wrote recipes that were included in each box, and drove partnerships with other farms that supplied eggs, cheese, grains, and milk in order to produce a full-calorie CSA.
Through this process I think we all experienced the inherent and blatant classism ingrained in a world driven by transactional values, and that these notions are deeply embedded in our food system. However, it is encouraging to be among individuals and students seeking to address these systemic inequities and are willing to care for what is outside of their own personal lives. As a farm, we were able to redistribute our produce to families who (for cultural and geographic barriers) do not shop at local farmer markets or receive CSA shares, in one of our first step towards trying to dismantle our own classism as organic farmers and care more for the vitality and health of our local community.
We are in deep gratitude to Carli, Hartwick College, Keif, Roxanne, Emily, Lydia, Kara Lewis, our fellow farmers who made this all possible, and we hope to expand this project next year!!
Local Farm Partners
Kara Lewis (recipes)
Faraway Fields Farm (eggs)
Institutional Partners
Hartwick College: Dr. Carlena Ficano with assistance from students Emily Edmunds, Lydia Marteney, Roxanne Mitchell, Keif Timmins
Catholic Charities of Delarate, Otsego and Schoharie Counties: Christy Houck, Associate Executive Director
Veggie soba
with poached egg, herbs, and farm veggies
Frittata with salad
kale, potato, local eggs, sungold tomato, and summer lettuce
Vegetable Curry
kale, potato, daikon, leeks, and carrots