A Place at the Table Film Screening and Dinner

All – students, staff, faculty, and community members – are invited to attend a screening of A Place at the Table this Thursday, May 2 at 5:30 PM in Bloomberg 272 on the Homewood Campus.

“A Place at the Table” (from the makers of “Food, Inc.”) focuses on the issue of how 49 million people in the U.S.—one in four children—don’t know where their next meal is coming from, despite our having the means to provide nutritious, affordable food for all Americans. The film examines this issue through the lens of three people for who are struggling with food insecurity, along with insights from experts including sociologists, nutrition policy leaders, ordinary citizens, teachers, and important food activists.

A Place at the Table shows us how hunger poses serious economic, social and cultural implications for our nation, and that it could be solved once and for all, if the American public decides – as they have in the past – that making healthy food available and affordable is in the best interest of us all.

After the film from 5:30-7, viewers are encouraged to attend our Action Fair, which will contain booths highlighting the various groups on campus that are working on issues related to food insecurity, social inequity and justice.

FREE SUSTAINABLE DINNER will be served at the event – with generous thanks to the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association, Cafe Azafran, Zia’s Catering, and The Wild Pea Hummus.

All students, faculty, staff, and community members are invited to attend.

This event is being co-sponsored by Real Food Hopkins, Health Leads, JHU Healthy Community Initiative and the Center for a Livable Future

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/192540257560150/

 

Highlights from our Season Two Opening Celebration

Last Sunday, around fifty people came out to the BJP to celebrate the start of our second growing season. The day was filled with fun and festivities as folks from all walks of our community gathered together to work on their partner plots, plan and construct new garden-wide projects, and get to know each other better before the upcoming season. Here are some of the highlights of the day:

Attendees were welcomed to the garden for the first time by our new official sign. Many thanks go to the designer Isa Huerta and the formatter/printer extraordinaire Joe McSharry!

After a bit of mingling, Irena Stein, owner of the most-sustainable eateries on the JHU Campus – Cafe Azafran and Alkimia – helped kick off the event with a heartfelt talk about the importance of community gardens like the BJP. With experience in the start of the Edible Schoolyard movement a few decades ago, she expressed her excitement at the progress we have made in our own community growing experiment and all of our future potential.

Local musicians Jon Caplan, Jacob Chilton, and Will added a great vibe to the atmosphere throughout the event, playing some great tunes on their classical guitars and bass.

Gardener Steve Hulbert fascinated the kids in the creation of a new astronomical project (to be explained in an upcoming blog post!). This project is just one of the many educational and aesthetic new garden additions we hope to bring to the garden in the coming seasons.

Finally, guests enjoyed a communal pot-luck style lunch, complete with ethically-produced hot dogs, delicious sweets and strawberry lemonade from Cafe Azafran, and a variety of festive dishes prepared by gardeners. We are excited for more picnics this summer – especially once we are able to use our own fresh veggies to spruce our dishes up!

Here are some more pictures to get a better glimpse of the fun:

Irena and her family

We had a waste-free event. Happy Earth Day Eve!

Our food prep volunteers

Thanks to all who helped make the opening celebration such a success. We hope to see you at one of our upcoming volunteer days. In the meantime, get planting!

Come to the Season Two Opening Celebration this Sunday!

The Blue Jay’s Perch has come a long way over the past year and a half since its start! In our first season alone, we brought together over 200 students, staff, faculty, and community members to enjoy the pleasures of growing food and friendships. We bonded over construction projects and cookouts; hosted educational field trips for local children; and were even privy to a home-brewing presentation. We won the Baltimore City Master Gardener’s Best New Community Garden of the Year award. To top it off, we donated over 100 pounds of produce to local soup kitchens!

This year we aspire to do even more! Dedicated volunteers (of whom we could always use more!) have stepped up to plan projects, solve the garden’s water challenges, create a communal row planting scheme, and more. We are excited to see where these efforts will lead us through this year and beyond.

Thus, we are excited to invite you to help us celebrate the start of spring and the gardening season this Sunday, April 21 from 1-3 PM at the BJP.

This exciting day will feature kid-friendly activities, a composting workshop, vegetable planting, official hanging of their garden sign, and the launch of a new astronomical sculpture project. All  - students, staff, faculty, community members, kids, adults alike – are welcome!

Chef Irena Stein of Cafe Azafran will be briefly speaking about the importance of local food growing and community building, and a local musician will add to the vibe with some tunes!

Hot dogs and veggie dogs will be provided, as well as strawberry lemonade from Cafe Azafran. Attendees are encouraged to bring a side dish to share for a potluck-style picnic. Please also bring a picnic blanket or chairs.

Check out our Facebook event and invite your friends: https://www.facebook.com/events/562879437068520/ 

Rain date: Sunday, April 28

Don’t know where the BJP is? Check out our Google map location:http://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=39&fid=0x89c804fe22478ee1%3A0x7be9db78bbb86514

Some Lessons Learned in Tumbaco, Ecuador

Hi Everyone!

Now that I hear it’s nice out in Baltimore, I don’t feel guilty posting a blog about my past few months in Ecuador! I may be far away, but I’m doing my best to think about how I can apply some of my study abroad experiences when I get back to Hopkins.

Among other things….

• I’ve learned composting techniques from a guy who has successfully composted an entire cow.
• I’ve learned the best ways of saving amaranth and quinua seeds, including wild varieties in danger of extinction.
• I’ve cooked and eaten fanesca, a traditional Holy Week soup made from all 12 Ecuadorian grains.
• I’ve made biola, a natural fertilizer, from plant waste, feathers, and urine (not mine!).
• I’ve built biointensive vegetable beds right over the tops of tree stumps and double-turned beds for companion planting “malahierba” (weeds) right in with the celery.

And this is all before I’ve even started wwoofing! But how, you may ask, are these kooky practices at all relevant to our normal old growing methods at the BJP?

New growing season, new plans!

More than 30 volunteers and gardeners of all ages and gardening experiences showed up for our workday yesterday. The weather was beautiful and people’s spirits were high – I think it’s fair to say that everyone had a great time at the Perch!

Read on for some highlights from yesterday.