So I managed to post day three before posting Day 2, mostly because I was tired and needed to get some sleep. Today I spent a large portion of my time outside planting sprouts, and harvesting basil and rosemary. However, with the downpour I had to head inside.
It turns out that what could have lead to a lazy afternoon of napping turned into an afternoon of learning a lot more about Blair Grocery and the state of Louisiana. For Blair Grocery, I learned about the farm connections and relationships that the school is trying to cultivate. But some of the things I've seen recently, and learned today have shocked me. All I can say, is that in some ways, this country of mine, America, has been limited to my experiences in NY and my college, and Louisiana, a part of my country, is like a completely different time, place, and nation.
How OSBG Works: Community Food Distribution
The Market is a Farmer's market. It had been off for about three months, and they are trying to start it back up. When people were canvassing this pocket of New Orleans, people said that they most wanted a grocery store and a school. Due to the hurricane, New Orleans lost a lot of its population. People evacuated, and the population base was never restored. Thus, they didn’t qualify, because the population density was too low, to build hospitals or schools. Also, the food that is available down here is mostly fried/precooked food. There is NO option for fresh fruits, vegetables, or eggs.
So, each week, the school does a famer’s market. This farmer’s market, and the overall food system is intended to accomplish several things. This market is meant to provide community engagement, fostering pride in the neighborhood, and supplying the neighborhood with food that is better for them. They eventually want to have the community be the ones that sell the produce and oversee its production. As with most of this project and the school, the aim is to kick of something that helps the community and sets it up so that they can be self-sustainable.
Here is a very basic outline for the connections that the school is making and their operation. The initials stand for people that are working
I. Customer Base (Now approximately 30 people) is coming from
a. Lower 9th ward (where the school is located)
b. Bywaters
c. Algiers
II. Produce base: Because farmer’s are losing a lot of money, they are looking for ways to help keep their business alive. There are also local people that have a lot of land, but have no way to produce. Bringing in these people is important for a number of reasons. The first is that these farmers are some of the last non-corporate farmers in Louisiana. People are also trying to find ways to create money so that the school isn’t selling at a lower cost than production. These places are not yet well established, and also have a number of needs, including manpower and money. The outline is a little rough, but it talks about what the vision for the site is, as well as what their needs are.
a. OSBG
b. Hammond (Sunflower's place)
i. This is a large piece of land (I’m not sure how much….to be found out)
ii. Future of the Intern Program.
iii.The giant compost will be shifted here. There will be some composting here, but because of weather conditions it may be more practical to shift composting to another location. Part of it is also that the compost that is complete is hard to access under the giant mountain. (What is the "volcano")
iv. Produce: Vegetables and eggs
c. Tangipahoa: They want to grow here but lack the resources
1.Need: People, Chickens, and Soil
2. Need
d. W: Started growing here. They aren't entirely sure what they will be doing here because the intended purpose is not its function.
e. D
iii.N: Cows
a. Chicken Tractors
b. Barn
c. More Cows and Chicken
iv. S
1. J
"Louisiana, a place where nothing makes sense. Everything here is done completely backwards," as one person so kindly put it. Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate, not just in the states, but in the world. I'll probably continue this thought tomorrow, but for now I NEED TO SLEEP!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Day One: Arrival and Acclimation
My motivation for applying to work at Our School at Blair Grocery was primarily composed of two things: to use my summer wisely and to get my mom to stop pestering me to come up with a plans. The job description was loosely titled as a "summer intern" and there was some sense that I would be working at a summer camp or helping to develop their summer camp program. I didn't really know much about the school, or the area other than what I had gleaned from the news and Wikipedia. Instead of being super alarmed or apprehensive, I decided to approach this as an adventure, and would just throw myself into something and see how it turned out.
I first arrived at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and got my first taste of the blistering heat and humidity jut beyond the confines of the neatly contained airport. Kyle, a staff member at OSBG, picked me up and began to fill me in a little bit on what was going on at the camp. I then realized that my job was going to be a lot less structured than I had originally thought, and that the camp would probably be a lot different that I could have imagined.
Driving through New Orleans was a lot more interesting to me than a typical drive home from an airport would normally be. In the post-Katrina time period, I followed the new reports and often found myself irate and upset with the general handling of the crisis. In the following years, the sense of immediacy and urgency had calmed, and my comfortable life in New York soon edged thoughts of New Orleans from my consciousness. With the advent of the oil spill, it was only during these past few months that I found my attention forced back on New Orleans. Anyways, the point that I'm getting at is that I have known that things in New Orleans are bad, and have been for a while, but I don't think I realized the full extent of the damage incurred.
Houses on land that has been passed down for several generations has been abandoned. Houses are rundown and caving in, and there are a bunch of empty lots. There are programs to try to get former residents to return or reclaim their property, but there appear to be some road blocks (see link below).
Returning back to my day: I arrived at the site, and was somewhat shocked by the size of the plot. Based on the large ambitions of this organization, I expected the entire place to be a LOT bigger. The primary building is used as a classroom during the year for an alternative school. Right now, the room has been arranged so that there are approximately 40 cots and mattresses in the room for volunteers to sleep on. Apparently, the school was trying out an after school program to gauge how well a summer camp would run. Unfortunately, it seems like the school has a quite a bit of work to do before they're ready to take on the world of 13 year old boys and girls. These mattresses are being used for college and high school students that are on service trips. I have a lovely little mattress, now I just need to get a pillow...
The upstairs of the building contains the kitchen and some additional rooms for staff. Outside, is the garden, some light and dark houses for growing sprouts. There is a large garden, which grows all sorts of vegetables and a few fruits and flowers. There is a tremendously large compost pile, which I have learned requires daily attention. In the corner is a pen for chickens, ducks, roosters, and goats. It's a small piece of land, but they have certainly used every square inch of it!
I spent a large portion of my day today feeling out the lay of the land. I spoke to a couple staff members and some other students that have spent some time here before I arrived. I'm not really sure what I'll be doing quite yet, but it seems that there will be several different aspects to running this camp that I will be able to observe, and then figure out what I would be most interested in. I might have a look at the educational aspect, which is in some ways the primary interest of this place. I might also tackle the business end of things, which will help to forge connections to other businesses or farms in the area. I could also learn about farming. I appears that there is a lot to learn, and my take on things is that there is even MORE to be done. One Carleton student is tackling formatting a monthly Newsletter. Another Carl, potentially interested in teaching is looking at the educational end of things.
It seems like there are a bunch of very worthwhile seminars and tours (such as the levee tour) that I'll have a chance to be a part of. But other than that, I feel like I'll have a relatively flexible and whimsical schedule. The only task that I have been appointed had been to water the sprouts. A self appointed task is to get together a packing list/ what to expect packet for future interns so that they won't feel so completely overwhelmed when they arrive here. It was a lot to swallow, and I almost wanted to turn tail and RUN back to NY. Now I'm feeling quite a bit more relaxed. I've also unwound a little bit, so I think I'll be able to roll with the punches a little better.
I first arrived at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and got my first taste of the blistering heat and humidity jut beyond the confines of the neatly contained airport. Kyle, a staff member at OSBG, picked me up and began to fill me in a little bit on what was going on at the camp. I then realized that my job was going to be a lot less structured than I had originally thought, and that the camp would probably be a lot different that I could have imagined.
Driving through New Orleans was a lot more interesting to me than a typical drive home from an airport would normally be. In the post-Katrina time period, I followed the new reports and often found myself irate and upset with the general handling of the crisis. In the following years, the sense of immediacy and urgency had calmed, and my comfortable life in New York soon edged thoughts of New Orleans from my consciousness. With the advent of the oil spill, it was only during these past few months that I found my attention forced back on New Orleans. Anyways, the point that I'm getting at is that I have known that things in New Orleans are bad, and have been for a while, but I don't think I realized the full extent of the damage incurred.
Houses on land that has been passed down for several generations has been abandoned. Houses are rundown and caving in, and there are a bunch of empty lots. There are programs to try to get former residents to return or reclaim their property, but there appear to be some road blocks (see link below).
Returning back to my day: I arrived at the site, and was somewhat shocked by the size of the plot. Based on the large ambitions of this organization, I expected the entire place to be a LOT bigger. The primary building is used as a classroom during the year for an alternative school. Right now, the room has been arranged so that there are approximately 40 cots and mattresses in the room for volunteers to sleep on. Apparently, the school was trying out an after school program to gauge how well a summer camp would run. Unfortunately, it seems like the school has a quite a bit of work to do before they're ready to take on the world of 13 year old boys and girls. These mattresses are being used for college and high school students that are on service trips. I have a lovely little mattress, now I just need to get a pillow...
The upstairs of the building contains the kitchen and some additional rooms for staff. Outside, is the garden, some light and dark houses for growing sprouts. There is a large garden, which grows all sorts of vegetables and a few fruits and flowers. There is a tremendously large compost pile, which I have learned requires daily attention. In the corner is a pen for chickens, ducks, roosters, and goats. It's a small piece of land, but they have certainly used every square inch of it!
I spent a large portion of my day today feeling out the lay of the land. I spoke to a couple staff members and some other students that have spent some time here before I arrived. I'm not really sure what I'll be doing quite yet, but it seems that there will be several different aspects to running this camp that I will be able to observe, and then figure out what I would be most interested in. I might have a look at the educational aspect, which is in some ways the primary interest of this place. I might also tackle the business end of things, which will help to forge connections to other businesses or farms in the area. I could also learn about farming. I appears that there is a lot to learn, and my take on things is that there is even MORE to be done. One Carleton student is tackling formatting a monthly Newsletter. Another Carl, potentially interested in teaching is looking at the educational end of things.
It seems like there are a bunch of very worthwhile seminars and tours (such as the levee tour) that I'll have a chance to be a part of. But other than that, I feel like I'll have a relatively flexible and whimsical schedule. The only task that I have been appointed had been to water the sprouts. A self appointed task is to get together a packing list/ what to expect packet for future interns so that they won't feel so completely overwhelmed when they arrive here. It was a lot to swallow, and I almost wanted to turn tail and RUN back to NY. Now I'm feeling quite a bit more relaxed. I've also unwound a little bit, so I think I'll be able to roll with the punches a little better.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)