|
Welcome to my blog! My
name is Carl Rollins.
Click here to read the latest post!
My overall focus with this blog is the
discussion of how the choices we make, individually and corporately, affect our goals of attaining holiness, righteousness
and justice.
This process directly impacts the level
of our spiritual growth into fully loving, compassionate and happy people. Amen!
Recently, the Spirit has led me to preach the gospel
of the urban agriculture and food movement in the United States. My purpose has been to encourage healthy lifestyles,
and access to more fresh fruits and vehgetables in low-income urban areas where more nutritious food is often unavailable.
Growing some of your own food is a low cost, low
carbon footprint way of solving this problem. In the process, we can build community, teach young and old environmental
literacy, and mentor our youth by promoting the values and ideals necessary to be successful in life. The sacrifice
required to pitch in and grow food for the benefit of all will change communities, and then the world.
Here is a bit of what I've been up to:
LEDERER
YOUTH GARDEN
Lederer is a forgotten resource in Northeast
DC not far from the Minnesota Avenue Metro station. When I went over to begin working the plot I had rented in early
spring the longtime head gardener had just been laid off. Budget cuts and short-sightedness left just one inexperienced
employee to tend to a community garden, a youth environmental education center, and a greenhouse.
I pitched in where I could, worked my own plot, and collectively we gave
a couple hundred pounds of food away to the DC Central Kitchen. With a little help, we could give much, much more.
I am still farming. I have extended my growing season with floating
row cover!
 
COMMON GOOD CITY FARM
I stumbled upon this great group of people who had already been laboring in the vineyards for years while I was helping
to promote an annual gardening conference called Rooting DC.
When I first went out on a rainy April Saturday to help plant fruit trees at their new location, little did I know
that I would become one of the farm coordinators and work with a bunch of kids trying to teach them where their food
comes from.
With a lot of help, the people at Common Good are turning a ball field into an oasis.
NEIGHBORHOOD FARM INITIATIVE
NFI is a project organized by Bea Trickett, a lovelier soul you'll never meet. I was only able to go out and
volunteer at her urban gardening project a handful of times, but I have high hopes for it in the future.
DC FARM TO SCHOOL NETWORK
Led by an exuberant "child" prodigy, Andrea Northup, this group burst onto the DC food scene this year and held a week-long
event shortly after school opened to promote fresh, local, seasonal produce in DC school lunches.
DC FOOD FOR ALL BLOG
A few members of a DC collaborative effort called Healthy and Affordable Food for All (HAFA) have started a new blog that seeks to educate the masses about food insecurity and food deserts.
So what does food have to do with the bible and being
a Christian? Read about it here.
MISSION STATEMENT
· Inspire all urban communities to grow some of their own fruits and vegetables
to a provide low cost, low carbon footprint alternative to factory farmed food, especially in areas where access to healthy
and affordable food is limited and poor diets contribute to preventable diseases.
· Use growing food in an urban setting as a means to educate people about nutritious
foods, bring communities together, and teach environmental literacy to combat climate change.
· Transform the education system by teaching all kids how to grow plants and demonstrating
the interdependence of all life to provide the foundation for communities that are invested in life.
· Ensure that young people understand the values needed to sustain life on this
planet—the intangible ideals and character traits not currently measured on standardized tests.
|
