FOOD ON FILM—BFFP SUMMER FILM SERIES RETURNS!
Save the date!! We are pleased to announce the long-awaited return of our Summer Film Series. This year we will watch films
about where our seafood comes from, the globalization of our food
system, and hear hopeful stories about how some folks are fostering more sustainable and healthier alternatives to industrialized
agriculture. We will send out flyers with more details in the near
future, but in the meantime we wanted to share these dates so you
could fit them into your busy summer schedules.
Wednesday, June 16th at Divinity Lutheran Church in Towson
Thursday, July 15th at Cathedral of the Incarnation, Charles Village
Tuesday, August 10th at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore
(Each film will start at 7 PM, and yes—we will have locally grown popcorn again!)
FOOD OF THE SEASON
Spring 2010
Volume 3, Issue 2
BFFP’s mission:
To partner with Baltimore area
faith communities and religious
organizations of all faith traditions to promote a just, safe, and
trustworthy food system that
allows us to produce what is
needed now and for future
generations in a way that protects
people, animals, air, land, and
water.
WELCOME ABOARD
AND FOND FAREWELLS….
Okay—so many of you are probably scratching your
heads now. We were, too, until we realized that all
sorts of things other than fruits and veggies are best
eaten
at certain times of the year.
(To every thing there is a season, turn, turn, turn...) For
slightly migratory species
like perch who can move from Nova Scotia to South Carolina and back, these times usually
occur when they move to tidal fresh and slightly
brackish waters each spring to spawn—this makes our
own Chesapeake Bay and the rivers that feed into it
perfect places to find them. They are also wellestablished in Maryland’s larger reservoirs. One of the
most abundant fish in the area, white perch are always
wild-caught and are considered a good alternative to
overfished species.
The BFFP is very pleased to introduce the newest two members of our
Advisory Committee, Aaron Kennedy and Katherine Scott.
Hint: You can buy them at
some Baltimore City covered
markets and other grocery
stores, but women of childbearing age and children up to age 6 shouldn’t eat
perch caught in Baltimore Harbor/Patapsco River and
Elk River. (Source: http://www.dnr.state.md.us/
fisheries/fishfacts/whiteperch.asp)
While we are very excited to welcome Aaron and Katherine, we are
also saddened to have to say good-bye to one of our first and most
ardent supporters, Barb Metz from St. Matthew Catholic Church. Barb
was the impetus in starting the first garden we helped create (Cardinal
Shehan School) and has provided invaluable advice these last two
years—she also gives great hugs! We are sure to stay friends even
though her busy schedule will no longer allow her to serve on the
Committee, and we wish her the best of luck in all her good works.
Aaron comes to us from Our Daily Bread (ODB) where he coordinates
volunteers and is working with the BFFP to increase the facility’s ability to integrate fresh produce (gleaned from the JFX Farmers’ Market)
into its meals, among other innovative projects. We are grateful to
profit from his creativity and dedication, and we hope that our partnership will be useful at ODB and other area soup kitchens.
We met Katherine (from St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church)
when she contacted us about a church/community garden she was
managing with the help of neighbors and some really great youth out
in Turner Station. Full of energy and laughter, Katherine gives generously of her time to several worthy causes—many of which she has
thought up herself in order to help kids and those in need. We suspect
that the BFFP will be getting involved in a whole bunch of new projects now that Katherine is on board!
Perch with Pine Nuts
Adapted from All-Fish-Seafood-Recipes.com
We have been trying out perch recipes at home lately and like this one because it gives us a good
excuse to fire up the grill and enjoy this beautiful spring weather after a long day at work. Served
with a side of locally grown, fresh asparagus makes this a delicious spring treat (see The Spring
2008 Good Food Digest for an easy roasted asparagus recipe).
1 1/2 pounds perch filets
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup butter
2 lemons
2 tablespoons chopped chives
Place pine nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast in a preheated oven (350 degrees) for 10 minutes until they turn
brown. Melt butter over medium heat and add pine nuts and chives; stir
until nuts are well coated and set aside. Slice lemons and place slices onto
a hot grill. Arrange filets on top of lemon slices and grill for about 3 to 4
minutes. DO NOT TURN; filets will turn opaque when done. Carefully
remove filets from grill, top with pine nut mixture, and serve. Serves 3.
BFFP MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Pleasant Hope Baptist Church
430 East Belvedere Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21212
(410) 435-0851
Reverend Heber Brown III, Pastor
Breaking ground on Earth Day Sunday 2010 for the new
vegetable/herb church and community garden.
In the Spring of 2008, the BFFP met Heber Brown, a socially active youth minister, when he volunteered at Cardinal Shehan
School where we were helping to plant a garden. He had no experience in gardening, but as he helped the kids plant peas and
tomatoes, Heber says that other seeds were being planted in his soul. Two months later, he became pastor of Pleasant Hope
Baptist Church (PH). In this issue of the Good Food Digest, Pastor Brown shares an innovative and exciting program started
by the church and others in what is truly a community-based effort. He writes:
When I became the pastor at PH, I was surprised by the sheer number of congregants who had health challenges. Almost immediately, we revived an exercise ministry and learned that the Kitchen Committee was also sensitive to the kinds of foods
being served because of these issues. About that time, St. Joseph’s Hospital approached PH and pitched an idea for a new
health program in the congregation. Members of the church’s Nurse’s Ministry and those in the congregation with public testimonies related to health issues were invited to the table to share their thoughts. The BFFP later came on board to help.
It became apparent that any health program with the potential to make a difference for PH congregants had to engage issues of
economics, community development, nutrition, politics, food systems, and personal dietary choices. This point was driven
home with the realization that PH – a church located in a community thought to be economically affluent - was in a virtual
―Food Desert.‖ Healthy, locally produced, organically grown food was at their fingertips 100 yards away in the Belvedere
Square Food Market, but it was miles away in terms of their ability to regularly buy it. For many members, their economic
status disqualified them from sharing in God’s good abundance, leading to health issues that affect the poor and working poor.
The vision of a holistic and sustainable program based on individual and community well-being was born. While the vision is
still blossoming, some defining characteristics include a focus on health as it relates to: mind, body, creation, and soul. To start
out, a ―Green Team‖ made up of PH members and community residents have begun wrestling with what it means to live in
healthy harmony with creation. The Sunday School seeded plants to go into our garden, and on Earth Day Sunday 2010 (a first
for this historically African American congregation!) the Green Team, the BFFP, and St. Joseph Hospital helped lead PH in a
nontraditional worship experience. Highlights of the day included a worm composting demonstration, a viewing of a video on
creation care, an energy efficiency workshop, and a blessing of our new demonstration vegetable/herb garden that will provide
food, knowledge, and ideas to members of the PH family and the larger community.
On the third Sunday in May, we will focus on personal health. Nurses from St. Joseph’s will join the congregation in another
nontraditional worship experience and offer free health screenings. Members of Baltimore’s Arabbers Community will talk
about their rich legacy of providing healthy food to city residents, and family members of Henrietta Lacks are also invited to
participate. (Lacks was the unwitting donor of immortal cells from her cancerous tumor which, now known as ―HeLa Cells,‖
have helped spawn medical research all over the world.)
The Spirit is leading PH and her partners in exploring innovative, holistic, (and fun!) approaches to an urgent community
challenge. Stay tuned!
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated... Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly... Did you ever stop
to think that you can't leave for your job in the morning without being dependent on most of the world? You get up in the
morning and go to the bathroom and reach over for the sponge, and that's handed to you by a Pacific islander. You reach for a
bar of soap, and that's given to you at the hands of a Frenchman. And then you go into the kitchen to drink your coffee for the
morning, and that's poured into your cup by a South American. And maybe you want tea: that's poured into your cup by a
Chinese. Or maybe you're desirous of having cocoa for breakfast, and that's poured into your cup by a West African. And then
you reach over for your toast, and that's given to you at the hands of an English-speaking farmer, not to mention the baker.
And before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you've depended on more than half the world. This is the way our
universe is structured, this is its interrelated quality. We aren't going to have peace on Earth until we recognize this basic fact
of the interrelated structure of all reality. – Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. from “A Christmas Sermon on Peace” 1967
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
YOUR EVENT HERE!!
Events taking place Friday, 5/14/10 and
Sunday, 5/16/10 at various times
Kayam Farm at Pearlstone Retreat Center
5425 Mt. Gilead Road
Reisterstown, MD 21136
For more info: http://ecobikeride.org/
Wednesday, 6/9/10 at 7:00 PM
We are happy to advertise your event in The Good Food Digest should we
have space. The newsletter goes out at the end of January, April, July, and
October—just send your info to us at [email protected] or give us a call at
(410) 502-5069 and we’ll try and include it on our calendar.
EcoRide, EcoFair, Shabbaton, and Plant Sale 2010
Jump on your bike and help our good friends at Kayam Farm raise some
money to support their hands-on Jewish agricultural education programs that
help teach families, groups, and individuals how to live more conscious and
sustainable lives. The ride will be followed by a Family Farm Festival ($8/
adults, $5/kids under 10) and plant sale (order in advance). Other activities
scheduled throughout the weekend.
Novella Carpenter, Author of Farm City
For more info, http://
baltimoregreenworks.com/events/sustainable
-speaker-series/
Baltimore Green Works’ Sustainable Speaker Series welcomes food writer
Novella Carpenter. Ms. Carpenter ― chronicles with grace and generosity her
experiences as an urban farmer. With her boyfriend’s help, her squatter’s
vegetable garden in one of the worst parts of the Bay Area evolved into further
adventures in bee and poultry keeping in the desire for such staples as homeharvested honey, eggs and home-raised meat... The juxtaposition of the farming life with inner-city grit elevates (her story) to the realm of the magical.‖
Thursday, 6/11/10, 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Volunteers and Leadership in Community Gardens
Homestead Harvest Garden
623 Homestead Street
Baltimore, MD 21218
A panel of Baltimore City gardeners and farmers will discuss and troubleshoot
methods of developing volunteers and leadership in community gardens. Bring
your own chair and questions.
For more info, call (410) 448-5663, ext. 114
Free for Community Greening Resources Network members; $4 for others.
Friday, 6/18/10
Sowing Seeds Here and Now: A Chesapeake Urban Agriculture Summit
Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural
Research Center
10300 Baltimore Avenue
Beltsville, MD 20705
Come here keynote speaker and MacArthur Genius Award winner, Will Allen,
from Milwaukee-based Growing Power and spend the day learning and strategizing with others to catalyze and support urban farming throughout our metropolitan area – Washington, DC, Prince George’s and other local counties,
and Baltimore.
Enoch Pratt Free Library, Main Branch
400 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201-4484
For more info, visit http://
sowingseedshereandnow.com/
Tickets to hear Mr. Allen cost $75 ($60 for early birds), but there are scholarships available that reduce this to $10. You must apply by 5/15/10 for one.
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Questions or comments, please e-mail us at [email protected], or call 410-502-5069.