Hands On Harvests

"A meal is never just a plate of food. It has the power to change the world, to bring people together, to tell the story of who we are and where we’re going," says José Andrés in his post-election Substack piece. I see this every day in my work with Hands On Harvests: a backyard gardener explaining how they designed their veggie plot, a community gardener teaching me how she'd cook that prized corn fungus in her home country, or a group of people -- middle school to retired, from a variety of cultures -- spending a Sunday together to tuck in HOH's demonstration garden for the winter. I also see this, also from Jose Andres: "Food is the beginning of a better life. It’s a plate of hope." To read the full Andres piece, go to https://lnkd.in/e56wdE8J

This is year 4 in Hands On Harvests' community gardens at Kingsley Commons. Instead of providing biweekly mentorship on a weeknight evening like we've been doing, this year we switched to monthly workshops - topics requested by the gardeners - on Saturday mornings with breakfast so that the whole family can come, eat, and we all can share our garden knowledge and stories. I'm grateful to our gardeners, HOH volunteers and FAIRFAX COUNTY MASTER GARDENER ASSOCIATION INC volunteers for these mornings in the garden. Today's menu included an abundance of fruit, homemade banana bread (thank you, Mary Jo!), salsa verde with tomatillos from my garden, refried black beans, pico de gallo, scrambled eggs with chorizo, queso fresco, corn tortillas, juice, lemonade and coffee. Mary Jo gave a terrific presentation on container gardening that Kira interpreted, and we all had a good conversation about what we want to grow in containers in the garden next year and lamenting the summer's heat and drought.

One of my favorite things about working with a team is collaborative planning for a project, program or event. There's magic in seeing each person bring their skills and talents to the table, propose and adapt, then collectively pull off something bigger than anyone could do alone. Each event or program is a trust fall. Hands On Harvests had three events in one weekend, and every volunteer delivered. I'm so thankful to every person who makes HOH's all-volunteer engine go.

Continually amazed by the giving community here in Fairfax County? Today, the Tysons Corner Center team, in partnership with Hands On Harvests and MicroHabitat, held the grand opening of their new Giving Garden urban farm. This beautiful, local produce will be donated and going into the hands of our Food for Others neighbors experiencing food insecurity! With fresh produce being FFO’s #1 most requested item, I am just so grateful to everyone involved. Special shoutout to Lindsay Petak for being such a champion of our mission and bringing this to life! I can’t wait to see the fruits of their labor (pun intended)?????????