everybody’s got to eat

so why aren’t we?

what is food justice?

genuine redistribution of resources to those who are lacking

lived experience is the best way to understand a problem and lead it to resolve. in our current paradigm the virtual meetings and clean rooms where proposed solutions are crafted are far removed from the rooms that are accessible to the communities being served.

Nobody: Us: Oh we’re just over here making pizza outside in December at the garden using locally sourced ingredients with @community_5050 and @shalomfarms 🧑🏾‍🌾🍅🧅🍕 Planting the seed now because next year these youth will make their ow
Nobody: Us: Oh we’re just over here making pizza outside in December at the garden using locally sourced ingredients with @community_5050 and @shalomfarms 🧑🏾‍🌾🍅🧅🍕 Planting the seed now because next year these youth will make their own sauce. Go to the website to support the youth programming and garden infrastructure with money. If you want to donate holiday gifts, we have lots of appreciative families for you. We always need more books for our 2 little libraries on the site. DM with anything else! 🙏🏾🫶🏾✊🏾🍽⚖️ 🖤
These luffa plants are so prolific in providing abundant natural shade in this public housing neighborhood. This is especially helpful knowing that less than a year ago the local housing authority removed a significant amount of trees and the shade t
These luffa plants are so prolific in providing abundant natural shade in this public housing neighborhood. This is especially helpful knowing that less than a year ago the local housing authority removed a significant amount of trees and the shade they provided to this urban heat island neighborhood. But we still had no idea how helpful luffa would be when @gr_fit4kids donated the plants to us as seedlings this past Spring. Back in 2022 we tried putting some sugar baby watermelons on our trellises and that was a big fail. This year @sentarahealth chipped in to help with some infrastructure improvements and voila! What do you think about us doing a sitting area fully shaded by luffa plants next year?
Here’s a little recap of 2023 so far at the Mosby Community Garden, which is one of very few wholy Black owned and resident-led community gardens in the City of Richmond. It’s our honor to partner with community members daily in transforming these blighted vacant parcels of land into this hub for community wellness and resources. Thanks to @sentarahealth @va_agriculture for financial support and thanks to so many partners like @richmondcity_hd @community_5050 @esotericwellness @fittogorva @_liveoutlove @shalomfarms @americanheartva @gr_fit4kids @zwm.ent and so many others who have embraced a collective vision for the space. 🙏🏾🖤
Shoutout to @_liveoutlove and her vision for the Healing Network - meeting the needs of the community from within the community. We are grateful the Network brings out great people to the Mosby garden like @fittogorva and @esotericwellness to bring health and wellness programming. There is strength in unity and there’s way too many partners to name who make this garden so special. @sentarahealth @va_agriculture @gr_fit4kids and @shalomfarms have been our most crucial partners to fund the transformation of these blighted vacant city lots into a vibrant Black space for learning and living. We can always use more financial support for youth stipends, resident staff wages, storage/utility fees, garden infrastructure enhancements, and to compensate programming partners. Use the link in the bio to go the the site where you can contribute a lil something something. 🙏🏾♥️🖤💚🌱
It was fun times with the RPS Farm 2 School team at MLK Middle School
It was fun times last week with the @rvaschools Farm 2 School team at Martin Luther King, Jr Middle School.
After school faculty and advocates complained, Richmond Public Schools will be backtracking their plan to limit RPS high schools to 18 minute lunch periods. . As student testing performance becomes more linked to public school funding, so has the focus on increasing classroom instruction time. In a capitalist driven society that does not prioritize physical and mental health, this leaves recess times and meal times vulnerable to decreases. . The American Academy of Pediatrics and Center for Disease Control recommend that students get no less than 20 minutes for lunch. This does not include the time for waiting in line or walking from class to the cafeteria. . Richmond Food Justice Alliance’s advocacy includes improving school meal nutrition and school meal satisfaction. We believe that the food experience is relevant to food access. Shoutout to @rvaschools school board and administration for agreeing to take swift action. . If you want to get more involved with RPS school nutrition policy contact the School Health Advisory Board at shab@rvaschools.net
"[R]ising global temperatures comes with more frequent and stronger storms. Storms are the biggest cause of blackouts in the states... Energy poverty describes anyone without secure access to electricity and fuel... While storms do not immediate
"[R]ising global temperatures comes with more frequent and stronger storms. Storms are the biggest cause of blackouts in the states... Energy poverty describes anyone without secure access to electricity and fuel... While storms do not immediately cause energy poverty, they exacerbate the issue, along with unjust energy transitions that allow wealthy people to access green energy while distorting the costs for people without such privileges... As a result people lose food, income, time, necessary medicines... Fortunately, yet not by sheer coincidence, the long serving methods of preserving foods are incredibly healthy for us. . This is part of a three part series on energy poverty and practical food preservation methods that can keep us healthy when the lights go out." . Go to our bio to access the full posting.
"It was during the process of exterminating the Maya that Europeans first tasted cacao, the food that was so important to them it flowed densely through society, feeding spiritual ceremonies and paying military salaries... [C]olonialism, by its
"It was during the process of exterminating the Maya that Europeans first tasted cacao, the food that was so important to them it flowed densely through society, feeding spiritual ceremonies and paying military salaries... [C]olonialism, by its nature, was against the establishment of industries in Africa and Latin America, outside of agriculture and the extractive industries of mining and lumber. It is why Mexican chocolate is characteristically coarse, unlike Swiss or German chocolate which is industrially smooth. Whenever Africans pushed towards industrialization, they were deliberately blocked by the colonial governments acting on behalf of European business.”. . Excerpt from the blog post "Swiping Chocolate, How the world was divided to bring us candy" by Steven Casanova. Use the link in bio to read more.
“Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete? Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet. Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air. Long live the rose that grew
“Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete? Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet. Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air. Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared.”(Tupac Shakur)
Richmond Food Justice Alliance is a Black owned and led not-for-profit social enterprise that was created only to direct resources into the community as we advance food justice in Richmond. We provide stipends of $25 per week to Mosby Court youth w
Richmond Food Justice Alliance is a Black owned and led not-for-profit social enterprise that was created only to direct resources into the community as we advance food justice in Richmond. We provide stipends of $25 per week to Mosby Court youth who are vested in their community. We have capacity for 8 youth. If you have financial resources to help with this effort please share using PayPal.me/RVAfoodjustice or use the link in the bio. Thanks so much! 💚🌱⚖️
The streets are still buzzing about how great the first popup market of this season went! On Wednesdays we host @shalomfarms at our site in the heart of Mosby Court public housing. This partnership has enabled our small community-led organization to
The streets are still buzzing about how great the first popup market of this season went! On Wednesdays we host @shalomfarms at our site in the heart of Mosby Court public housing. This partnership has enabled our small community-led organization to transform a blighted vacant lot into a vibrant safe green space where info and resource sharing among various partners takes place. Special shoutouts to @va_agriculture @richmondcity_hd @sentarahealth @community_5050 @gr_fit4kids for continued support but most especially the Mosby community members for partnering since day one and continuing to build community with us as we advance food justice. Richmond Food Justice Alliance is a not-for-profit social enterprise that directs funding and resources directly to folx in BIPOC communities. Please support this work by using the link in the bio. Hit up our DM or email richmondfja@gmail.com if you have resources that you would like to share. Thanks for stopping thru! ✊🏾🥗🌱⚖️ #rvafoodjustice #rva #urbanfarming
Coming back to a hood near you! Food, folks, and fun!
It cannot be overstated the tremendous transformation that’s occurred during these past 2 years in Mosby Court since we began partnering with @shalomfarms and @va_agriculture to transform this blighted vacant lot next to public housing into a vibrant community green space and anchor for resource providers. The Mosby garden is one of a very few community gardens in the entire City of Richmond that is wholly Black owned and controlled. We look forward to continuing to build this space into one of education, empowerment, and opportunity. Thanks for joining us on this journey! FYI Richmond Food Justice Alliance is a grassroots BIPOC led organization. Please contribute what you can to support our work by using the link in the bio. 🙏🏾 RIP Mr. James #rvafoodjustice #rvafoodjusticealliance
“Cheap synthetic fertilizer made it possible for United Fruit Company, now Chiquita, to expand its production on a global scale. United Fruit Company was a conglomerate of banana traders that merged at the end of the 1800s. Latin America, like
“Cheap synthetic fertilizer made it possible for United Fruit Company, now Chiquita, to expand its production on a global scale. United Fruit Company was a conglomerate of banana traders that merged at the end of the 1800s. Latin America, like Africa, experienced an influx of European and United States trading companies in those years, which replaced the trading of enslaved humans with the trading of terribly underpaid, and sometimes again unpaid labor. [.] When Colombian banana workers stopped working for nearly a month to demand the end of obvious exploitation, it was a threat to the cheap food that U.S. industry depended on. United Fruit Company turned to the U.S. government, and telegrams between the U.S. embassy in Bogatá and the U.S. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg portrayed the strike as a communist threat. United Fruit called on the U.S. to threaten the Colombian government with military invasion and they had the leverage to cut off Colombia from the global banana trade. Caught between U.S. profits, the possibility of devastating war, and de facto sanctions (war by another name), it was the Colombian government that called the workers into the town plaza for a special announcement by the Governor and then ambushed the crowd with rooftop machine guns on all sides. According to State Department telegrams received by Secretary Kellogg, over a thousand Colombian men, women, and children were murdered on the Sunday afternoon known as the Masacre de las Bananeras.” Go to the link in our bio to read the rest of this newest blog and others that you may have missed. #foodjustice #rvafoodjustice #vegetablegardening #anticapitalism
It can’t be overstated the amount of suffering that this community will now experience as their food costs just increased drastically overnight. The increase in time and transportation costs to get food for families reduces the amount they have to spend on food prep, cooking, and the food itself. This highlights the reason we must restore our knowledge and connectedness to producing our own food for our families and communities. #shtf #growyourownfood #foodsovereignty #foodjustice #rva
We’re hoping to have this electricity up and running soon! One of the biggest obstacles for small BIPOC farmers is getting their products to and from the market. If/when all goes well, we will be able to store their products on-site in cold sto
We’re hoping to have this electricity up and running soon! One of the biggest obstacles for small BIPOC farmers is getting their products to and from the market. If/when all goes well, we will be able to store their products on-site in cold storage. These products will be available for purchase at our weekly popup farmers market powered by our partnership with @shalomfarms and the Mosby Court community. #blackspacematters #growyourownfood #communitywellness
Happy Black History Month! Come lend a hand for this ZuWeek ‘23 activity! We’ll be doing some routine beautification of Black space ahead of the 2023 growing season. #earthdayeveryday🌎 #urbanfarming #blackspacematters
Happy Black History Month! Come lend a hand for this ZuWeek ‘23 activity! We’ll be doing some routine beautification of Black space ahead of the 2023 growing season. #earthdayeveryday🌎 #urbanfarming #blackspacematters
“The Green Revolution wasn’t universally applied throughout poor and hungry nations, it was strategically used to quell rebellion. The initiative was conceived in the 1960’s as a capitalist counter to socialism’s Red Revolutio
“The Green Revolution wasn’t universally applied throughout poor and hungry nations, it was strategically used to quell rebellion. The initiative was conceived in the 1960’s as a capitalist counter to socialism’s Red Revolutions. Instead of promising food for hungry people via land access, it promised food via fertilizer access, genetically modified crop varieties, and neoliberalism. Production climbed and prices dropped, profits were traded in the cities and abroad. Someone had to pick this expanded yield, albeit at a lower pay rate than before. The real legacy of the Green Revolution was to squeeze land and land-working peasants more efficiently while promising abundance to the cities.” Link in bio to read more. 📸Steven Casanova (Plantains in Las Marias that were blown over after a minor storm in spring 2022)
I get the feeling that he is not talking to YT people. 🤔
Nobody: Us: Oh we’re just over here making pizza outside in December at the garden using locally sourced ingredients with @community_5050 and @shalomfarms 🧑🏾‍🌾🍅🧅🍕 Planting the seed now because next year these youth will make their ow These luffa plants are so prolific in providing abundant natural shade in this public housing neighborhood. This is especially helpful knowing that less than a year ago the local housing authority removed a significant amount of trees and the shade t
Here’s a little recap of 2023 so far at the Mosby Community Garden, which is one of very few wholy Black owned and resident-led community gardens in the City of Richmond. It’s our honor to partner with community members daily in transform
Shoutout to @_liveoutlove and her vision for the Healing Network - meeting the needs of the community from within the community. We are grateful the Network brings out great people to the Mosby garden like @fittogorva and @esotericwellness to bring h
It was fun times with the RPS Farm 2 School team at MLK Middle School
It was fun times last week with the @rvaschools Farm 2 School team at Martin Luther King, Jr Middle School.
After school faculty and advocates complained, Richmond Public Schools will be backtracking their plan to limit RPS high schools to 18 minute lunch periods. . As student testing performance becomes more linked to public school funding, so has the f
"[R]ising global temperatures comes with more frequent and stronger storms. Storms are the biggest cause of blackouts in the states... Energy poverty describes anyone without secure access to electricity and fuel... While storms do not immediate "It was during the process of exterminating the Maya that Europeans first tasted cacao, the food that was so important to them it flowed densely through society, feeding spiritual ceremonies and paying military salaries... [C]olonialism, by its “Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete? Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet. Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air. Long live the rose that grew Richmond Food Justice Alliance is a Black owned and led not-for-profit social enterprise that was created only to direct resources into the community as we advance food justice in Richmond. We provide stipends of $25 per week to Mosby Court youth w The streets are still buzzing about how great the first popup market of this season went! On Wednesdays we host @shalomfarms at our site in the heart of Mosby Court public housing. This partnership has enabled our small community-led organization to
Coming back to a hood near you! Food, folks, and fun!
It cannot be overstated the tremendous transformation that’s occurred during these past 2 years in Mosby Court since we began partnering with @shalomfarms and @va_agriculture to transform this blighted vacant lot next to public housing into a v
“Cheap synthetic fertilizer made it possible for United Fruit Company, now Chiquita, to expand its production on a global scale. United Fruit Company was a conglomerate of banana traders that merged at the end of the 1800s. Latin America, like
It can’t be overstated the amount of suffering that this community will now experience as their food costs just increased drastically overnight. The increase in time and transportation costs to get food for families reduces the amount they have
We’re hoping to have this electricity up and running soon! One of the biggest obstacles for small BIPOC farmers is getting their products to and from the market. If/when all goes well, we will be able to store their products on-site in cold sto Happy Black History Month! Come lend a hand for this ZuWeek ‘23 activity! We’ll be doing some routine beautification of Black space ahead of the 2023 growing season. #earthdayeveryday🌎 #urbanfarming #blackspacematters “The Green Revolution wasn’t universally applied throughout poor and hungry nations, it was strategically used to quell rebellion. The initiative was conceived in the 1960’s as a capitalist counter to socialism’s Red Revolutio
I get the feeling that he is not talking to YT people. 🤔

the expertise for how to solve the issue is always within the issue itself.

as close as possible to the everyday lived experience.