Here at The Food Project, we are often asked, what do you do in the winter? Because the most visual part of our work is farming, many people assume that when it’s cold and snowy here in New England, our work diminishes. This could not be farther from the truth. For example, here’s a sampling of what’s happening today:
Several of our farmers–Miriam, Tim, Jess, and Bob– are developing field plans and seed orders for our farms in Lincoln, Lynn, Beverly, and Boston, .
Joe, Michael, and J. moved our new walk-in refrigerator (donated from a company that’s renovating their own space) so that we can have cold storage during the growing season.
Diane and Polly are planning two fund-raising events to bring more people into the fold.
Marissa is working on the Northeast Real Food Summit in Amherst, MA, which will unite over 300 food activists–from high schoolers to college students, young farmers to chefs, and food service directors to faculty–for a weekend of inspiring and rejuvenating workshops about food system change.
Martha, a youth program staff member, is going to a presentation at a local high school to recruit for the Summer Youth Program.
Greg is meeting with a board member to discuss how to bring diversity training to other board members.
Max is writing grants and reports to ensure our financial stability.
Michael is signing up folks for volunteer days, which begin in April.
John and Shatara are working on recruiting youth for our North Shore site.
Melissa and Jess are developing a presentation on EBT (food stamp) machine usage at farmers’ markets for the Harvest New England Agricultural Marketing Conference in February.
Sparklle is submitting the bi-weekly payroll information for our youth interns.
Laura is working on logistics for the Winter Institute, where 15 people from around the country will learn how to engage young people year-round in activities that focus on growing food, youth empowerment and bridging difference.
And that’s not everyone who’s on staff or who’s volunteering with us. To answer the age-old question of what do we do in the winter? A LOT! Find out how you can help here.
