Author Archive for Lauren VanMullem
Lauren Van Mullem never has enough hours in the day for everything she wants to do, see, eat, drink, and write about. During the piddling hours of daylight available, she writes about food, travel, and good deeds. She also blogs at www.anglophileinla.com.
Dancers Celebrate Life with Suicide Prevention Fundraiser
Mark Ballas’ most difficult challenge in life is not teaching Bristol Palin how to dance, or even launching his first solo album as a musician this fall. The challenge that Mark has taken up is speaking on behalf of suicide prevention, a cause close to his heart since he lost his uncle, David Rich, to suicide seven years ago.
“For me, it’s about raising awareness of depression. It’s not like a mood swing. People struggle with it every day. Nothing matters. My uncle’s daughter was everything to him, but it didn’t matter because he was sick. You have to make people aware of it so they can recognize it and help people get better.”
David raised his daughter Mary as a single parent and helped raise Mark while his mother, Shirley Ballas, was pursuing her dancing career. “His daughter was his life. But he was going through a dark time,” says Shirley, David’s sister. In 2003, Shirley’s and David’s mother traveled to Northern England to help care for David after he became increasingly depressed. Mark, then 17, was scheduled to sing at St. Paul’s cathedral in London, and Shirley invited her mother to see the performance – a one-day journey. That day was enough time for David, who was alone, to act on his depression and kill himself. The family was not only left with overwhelming grief, but guilt. “You keep thinking maybe you could have done something,” says Mark.
Dancing and Donations
Three weeks ago when Shirley Ballas called Laura Levinsky, the Director of the Southern California Area of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, she told her she wanted to host a fundraiser. Laura was skeptical. “People talk it, but when they actually go out to do it – they can’t, or they realize that it’s far more work, or their definition of ‘a lot of money’ is a hundred dollars.”
Mark, who is in talks to become the spokesperson for the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, suggested to his mother that she turn her 50th birthday party into a fundraising event. According to Shirley, Mark said “We don’t need gifts, mummy, let’s help our charity, the AFSP.”
Over 200 guests at Monday night’s party in the Millennium Biltmore’s Crystal Ballroom gifted checks to the charity and bid on auction items, like tickets to Dancing with the Stars and private dance lessons volunteered by Mark Ballas, Cheryl Burke, Maks Chmerkovskiy, Tony Dovolani and Derek Hough. At the end of the evening, Laura Levinsky was presented with a $40,000 check.
The total amount raised has yet to be counted since more donations are still coming in. The money will go to AFSP programs and presentations to schools, the military, and other organizations that want to teach people what signs to look for and how to help those who are deeply depressed before they reach the point of killing themselves.
‘All For Nothing’
It’s a heavy subject for a party. Neither Shirley nor Mark Ballas are ones to dwell on sad events. Mark’s positive energy and enthusiasm are as evident through a phone conversation as they are on the dance floor. But when he talks about the suicide of his uncle, the emotions of deep loss make his voice unsteady. He wrote and recorded “All for Nothing,” a song that expresses what he would have liked to say to his uncle before he died.
“You won’t believe the things
That you’ll be missin’
When she talks about her dreams
Did you even listen
She’d love you to see her dance
Walk her down the aisle
How you ever gonna get that chance?
When you’re playing the poor man
Given’ up on hope
Backed into a corner
Tying your own rope”
“All for Nothing” is a hard song to listen to, and for Mark, it’s even harder to sing since he is tied so closely to the real events that inspired him to write it. He performed the song live at the fundraiser, accompanying himself on his guitar, and sang it with emotion and precision perfected over years of training in musical theater. Mark’s first love was music, and he is an accomplished musician as well as a dancer and choreographer. He describes his style as similar to John Mayer, and Mark’s lyrics come directly from his own experiences.
Mark doesn’t perform “All for Nothing” when he plays venues as a solo artist. It’s a little too heavy to bring onto the stage. But that is one of the most difficult parts of promoting suicide prevention. Suicide is difficult to talk about. For those who have experienced the suicide of a loved one, it brings up deep emotions of grief, helplessness, and guilt. It’s a painful circle of “why”s and “what if”s.
Suicide is a taboo topic. When it happens, it is rarely discussed, particularly for religious reasons since some believe suicide is a character flaw or weakness that leads to Hell. Family members are often lead to downplay potential signs, but most people don’t even realize there are signs until it is too late.
Dancing Around the Issue
Sixty percent of Americans will know someone who died by suicide. Twenty percent of those will be family members of the people who took their own lives. In the United States, one person dies by suicide every 15 minutes.
“Suicide creeps up on people, I believe. Everybody is so busy in their lives and [they] don’t take the time to address those who aren’t feeling well. In today’s society, people don’t take that time to check in with friends, to talk to people, to take that ten minutes to listen,” says Shirley Ballas. Taking time to check in with friends and noticing changes in behavior are the first steps to preventing suicide. Socially isolated individuals are most likely to attempt killing themselves.
But, it isn’t loneliness or even depression that causes suicide. The most dangerous feeling is that of hopelessness, and that isn’t something that can be fixed with well-meaning expressions, like “I know how you feel,” or “It will pass.” Suicidal tendencies are often accompanied by a history of mental illness, brain chemistry that is hard to defeat without medication, or even with it.
Taking Action
You don’t have to donate money or go to a fancy fundraiser to help prevent suicide. According to Laura Levinsky, just watching out for your friends and family is enough. But you have to know what signs to look for:
Serious depression and hopelessness
Anxiety
Sleeping too much or too little
Increased substance abuse
Risky behavior
Threatening suicide or wishing to die
Making a plan
Talk to friends or relatives who you suspect may be having a difficult time. It’s ok to ask them if they’ve been thinking about suicide – you won’t be putting ideas into their heads, but you might have the chance to help them out of it. If you know someone who is in trouble, visit the AFSP website for ways you can help.
Most importantly, remember to connect. Reach out to a friend or relative today. Send an email, leave a Facebook message, call or text to remind a friend that you care about them.
The 36th Annual National Suicide Prevention Week is from September 5th – 11th, 2010. We want to thank Mark and Shirley Ballas for giving us the tools and courage to deal with such a difficult subject.
Photos and Song Lyrics published with permission from Mark Ballas
How to Start a Farmers’ Market
Farmers’ Markets are a one-stop-shop for fresh and delicious food that doesn’t harm the environment, but organizing one is no small feat. Lauren interviews the creators of the Chamblee Farmers Market in Chamblee, Georgia, and receives great advice on getting involved in this rising trend.
The small town of Chamblee, Georgia has no less than five roads with “peach” in their names. There’s Peachtree Road, Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Peachtree Street, Peachford Road and, my favorite, Peachtree Dunwoody Road. The town is surrounded by fields and dairy farms, its map criss-crossed with names from an agricultural past. And yet, in a decade where farmers’ markets have become as much a national cause as a place to buy dinner, there wasn’t one around.
A Growing Community
As Ida Beth Barner puts it, “We needed a central place for folks to gather and meet with each other. My motivation was to get more involved with my own community. . . . I turned 60 this year and really didn’t have an appreciation for organic and pesticide free food, but I do now. I eat healthier and encourage others to eat healthier.” For Council Member Tom Hogan, a farmers’ market was a way to revitalize a community by bringing new energy and business to historic downtown Chamblee.
Nealey Dozier, a Southern food blogger and chef, first learned to love locally grown produce when she moved to Los Angeles. She returned to the South addicted to farmers’ markets, and when she heard that a few people in her community were working to start a market of their own, she joined up. For her, it was a way to become meaningfully involved in her new town, meet people, and make friends. Even before the banners went up, the Chamblee Farmers Market was bringing the community together.
Challenging the Status Pluot
Starting a market isn’t easy – in fact, it’s a lot like starting a business, combined with putting on a perpetual fundraiser with the help of thirty neighbors, all under the bureaucratic eyes of a city council. It’s a mix of personalities, man hours, and regulations that is beyond daunting. Initially, they didn’t even have the support of the farmers.
“Some farmers hear ‘farmers’ market’ and think it’s a four-letter word,” says Nealey, adding that “some just say ‘I’m not interested’ and hang up the phone because they simply don’t have enough manpower or produce to take to another market.”
One farmer suggested they begin by starting a CSA to get a sense of community interest in local produce. He volunteered 35 shares for the season. Within an hour after the email announcing a CSA was sent, 300 people responded. “There was a higher demand than the farmers expected, and we knew we had our Farmers Market shoppers,” says Nealey.
After that, the volunteers met every week. They had to decide on a day, location, time, budget and fundraising plan. They needed marketing volunteers, a board of directors, and market managers who would agree to work for free. And, they needed farmers.
Lettuce Go to Market
The farmers’ market volunteer group began planning in March to open in June, but farmers decide on their planting long before that. It came as a surprise that three months wasn’t enough notice to ensure enough produce was available. The farmers were already stretched thin – a consequence of the booming popularity of farmers markets. Every town has one, every town wants one, and the competition for drawing farmers is fierce. “That was a shock to us. We thought farmers would be lining up,” says Nealey.
Most markets require that the farmers themselves be there to sell their produce. This creates a problem very quickly – there aren’t enough farmers to go around, even if they have enough produce to sell at several markets. By requiring only that someone who works at the farm be at the tables, the Chamblee market was able to get vendors who otherwise would not have had time to come.
Another roadblock was the liability issue. Lawyers advised the market volunteers to not only have an overall policy, but to require all the vendors to have liability insurance also – everyone from the pretzel seller to the landscape artist. Most farmers markets don’t require that. “Some of the farmers said ‘No’ flat out, and some got [insurance] especially for our market,” Nealey says. One of the market volunteers offered free legal advice to vendors and helped fill out the forms, walking them through the process as much as possible.
Even with these hurdles, the market’s opening day was an astounding success. Almost 700 people came, and nearly every farmer sold out by 9:30a.m. One might think this would be the happy ending to the story, but that’s the thing about farmers markets – they last all summer, or in Chamblee’s case, all year.
A Tough Row to Hoe
“We didn’t realize how much work there would be after the market started to keep it growing,” Nealey admits. Starting a market turns out to be the easy part. Marketing the market is the new challenge the volunteers face. They have to keep the market exciting with live music and chef demonstrations, and involve the community through social media and blogs. Nealey says it has turned into almost a full time job, “the [markets] in big cities have full time employees, paid. We are all volunteers.”
Nealey says that the end result is worth the hundreds of hours of effort she and the other volunteers have committed:
It’s a challenge sometimes, but a group of people who probably wouldn’t have come together for any other reason have built something bigger than ourselves. Every Saturday I see the same people back again with their kids and dogs, people who live blocks away from each other who wouldn’t have met otherwise. It’s a great sense of community.
Want to start your own Farmers’ Market?
1. Do research on supply and demand in the area, and start your planning the year before you want to open.
2. Build strong relationships in the local food community: chefs, NGOs promoting organic and sustainable farming, and other market managers.
3. There will always be unexpected hurdles, and having a diverse team of experienced people is vital to overcoming them. Everyone has talents to contribute.
For more information on the Chamblee Farmers Market, visit their website. Fresh southern recipes using Chamblee market produce can be found on Nealey Dozier’s blog, DixieCaviar.com.
Special thanks to Nealey Dozier, Matt Cox, Alan Moise, Ida Beth Barner, and Howard Berk for not only volunteering to make a farmers’ market, but for answering my questions for this article.
Five Sites that Educate and Inspire
The Internet can be used for many useless things, but its ability to spread ideas is one of its greatest perks. Certain organizations are finding new ways to share new and exciting information, proving that the world wide web can and should be used for far more than tweets and status updates.
Below are five websites that both educate and inspire.
“Ideas Worth Spreading”
TED Talks has long been one of my favorite websites. I click on a TED talk as I’m doing dishes or making dinner, any time mundane chores try to get in the way of a good think. My personal favorite is Elizabeth Gilbert’s talk on nurturing creativity. I wouldn’t even call myself an Eat, Pray, Love fan (though I read it), but this talk alone is inspiring for anyone who tries to write, perform, paint or create. TED’s range of topics is epic, eccentric, and eclectic. Some deal with the mind (like “Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity” – another favorite!), while other topic include physics, entrepreneurship, green technology, the chemistry of oil, same sex marriage, medical breakthroughs and music. Some speakers are famous, all are well-respected in their fields, and most of them are fascinating and witty.
“Fuel the Enlightenment”
Fora.tv is also a video streaming site for speakers, and the issues discussed are easier to categorize: Economy, Environment, Politics, Science, Technology and Culture.
Rachel Armstrong, a medical doctor, architect and artist, talks about “Saving Venice with Living Architecture” by combining design and biology to create “platform shoes” that could prevent the city from sinking down. That’s what I listened to as I flat-ironed my hair this morning. Just think what I could discover if I took the time to paint my nails, or dust, or organize my closet. Things like “Is the Prius Eco-Friendly, or Ego-Friendly?” and “The Muslim World and the West – is there hope for a peaceful future?” Most of the videos are free and immediately clickable, though some premium talks require you to sign in and put up some money.
“A Live, Worldwide, Creative Classroom”
CreativeLive not only spreads ideas, but teaches practical skills, mostly for free. Every class is broadcast live online, and viewing it live is completely free. You can sign up for email reminders so you don’t miss anything, or buy the taped classes and view them at your leisure. One of their latest classes was a 5-day wedding photography seminar with Theo Chocolates as the backdrop, taught by Jasmine Star. I watched her post-class Q&A session and learned a lot about lighting – then kicked myself for not having seen the entire class. Live shows are easy to miss, but well worth the effort to sit in front of you computer screen at the appointed time. Other classes range from a 5-week Watercolor 101, Photoshop, Fundamentals of Digital Photography, and Web Design Bootcamp — in which I am enrolling as I write this. If you thought you didn’t have the money to take an interesting course, CreativeLive might be the answer. Don’t be late to class!
“Everything You Need to be Entertained”
iTunes isn’t for everyone, but after being anti-Apple for years, I broke down and got an iPod. It’s pink, I love it. I’m not much of a music-lover, but I can listen to The Moth, Stuff You Should Know, Stuff You Missed in History Class and other interesting, informative podcasts all day. I have some iTunes U classes in journalism and writing on there, and have been looking into Podcasting 101 (I aspire to have my own voice up there someday).
But my all time favorite is NPR’s This American Life. Some of the most creative writing and reporting being done right now is happening on public radio. By exploring a single idea through a selection of individual stories, This American Life is mind-expanding and often incredibly poignant.
“Work Where You Want… Live How You Want… Be Who You Want To Be”
Untemplater is one of the best lifestyle design blogs out there. It’s packed with interesting articles, advice, how-tos, and inspirational stories of people who have pursued their passions. Why is “Gen Y Built to Fail”? That’s what I’m reading right now – it’s an article that suggests that our current educational system is training children for a certain kind of workforce that will be obsolete by the time they graduate college. Other articles are more immediately useful, like how to be more productive, or advice on how to make your life and job mobile. Stories are written by people who have lived the “untemplated life,” and it’s encouraging to have access to a community of people who constantly consider all the possibilities.
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That the Internet is a source of limitless information is no surprise. But what is surprising is how easy it has become to incorporate useful, interesting, inspiring, and entertaining information into our lives. With mental stimulation at the click of a button, we can reclaim minutes wasted in frustrating commutes or on mind-numbing housework. That’s a great idea, and one worth spreading.
TROTT Trains Racehorses Off the Track
Bonnie Adams knows what happens to racehorses who lose their place in the stable. They could be given to friends who can’t really afford them, put in a pasture, sent to a cheap track to run despite any injuries or, even worse, sent to Mexican slaughterhouses. So Adams founded TROTT, or Training Racehorses Off the Track — an organization that takes thoroughbreds directly from the track into training, later sending them to loving homes.
Take Afleet Eagle, a thoroughbred racehorse who won $112,800 in the Oceanside Stakes at the Del Mar racetrack. With such a promising start, it came as a shock when he suffered an injury in the next race he ran. The injury was minor, but that was the end of his career. Like 37,000 other ex-racehorses, Afleet Eagle needed a home.
TROTT works differently then the typical horse rescue groups that stand at horse auctions and buy as many off the track racehorses (OTTRs) as they can afford. Bonnie spends much of her time at the race track, talking with owners and jockeys and being a constant reminder that there is a place they can bring their non-competitive and injured horses. The thoroughbreds who come under her care are only two to six years old. For most of their lives, they’ve been kept in a small stall (so they can’t injure themselves) with a little window, and are only let out to run. Running is all they’ve been trained to do.
When they come off the track, then, they need a new job and a whole new set of skills.
Afleet Eagle was one of those horses. He had the heart to win, and he would run all day. In fact, he won 3/5 races before he became injured. Most people, even those who have grown up with horses, would assume that such a high-powered energetic animal would be Hell on hooves to ride – that would be my assumption, and I spent my formative years working with wild mustangs. But even a highly competitive runner calms down once fed normal food (not high-octane grain), treated like a normal horse, let out in stalls where they can see everything going on around them, and trained to ride.
“People have the preconception that racehorses are high strung, but they’re just not like that,” says Bonnie.
Since coming to TROTT, Afleet Eagle has been on trails, crossed water, and has even had kids on his back. Like many off the track horses, he has incredible endurance. In fact, the horses that went to the Beijing Olympics were OTT thoroughbreds for precisely that reason.
Eventers love these horses, as do endurance riders, and hunter/jumpers. OTT thoroughbreds are the star athletes of the horse world, but Bonnie maintains that their will to please is so great that they will do any job you train them to do.
“Their personality is so happy to work. No catching necessary – they see you coming and they’re coming to you. There is no heart like the heart of a thoroughbred. They truly love people.”
At TROTT, the horses are trained to be ridden according to the things they naturally enjoy doing. Some may be built for slower Western Pleasure or dressage, others love to jump, and some make great children’s horses. The volunteer trainers play matchmaker, choosing just the right owner for just the right horse. The process to becoming an owner, however, is not easy. To ensure these horses are protected and cared for, TROTT requires an extensive screening process for potential buyers.
Why would anyone jump through hoops and pay between $1,500 to $3,500 for an OTT horse? Because these are some of the best bred horses in the country, and because Bonnie is an honest saleswoman – a rare thing in the horse world. If there are any problems or issues with the horse, she lets the owners know. She’s not in the horse-selling business, she is there to protect them, and that means owners need to know everything.
How to Help a Horse
TROTT runs through donations of money and of time. Experienced riders can volunteer to train and tame the animals, and those who don’t ride can help with fundraisers and grooming. Anyone can sponsor a horse through the TROTT website for $10, $25 or $50 per month. Bonnie explains, “Our only limit is the funding – we can’t take the horses if we don’t have the money to feed and care for them.”
And – Afleet Eagle is still up for adoption.
Singer A.J. Green Made a Wish, and the Stars and Producers Aligned
When asked what he did on his summer vacation, 18-year old Anthony “A.J.” Green’s response was unlike anything one might read in a first day of school essay: “I graduated high school, worked on my album that’s coming out in a week – Oh, and I sang for two Presidents. I almost forgot about that.”
The chancellor of A.J.’s high school, the Agassi Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas, Nevada, asked him to sing the National Anthem at the political rally for Senator Harry Reid being held at the school in June. Delivering the anthem with passion and confidence – though A.J. says the most important part of singing the anthem is “don’t forget the words” –won A.J. many admirers, including President Bill Clinton who quietly sang along. It also won A.J. the chance to sing for President Obama at another rally two weeks later.
However, after hearing about his whirlwind last two years, momentarily forgetting about singing the National Anthem for two Presidents is understandable. This kid works non-stop. At a recent L.A. Sparks game at the Staples Center, A.J. performed with several other acts, but the reaction of the 18,000 pre-teens was very different when he took the stage. Thousands of kids sitting in stands and waiting for acts to appear is a tough audience – they wiggle, they play, they make noise. Within two bars of A.J.’s first song, all 18,000 kids went quiet, their attention was focused on him. When he appeared at the end of the show to sing the National Anthem before the game, the audience thundered screams and applause.
Even though A.J. has been singing since he was a toddler, his story really began in 2008, when his doctor recommended him to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, best known for its work in making dreams come true for children with life-threatening illnesses. A.J. has Sickle Cell Disease. As he explains it, “A regular person’s blood cells look like a donut, but sickle cells have a crescent shape that makes them get caught in certain parts of the body.” When the blood cells get “caught,” the affected part of the body – the chest, legs, or arms – becomes very painful. “Imagine that as we sit here talking that someone is taking a sledgehammer and swinging as hard as they can at your arms and legs the whole time,” A.J. explains.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation accepted his application and went to work granting his wish – to spend a night in a Fantasy Suite at The Palms resort and casino in Las Vegas. Making a hotel reservation turned out to be an impossible wish to grant since the suites are reserved for years in advance. A.J. had to make another wish.
Growing up singing in his church choir and listening to gospel music with his family, A.J.’s second wish was to record two songs with legendary gospel music producer Steven Ford. While putting that project in motion, Make-A-Wish representatives heard A.J. sing and were so impressed with his talent and poise that they asked him to perform on the Foundation’s behalf at a number of events and showcases. After his second wish was granted, A.J. wanted to contribute to the Make-A-Wish cause and readily volunteered to sing at everything from fundraisers to board meetings. During one of these performances in 2009, a Hollywood talent agent in the audience spotted him.
The talent agent recommended AJ to her friend, music manager Steve Curliss, showing him a video of A.J. singing one song all the way through without even a microphone. It was a rough tape, but Curliss remembers “he sang Get Here if You Can flawlessly, just perfect.” Curliss sent the video to a few of his music industry connections and “within an hour, producers I had asked about other artists for months and months were emailing me back, telling me ‘whatever you need, we’ll do it.’ You know you have a hit on your hands when everything you have to work so hard for with other artists just happens easily.”
One of the producers Curliss approached with the project was Rob Chiarelli, one of the most sought-after mixing engineers and producers in the music business. According to Pam Green, A.J.’s mom, as soon as Rob Chiarelli heard A.J., “he was on the A.J. project.” Chiarelli has worked with superstars from Madonna to Ray Charles, and has contributed to dozens of gold and platinum albums and Grammy-winning motion picture soundtracks. But he wasn’t the only big name to volunteer to be part of the team.
With no record label or advertisers to restrict creativity, Curliss presented A.J.’s album as a chance for writers and musicians to stretch their talents, to do the songs they’ve been wanting to do, and create a sound on the cutting edge of the music scene – all while donating their time and work to help a talented young man enter the music industry. Producer Micah Wilshire (U.S. Top 20 Billboard Hit “Special”), Writer/Producer Jamie Houston (soundtracks for High School Musical, Bridge to Terabithia, What a Girl Wants), Writer/Producer Jaime Kyle (Faith Hill, Amy Grant, Journey, Heart), Jay King (Active Boys, Club Nouveau, Frost), Ron Harris of Talent Bootcamp, and world-famous string arranger Paul Buckmaster (David Bowie, Miles Davis, Elton John, Rolling Stones, and Celine Dion) all came on board for the project. One by one, they all said the same thing: “Whatever you need, count me in.”
Between Curliss and Chiarelli’s help and contacts, A.J. was able to go far beyond recording a couple of songs – they created an entire album that combines R&B, Pop, Rock, and contemporary Christian styles. “When people in the music business push the play button, they don’t expect to hear what comes out of the speakers. You don’t expect to hear an eighteen year old singing like this – the quality of the songs, the type of songs and medleys – it’s not being done in the music industry right now,” says Curliss. They titled A.J.’s debut album Whatever You Need.
Whatever You Need, is soon to be released online and through an exclusive retail campaign with WalMart. But, even when all the stars – and producers – align, making an album isn’t easy. A.J.’s Sickle Cell disease caused an attack, called a crisis, the night before he was to record the last song.
“I got a crisis the night before a studio session, so I had to sing through all that pain and medication. But I still pulled through. After I left the studio, I went to the hospital. It can last from weeks to months, and I never know when it’s going to happen.”
A.J. says his determination to succeed is what makes him fight to keep going, even singing through intense pain. His ultimate dream is to win a Grammy, but in the near future:
“I want to sit in my car, turn on the radio and be like, ‘that’s me!’”
It looks like A.J.’s third wish just might be granted, very soon.
Restaurants Save Environment Without Sacrificing Flavor
Walking into Homegrown sandwich shop makes me feel like a hooker in church. I’m a sinner in a place of eco-worship, a place where everyone does everything right, and where even the wrapping of my sustainable sandwich is recycled.
Until recently, good food that is good for the environment was confined to eco-conscious home kitchens. Knowing where dinner came from was a luxury enjoyed only by the home chef who chatted with farmers while buying heirloom tomatoes and checked bread-bag labels to ensure no HFCs crept in.
Now seekers of organic, healthy and earth-friendly food can take a night off from cooking in good conscience — a new breed of restaurant is emerging. Local, organic produce and grass-fed beef is only the tip of the iceberg. Here are two West coast restaurants that are making huge, positive impacts on their communities, and their planet.
Homegrown’s Environmental Endeavors
Walking into this Fremont sandwich shop, I saw people sitting and reading actual books while waiting for their sandwich orders. You might laugh, but I live in LA and seeing people read on the street, at bus stops and in restaurants is as unusual of a sight as the Fremont Troll. The sandwich shop is well designed with a mix of artsy and industrial decor. On one wall is the menu, and stretching from floor to ceiling is a description of what it is about:
Our goal at Homegrown is not only to create sandwiches out of sustainable ingredients but also to make sandwich creation sustainable itself.
This goes beyond using fresh, sustainable ingredients in our gourmet sandwiches, salads + soups. Homegrown strives for sustainability as a local business through the green materials we print + serve on, to our rejection of bottled water, to our 100% compostable + recyclable product.
Homegrown considers the environmental impact of every ingredient – and every light fixture, table and chair, paper napkin and tray. Most produce is organic, but the owners have found that animal treatment tends to be better at small local farms, so the meat comes from nearby.
They don’t preach. They don’t have to. Homegrown leads by example, showing all of us food-lovers how good it is to do good. I recommend the roast pork sandwich: coffee and cayenne rubbed pork loin, pickled red onion, apple butter, mixed greens, and sage aioli, served cold on toasted french or whole grain for $8.95.
Homegrown, 3416 Fremont Ave. N. Seattle, WA 98103
Cucina Urbana: Sustainable, Artsy and Guilt-Free
Stylish, modern chairs are upholstered with used burlap coffee bags still bearing the insignias of the bean type and origin. A locally reclaimed white picket fence wraps a column and adorns a wall. Lights are shaded with wires that look like they were plucked from an old chicken pen – they probably were – and Swarovski chandeliers left over from the restaurant’s previous incarnation are dressed in casual attire with horseshoes, bottle openers and old keys. The graffiti wall in back – smeared, sprayed and painted by local artist Tokayo – includes the slogan “Pentare globale, mangiare locale.” That’s Italian for “Think global, eat local.”
This is sustainability done upscale. But instead of making only the wealthy feel good about their spending habits, Cucina Urbana makes affordability for the rest of us its priority. Nothing on the menu is over $20, and the numerous bottles of expertly selected wines are sold with very little mark-up. And of course, the menu is both seasonal and sustainable, using local ingredients whenever possible from a handful of San Diego area farmers, pasta-makers and bakers. In buying produce close to home, the restaurant — and, by extension, its patrons — supports small family farms and businesses in the community. It’s a guilt-free dining experience, unless you’re vegan (the other sides of those burlap chairs are white leather) or counting calories (I couldn’t stop eating the chocolate lavender gelato).
Cucina Urbana, 505 Laurel St. San Diego, CA 92101
If you know of a restaurant, shop or bakery that’s doing good in the world, tell me about it in the comments section.
Fresh Bread offers Fresh Start for Immigrant Women
Jessamyn Waldman’s background isn’t in baking, but public policy. Yet she had the idea for Hot Bread Kitchen, a social purpose bakery that provides jobs and training for immigrant women. She learned to make bread, and now she teaches women from impoverished immigrant communities how to combine yeast with flour and water to make a livelihood.
Ten years of experience working for NGOs, the United Nations, and the government and focusing on human rights, education and immigration issues in seven countries was a good start in achieving her goal. But Waldman had to learn her way around a kitchen first. With a freshly printed Master Baker certificate, she became the first woman baker to be hired at Restaurant Daniel, one of the top restaurants in New York. Three years ago, she put her idea to open her own bakery into action.
Over 50% of immigrants in the United States are women, and foreign-born women are the lowest paid employees. When Jessamyn hears that statistic, she thinks of untapped human capital. In six months at Hot Bread Kitchen, women from Chad, Mexico, Morocco, Mali, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ecuador, and Tibet are trained to bake and also taught English so they can have access to better paying jobs. Some go on to work for Restaurant Daniel and other high-end bakeries and restaurants, and some go on to achieve management track positions in food manufacturing. A few learn how to start their own small businesses in the food industry.
The application to work at Hot Bread Kitchen doesn’t talk down to potential applicants, or make baking sound easy. Although professional baking experience is not required, they have high expectations of employees: “We are looking for a dynamic, entrepreneurial woman who wants to start a professional career in the culinary arts.”
At the end of six months, “low-income immigrant woman” is no longer the key descriptor for these women. They are highly skilled artisanal bakers whose cultural heritages complement their culinary abilities.
The breads made reflect the bakers who make them – tortillas from a grandmother’s recipe, lavash, Moroccan M’smen, floutas, French artisan breads, challah, foccacia, and granola. Hot Bread Kitchen doesn’t rely on grants or philanthropists; rather the popularity of the bread itself makes it an economically viable bakery that can afford to continue its mission as long as people keep eating. In fact, it is so economically viable that it is contributing to its community in another way – by moving its location to Harlem’s La Marqueta, an indoor market that has fallen into disrepair. The city is hoping that Hot Bread Kitchen’s new home in the market will draw in customers and help revitalize the community.
If you’re in New York, finding Hot Bread Kitchen breads is easy at many retailers and farmers markets. But if you are elsewhere and would like to contribute, you can donate directly, or purchase a “party favor” of chocolate covered Armenian lavash or granola, packaged and ready for party guests to take home with them. Locals can also donate their time as volunteers.
Backyard Farming for Foodies and Feminists
Backyard farming: an outgrowth of the locavore movement, and a way to control the quality of your food from soil to seed to plate. In this economically troubled decade, Victory Gardens are back in vogue to save money.
“It usually takes less water to grow a vegetable garden and fruit trees than grass,” says Food Not Lawns — one of several environmentally-savvy organizations that aims to help homeowners use their land as nature intended. ”You can eat vegetables and fruit, but unless you have sheep, nothing is going to eat your grass.”
I was on my way to a bakery in Seattle when I saw vegetables planted in raised garden beds on the little strip of grass separating the sidewalk from the street. As the owner of the house adjoining the grassy partition looked up at me, I couldn’t help but compliment her on her healthy and deliciously unconventional vegetable garden. She said it was coming along nicely. I thought her idea was brilliant. I’d much rather see healthy growing edibles than grass, and I’m not the only one.
But, for most of us, farming is a lost art. (One wave of marauding pests in my tomato plants has me choosing between my organic ideals and the desire for revenge.) Fortunately, organizations like San Diego’s Food Not Lawns are blossoming from coast to coast to help.
Food Not Lawns
With fun facts like, “It takes 42 inches of rain per year to keep a lawn green and lush. San Diego gets about 10 inches of rain per year,” the San Diego Food Not Lawns organization makes a compelling case for ditching grass. Planting the right crops, like squash, melons, corn and tomatoes, not only uses less water, but might just enrich the community.
The Food Not Lawns movement has inspired people to get together in chapters from San Diego to Florida to become better gardeners, healthier eaters, and more friendly neighbors. Chapters provide resources and information on growing your own food and hold events that allow people to swap their excess produce (squash anyone?), seeds, and knowledge. Food Not Lawns emphasizes building strong communities, and when you have a bumper crop of plums to get rid of, it’s a ready-made excuse to get to know other locals.
The San Diego Chapter has even started a program connecting local fruit tree owners to the International Rescue Committee food assistance program. The program provides fresh fruit and vegetables to families who rely on food banks that offer only processed foods. Every chapter is different, and some are more active than others. To see what your local chapter is doing, check out this list.
Sustainable Northeast Seattle
The Sustainable Northeast Seattle organization is one of the best resources out there for helping aspiring urban farmers get started. For the video “Lawn Gone Part 1,” members — including edible landscape professionals — came en masse to transform a woman’s front yard into a vegetable garden; carrying sod cutters, shovels, coffee bags and mulch.
The video itself is a quick and easy guide to beginning a garden, but the Sustainable Northeast Seattle website is an entire support network – it has forums, plant giveaways, events, “work parties” (such as creating a garden), member blogs, and the occasional article about notable members. Canning parties, dirt swaps, and free lessons in chicken care are there for the taking. Equal emphasis is placed on local, organic produce and the importance of community in making that produce possible.
Minnesota’s Backyard Harvest
Sometimes a little hand-holding is in order for the more timid of us to get growing. Backyard Harvest creates and maintains backyard gardens, and harvests all the produce weekly for homeowners, renters and communities. For around $1,200 Backyard Harvest sends gardeners out to turn your land into a farm, producing 16-20 weeks worth of veggies. Yes, it’s probably more expensive than what you spend at the grocery store, but the garden will last far beyond the contract. Homeowners can also schedule a consultation to plan their own gardens, manage pest control, and trouble-shoot.
Is Backyard Farming a Feminist Act?
The Femivore’s Dilemma article by Peggy Orenstein for the New York Times magazine brings up an interesting angle on the urban agriculture issue. Set aside for the moment that “Femivore” literally translates to eater of women, and take up this working definition that is closer to Orenstein’s probable intention: “A woman who considers herself feminist, but also devotes a serious amount of time to the old-time woman’s work of feeding her family the cleanest, freshest food — even if she has to grow it herself.”
According to Orenstein, “Femivorism is grounded in the very principles of self-sufficiency, autonomy and personal fulfillment that drove women into the workforce in the first place.” Orenstein pictures backyard farming as a result of feminism and stay-at-home parenting: “The omnivore’s dilemma has provided an unexpected out from the feminist predicament, a way for women to embrace homemaking without becoming Betty Draper.” Essentially, you can feel alright about yourself as a stay-at-home mom in a post-feminist decade if you turn Annie Oakley on rabbits and transform your urban backyard into a homestead.
Shannon Hayes’ book, Radical Homemakers is what Orenstein’s musings were inspired by, but Hayes has a different vision of what urban farming means. From the book website:
[Radical Homemakers] explores what domesticity looks like in an era that has benefited from feminism, where domination and oppression are cast aside and where the choice to stay home is no longer equated with mind-numbing drudgery, economic insecurity, or relentless servitude.
While we can extrapolate meanings from “backyard farming” and fill the term with feminist-liberal-ecological jargon to our bleeding hearts’ content, for me it comes down to this: I hate mowing lawns.
Sidecar for Pigs Peace is Hog Heaven
Seattle-based Sidecar for Pigs Peace grocery store offers a real treat for vegans, for whom there are few things more exciting than not feeling obligated to read nutrition labels at their local grocer. Sidecar for Pigs Peace carries 100% vegan products – everything from Tofutti Cuties to Crayons – but they take their animal-friendly ethics even further than their shelves: right into the pig pen.
Pigs Peace Sanctuary is a safe haven for unwanted, abused and neglected pigs – as well as horses, llamas, sheep, turkeys, dogs and cats. Many of the pigs at Pigs Peace were impulse buys. Pretty little potbellied Ella, for example, was purchased for $100 on Craigslist and unwanted just 24 hours later.
Hamilton, now a large pink pig with disturbingly human eyes, was rushed to emergency care when he arrived at the sanctuary as a baby. He was starved, weak, and had injuries on his lips that made him unable to drink from the nipple of a baby bottle; he had to be fed with a feeding tube. Pigs Peace has pictures of him — smaller than the length of two ballpoint pens laid end-to-end — passed out on a towel, scabbed and bleeding.
The sanctuary provides medical care, a healthy diet, and a permanent loving home for these animals – and owns the Sidecar for Pigs Peace grocery store as a means to support them. It’s a small store, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in hard-to-find edibles like vegan haggis and vegan Peking duck in a can. (Personally, I’m passionate about the Coconut Bliss ice-cream.) Even more unique than the food, though, is how the store is run: by volunteers.
I spoke with Doh, the store manager and only paid employee about how the volunteer-employee system works:
Generally, people learn that Sidecar for Pigs Peace is a non-profit and volunteer-run, so they offer themselves. There is an application and training process. Most volunteers have a set shift that they work weekly, or biweekly. I believe the main reason that people volunteer here is to be a more active part of the vegan community and support the Sanctuary at the same time. It’s also fun to be among the first to see new products come in!
Doh says the most popular items are Daiya Cheese and Tofurky pizzas, and that Ami is the best-selling animal food. Popular non-food items are wallets and bags made entirely without animal products. As a conscientious reporter, I also made sure they carry my favorite Coconut Bliss. According to Doh, they sell it “at the best price in town.”
If you would like to support Pigs Peace, the most fun way might be to visit Sidecar and stock your kitchen with vegan deliciousness. You’ll meet like-minded friendly people, see products you never knew existed, and know that your purchases are making happy lives possible for abused animals in a more immediate way than usual, even for vegans. But, if you don’t live in the Seattle area, Doh says:
The very best way to support Pigs Peace is through financial donations, ideally through a monthly recurring donation, which can be set up online at the Pigs Peace Sanctuary website. Judy Woods is an excellent fiscal manager, but more donations are absolutely critical for the best animal care, and the improvements the Sanctuary needs.
Seattle-area residents can make the decision to make Sidecar their first stop for whatever they can buy here. The number of people who made the decision to divert their shopping dollars to Sidecar have made us a very successful fundraising site.
You can also “like” their Facebook pages to hear about their frequent fundraisers, quarterly bake sales, and the annual Walk for the Animals, as well as other events that gather funds for Pigs Peace and serve the vegan community.
I love Sidecar for Pigs Peace not just for its noble cause, but because of the rich fodder of puns it provides. Vegans will find themselves in hog heaven; they’ll make pigs of themselves. Just don’t let anyone hog my Coconut Bliss.
Sidecar for Pigs Peace is located in Seattle’s University District, on the corner of 55th and University Way.
