Quarterly Note from Rebecca Brown, Executive Director

When we experience abundance—be it in our gardens, our families, our communities—we do not always stop to consider—what brought about this abundance that blesses my home, my family, my neighborhood?

In growing food, soil is that context for abundance. Soil is made up of billions of living things—one particular being, that makes up a third to a half of our soil mass, is networks made up of the underground “roots” of mushrooms, formally known as mycorrhizal networks. Yes, you read that right—a third to a half! Underground, fungi form these tiny white strands—that are actually tubes—that conduct resources and information between fungi. 

These networks profoundly affect the plants that grow in them. The world renowned mycologist, Merlin Sheldrake’s compiles results from various studies in his book, Entangled Life: 

“Most plants, from a potted snapdragon to a giant sequoia will develop differently when grown with different communities of mycorrhizal fungus. Basil plants, for example, produce different aromatic profiles that make up their flavor when grown with different mycorrhizal strains. Some fungi have been found to make tomatoes sweeter than others. Some change the essential oil profile of fennel, coriander, and mint, some increase the concentration of iron and carotenoids in lettuce leaves, the antioxidant activity in artichoke heads. Or the concentration of medicinal compounds in st john's wort and echinacea.” 

The fungal networks don’t just share between fungi, they also link into plant roots to conduct information and resources between all kinds of plants! Most vegetable plants don’t grow—or don’t grow well—on their own.  While they look like individual beings, they’re actually not functioning as individuals. Again, Sheldrake says, “Most plant communities were understood to be made up of individuals that competed for resources… it might not be appropriate to think of plants as such neatly separable units.” This is why Franklinton Farms uses potting soil with mycorrhizae—everybody, from chenopods to brassicas, majorly benefit from these fungal partners. Ultimately, without these hidden networks, thriving ecosystems simply cannot exist. 

But what about other kinds of abundance? How about abundance in our communities? 

Well, just as we know plants are interconnected, we actually know that people are too! While we look like individual beings, we don’t function properly if we stay that way. The U.S. Surgeon General report this year definitively says: “we human beings are biologically wired for social connection. Our brains have adapted to expect proximity to others” and it is “as essential to survival as food, water, and shelter.” 

At Franklinton Farms we farm and we garden year-round. We can, most literally, put food in front of people for days…  but if we disregard that foundational element of human life—social connection—then we cannot have a community abundance that lasts.

Franklinton Farms’ mission is to nourish neighborhood wellbeing and connection through farming, gardening, and education. And it’s happening! Our work creates a continuum of food sovereignty for neighbors—that is to say, a wide range of choices people can make regarding fresh vegetables, herbs, fruits, and growing their own food. 

We see people take ownership of their food choices all the time: the senior who finishes a full growing season in his very own yard, or the mom who uses her SNAP card to buy our weekly harvest pack and convinces her kids—even just a few times—to try a new veggie… these are the above-ground fruit of underground work of social connection. 

In many ways, this is the profoundly important work of our staff, working hard to prioritize relationships over transactions.

Beau Gimblett, Franklinton Farms Connections Coordinator, is dedicated to connecting with people personally so they have the support they need to enjoy our produce day in and day out. And our new Food Sovereignty Educator, James Mann, is delighted to be interrupted to bring a neighbor some potting soil for growing plants at home (that neighbor will hopefully plant an entire Home Victory Garden at her apartment next spring!).

Now, Franklinton Farms will always orient ourselves to our most marginalized neighbors, but we also have a lot of new neighbors who come from middle or high income cultures. And while this creates complex neighborhood dynamics, The Surgeon General report also says that “cross-class ties are among the most important predictors of upward economic mobility.” So as we navigate these complex times for our community, we are working hard to design an environment that gently encourages connections between not just our staff and neighbors—but between neighbors and neighbors! 

There are two shining examples of this in our Connections program areas right now: First, Tea Time at the Patrick Kaufman Learning Garden. This is our small(ish) weekly gathering that’s open to the whole community. This Thursday afternoon event may seem simple… there’s tea, sometimes little crafts or activities, and some neighbors. But what’s happening here is and will be transformative.

We’ve had 580 visits from neighbors to Tea Time this year—engaging 138 different people! Any given week there may be a whole group of rowdy kids from Gladden Community house across the street, a 30-something attorney in his running shorts, a young woman with a tattoos across her chest and arms, our local postman, a farms volunteer with a beard to his waist, helpful teens from our apprenticeship, or a senior in his wheelchair. People who’ve never tasted raspberries can pick from our row alongside people who grew their own raspberries from childhood… There’s little else as wholesome as these experiences in the Learning Garden.

The second program is the Lettuce ‘NJoy Food Truck. Not only is the menu designed to bring awareness of the various cultures in our community, but we’ve got neighbors (including kids) ogling over the Seasonal Veggie Burger—telling us “Don’t tell anyone this is vegetarian!” And last month we launched our first regular outreach meal program with the truck: the Farms Connections team took tasty veggie curry and fresh flowers to South Franklinton, also known as South Park, to offer hot meals to neighbors and to plant seeds for a “tea time-like” weekly experience in a different part of our neighborhood. 

Here at Franklinton Farms we are not only about growing food for people to consume… we are also stewarding a community environment—a network of social connections—that makes the fruit come back and come back and come back. And we are enjoying the fruit of that work.