Food Day — sounds like a rough description of many holidays, right? National Food Day was indeed all about eating, but the 2,300 groups participating in this nation-wide day of action were hungry for more than a special meal. Across the United States, organizations working in the fields of nutrition, anti-hunger, garden education, sustainability, farm worker justice, and more held events to spark conversation and action around our food system.

At the Marra Farm giving garden, we welcomed more than 120 young students from Concord International Elementary and Somali Community Services Coalition. Together with our partners from Healthy Foods for South Park, we harvested pumpkins, pressed apples into fresh cider, and helped put the garden to bed for the winter. Some of these students had come down to the farm last spring to plant the very pumpkin plants that they harvested on Food Day, which they had started from seed into their classrooms.

Youth from Somali Community Services meet “Tiny”, our friendly tromboncino squash.

One my favorite lessons to learn with new visitors is that everything we eat was once alive. Whether it’s a head of lettuce, a cheeseburger, or even a can of soda pop, we can trace everything back to plants. Several visitors felt a little nervous about sampling fresh apple cider because it didn’t come in a package, which is a very justified way to feel given the way our food system disconnects all of us from the farms and people that grow the stuff we eat. Marra Farm is a place where we intervene in that system to revive and embrace the relationship between humans and food. Not everyone felt comfortable sampling cider on Food Day, and that’s okay. Maybe next time, or next next time … it’s a long process and we’re all learning together.

First grind the apples (left), and then press the pulp into cider, and finally take a long, sweet sip (if you dare!).

Thanks to all the students, parents, teachers, and volunteers who joined us on Food Day!

Marra Farm is letting forth a big yawn as winter approaches, but we’re not sleeping yet. Please contact us at lettucelink@solid-ground.org if you’d like to help out with our last work parties of the season.