January, 2024
Winter
New year, new newsletter
As we begin a new year, this newsletter is a little beginning too. This is our first attempt to share a taste of what we’re cooking up, getting excited about, and learning along the way. We’ll be sending one out each season. We hope you enjoy reading this as much as we enjoyed creating it.
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A very sweet sign outside the elementary school by my house.
Beginning…
Elizabeth: Mornings are my favorite. Most days, I wake up way earlier than I need to so I can enjoy a cup of coffee, read my book, and listen to the world come awake. It’s a habit I picked up as a little kid. As the youngest in a big family, I would wake up first to enjoy a few moments of quiet before the house erupted into the chaos of six people getting ready for the day. Padding around sock-footed in the kitchen, I discovered that mornings have some kind of magic, if you pause to look for it – this fleeting sense that each day holds a precious kernel of possibility.
As we turn the page on a new year, I’ve been trying to capture that same feeling. To start off 2024, I made beans, collards, and cornbread, a tradition I inherited from my grandmother, who swore that you had to have at least a spoonful if you wanted any hope for good luck in the coming year. (Read about the origins of that tradition here.)
As Ellie, Will and I build Seed Change Strategies together, I keep reminding myself to slow down enough to savor the sensations of beginning – the energy, the curiosity, and, oh sure, the nerves. As we really get going this January, I feel that same thrill I feel in the mornings, watching the dawn brighten into day — like we’re just starting off on some great adventure.
Rewatching LOTR is my favorite winter tradition. If you know, you know.
As you set out on your own journey into 2024, we hope that the winds will be ever at your back. It’s not too late to eat your greens for luck. (We included a recipe below if you need some inspiration.)
As we get started, we’ve been taking time to connect with some friends and bright stars in this work. And we would love to talk with you! If you want to find a time to chat - reach out here.
Your friends,
Elizabeth, Will, and Ellie
What We’re Cooking Up
If we have a company love language here at Seed Change, it’s sharing food and drink with friends. Since we’re not sitting at the same table (yet), we thought we’d pass you a few of our favorite tastes of the season.
Ellie: Tourtière- A classic holiday treat from Québec that will not support your January health goals but will warm you up! I added some swiss chard to the meat mixture and riffed on a spice blend with fennel seeds, coriander, cumin and the last of the hot peppers from our garden. To make the dough extra flaky, I recommend mixing it by hand. If you want bonus points from my Canadian father-in-law, eat it with a spicy apple chutney.
Elizabeth: Coconut-braised collard greens Winter is the season for greens… lots and lots of greens. Fortunately, I could eat these collards every day. The recipe also works well with kale or mustard greens, and comes together in under ten minutes. The key is not to overcook the greens. My tip is to add a little apple cider vinegar after you add the collards to the pan - which helps to tenderize them and to counterbalance the sweetness of the coconut milk. Top with a shake of red pepper flakes and serve with a hearty grain like farro, or Melissa Clark’s brown butter cornbread. The secret to this recipe is in the name - BUTTER (and also maple syrup). Healthy? Perhaps more for the soul than the body… but once you make this, you will never need another cornbread recipe in your life.
Will: There are times for big, ambitious cooking projects, and there are times for Carla Hall’s Brown Sugar Baked Chicken. In my household, it’s often the latter, especially when I realize that it’s already 6pm and I have an hour to get dinner squared away and a fussy seven-month old put to bed. It takes longer to preheat the oven than to prep the ingredients, you likely have everything you need in the pantry already, and the recipe is elegantly written - there’s not an ingredient out of place, or a step to be skipped. Truth be told, we make it almost every week. Serve with roasted veggies or sweet potatoes by just tossing them on a sheet tray into the oven for the second half of the chicken’s cook time. Leftovers are perfect the next day served cold over a local greens salad. Oh yeah, and BTW: Carla’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration cookbook (that’s an Amazon link, but buy it from your local shop) is back-to-back bangers, so grab yourself a copy if you don’t have it already.
What’s on the Horizon
Support for USDA LAMP Grant Applicants
Elizabeth: Each spring, the USDA Local Agriculture Marketing Program (LAMP) grant program offers up an opportunity to fund awesome food systems projects across the country. But if you’ve ever waded into the world of USDA grants, you may be thinking you would rather take a long walk off a short pier than put together one of these applications. Grants like the Local Food Promotion Program and the Regional Food Systems Partnership Program can seem overwhelmingly complicated – especially if you’re new to them. (Say hello to a 32-page RFA and 33 pages of Terms and Conditions!)
We are total nerds about LAMP grants. Together we have written, won and managed about $3M in LFPP and RFSP grants, and have provided training and technical assistance to dozens of organizations writing these grants. We believe strongly that these grants should be more accessible and are committed to helping organizations design, write, win, and administer programs funded through these grants… in a way that doesn’t leave them wanting to pull their hair out.
USDA LAMP grants can be hard… but they don’t have to be.
This winter, we are piloting an effort to provide three months of direct program design and grant writing support. We’ll help organizations learn how to develop FMLFPP and RFSP grant proposals from soup to nuts. We will bring our particular expertise in these programs to provide in-depth coaching support, a comprehensive set of tools and templates, and two rounds of grant reviews. Our goal is to help you create and implement a collaborative process that will make applying a lot easier, more aligned with your goals, and waaaay less of a headache.
If that sounds like something your organization might be interested in - send an email to elizabeth@seedchangestrategies.com and we can find a time to chat.
Eastern Food Hub Collaborative
Will: I’ve been lucky to work with the Eastern Food Hub Collaborative for the last couple of years, and I’m so excited that we’re getting the whole crew together face-to-face in Warrenton, VA later in January for our first IRL convening since January 2020. We’ll be almost forty hub operators, network weavers, and all-around food system nerds sitting down to align priorities, workshop issues, and set our collective sights on a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable food system. It’s going to be rad.
Forty feels like a lot of people, but I know there’s other great network building like this happening all around the county (and beyond). If you’re running a food hub network, or want to talk about how communities of practice can help us become stronger, more connected practitioners, drop me a line at will@seedchangestrategies.com or let’s grab 30 minutes to chat.
We made you a playlist!
Ellie: We all grew up in the era when burning a mixed CD, decorating it with sharpies, and giving it to a friend (or crush) was considered a powerful statement of affection. So we decided to digitally resurrect this lost art and make a playlist for you! We hope this one captures where we are right now, and gives you something to groove to as you do your dishes, pack up your holiday decorations, or edit grant reports! Feel free to send us your seasonal playlists back (sharpie art appreciated, but not required).
Winter 2024 - SCS Playlist
Because nothing says “be my BFF” like a carefully curated mixed cd.
Learning Corner
The Art of Gathering
Elizabeth: As a southerner, I was raised in a culture that places a high value on hospitality - both in being a good host and a good guest. It’s a point of pride for many here that if you walk into a friend’s to say hello, they’ll immediately offer you a drink, feed you a whole meal, and probably send you away with a potted plant or some other little treasure. (You may want to send them a hand-written thank you note as a follow-up… but that’s your call.)
As a facilitator, I’ve spent countless hours exploring how to create spaces that bring out the best in people and how to ask questions that help folks build relationships and discover together, bravely and authentically.
In the Art of Gathering Priya Parker offers up an entire book about hospitality, convening, and facilitation. Whether you’re a
facilitator planning a meeting, an organization leading a conference, or just a friend that wants to host a really lovely dinner party - you’ll be better off for having read it. (I’m planning a wedding and I’ll tell ya, it’s helpful for that too.)
Parker points out that we humans gather all the time, but we are often running on autopilot or too bashful to really commit to the work of gathering well. The result is countless frustrating and unnecessary meetings, awkward interactions, and painfully tedious baby showers that we would all honestly rather not be at. Gathering well requires a bold amount of intention, a thoughtful attention to detail, and an unwavering commitment to making connections. So if that is something you want to learn more about, pick up a copy - and for those of you who prefer the podcast or Ted talk options - check out Priya here and here.
Thanks for reading!
That’s it for us this winter! As always, don’t hesitate to share playlist additions, exciting new projects you’re launching, podcast recs, or, uh, advice on how to start a business?! We’ll see you in the spring!
