❄️ Winter ❄️

February, 2025

Hey there, it’s Ellie, and friends, I’m gonna be honest, we’re having a rough couple of months. It’s been jarring to feel so much instability, fear, and stress pile up so quickly. You don’t need to hear from me about the impacts of the new federal administration’s racist, misogynist, nationalist agenda. They’re attacking human rights, democratic institutions, and the work of our friends building resilient and equitable communities. It’s terrifying. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about the parallels and differences between this moment and the early days of pandemic lockdown. The causes and consequences of these disasters are meaningfully not the same. But the feeling is similar. Fear. Isolation. A thousand scary, unbelievable messages constantly bombarding you. The responses I’ve seen from people I love and respect are resonant, too. What I’ve been seeing is people reaching for each other. I’ve gotten check-in texts from friends I haven’t talked to in years. I’ve been invited to meetings in my neighborhood by people I normally wanly smile at at the farmers market. I’ve had long lost work colleagues drop an email to share resources (like this top notch food policy tracker from Civil Eats). A lot less people are banging on pots at pre-determined hours though… 

My gut is telling me to lean into that desire for connection. It’s hard to feel like you’re totally losing it when so many people are reaching out saying: “I’m with you, me too, I know, I’m here.” So, this little newsletter is Seed Change’s contribution to that inclination. We’re with you. Us too. We know. We’re here and we’re not planning on going anywhere. Call your friends. Call your neighbors. Call us. The fight for a new, just, beautiful, connected world was never gonna be short, and it was never gonna be easy. So, we might as well do it together. 

In solidarity,

Ellie and the Seed Change Strategies team

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Where there’s snow, Béla abounds.

What We’re Cooking Up

Will: Winter is for low braises, simmering stocks, and rich sauces. As I’m writing this paragraph, it’s snowing outside and I have a pot of black beans cooking downstairs, loaded with onions and garlic and bay. The house is full of cooking smells, and while I’m still hours away from eating any of it, the whole production is nourishing. Spring will be here soon - radishes, peas, salad greens - but for now, we’re reaching deep into the root cellar and sharing some of our favorite slow-and-low winter recipes.

Baja-Braised Chicken ‘n’ Rice, Red Cabbage and Cilantro Slaw

Shameless plug alert - when I’m not working with the Seed Change team, I run Back Pocket Provisions, a company here in Richmond that makes Bloody Mary mixes from locally-grown ingredients. In addition to mixing up everyone’s favorite brunch cocktail (get outta here with that mimosa), our juice makes a great simmer sauce. This is a recipe I wrote during COVID  lockdown, but tastes just as good without a global pandemic.

Chef Gray does it again

You sear chicken thighs, braise them in Bloody Baja, then cook rice in the braising liquid. Served with a zippy red cabbage and cilantro slaw, it’s simple enough to be worknight-friendly, but pretty enough for a winter date night. Let me know what you think!  

Charlie - My Nana’s Hungarian Goulash Recipe That I Recently Found Out is Actually Betty Crocker’s Hungarian Goulash Recipe: The recipe starts by calling for ¼ cup of shortening to be melted in a large skillet, but we’ve always used olive oil because we buy that in bulk typically. Add 2 lbs beef chuck or round cut into 1 inch cubes, along with 1 cup sliced onion and 1 minced small clove of garlic. Cook and stir until the meat is brown and the onion is tender. Stir in ¾ cup of ketchup (note: the recipe calls for “catsup” so you know it’s old school), 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp paprika, ½ tsp dry mustard, a dash of cayenne (or more if you’re feeling crazy!), and 1 ½ cups water. Cover and simmer for 2 to 2 ½ hours. Blend 2 tbsp flour and ¼ cup water, then stir it gradually into the meat mix. Heat to boiling, constantly stirring; stir while boiling for one minute. Bada bing. Serve over egg noodles. Bada boom.

Elizabeth - So far February in Durham has been characterized by days on end of cold rain. For me, this weather calls for mugs of ginger tea, living in my sweat pants and putting a big ole’ pot of beans on the stove. If you don’t have a go-to dried bean recipe, then let me tell you why you should. They’re cheap, they’re satisfying, healthy, in many cases, vegan, and they’re way better than the canned alternative. All you need is a few of each: sprigs of rosemary, small whole dried red chili, bay leaves, smashed and peeled garlic cloves, and about two cups of your favorite dried beans. (Want to try some heirloom varieties? You won’t be disappointed.) 

Soak the beans overnight in cool water. In the morning, drain and rinse the beans and add them plus the rosemary, chile, bay leaf, garlic and 1.5 tsp salt into a large pot. Add enough water to cover the beans by an inch. Bring everything just barely to a boil over high heat. Once you reach a boil, lower the heat to a happy simmer and cook uncovered until they are just tender enough for you to easily bite one, without any crunch (about an hour). At this point, add another heaping teaspoon of salt and a big glug of olive oil. Keep cooking at a gentle simmer, checking frequently, until they hit your preferred level of doneness. You want to stop cooking while the beans are creamy and tender, but not yet mushy or breaking down. And more salt and olive oil to your liking. And voila! Serve them on toast, in a soup, or with a pot of greens. 

Ellie - Pozole. Always and forever, it’s pozole. How can something be so decadent and so punchy at the same time!? Pozole is a rich stew from central Mexico but I always associate it with Albuquerque, which is where I first ate it. I love Rick Martinez’s recipe for Pozole Rojo which relies on a bunch of dried chilis for flavor, depth, and heat. I’m never one to say no to playing with your food and part of the fun of pozole is the colorful variety of toppings- radishes, lime, avocado, cilantro, the remains at the bottom of a bag of tortilla chips. If avocados are $25 by the time you read this, some sour cream will do just fine. 

What’s on the Horizon

A flock at Clint Eastwood’s ranch on a trip to Cali in the fall

During the last few months we’ve been learning a lot about the prospect of Food Is Medicine (also known lovingly as FIM) as a market for local and regional farmers. For those new to the world of FIM, here’s the deal: FIM programs, which include produce prescriptions and medically tailored meals, use food-based interventions to help prevent, manage, and treat diet-related diseases. The idea is that by integrating nutrition into healthcare, doctors can prescribe healthy food. These programs can increase food security, reduce the need for invasive health services, and lower healthcare costs. Cool! Healthcare providers, insurance companies, researchers, and community based organizations are working together across the country to crack this programmatic nut. You can learn a little more about this approach and how it’s working here. 

FIM is opening up new market channels for healthy food. If a ton of new money is going to be spent on healthy food with the goal of increasing population health, shouldn't that food also come from sources that have aligned and additional benefits? We sure think so! To that end, Seed Change is working on two projects that are aiming to use local and regional food to supply food is medicine programs. We’re digging into it in North Carolina, in partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of NC, and in the Mid-Atlantic, with 4P Foods. We’re eager to learn and share what we’re finding as we bring together local and regional supply chains and Food Is Medicine programs. Stay tuned, and drop us a line if you know of any cool efforts in this area.

Time to Get Your Body Moving

🎶 🎶

The news out of Washington has left us feeling enraged one minute, anxious the next minute, and disheartened the next. And, to be honest, we toyed with the theme of this playlist being “rage songs.” But a few days ago Ellie said, “hey have you guys tried having a dance party in your living room? I was feeling awful last night but then my husband and I put on some jams and got to dancing and it was exactly what we needed.” Maybe it’s what you need too. So we give you our team’s favorite, Dancing in Your Living Room playlist.

Eastern Food Hub Collaborative

Elizabeth:

ICYMI - The Eastern Food Hub Collaborative (EFC) is a growing network of 16 food hubs spanning from snowy Maine down to sunny South Carolina. The EFC was founded in 2020 on the belief that cooperation, collaboration and transparency are essential to creating a different kind of food system – one that stewards the earth, reinvests in local communities, and keeps small farmers on the land. Independent businesses and nonprofits working together in this way is a radical idea within a capitalist food system that encourages competition, consolidation, and commodification. And I can tell you firsthand that the people that make up this network are making it happen. Getting to know them as friends and colleagues has been a highlight of this last year.

In December we got the whole band together in my hometown of Durham, North Carolina for a week of connecting, learning, and dreaming up where we want this network to go. We had entirely too much fun nerding out about hub-to-hub trade, exploring a shared digital platform for collaboratively managing seasonal product availability lists, routing, asset mapping, and – of course – sampling some of the best of Durham’s thriving local food and beer scene.

It was a good time to be thinking about the network’s long-term vision and strategy. Last summer the EFC lost the organization that was acting as its fiscal sponsor. This means that not only do we need to find a new administrative home for the network, but we’ve also got some serious fundraising to do. You would think that all this change, over the backdrop of the madness happening on the federal level, could sow uncertainty for the future of this network. But in the weeks since Durham we have been feeling, if anything, more certain about the strength of our relationships, of the power of this network, the commitment of EFC members, and the necessity, now more than ever, of taking an intentional, collaborative approach to shifting power within our food system.

In the months ahead we’re learning a lot about fiscal sponsorship as we search for the right partner to help steward the network going forward. We’re working on articulating stories of the impacts of this network to share with funders, policymakers, and other food hubs on the east coast. And of course, we’re getting together regularly to share, learn, strategize and have fun.  

Ellie, Will and I have had many an early morning cup of coffee or evening glass of wine talking about network theory, how to fund programs instead of projects, how to build systems of self-governance, conflict-management, and accountability in these kinds of collaborative spaces. If this is the kind of thing that YOU find as interesting as we do then reach out, we would love to have a virtual cup of coffee with you too.

EFC Annual Gathering, Dec 2024

Hey Gang - Charlie here. If you’re reading this, it means my first attempt at publishing our newsletter was a success AND you made it this far, two things that call for a celebration.

Click here to celebrate!!