Sol Food bus hunkered down for winter in North Carolina!

Happy winter season from Sol Food Mobile Farm!  Your favorite bus is staying warm in its hometown of Durham, North Carolina right now, despite the recent ice and snow.  Our bus is even producing seedlings in the bus greenhouse in preparation for a busy spring.

 As you may know, our Sol Food Mobile Farm team recently completed a 12,000 mile National Teaching Tour, just over a month ago.  Our team of four crew members, Ellen Duda, Reid Rosemond, Dylan Hammond and Eliza Bordley lived full time on the Sol Food bus for the entire 6 month trip.  During that time our group traveled from June -December of 2012, crossing 34 states and making 51 different stops in our mobile greenhouse!  This past month of January 2013 was spent resting up after such an incredible journey and planning for the coming months.

Ellen working at Earth Works in Detroit!

Currently, during the month of February, we have been putting together our spring and summer workshop schedule.   If you have suggestions for our group or would like to host the Sol Food Mobile Farm bus at your school or community gathering, we would love to try and make that happen!  The best way to line up a Sol Food Workshop or Expo is to email our crew at: solfoodmobilefarm@gmail.com.  You can learn more about these Workshops and Expos here on our website.  These bookings are free of charge and adaptable to all age groups!

Planting workshop with the crew in Chicago!

Want to learn more about our 2012 National Tour?  You can check out our recent PBS episode to see our farm team in action.  Just click HERE for 20 minutes of exclusive clips, interviews of shots from our voyage!  Now that our National Tour is over however, you may ask  “what next”?  You may also wonder if we are doing another trip soon or where the bus can be seen next?

All of these questions are good ones, and we would like to give you a sneek peek into our spring 2013 schedule.  We can also tell you that our bus is safe in sound on a farm in Durham, North Carolina.  There it is recieving a good cleaning, some much needed engine attention and an overall facelift.  As for our spring schedule, you can find all the information you need here on our website under the “Event” tab.

 We would like to thank you again for your support and encouragement as we prepare for hopefully another great season.  Starting this April, we will be back on the road and ready to get growin’!

Students admiring their new garden beds in Austin!

This Thanksgiving the entire Sol Food crew is thankful for the opportunity that we have been given. Thanks to the support of our friends, family and everyone in between, who have been able to make this dream a reality. We are thankful for the fresh produce we have eaten, the gardens we have been involved in, and all of the wonderful people we have met along the way. This year has been monumental for us all and we would like to thank each and every person who helped us a long the way.

We hope everyone has a delicious Thanksgiving and that you all get some of your dinner from a local farmer!

Ayyeeeeee, from Louisiana! (“Ayyeee” means Awesome in Cajun… or so we’ve been told).

Driving over the swamp on highway 10

Our most recent stop in Lafayette was one that came together through word of mouth. When we first were planning our trip to Louisiana, we were unsure of whether or not we would stop in Lafayette. During our travels we have begun to attract media attention, which has helped to spread our message ahead of us. After reading our article in Urban Farming, a wonderful woman named Janie contacted us from Lafayette. She is the child life specialist at the Women and Children’s Hospital, who helps new children that come into the hospital adjust to their stay there. Janie invited us to come and share our bus with some of the children at the hospital. We have never taken our bus to a hospital before, but we were more than happy to make the trip.

Dylan setting up at Women and Children's Hospital

When we arrived at the hospital, we parked near the children’s wing so that it was easy for them to get to the bus. For many of these kids it was one of the few opportunities they had to leave their rooms and they were all thrilled to take a “field trip.”  One at a time the children visited the bus with their parents. Many of the kids were a little shy at first, cautiously walking through the bus and looking at the plants. However, as soon as we asked if they wanted to see our “pets”, they all broke into grins and giggled as we showed them our giant box of worms. We were all very thankful for the opportunity to share our quirky bus with these bright kids from the Women and Children’s Hospital. We met so many sweet and curious kids, who were happy to be outside in the fresh air. It was a touching experience to share our realized dream with children who have dreams just as big. Before we left, the hospital staff gave us blankets and thanked us for our visit.

New bus driver we met at Women and Children's Hospital

Our next day in Lafayette, everything fell into place regardless of any effort on our part. After our visit at the hospital, we were contacted by a couple that owned the local Great Harvest Bread Company. They asked us to give tours outside of their bakery during lunch hour. Our day was completely open, so we drove over to their bakery and gave tours for three hours. When we finished our expo, JP and Michelle, the owners, were very gracious and gave us a free lunch plus a few loaves of bread. They gave us a tour of their bakery and we got to see the stone grinder that they use to grind all of the wheat for the bread. Because we are a group that cares about whole foods, we really appreciated learning about the whole wheat flour that is ground on site for their bread. 

Sunset on the Bayou

After we left the bakery, the Sol Food crew drove over to the Freetown Farmers’ Market upon suggestions we were given at the bakery. There were artisans and farmers intermingled throughout the market. We met a potter who sourced all of his clay from the Lafayette river and made jams out of grapes and persimmons that he foraged along the river. We gave tours until the market ended and left with produce from some of the local farmers.

Parked up at the Freetown Farmers' Market

Our final day in Lafayette, we visited St. Pius Elementary school for a day of teaching with 6th graders and kindergardeners. St. Pius has a school garden that they are going to up-fit with new compost bins. As part of our expo with the 6th graders we taught about the components of compost and how to have a successful compost pile. We had a great day with the St. Pius students and their teachers.

Talking to students about waste vegetable oil

Lafayette was a great first stop in Louisiana. We met extremely nice people and got a little taste of Louisiana living. As we drive further east, towards New Orleans, we are continuously greeted with great southern hospitality. Only three more weeks left in our trip and still so much to do!

Final leg of our trip!

The final four days of our visit in Austin were jam-packed with events! On Wednesday we visited Cedars International Academy and held an expo with kindergartners, first graders and sixth graders. All of the younger students stared at our bus with wonderment and excitement. It is truly invigorating to watch a child’s imagination run wild when they see our bus for the first time. Nothing rejuvenates our sense of excitement more than the gasps and exclamations of children who are excited and eager to learn. After giving tours to the students, they helped us plant new seeds for our winter crops in the greenhouse. Later that day, we drove to the Sustainable Food Center’s Farmers’ Market at The Triangle. The market had great atmosphere with live music, happy families, and amazing local produce. We were lucky enough to meet the owner of Johnson’s Backyard Garden and hear about his amazing farm success story. In a matter of 4 years, Brenton Johnson was able to expand from selling produce from his backyard garden to having a flourishing 200 acre farm. It was truly a privilege to meet a humble farmer who was just as excited about growing organic produce as we are!

Cedars International Academy students planting Kale

The following day we drove out to Urban Roots Farm, to participate in their volunteer day. Urban Roots is based around a youth development program that teaches essential life skills through sustainable agriculture. A majority of the produce is donated to local soup kitchens and food pantries. Their 3.5 acre farm tucked in the woods of East Austin cranks out around 30,000 pounds of produce a year! On this particular day at the farm there were over 20 volunteers. With so many pairs of hands, we were able to make quick work of all the harvesting. The Sol Food crew had a wonderful time meeting and working with new people while pulling veggies from the earth.

Turnips harvested at Urban Roots

Our final school visit in Austin was to St. Edward’s University. We were connected with the Students for Sustainability club and gave tours to many of their members. It was exciting to hear about the students’ campus garden and the shed they plan on making with a green roof. We were able to share ideas with them about the best way to make a green roof and show them ours as an example. At the end of the day the students gave us tons of suggestions on the best restaurants in town for some good grub.

Eliza washing zucchini at Urban Roots

Saturday, our last full day in Austin, was one of our favorite work days. We had the privilege of being a part of a major campus transformation at Cedars International Academy. The Humana Foundation had given a grant to the school that allowed them to bring KaBOOM! to build a brand new playground, vegetable garden, and a butterfly garden. KaBOOM! is an organization that travels around the country building playgrounds for communities, all in one day. On Saturday, over 200 volunteers worked together to build picnic tables, a huge playground, 8 raised garden beds, plant an entire butterfly garden and add artwork all over campus. We were shocked at how much was accomplished in only 8 hours!! There was so much enthusiasm all day, that it didn’t even feel like work. It was wonderful to be part of a project that  will continue to be a huge gift to students for years to come. We left the workday exhausted, covered in dirt and paint, but with huge smiles on our faces.

Students admiring their new garden beds

After our long workday, we were lucky enough to be invited to the house of a our new friend Ellen Rozman. We met her at the Triangle Farmer’s Market and she was generous enough to invite us to her house for hot showers. She and her wonderful family took us out a delicious dinner at a farm-to-table restaurant. It was wonderful to end our busy week in Austin at the house of a gracious family.

Cedar Academy's volunteers posing with the new playground

It is safe to say that everyone in the Sol Food crew had a wonderful time in Austin. We all fell in love with the city (and secretly want to move there). The eleven days that we spent in Austin flew by and brought us one city closer to being home. We will miss all of the wonderful friends we made and all of the delicious food that we enjoyed.  The road calls us forward once more and we must drive on to Louisiana.

Planting the butterfly garden at Cedars Academy International

Howdy from Austin!! The Sol Food crew has finally made it back to the south, where grits, biscuits, and the locals saying “ya’ll” is normal. Despite the fact that the entire crew is visiting Austin for the very first time, we all feel right at home. So far Sol Food has been in Austin for a week and is loving the city more and more every day.

Frost Bank in downtown Austin

The first two days of our visit we had the luxury of checking out all the cool spots in Austin. In the downtown area, the crew members were able to visit the Frost Bank tower that was designed by their sponsor Duda/Paine Architects. On South Congress St, there were funky art shops and dozens of amazing food trucks! At sunset, Dylan and Ellen watched the Mexican free-tailed bats swarm out from under the Congress Bridge. Austin has so much to offer, that it’s no wonder it’s the fastest growing city in the country.

Mexican Free-tail bats flying away for the night

After two wonderful days of exploring, we visited Green Gate Farm. This sustainable, organic farm was founded by Skip Connett and Erin Flynn. We had the privilege of meeting Erin and getting a tour from her. Green Gate was our first encounter with pigs on this trip! Erin raises a rare-breed of pigs called Guinea Hogs. These hogs are especially unique because they graze on grass as oppose to food scraps (although they do enjoy a pumpkin or two). Along with their pigs, Green Gate has chickens, goats, and lots of beautiful produce. Erin was an extremely knowledgeable farmer and she taught us a lot about the history of Austin’s farm land.

Guinea Hog piglets chowing down on old jack-o-lanterns

For the first half of our trip we didn’t get to work with many schools, because a lot of kids were on summer vacation. However, now that schools are back in full swing we are visiting as many as possible. The first school we visited in Austin was Overton Elementary. We worked with their Boys & Girls club after school program. Overton Elementary has a beautiful, small vegetable garden that the students work in regularly. Ms. St. Lucie, the teacher whose class we worked with, thought it would a great idea to add a vermicomposting bin to the garden. After giving tours of the bus to all the excited students, we worked with them to build a brand new worm bin and plant seeds for fall vegetables. A lot of the students were very eager to be a part of the worm bin construction. It was very sweet to see them show off their handiwork to their parents at the end of the day. We all had a wonderful time with the students at Overton Elementary and look forward to hearing about their experiences with the new worms!

Students finishing the worm bin!

Our next school stop was at Trinity Episcopal School. We spent half the day giving tours to a science  class of eighth graders and all the fourth graders. The Eighth grade science class was focusing on creating a green business and what steps go into creating a project like ours. We were able to talk to these students about the planning stages of our non-profit  and how to stay organized. The fourth graders were learning about problem solving and what to do when something doesn’t go according to plan. We were the perfect people to ask these questions to because our trip has been filled with problem solving! The entire Sol Food crew was blown away by the insightful questions all of the students asked and their intense attention to detail.

Reid teaching about rain catchment

On Tuesday, we visited Widen Elementary School. They have a very small garden that needed some tender loving care. Along with a group of excited second graders, we amended the soil with organic compost and planted seedlings from our greenhouse. All of the students attentively planted there seedlings and proudly gave them names. It is always inspiring to watch a child plant a seedling for the first time. They always radiate with a strong sense of accomplishment. It is these reactions that make our work greatly fulfilling.

Students planting seeds to take home

Stay tuned for more news about our action packed week in Austin. We will be visiting two more schools, a farmers’ market and two more farms!!

Sol Food will be haunted by this grease trap forever!

This grease trap was neither a trick nor a treat. It is safe to say that this grease trap has made us never want to eat fast food again! Happy Halloween everyone!

As we now enter into the final month of our cross-country tour, we find ourselves increasingly closer to home in time zones, miles, and weeks. It’s hard to imagine that we have already experienced 4 months of our long anticipated cross-country journey and now there is only one month left! Just like every other month on this trip, it will be rich with experiences, new faces, and feel like an eternity, however it will also pass before us like the blink of an eye. As we quickly approach our trip’s end, the crew is trying to soak up every city, face, conversation, sunset, garden, and adventure, so that we can create a stronger future for Sol Food Mobile Farm.

Eno in the desert

In the last week of October we blasted through the southwest. After a fun-filled stop in Phoenix, AZ, we drove to El Paso, TX to visit an old friend from high school. It was wonderful to see our friend Nate and share stories with each other. Just by being with a friend from North Carolina, we all felt a little closer to home. One of the wonderful surprises of our stop in El Paso was that we were visiting on the weekend of Nate’s neighborhood block party. As soon as we parked outside of his house, the neighbors immediately approached us and asked if we would participate by giving tours of the bus.  We had not originally planned on spending the night, but their invitation was one that we could not refuse.

Eliza and Ellen changing the filters for the veggie oil in El Paso

The block party was a great success, with tons of visitors aboard the big red bus. We spent half the day giving an expo at the Sunset Park block party and then finished our visit in El Paso with grease trips to numerous fast food restaurants. With a full tank of waste vegetable oil and new filters we headed east to Carlsbad, NM.

"Big Room" in Carlsbad Cavern

Our dear friend Jourdi had highly recommended that we visit the Carlsbad Caverns on our drive east, because she had loved the caverns when she visited them during her cross country trip. Jourdi’s recommendation was not in vain, because we were all blown away by this natural phenomena.  The four of us hiked into the natural entrance of the cave and descended 700 feet into the magnificent caverns. The structures of the cave took our breath away because of their large scale and intensity! It was fascinating to learn about how such a magnificent cavern is created and felt truly humbled by its beauty. The Carlsbad Caverns were a gem in our trip through the southwest.

Descending into the caverns

As we continue our trek across the huge state of Texas, we will be stopping in Austin to get down and dirty in some community gardens! Yeehaw!

Moonrise in the desert

The Sol Food bus has just taken its first left turn of the entire tour! Well..thats not true, but we are heading east for the first time on our cross-country route.  Although we have tried to shake the feeling, there has definitely been a noticeable mental shift as we head closer to home instead of constantly further away.  For all of us, this trip has seemed incredibly long and exciting- with six months of planned garden builds, farm visits and urban agriculture projects.  However, now that we are only a month and half away from our arrival back in North Carolina this trip is seeming shorter by the minute.  Half a year is certainly a long time to be on the road and constantly going from state to state.  But there are simply too many amazing things to see in this huge country than we ever imagined.  We feel so lucky to have had the support of dear friends and family along our trip and we are looking forward to the work we will be doing over the next six weeks!  This is our new “game face” for when we cross the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico this week on our way to Austin, Texas.

Greenhouse "game face"!

The last workshop we completed before leaving the west coast was one of our favorites on this trip so far.  As we described in our last post, we spent three days outside of Los Angeles in the town of El Segundo.  The first day was spent with the middle school and highschool students and our last day was spent at the Center Street Elementary School.  We rolled into the playground area of the school around 8:00am and left at lunch.  During that time we got to visit with every single student at the school.  It was a record setting number of visitors and so much fun for our bus crew!  We were surprised upon our arrival to find out that it was also “Crazy Hair Day” at school and so we were immediately adorned with pipe cleaners for our hair!

Visitors filing into the bus!

Throughout the morning students got to visit the Sol Food bus in their class groups.  Each of us took a group of ten-twelve students and led them on a full tour of the vehicle.  For groups that started their tour on the inside of the bus, they began with plant identification in the greenhouse.  Picking, smelling and tasting different culinary herbs in the greenhouse was a hit and students each got to leave the greenhouse with sprigs of mint, pieces of rosemary or mullen leaves.  Students then cycled to the front of the bus for a view of the worm bin and composting system and to stick their head up through the ceiling to see the living greenroof and solar panels.  For the younger students many enjoyed sitting in the driver seat and looking under the hood.  For the older students, who are part of the schools environmental club “The Green Team”, we discussed waste vegetable oil conversions for engines, sustainable building designs and gardening.  It was a jam packed morning that we will never forget.  We even got featured on the LA news station and CBS- you can check out the segment HERE.

Living greenroof on Theresa's chicken coop!

We want to extend another huge thanks to our friend Theresa Loe who hosted us in El Segundo and who has worked tirelessly with PBS to help produce the Growing a Greener World segment that will be featuring Sol Food Mobile Farm.  You can check out the episode online or on our local PBS station in December by visiting their page: Growing a Greener World.  Theresa has been one of the driving forces behind getting this episode up and running and has supported us through this entire trip.  She also arranged all of our school visits in El Segundo and hosted us at her house for three nights.  We ate incredible food, hungout with her beautiful family and got to admire her beautiful backyard garden; complete with chickens and a living greenroof (of succulents) on her chicken coop! We will miss you Theresa and thank you for everything.

Theresa from Growing a Greener World

We now find ourselves in Phoenix, Arizona where we have just picked up our dear friend Jourdi.  Jourid is one of the most increible humans that there is! She is currently in the middle of a solo cross-country bike trip and we got lucky enough to cross her path.  Here travels have taken her from Durham, North Carolina (our hometown) to Florida, across the Gulf Coast, through Austin, across the dessert of west Texas and New Mexico and now to Phoenix.  The joy and excitement we have experienced with her over the last two days is indescribable.  She is braving the elements and the adversities of traveling across the country but in the most adventurous and stustainable way imaginable.

Our dear friend Jourdi!

To think that our Sol Food bus is unable to climb the same mountains that she can fly over on a bicycle is humbling and inspiring all at once.  She has been a light in all of our lives and a joy to have on board the bus the last two nights.  We even got to celebrate her birthday while eating blackberry pie and watching the presidential debates inside the bus.  It will be incredibly sad to see her ride off towards California tonight but we know we will reunite with her again soon.  She has also given us some great tips on crossing the dessert of New Mexico, which we will do tomorrow, and the cool things to look for as we weave our way home.  Our next bus workshops will be held in Austin, Texas from November 1-10th and then on into the Gulf Coast from November 13-December 5th.   Until then, cheers!

We have just left the Bay Area of California in our big red bus and now find ourselves south of Los Angeles. Our time in San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland was awesome and we really hope to return again in the future. Everywhere you look there are incredible urban agriculture projects, cool farmers markets and people interested in the local food movement. Like all major cities that we’ve seen, there are still many neighborhoods that still do not have easy access to fresh, local food. We had the priviledge of volunteering our time and labor at the Tenderloin Neighborhood Garden in San Fransico on Monday. We worked on building new raised vegetable beds and engaging local neighbors in how to volunteer at the garden site.

Building raised beds at the Tenderloin Garden

We also got to visit the Berkeley Farmers Market before leaving town and met some wonderful students and neighbors from around town. Throughout the morning we heard some great stories and learned about a variety of different agriculture projects going on all across the Bay.

Now we are in the beautiful town of El Segundo, reflecting on the wonderful day we have just had. Yesterday evening after endless hours of grueling Los Angeles traffic, we pulled into town to be greeted with a home cooked dinner and cozy beds. Theresa Loe, our good friend and PBS producer of the TV show “Growing a Greener World”, has kindly welcomed us into her home. The last time we saw Theresa and the film crew was in Seattle so it was great to reunite further south.

The Sol Food "mug shot" with Theresa Loe!

Theresa has allowed us to do much needed laundry, take showers and provided us with amazing food! We have gotten to know her family as well and could not be more thankful for their hospitality. For the past two days we have been traveling down the coast, through Big Sur and into southern California. We went swimming in the Pacific despite the cold, saw tons ofelephant seals and watched some spectacular sunsets each night.

Big Sur, CA

Also thanks to Theresa and her logistical brilliance we managed to arrange two jam-packed days of school visits in her neighborhood. Today our morning began at 5:45 am so that we could arrive at El Segundo Highschool by 6:20. We spent the morning with almost fifty highschool and middle school science students. Every student was invited to come aboard the Sol Food bus and hear a full presentation about our national tour. The students have been working on robotics and environmental engineering topics for the past few weeks. Given their experience level, we focused heavily on the sustainable systems found on our vehicle such as: the solar panels, battery bank, veggie oil engine, rain water collection tanks, and living greenroof. We also hosted the most people in the greenhouse that we have ever had at one time. Needless to say elbow room was limited and we had a packed house!

Getting ready for bus tours!

After leaving the highschool we enjoyed a wonderful vegan meal at the Veggie Grill and then headed to the local El Sugundo Middle School. There we continued our bus expositions until three in the afternoon. We have had yet another incredible day on this trip, filled with engaging questions from the students and inspiring stories. We were interested to learn that Chevron, which is based here in town, sponsors the construction of engineering and science labs at schools all across the state. We got to tour one of their labs which is specializing in innovative techology for highschool and middle school students.

Engineering Lab students

Tomorrow we will be working with kindergarden classes, from the local elementary school on planting and transplanting vegetable seeds and starts. We are really looking forward to getting another layer of greenhouse veggies growing for some gardens down in Austin, TX. We will be leaving El Segundo on Saturday morning and heading east for the first time in the entire trip! As a crew, we will certainly be sad to leave the west coast and all of the beautiful memories it has given us.

Dylan the bus driver for the day!

Over the past month we have traveled through Seattle, Portland, Eugene, Redwoods National Park, Muir Beach, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and Los Angeles. It will feel strange to be leaving the Pacific Ocean finally, after marveling over it for weeks.

Pacific Ocean near Ragged Point, CA

But the road is pulling us towards Arizona and we must follow. Our next stop will land us in Phoenix and then north to the Grand Canyon. We are especially looking forward to meeting up with our dear friend Jourdi who is staying with us in Phoenix for 2 days. Jourdi is in the middle of a cross country road trip as well…except her mode of transportation is a bicycle! We left Durham, North Carolina only one month before Jourdi and she is already meeting us in the wild west. We are looking forward to catching up with her and exchanging endless stories of life on the road.

Driving through San Francisco, CA