A reminder

remember our roots.

For thousands of years, people have walked the Earth and participated, knowingly and unknowingly, in the cultivation of food and the stewardship of the land. Tribes and clans of people would use methods of controlled fire and location-specific replanting to manage what are now referred to as “food forests”. Coastal peoples would spread clams and oysters into the shallow areas of rivers and estuaries to assist in healthy population growth. Maize would be planted in monocrops (yes, monocrops) for hundreds of acres and managed collectively, in accordance with the seasons. Folks would revere concepts around the “hunt” which served as de facto population management of herding animals, trade seeds and grains between cultures and maybe even spread a few simply by answering nature’s call. At RealRoots, we are in deep acknowledgement of this reality and want those that participate in our volunteering programs to understand this as a source of our mission.

a modern look.

At RealRoots, it is part of our mission to increase participation in our modern food system. We are attempting to re-establish the connection between people and they way their food is grown, and do it in a way that centers methods of alternative exchange and autonomy through collectivism. We are experimenting with different mechanisms for the people of the Richmond area to do that in as large a capacity as possible. We are trying to give people from all walks of life a creative and flexible way to plug-in.

our program

the “system”

Our vision is to have a model that can challenge the over-commodification of our current global food system. We want to take a group of people committed to the concept of true mutual aid and incorporate local producers and food businesses into a time based food exchange called the “System”. That “System”, with our farm as an anchor for our particular group of participants, would involve working a certain amount of time per week in exchange for time credits. As a result of concentrated collective labor we would have a supply of freshly grown produce available each week, which these credits could be used to “purchase”. As the network grows, and excess produce is sold, the revenue would be saved and used to purchase products from other local farms each week, expanding the offerings available within the System. Local honey, grains, fruits, berries — even plant medicines and value added products would be slowly introduced so that participants have access to an increasing variety of options each week. Values would be set to each of these items using a carefully crafted formula, which justifications would be made transparent to all who participate, at all times.

Within this system there are required time commitments from all participants. However, they are maximums, not minimums. This is a critical aspect of the System and it’s justifications go beyond the scope of this description. In short, we are attempting to not just give lip service to the need to address exploitation in agricultural labor, but to codify it. No participant’s time commitment should ever exceed 9 hours per week, and ideally it will be 3-4. That is to make it possible to maintain a healthy and fulfilling life outside of the System, and not to have its benefits ever skew towards a few people doing all the work. It also makes it possible for people to still maintain the employment that makes their lifestyle possible, and opens the opportunity properly to people from all walks of life who may only have a few hours a week to commit. The idea is increased participation and re connection, not a few siloed experiences. So if you’re excited about it we don’t want you to work 12 hours alone…we want you to inspire 3 people as excited as you to all work 4.

the “ledger”

An idea that relies on a small amount of work from a large group of people doesn’t have motivation as an issue — organization is the challenge. So a robust but simple ledger will be kept of participant time contribution, and will remain public at all times. It will include how many hours a week each participant logged, and they will be able to “bank” them as the weeks pass. At appropriate times in the harvest schedule, their credits can be redeemed for any product available in the System.

For the sake of example, we will call these credits WC’s.

Keema worked for 4 hours that week, in exchange for 20 WC. 5 WC per hour.

Summer was becoming Fall, so we had an abundance of late tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, and okra. The early fall greens were also coming in, so we had arugula and hakurai turnips. The elderberries were fruiting and the team had made syrup and tincture. Honey had been harvested for the last time of the year, mushrooms were thriving, and a local bakery had just brought us bags of milled cornmeal from the heirloom stand we had harvested the week before. The weekly menu is as follows:

Heirloom Tomatoes, Eggplant, Okra, Arugula, Turnips (1lb) 1 WC

Bell Peppers (1lb) 1.5 WC

Honey (8oz) 3 WC

Elderberry Syrup (8oz) 4 WC

Oyster Mushrooms (1lb) 2 WC

Heirloom Cornmeal (1lb) 2 WC

Keema is an avid baker and her family is coming next week. This week, she is only cooking for herself. So on the day of the Foodshare, she buys two units of oyster mushrooms, two units of bell peppers, and 3 units of eggplant to make stir-fry for the week. She uses 10 of her WC, and banks the other 10. The next week comes, she works within the System for 4 hours again, and now has a total of 30 WC. She plans to make cornbread for her family and pasta sauce for her dinners that week. She gets 3 units of cornmeal and 2 units of honey, and 5 units of tomatoes costing her 17 WC. She is left with 13 WC, which will remain banked in the ledger, until she decides to redeem them another week.

time as currency; food as a birthright

We know this type of system has been tried in many contexts before. Students of economics, finance or business may even scoff at an idea so trivial. However, I think we all catch ourselves saying it — time is money — and this System is attempting to examine how powerful that concept really is.

The weakness of a system like this usually lies in things we have come to take for granted. Non-seasonal produce being constantly available, lack of variety, who get first priority on lesser available items, how is excess revenue equitably tracked and utilized, the list goes on. The thing we are in recognition of is the current food system we rely on has a list of problems to match. We are seeking to introduce a new way of thinking about time in relation to your food…and if our System is equitable, thoughtful, and well organized, the abundance of the land will take care of the rest. A full description of the System will be made available by request soon.

Overall, we are hoping to remind participants of the picture we painted at the top of this page. We used to inhabit a world where food was abundant all around us, and as long as we were industrious and (relatively) social, we could partake in it for free. It was our birthright then, and it still is now. However, the modern world has new circumstances. To reclaim our birthright we have to use the same collaborative ingenuity our ancestors may have used to coordinate the hunt. Strength in numbers, split the kill. Or to sow fields of maize. Might only take 3 or 4 people to plant the field, but it will take 20 to harvest it, and 1 to mill it. We find our roles, we value each other properly within them, and we eliminate the need for an invisible hand to act as a 3rd party between us and feeding our families.