In June, I opened the doors for a bring a friend event. We had 4 new faces attend this meeting. I demonstrated how to prepare a plant based mushroom pasta with a creamy lemon cashew sauce. Afterwards, we went to the deck where everyone was able to get their hands in the dirt to plant some edibles that we intend to use next season. We planted strawberries, sage, basil, and other herbs.
I used a portion of the funds to collect ingredients for the shared meal, for the planters, seeds, and soil for this particular meeting. So far, we have managed to impact the neighborhood with our meetings. We are currently preparing for another fall meeting where we will again provide meals for the neighborhood, with plant based options.
We intend to continue to meet up monthly to share recipes and commune.
My intention with this project to both to highlight the availability of Plant Based food in our local community by traveling to plant based restaurants, having private chef tasting and demonstrating with live cooking classes. My husband (unable to attend initial meeting) is a 20 year chef with experience in cooking for many dietary needs and will be assisting me in providing plant based recipes for our group. We further hope to support black-owned businesses in our local area that are also plant based.
I believe as our pod expands we will greatly benefit the community by providing information to those who are interested in a more plant based lifestyle. My hope is to encourage my pod to invite a friend to each event to slowly expand the community. We will still take measures to ensure the safety of our member during covid by continuing to follow CDC guidelines.
As far as start date, the group plans to meet in person at the end of the month, beginning May 23. We plan to use a portion of the seed fund to purchase garden produce such as kale, lettuce and other items available. Each monthly meeting we will use what is available from the garden and show how simple it could be to both grow healthy produce and use it directly from the garden. We hope that our presence will encourage others to join our pod and I have encourage members to invite others to meetings. We will also be visiting local vegan restaurants and local whole-foods stores, where I hope to use a portion of the funds to try out unique items, share them with our pod members, and provide at our meetings. At the end of the summer, at the August meeting, we will discuss the impact our group has had on the community and send you all an update.
I anticipate that it will take 1/4 of the start up budget in supplying vegetable starts for the garden. Maybe half of the budget will go toward exploring local restaurants and whole-food stores and the remaining portion will be used for the out-reach portion. We will provide information sheets and samples to the community during our monthly meeting in my neighborhood. My overall goal is to both get more people in my neighborhood to grow their own food and learn to eat local, plant-based food. Along with this, I do a bi-weekly plant sale, that we fund separately. We are currently building a presence as the plant people. This program will further allow us to introduce plant-based living to those around us, at least that is my hope. My husband is a chef and is fully equipped to bring his equipment onto our driveway and cook a veggie based meal for the community. This is something we have started and plan to continue through the warm season.
