I push the bell on the front door of Bessie’s green, Hood River farmhouse and count to sixty, but am met with no answer. The only audible noise is a faint knocking in the distance, a sound I attribute to the farm workers lining the surrounding country roads. I ring again and wait another minute before deciding to try my luck at the back door. As I walk around, I hear the knocking again, louder…
Adelante Mujeres means “women rise up,” an apt name for an organization invested in empowering and educating low-income Latina women and their families. Since 2002, Adelante Mujeres has lead programs in early childhood education, Latina girls empowerment, conflict management, sustainable agriculture, small business development, and healthy food access. I had the pleasure of volunteering with the Adelante Mujeres Sustainable Agriculture Program during one of their CSA packing events, and plan to volunteer with them again. On…
The first time I wondered if I knew America was when I moved to Iowa from Connecticut for college. I couldn’t remember the first time I saw the ocean, but looking out over the endless fields of corn and soybeans for the first time seemed as close of a comparison as I could imagine. In Iowa, billboards advertised tater-tot stuffed cheeseburgers and the only vegetables I could discern in my veggie omelet were canned…