Check out extra materials – think: bios, how-tos, recipes etc. – from this year’s HOMEGROWN Skills Tent participants.
Plant Transfer: Indigo Dyeing 101
Meet Rosa Sung Ji Chang and get instructions for dyeing with indigo at home!Rosa Sung Ji Chang 장성지 is a Korean-born multi-disciplinary artist focusing on visual/fiber art and research-based visual storytelling, which convey a sustainable balance between humans and the natural world. Rosa believes that farming/planting is a fundamental activity for connecting humans and nature to be in a coexisting relationship, and is the true value of practicing both art and social justice within community. Rosa is one of the core members for the Baltimore Natural Dye Initiative. Currently Rosa cultivates Asian indigo (Polygonum tinctorium) and other plants for natural dyes, teaches natural dye/ textile workshops, and cultural studies in Baltimore, Maryland. Rosa teaches Korean indigo, natural dyes and textiles in the Fiber department at the Maryland Institute College of Art this fall semester.
Learn about the Indigo Shade Map
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Selecting the Best: Seed Saving 101
Learn more about Reana and Jeff and get a breakdown on how to save seeds at home!Reana is a DC-based policy and communications professional dedicated to making the food and farm system more equitable and sustainable. She has worked on food, agriculture, and social justice issues for over a decade in Chicago, NYC, and DC. In 2021, Reana launched Share a Seed, a mutual-aid style seed sharing and gardening program that helps grow community. Reana was also the Public Affairs Director for the Organic Trade Association and currently serves on the board for the Farmers Market Coalition and Slow Food DC. She currently lives in Washington DC with her partner, cats, and many many plants.
Learn about Share a Seed
Jeff Quattrone is the Founder of the Library Seed Bank. He brought the Seed Library concept to South Jersey in 2014 and has permanently changed the public’s access to free seeds across South Jersey since. He’s an artist, an activist, and a NJ seed and a Jersey Tomato breeding historian. Jeff strives to expand the conversation about preserving local food diversity through seed sovereignty. Jeff has revived six functionally extinct Jersey tomatoes, and is flipping the script in doing so. He’s working on a book and media project titled Jersey Tomatoes, Bred for Profit, Revived for Community Organizing.
Get more information about Library Seed Bank and Jeff’s book and media project Jersey Tomatoes Bred for Profit | Revived for Community Organizing
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Small Space, Big Harvest: Square Foot Gardening 101
Click here to learn more about Bryn Bird and get some how-to for doing Square Foot Gardening at home!Bryn hails from a dirt road outside Granville, Ohio before becoming Township Trustee in 2018 and successfully running for a second term in 2021. After an undergrad at Miami University, she finished her masters degree in environmental and occupational public health from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Bryn has committed her career to empowering the rural lifestyle while working to develop a strong local food economy in Licking County, Ohio and beyond. Bryn’s passion for just farm and food policy stems, not only from her own experiences with her family’s farm Bird’s Have Farms, but her desire for all individuals to have the opportunity for an economically viable family operation. Bryn loves to spend her time teaching Square Foot Gardening classes and organizing with Rural Organizing. Bryn serves the farmers of Ohio through the Board of The Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association, Ohio Farmers Union and Explore Licking County. She is also the Mom of three daughters 8, 6, and 3!
Learn more about Bird’s Haven Farms.
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Easy Does It: Backyard Animals 101
Connect with Catherine and Alexander!Catherine and Alexander have a small, 13-acre farm just 15 minutes from the heart of downtown Raleigh, NC. They raise delicious, family friendly animals on pasture as much as possible, and feed locally milled, soy-free, organic feed as needed. They offer private and group tours by appointment, on farm classes, and sell assorted seasonal farm products.
Fungi Power: Gourmet Mushroom Growing 101
Get to know Robert Elliot and the Veterans Farm of NC!Robert Elliott is a Marine Corps Veteran and North Caroline Native. Growing up on a farm in NC, allowed him to see the struggles of the farming community which led him into military service as a way to leave the agricultural scene. 15 years later he found himself back on the farm and doing well as a farmer while finding a positive way to transition into civilian life and combatting Veteran suicide. Veterans across the country learned about his transition and began requesting assistance to start their own farms. Robert built and now runs two programs at The Veteran’s Farm of NC, Inc. near Fort Bragg. The programs are devoted to assisting Veterans in becoming successful agricultural entrepreneurs and assisting them with their endeavors as farmers by training in a wide model of production topics.
Eating off the Land: Cooking with Indigenous Knowledge 101
Meet Chef Rob Kinneen!Rob Kinneen (he/him/his) was born in Petersburg, Alaska. He is an Alaskan Chef of Tlingit heritage (Alaskan Native)who has been working in restaurants since he was 15 years old. He is widely recognized by his peers and fans as the authority on Alaska regional cuisine. Chef Rob has worked across Alaska and the country, promoting Alaska “indigenized” cuisine through guest chef appearances, speaking engagements, cooking demonstrations and private caterings.
He has been featured on the TODAY show with Al Roker, cooking spot shrimp fresh rolls and spruce tip marinated elk skewers, and has cooked for legendary Chefs Jacques Pepin and Lidia Bastianich.
In 2015, he was hand selected to cook a five-course meal for US President Barack Obama, featuring Alaska produce, fish and wild game. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Rob began his cooking career at NOLA in New Orleans which he followed with chef positions at several esteemed restaurants in North Carolina, and stagings at Chicago’s Frontera Grill and Lupa in New York City. It was during this time that Rob established his philosophies of sourcing product locally and seasonally.
Rob has cooked in culture camps across Alaska, from Barrow (muktuk sushi) to Bethel (Smelt with salsa) to Tyonek (foraged beach peas) to Sitka (rockfish fried rice w/foraged greens). His FRESH ALASKA webisode series has 60,000 hits showing people the beauty of Alaska and cooking with fresh ingredients, both indigenous and available at your local farmers market. Rob has contributed to cookbooks Pacific Feast by Jennifer Hahn and Wild Alaskan Seafood by James Fraioli. His latest project is the release of his first cookbook, Fresh Alaska Cookbook, a compilation of recipes, artisan profiles and stories of living in the Last Frontier.
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Photo: Jessica Ilyse Kurn
