PART I – It’s definitely time to explain

Christina and I are passionate about nourishing the community. That goal drives everything we do.

Truly nourishing the community requires bucking the system and resisting the status quo of the industrialized food system – it is not easy. We are always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to make a difference and that means things are always evolving. It can be complicated – believe me, we know!

So we thought we would take this opportunity to (re)introduce everyone to the Eastern Shore Food Lab (our non-profit 501c3) and the Modern Stone Age Kitchen (our for-profit food production space). Although united by a common purpose, the manner in which these entities go about achieving their missions are slightly different which translates into different opportunities for YOU!

Understanding what the ESFL and MSAK are, how they came to be, and what they offer means you can take full advantage of everything they both provide to help improve your family’s health and nutrition.

Building The Eastern Shore Food Lab

When I was a professor, I used to think I had the best job in the world because it allowed me to participate in a very fulfilling cyclical pattern:

• I got to teach and share my knowledge and passion with my students
• I conducted research which allowed me to remain current and inspired
• I incorporated the new information I learned into my life and, by doing so, saw the world in new, enhanced ways. Once I was comfortable with the new information I created new content for my students in the forms of lessons, lectures, hands-on activities and, sometimes even entirely new courses.
• Then, I got to do it all over again. And again. And again.

Early on, I realized that I learned best by doing, so that is exactly how I wanted to teach my students. In order to create the infrastructure needed for this type of teaching and learning, we built at our home:

• a commercial kitchen in our basement,
• a fire pit in the backyard, and
• a wood fired oven in the backyard.

Over the 15 years that I taught at Washington College most of my students have been to my house at least once (some multiple times) to reinforce what we were doing in class with hands-on activities that included teaching and learning opportunities such as making food in the basement, cooking in the wood fired oven out back, brain tanning deer skins in the yard, or firing hand built clay pots in the fire pit.

Soul Authoring their Education

Quickly, it became obvious that this was an incredible way to engage students and create powerful teaching and learning opportunities – I referred to it as “soul authored” teaching since students were literally engaged in hands-on learning, using all of their senses, completely from start to finish. They literally put their soul into what they were learning.

Over the years I realized two important things that were missing from our model – action and a larger audience.

1. Action. Teaching and inspiring others is important. But, where was the actual food? The information about healthy diets and how to create nourishing foods I was learning about could do so much more than simply be the basis for a lesson. It could actually create real, nourishing food that can make a real difference in someone’s health.
2. Larger audience. I was reaching an incredibly small segment of the population by teaching just college age students. We wanted to be able to share what we were learning with the entire community.

And, that is why we created the Eastern Shore Food Lab. Six years ago, Christina and I dreamed big, wrote grant proposals, secured a million-dollar grant from the state and a million dollar match from a private donor, found and renovated the space at 236 Cannon Street with the help of people that believed in us and created the beginning of the Eastern Shore Food Lab. We staffed the food lab with student interns, hosted community events with presenters from places such as Italy and Mexico, held community classes, and researched innovative foodways. Over the next few years, we attempted to work within the system to create nourishing food and reach the wider community.

A Bright Spot during COVID – the Creation of Rise by Brianna

Back at the start of COVID, the Eastern Shore Food Lab became a shell of a building when the college sent all the students home. I was scrambling to figure out how to make it meaningful and relevant in the midst of all the craziness the beginning of the pandemic brought with it.Eventually, I realized that we had hundreds of pounds of King Arthur flour piled stockpiled and that sparked an idea. Brianna (16yo at the time) and I spent several days each week baking 75-100 loaves of sourdough bread we then donated to the Social Action Committee in Kent County until we ran out of flour.

Becoming a Baker

Brianna really took to baking and fell in love with supplying the community with nourishing food so she came up with the idea of starting a sourdough business out of our home. We thought about it and realized that we already had the infrastructure in place to do this. Remember the commercial kitchen we built over the 15 years of creating a teaching and learning space for the students?

It was almost serendipitous!

Over the years, we purchased a used Hobart Mixer, stainless steel tables, three basin sinks, baking racks and other commercial equipment at auctions and when restaurants closed, built a wood fired oven in the backyard and a walk-in fridge in the basement. So, we said “yes!”

Within days Brianna had a website up, was doing deliveries, and was soon selling sourdough at the Kent Island’s farmer’s market. Although we wanted to make all sorts of nourishing food, the only food we could legally make and sell out of our home that was in line with our approach to food was sourdough bread. And, Rise was born.

1st Phase of the Story

This brings us to Spring 2020 and the creation of Rise. We appreciate you reading this first phase of our family’s story and next week we’ll share how the Modern Stone Age Kitchen was born along with the “recreation” of the Eastern Shore Food Lab.

Hopefully after these two segments, you’ll have a clear understanding of how each entity can help support you and your family on your own food journey!