Ellie Kaplan, 29, of South Philadelphia, senior farm manager, is helping out Riam Harris, 9, who is with her mom, Tamyra Tutt, of Mount Airy, Pa., at the Nice Roots Farm in Philadelphia, Pa., on Saturday, June 15, 2024.On a given weekend in the Allegheny West section of the city, you may find neighbors working together to harvest persimmons, apples, okra, berries, kale, or any number of fruit and vegetables from the Nice Roots Farm.
“Our goal on the farm is to serve as a demonstration space, an educational space for youth primarily, but also community as a whole,” Kaplan said. “Maybe we won’t always get to the answer ... but hopefully students walk away knowing that food is a human right and that not everybody has access to food in the same ways.”
Kato said that she volunteers because she sees the disparities in food access in her area, and food justice is important to her. Frequently meeting new people and learning more about gardening and farming brings her back, too.“A lot of people don’t think about actually how much it takes to grow vegetables and where they come from and then who’s growing and how it is grown. ... We can share that that knowledge to neighbor or just make sure that those people who are underserved ...