There’s a certain amount of anticipation, energy, and hope associated with the arrival of spring, the earth thawing, and plants pushing up through the ground. On walks around the city, I find myself drawn to the delightful and resilient blooms that find their way into sidewalk cracks, fence lines, and other unexpected places. It’s grounding and inspiring that the rose can, in fact, grow from concrete.
“Florals, for spring?! Groundbreaking.”
As of the equinox on March 20th, spring has officially arrived in Philadelphia. Warmer temperatures are on the way, people are driving by with their windows rolled down and music playing, and our team is halfway through our fiscal year. It’s, once again, cold brew coffee season in our office and windows are being opened to let in the fresh air.
We have welcomed new staff to our team in a variety of roles and are looking forward to learning from their ideas and fresh perspectives. New partnerships and opportunities continue to sprout up through connections, convenings, word-of-mouth referrals, and submissions to our program request form. Volunteers have been oriented and joined our mission to support sessions in schools and workshops in our Teaching Kitchen. New friends, new supporters, and new Spice Cabinet members are investing in our mission and in making Philadelphia a healthier, more joyful place to live.
To mark the midway point, our team is devoting time to reviewing individual and team goals as well as where we have been and where we’re headed. Our team does a great job of sharing some of the stories behind the numbers of sessions and participants. We routinely get to share a laugh about a new quote especially from our most honest participants, high schoolers. One recent gem: “I always thought lentils tasted like dirt, but these are good!” Every session offers the opportunity to shift perspective, encourage curiosity, and inspire joy.
As the seasons change, so do our ingredient inspirations – herbs, leafy greens, and more of the spring bounty will soon be on their way as we shelve the sweet potatoes and butternut squash for another year. I get particularly excited by herb sauces like our Spicy Green Sauce to liven up dishes as we await the peak growing season in our region. Our team is developing and reworking recipes as we continue to build and refine our database of delicious, nutritious, affordable, and achievable dishes for our programs.
Though our efforts towards continuous quality improvement are sustained throughout the year, the promise of extra sunlight and flashes of colorful spring blooms help to fuel us as we enter the second half of our year.
-Maddy
