https://linktr.ee/40acresproject

40 Acres Project, P. O. Box 1058, La Crosse, WI (2025)

10/29/2025

We would like to share some thoughts from regarding what is happening in the Texas restaurant industry. It is a clear sign what is to come, and we must be prepared.

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The Texas Restaurant Association released its latest economic outlook, and it’s time we pay attention. This isn’t panic, it’s time to make plans and strategize. Texas has one of the largest restaurant economies in the country, over $100 billion in annual sales and more than 1.4 million people working across restaurants, bars, bakeries, food trucks, school kitchens, catering operations and more. We are one of the largest employers in the state, one of the major economic circulatory systems in our communities, and one of the last standing places where people still gather, still talk, still share meals across difference.

But the TRA’s new report shows what many of us have been feeling behind the scenes: pressure is building. Ingredient costs remain significantly higher than they were before the pandemic, wages have increased to keep staff, processing fees and overhead have quietly crept up, and now, consumer traffic is slowing. That combination means margins which were already razor thin are narrowing even further. On average, the combined cost of food, labor and occupancy eats up roughly 70 cents of every dollar of sales. Many restaurants are now operating at or below the profit levels they had years ago, even while working twice as hard.

The TRA’s survey reveals that only 48% of Texas restaurants currently have enough employees to meet existing demand. At the same time, 64% report food cost increases, 58% report labor cost increases, yet 55% managed to keep their menu prices about the same.

This matters because restaurants are not just businesses. They are cultural memory keepers & storytellers, and economic lifelines for workers, farmers, ranchers, fishermen, dishwashers, delivery drivers, and small producers. When restaurants struggle, entire local ecosystems feel it.

(See comments for more)
Source:
https://www.dallasobserver.com/food-drink/texas-restaurant-association-warns-economic-slowdown-is-here-40609709/

10/22/2025

had some thought as the urgency of SNAP could be ending in 10 days.

Please take a look as this is going to take all of us coming together to demand a change.

🔁:
If SNAP stops in 10 days, millions of Americans will lose the support that puts food on their tables.

Here are the numbers for reference:
SNAP serves about 41.7 million people each month, roughly 12.3% of the U.S. population.
In FY 2023, it was about 42.1 million participants.

The vast majority of recipients are in households with children, older adults, or persons with disabilities.

I say this not as an observer, but as someone who lived it. I was a child of the ‘80 and 90s, raised in a military family that relied on WIC for a period of time. Those benefits made sure there was food on the table. It wasn’t about pride, it was survival. It was a part of my life that I will never forget.

Today, as a chef and advocate, my mission is simple: to feed people. To give them a moment of safety and belonging to a community. It’s an opportunity to sit, eat, and not be judged for what’s on their plate or how it got there.

If SNAP halts, over 41 million people, mostly children, elders, working families, will be left without that same dignity.

This isn’t politics. This is humanity. This it’s our community.

We need to act NOW.

Advocate to protect and fund SNAP.

Support local food banks and meal programs.

POLITICIANS, not only fully fund SNAP but INCREASE funding. We are at a time when our economy is suffering. The numbers are not out, but I will rationally assume that there is an increase of SNAP benefits applications in the last 9 months.

Most of all, feed one another with compassion, not judgment.

Because when the plate is empty, dignity sits at the table alone.

No one should ever eat last. Not in this country. Not when we have the means to feed each other.

Check out my substack for more information and how dig into what can we do, click link in bio.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/18/politics/snap-food-stamps-november-government-shutdown

10/17/2025

We are happy to share that was featured in Gravy along with other inspiring farms, chef and advocates on the of heirloom seeds, especially collards- which she has a love for.

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I’m honored to be featured in Seeding Climate Resilience from the Southern Foodways Alliance, in a story that touches at the heart of something I believe deeply: our role as chefs is expanding, and with it comes responsibility.

When reached out to include me in the article, I saw an opportunity not just to speak as a chef, but to speak as a steward of heritage, biodiversity, and resilience. That feels urgent in a time when climate change is reshaping growing seasons, water availability, pest pressures, and the very viability of traditional crop varieties.

The piece underscores a critical truth: seeds are more than starting points for plants. Seeds carry memory, adaptation, lineage and when they’re grown in the same region year after year, they evolve in dialogue with soil, climate stressors, pests, and local ecosystems.

Seeds hold out the history of our whole world. 🌱

10/16/2025

Food has always been more than nourishment, it’s a story, a connection, a bridge between people and generations. Around every table, we share more than meals; we share memory, history, and hope.

Culture is often defined through what we grow, cook, and pass down. Every ingredient carries a legacy, a seed that once took root in someone’s hands, a recipe that evolved through migration, resilience, and creativity. Seeds create communities; they hold the power to feed not just bodies but relationships, ideas, and futures.

On this World Food Day, we honor the farmers, cooks, and keepers of tradition who sustain our world through food. We remember that the act of eating together is one of the most universal expressions of humanity. Through food, we find belonging.

Let’s continue to sow, cook, and share stories that connect us all.

10/16/2025

Attention 🚨🚨🚨Y’all I’m going to say this again! Calling all Black-owned restaurants, food businesses, and culinary visionaries, this is your moment. There is $20,000 opportunity to help support Black Restaurants! There are only 4 days left before the deadline!!

The Black Kitchen Initiative is awarding $20,000 grants to independently owned Black food businesses across the U.S. who are preserving and advancing the legacy of Black cuisine and foodways.

These grants represent more than funding, they’re a lifeline of support. An opportunity to sustain and save the spaces that feed our communities, tell our stories, and keep our traditions alive.

Since its launch, this program has distributed over $4 million to more than 240 businesses, from beloved neighborhood staples to new culinary dreams just taking root.

Let’s make sure more Black owned restaurants get the support they deserve.

If you own, work at, know someone who owns, or are a patron of a Black-owned food business share this far and wide.

Apply: https://www.leeinitiative.org/blackkitcheninitiative

10/06/2025

“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”
Fannie Lou Hamer

Fannie Lou Hamer wasn’t just fighting for the right to vote — she was fighting for the right to exist with dignity. Her voice, bold and unshakable, carried the weight of generations who tilled the land, raised families, and still demanded to be seen. She spoke truth when it was dangerous, and she built bridges where silence once stood.

As a Black woman, a farmer, and a force of change, she rooted her activism in the soil — literally. She created the Freedom Farm Cooperative to ensure her people could feed themselves when systems refused to. She knew liberation wasn’t just political, it was agricultural, spiritual, and communal.

Today, we live forward by embodying her courage — by remembering that equity and justice aren’t seasonal harvests, they are daily labors. Her story teaches us to grow our own food, own our voices, and plant the seeds of freedom in every field we touch.

We honor Fannie Lou Hamer not by retelling her story but by continuing it.

10/06/2025

Attention!! It’s that time of year again. Celebrating 5 years and growing strong on supporting Black owned restaurants!

Share and apply!

Black Kitchen Initiative grant applications are officially live! We’re celebrating Year 5 by continuing to support restaurants that are preserving and advancing the legacy of Black food. Head to the link on bio to learn more and apply before the deadline on October 19, 2025.

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10/02/2025

We are so to announced that is hiring an executive director.
Please share and apply if you qualify.

Posted • .heritage 🌿✨ We’re Hiring an Executive Director! ✨🌿

The Muloma Heritage Center, soon to break ground on historic St. Helena Island, SC, is seeking a visionary leader to guide our mission of preserving and celebrating African Atlantic heritage through food, culture, and storytelling.

This full-time role offers $80K–$110K + benefits. We’re looking for a proven nonprofit leader with strong financial and communication skills, as well as a passion for food culture, heritage tourism, and storytelling.

📲 Apply now by scanning the QR code or searching “Muloma Executive Director” on Indeed.

07/08/2025

We excited to see what has been doing. We need to support our community! Download, share and follow

Repost:

We know the story all too well.

Black-led cooperatives continue to be undervalued and underfunded—not because the community power isn’t there, but because the data isn’t.

In 2023, our Rethinking Market Studies Research Report confirmed what our communities have long understood: when we don’t control our data, we lose control of our narrative—and our access to resources.

That’s why we created the YAMS app—Yielding Access to Market Solutions. Born out of the need to tell our own story, YAMS helps us gather something we’ve too often been denied: proof of our presence, our patterns, and our power.

By collecting receipts from everyday food purchases, the app helps document how money moves through our communities—offering a more accurate picture of our collective investment in food, care, and survival.

Each receipt becomes part of a larger story—one that affirms the value of Black cooperatives and builds the foundation for deeper investment and lasting change.

Available now in the Apple Store and Google Play. (https://yamsapp.org/)

Download the app. Snap your receipts. Join the movement.

07/06/2025

Come with (our founder) and you will see into my the world of chocolate with Pastry Chef from TOMORROW on World Chocolate Day, hosted by

We are so excited to hear about all things chocolate from origin to bar! There will be a sweet demo included!

So if you have a sweet tooth or just a pure imagination on the endless possibilities that cacao can do, RSVP!
Check out our stories for the link or link below.

🔗: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/D8vcsoOrQ76GmFUPsVXqvA

📸 :

07/04/2025

“This 4th of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice. I must mourn.” - Frederick Douglass

What to the American slave is your 4th of July?” Frederick Douglass asked in 1852. His words weren’t just about that moment, they were a mirror held up to a country celebrating freedom while denying it to so many. Today, those same echoes are deafening. The “Big Beautiful Bill” doesn’t protect, it punishes. Billions are funneled into ICE enforcement and militarized detention centers while access to food, healthcare, and safety nets are stripped away from the people who feed, build, and care for this country. Immigrants, refugees, farmworkers, and service workers. Many of them Black, Brown, and from cultures this country was built on are being detained, deported, pushed out, and disappearing all while being blamed for systems they didn’t break. This isn’t just policy, it’s modern cruelty and oppression dressed up in patriotism.

What is freedom if it comes at the cost of someone else’s humanity? As Douglass said, “We are still mourning. And still fighting. Freedom isn’t freedom until it includes us all.”

If you have never read Fredrick Douglass’s speech, you should: https://loveman.sdsu.edu/docs/1852FrederickDouglass.pdf

07/02/2025

July 2, 1964 the Civil Rights Act was signed into law.

69 years ago today, marked a turning point in American history. It said no more to legalized segregation, racial discrimination, and exclusion from opportunity. It was the result of generations of organizing, marching, resisting, and demanding that this country live up to its promises.

Today, we find ourselves at a dangerous crossroads. We are witnessing an administration, policies, and political movements that threaten to reverse decades of civil rights progress. From attacks on voting rights to erasure of Black history, to policies targeting immigrants, women, LGBTQ+ people, and the working class, the civil rights fight is not over. It has shifted, but it is not done.

Today is not just an anniversary, it is a call to action to make positive change in this world.

40 Acres Project

10/29/2025

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