THG Episode 66_Wellness At Work_mixdown

[00:00:00] Ta-Myia: Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Hilltop Glove Podcast. Today we have the pleasure of interviewing the Upstate Circle of Friends. U C F is a nonprofit organization located in Greenville, South Carolina, with the mission to expand opportunities, enhance the quality of life and the progression of at-risk children and their families through.

[00:00:18] Ta-Myia: Educational, recreational, and social programs. In 2006, the founder, Mr. Lore Pinson, was challenged with finding someone to care for her special needs son for the upcoming summer. One month later, she realized after realizing other special need parents had the same problem. She resigned her pos, she resigned from her position from Greenville County School District and established UCF in May, 2006.

[00:00:42] Ta-Myia: After partnering with George Singleton, vice President of ucf, she continued. They continued to strengthen the program and broaden program, allow and broaden the program, allowing additional funding and resources to broaden the focus to at risk, I'm sorry, to broaden the focus to youth and family. Focus [00:01:00] programs since 2011, U C F has successfully provided healthy meals for 1,200 youth programs.

[00:01:07] Ta-Myia: Attending the Greenville County Rec summer program and also recognized by DJJ for service services, promoting diversity of community partnership and five year job readiness training, as well as vet Ford home that a vet forward home that will house a veteran family while transition. How are you guys doing today?

[00:01:26] Ta-Myia: We have a whole panel of you never have four people, so please go down and introduce yourself, your position and what is it that you do. Yes, for 

[00:01:34] Kimberly Gibson: the organization. Hello? Hi, I'm Kim Gibson. I am the Urban Teaching Gardens farm manager here at upstate Circle of Friends. 

[00:01:43] Toya Moore: And my name is Toya Moore. I do a lot of stuff here at Upstate Circle of Friends, but the thing I'm most excited about is the Edible Garden Manager, which is a greenhouse over at Southside High School.

[00:01:52] Toya Moore: But I also work with veterans and a little bit of other stuff. We'll talk about that later. Awesome. And my name is Tiffany 

[00:01:57] Tiffany Davis: Davis. I'm actually partnering with, [00:02:00] of State Circle of Friends with the U S D A grant, and I serve as a subject matter expert on cultural nutri. So food, demos, that kinda 

[00:02:07] Isaiah Barton: thing.

[00:02:07] Isaiah Barton: Word. Hey, I'm Zay Barton. I'm also partnering with the U S D A through Miss Toya with the U S D A grant in helping being a subject matter expert as well with the grant at the high school. Excellent. Here at State France. 

[00:02:21] Ta-Myia: Wow. It's nice to meet all of you guys today for the first time and actually being here for the first time, you guys, this place is amazing.

[00:02:28] Ta-Myia: Yes. I have to come back and experience it. You have to experience it yourself personally, especially the garden the community, and thank you for giving us a warm welcome. I appreciate that. Thank 

[00:02:38] Toya Moore: you. We're glad y'all could come out here. I told you it's magical once you get on 

[00:02:41] Ta-Myia: campus. Yeah. Like it's a whole experience from the murals, the how everything is so organized to you guys are welcoming.

[00:02:49] Ta-Myia: I just love it. Thank you so much. So can you guys tell us a little bit more about the early stages of U C F and what was it like working for the organization, stuff like that? 

[00:02:58] Toya Moore: Yeah, so as you mentioned, [00:03:00] introduction, update, circle of Friends started about 16 years ago. And over the years it's really transitioned into multiple programs.

[00:03:07] Toya Moore: Where we come in is we recognize that it was a desert out here. It's a food desert, it's a medical desert. It's a financial desert. There's just not a lot for the community in this area. So George and Dolores really identified a need and said, what can we do to serve the community? And that's where the.

[00:03:22] Toya Moore: The garden idea was born. So we've been applying for multiple grants and opportunities to be able to help us fund the garden. And once we were awarded a couple dollars from U S D A, we said, okay, now we're cooking with grease. Now we're cooking. Yeah. So when we The grant we were able to pull in what I like to call all my dope ass friends, just all the subject matter experts to come in to expand the program.

[00:03:45] Toya Moore: Absolutely. think I told you that when we first met, I got a lot of dope ass friends. So You like the plug girl? Everybody. All 

[00:03:51] Ta-Myia: right. Say it. Yes. Okay. So were there any difficulties forming the nonprofit, getting funding, getting people from the community to [00:04:00] know about the organization? 

[00:04:01] Toya Moore: I don't know if Dolores had any c.

[00:04:04] Toya Moore: Forming the nonprofit. I will say anyone who's in a nonprofit world will tell you it's really difficult Yeah. To get money. Yeah. Because a lot of people think, let me get a nonprofit and then automatically the money's gonna come in. Exactly. And that's not how it works. Yeah. Like we had to do years and years of programming to be able to get the funding.

[00:04:20] Toya Moore: Yeah. And a lot of people don't really understand that. So it is a challenge, but once you find the sweet sauce, like once you. The group, then the money I think flows. But it's not even so much about the money as it is about like the energy when all of us come together. Yeah. Like when you see us together talking and laughing and enjoying the garden and the food, that's where the magic happens and that's what makes you want to come out and hang out with us and talk and donate money and time.

[00:04:47] Ta-Myia: So how do you actually get involved with the U S D A? How does that, how do they help you guys? Yeah. We have a 

[00:04:53] Toya Moore: grant writer. Her name is Roseanne. And Roseanne searches for grants for us. Yeah. And what we did is we just knew what it was the [00:05:00] organization wanted to do and wanted to provide for, and we just applied for multiple grants and we awarded two U S D A grants.

[00:05:06] Toya Moore: Okay. One, I'll let Kim talk about her grant cuz she has a teaching garden grant. And then my grant is the Edible Garden grant, but the U S A. Basically gives us the money to be able to purchase what we need to function. Okay. Because you can't have a business or a non-profit without having a couple dollars to be able to buy stuff.

[00:05:23] Toya Moore: Of course, yeah, of course. Look cute. Whatever it is that we need to do. So 

[00:05:26] Isaiah Barton: that's what they do. Us money. 

[00:05:27] Skip: Yeah. Yeah. I cross 

[00:05:28] Isaiah Barton: money. Yeah. Makes sense. 

[00:05:29] Tiffany Davis: It's money. Yeah. 

[00:05:30] Ta-Myia: Kim, tell us a little bit about you and your, what 

[00:05:33] Kimberly Gibson: you do. Yeah. Okay. So I run the Urban Teaching Garden, and it's gonna be, We just got the grant, so we're kicking it off.

[00:05:42] Kimberly Gibson: So we have a community garden right now, but ar around the perimeter of that garden will be the urban teaching garden, which will be 30 raised beds. We'll have a pollinating garden. We're also gonna eventually have a healing garden as well. And we are gonna work with, at, with youth. I [00:06:00] recently established a partnership with an elementary school that serves this community.

[00:06:04] Kimberly Gibson: Awesome. Which is huge. It's a title title one school. Yeah. And I'll be going in once a week. To teach the kids about gardening. Empowering them that yeah, they can grow their own food. Most kids don't realize when they come out to the garden, And you pull a tomato off of a plant or a cucumber.

[00:06:23] Kimberly Gibson: I had one kid say, wait, there's a cucumber on the plant. Yeah. Like why? They don't make that connection. The, from that, from the dirt, the soil. Yeah. From a truck to the grocery store. Yeah. It's a box. The, to, I don't know what they think. Maybe they think it was genetically made, probably 

[00:06:41] Toya Moore: showed up somewhere.

[00:06:42] Kimberly Gibson: know, We're I'm older, we, my kids have grown up with technology and things just coming to be, so I don't think it's far remove that. They would think that you didn't drop, a tablet in some water and got a cucu. It 

[00:06:54] Skip: was funny about what you said. I have a two year old.

[00:06:56] Skip: And it's very interesting. How [00:07:00] she looks at food. She don't eats three or four things, honestly. So even talk about like toddlers dip. Yes. Most toddlers there's a community garden where we're at, and so we grow things in the garden. But aside from that, when we talk about food she likes chicken.

[00:07:13] Skip: It's funny because she likes chicken. She likes chicken nuggets. She likes chicken tenders and she knows what a live chicken looks like and will point it out, but she hasn't made the connection yet. 

[00:07:24] Toya Moore: Oh, y'all about to break that baby hard. I know. 

[00:07:27] Skip: She loves live chickens. She loves, she 

[00:07:31] Kimberly Gibson: doesn't. Some children don't even know that milk comes from cows.

[00:07:34] Kimberly Gibson: Because they don't see it. so and so getting back to our grand. Yeah. We want to help children make that connection. these kids are food insecure. Yeah. So teaching them that you have the power in your backyard on your patio, wherever you are, you can grow food and feed your family is empowering.

[00:07:51] Kimberly Gibson: Exactly. And giving. Some of that power back that they feel growing up in this area where they're having to go to the convenience [00:08:00] store or there's no banks. There's really not a bank over here, a local bank over here. Wow. No. And there isn't, there's no doctor's office? No. We are literally every, all that has been taken out of the c.

[00:08:11] Kimberly Gibson: And one day driving into the garden, it really hit me when our last grocery store, the bylaw grocery store, where it was just a hub. Yeah, I'm, I didn't grow up here. Yeah. And that first time I went to that grocery store with my mother-in-law, literally, it took us 15 minutes to get from the car to inside because she was meeting all her neighbors and people were catching up, went in at the pharmacy.

[00:08:35] Kimberly Gibson: The pharmacy didn't just dispense the medicine. The pharmacist was saying, Hey, Mrs. Are you taking this with this? Your doctor didn't call this in, right? Cuz I know your insurance only accepts this, so I had to change it. So it'd just be a second and, If you need it. I've literally had seen people come from the deli and give people food because their sugar got low.

[00:08:55] Kimberly Gibson: Oh, wow. So it was more than a grocery store. Yeah. And that has been [00:09:00] taken out of our community. Yeah. And so it's starving people, not only physically, but mentally. And spiritually. Yeah. And it's, it, I, it's sad on one point. Driving in, but then that sadness turned to determination to foiling that termination.

[00:09:15] Kimberly Gibson: Okay. What can we do to counteract that? Yeah, this is our problem. How can we fix it? Don't just get mad, do something about it. Yeah. That's what you know the garden's gonna do. I'm excited about it and I'm excited to work with this team. This is a great team. I just feel like we have manifested this wonderful energy.

[00:09:34] Kimberly Gibson: Yeah. So it's great to be out here. Excellent. 

[00:09:37] Ta-Myia: And tell us a little bit about you guys. Yeah. Your partnership with the U C F. Yeah. 

[00:09:41] Tiffany Davis: Okay. Yeah. So I'm Tiffany feed Hen Chef is the name of my creation, my business. 

[00:09:46] Tiffany Davis: We've already done a few actually cooking demos with the Southside Middle School.

[00:09:51] Tiffany Davis: Excuse High school, Southside High School. Excuse me. Yeah, Southside High School. And so where I come in is actually doing, like I said, nutrition education and cooking [00:10:00] demos. So what we're doing is. Using elements of the edible garden inside the kitchen. Oh, neat. So that we're able to show kind Ken was saying, the connection between food and how it's grown and then how to prepare it.

[00:10:13] Tiffany Davis: Yeah. Yeah. So when we're doing, for example we did spicy chickpeas, for example, the other one. Okay. We did spices, so we did paprika, curry and all spice. So we talked about what is all spice? Yeah. What are the different ingredients that make up curry? Yeah. What is paprika? And then we talk, and then of course we do the actual demo.

[00:10:32] Tiffany Davis: And we did fresh ginger root. I forgot about that. Yes, ginger. I love ginger and all the healing properties, right? You know what I'm saying? So medicinal, that kind of thing. Yeah. And so after we do it, of course, then they're able to taste the food. Yeah. And then they're able to talk about, hey, what I like, what I didn't like.

[00:10:46] Tiffany Davis: At the end, we actually garnished it with some fresh cilantro. Oh yes. Okay. Yes. Then they start thinking about how can I make this my own? So again, that's why I like to talk about feed your inner chef. Yeah. Because this isn't necessarily a correct way of doing [00:11:00] something, so to speak.

[00:11:00] Tiffany Davis: But it's more so about something that's gonna be sustainable for yourself and your family. Y'all know, we, our food gotta taste good. Yeah.

[00:11:06] Ta-Myia: Salt and pepper. That's 

[00:11:07] Tiffany Davis: what I have to learn And so that's what I'm hoping that we're I know that's what we are teaching them now in this level of. Really just discovering more about food. Yeah. Cause of course we're eating every day at home and that kind of thing. And one thing I tell people, most people don't grow up with chefs as their parents. Yeah. Yeah. But, we do eat every day. Most of us did with our parents probably cooking something at home. Yeah. So that's a rough point. As we're doing that, again, let's just think differently about what kind of foods are we incorporating, how are we preparing them?

[00:11:32] Tiffany Davis: And again, with a recipe, how you can use it as a. To incorporate and maybe just change up a little bit. Things that you're already eating okay. And now I think of it as a cultural thing so that we're really want to introduce, not necessarily new foods, but just a spin on how to prepare it more nutritionally, more healthy, that kind.

[00:11:48] Tiffany Davis: I need you in 

[00:11:48] Ta-Myia: my life. I do. What do you do? What do you do? 

[00:11:52] Isaiah Barton: Me, like I said, I am a subject matter expert in terms of the growing aspect of plants and things like that. [00:12:00] And I like my friend here. I also have my own business as well Okay. Called Al Organics. And so that is dealing with medicinal herbs and their intrinsic, medicinal and healing properties.

[00:12:11] Isaiah Barton: Okay. And so I like the growing aspect of that as well. And Ms. Toya here, she brought me on board to help her with her U S D A. As a living example to try change the narrative when it comes to like agricultural based, careers and programs and things. Yeah. And how the stereotype or stigma attached to black people and how they can't do these type of things because it's not for us.

[00:12:33] Isaiah Barton: And so I come in, kids see me. You know what I'm saying? Looking like. It helps change in their perspective, that type of thing. Yeah. So that's, I feel like that's my biggest 

[00:12:43] Ta-Myia: role. Do they gravitate towards you? Yeah, I haven't 

[00:12:45] Isaiah Barton: met them yet. Okay. Okay. I haven't met them yet, but I will next week.

[00:12:48] Isaiah Barton: I'll be coming next week okay. So 

[00:12:50] Kimberly Gibson: how does it feel being the only guy Yeah. 

[00:12:52] Skip: In the group guys and women here? 

[00:12:54] Isaiah Barton: I know women, they do a lot. Women, they do a lot more than we think. Yes. So I'm here to follow [00:13:00] their guidance. 

[00:13:01] Toya Moore: I appreciate it. Good answer. 

[00:13:02] Kimberly Gibson: That was a good question. So 

[00:13:04] Ta-Myia: I can come to you and be like, this is hurting, and you'll be like, okay, I got this for you.

[00:13:08] Ta-Myia: Okay. So how important is magnesium? 

[00:13:10] Kimberly Gibson: Magnesium. 

[00:13:11] Isaiah Barton: See, I don't, I have all the specifics, you rapid fire quite yet, but all minerals, all things, micronutrients, macronutrients, everything is good in our own specific level. Okay. And and really Google will tell you 

[00:13:25] Kimberly Gibson: why did you ask about magnesium?

[00:13:26] Kimberly Gibson: Yeah. Because some, I 

[00:13:27] Ta-Myia: just I love Big Sean and he was talking about big magnesium and how it heals the body and Yeah. We needed, in certain areas, I just ordered some 

[00:13:34] Kimberly Gibson: more. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Did it? Okay. Just going through a lot of stress, it helps prepare your body. Calm it down, it calms it down.

[00:13:41] Kimberly Gibson: Your parasynthetic nervous system. Your stress responses. So a lot of times if you're in a stressful situation and then you think that you're calmed down, but your body still is like simmering inside. Yeah. Okay. Like people who go to sleep, Their mouth is jaw, jaw is tight. You're not calm.

[00:13:58] Kimberly Gibson: You're still dealing. You have, [00:14:00] that's unresolved stress. So that wears on your body. Coming out of the pandemic, we all have a certain level of stress because that was a change to our everyday life. Anxiety with that. Uncertainty when this is ever gonna end, so yeah.

[00:14:15] Kimberly Gibson: Magnesium's, that's so cool that. You said Big Sean was talking about it. 

[00:14:19] Toya Moore: I love Big Sean. Love that. I love Sean,

[00:14:21] Kimberly Gibson: who Big Sean is. 

[00:14:23] Skip: Ill definitely bring, we'll, definitely big Sean is Okay. Alright. But I know one of the reasons that we're all here, especially you all you're here for the. Yeah. Because obviously children are future. Yeah. And especially with a program that you guys have going on, you're essentially working with the next generation of leaders and a lot of those leaders we know may have had some issues or maybe some circumstances that might put them more at risk for getting in, maybe getting into trouble, maybe getting involved in some things, going down some paths that.

[00:14:54] Skip: As a community, we do not want 'em to go down. So how important is it for you guys to be able to provide support [00:15:00] and assistance for them, but then also have you guys seen the impact of those initiatives? 

[00:15:07] Toya Moore: Let me get this one. Y'all let me, I'm, you should get. So most people who know me know that I'm big on mental health.

[00:15:14] Toya Moore: Yeah. Mental health is my jam. So everything I do has a social and emotional wellness component. In as a part of So the significance is teaching these students who may have encountered significant trauma. Yeah. How to regulate their emotions and giving them other things to do Yeah.

[00:15:30] Toya Moore: Besides go down that path. The beautiful part about this team is they can look at each and every one of us and see something different and learn something different from all of us. And I think the impact from what I've seen so far, especially in the greenhouse, is these are kids who didn't really care anything about gardening, didn't care anything.

[00:15:48] Toya Moore: A greenhouse, all they wanna do is eat. Yeah. Which we feel Right. Became food because that's how we kept, we catch 'em. That's, but what I've seen is that one, the kids need consistency. Yes. They need us to [00:16:00] show up on time. When we say we're gonna be there. Yes. That's something huge for the kids.

[00:16:03] Toya Moore: I was late one time, I wasn't where I said I was gonna be, and them things came and got me. That was first of all. You said, what? You're not gonna do this guy show up on me. 

[00:16:13] Kimberly Gibson: But that's accountable kids. It's triggering. It's triggering for them. Absolutely. We have to meet them where they are and we have to 

[00:16:20] Toya Moore: recognize that, that's not just them being disrespectful.

[00:16:23] Toya Moore: I could have easily been like, watch your tone. Who are you talking to? No. Yeah. This child literally. To me, you broke your promise. That is valid. You broke your promise. So for me, it's important to focus on their mental and emotional health because these are people that are gonna go off to college and to the workforce.

[00:16:39] Toya Moore: Yeah. And they need to be able to not throw punch somebody just because they didn't do whatever somebody said they was gonna do. That's very true. So that's the biggest component. And then the other component. I want them to see people like Isaiah, who's studying horticulture. So you can go to college looking like he looked.

[00:16:55] Toya Moore: Yeah. Yeah. And you can be a black man as a subject matter expert in the field of [00:17:00] health and wellness and nutrition and start your own business. Yeah. Tiffany's a certified dietary manager and does all kinds of stuff, and kids don't know what that means. So we get to introduce that to them.

[00:17:09] Toya Moore: I'm a firm comp, I'm a firm believer that if you introduce students to different opportunities, That's gonna have even as much of an impact on their mental and emotional stability as taking some medication. Going to therapy. And to just look at us and to say, oh, Kim, she homeschooled her kids.

[00:17:26] Toya Moore: She's a photographer, she has her own business. Ms. Toya was in the military. Tiffany did this. I think that has just as much of an impact as. Us trying to sit here and force them to be a certain kind of way. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So I think it's had a huge impact.

[00:17:40] Toya Moore: Oh yeah. And Tiffany said, tell about what the kids think about you when you're cooking. They're so sweet. They are. I love 

[00:17:46] Kimberly Gibson: being 

[00:17:46] Tiffany Davis: around them and I feel like they're so engaging, like genuinely wanting to be there, want to learn, giving feedback, and just really supporting each other. Cause I feel like it actually.

[00:17:56] Tiffany Davis: Community within the kitchen itself too. And so hopefully that, that's something [00:18:00] that they take back home. That they are actually having more of a community there, even with their family. But associated around food. But yeah, they actually allowed me to be, what is it? I'm the like part of the garden with the GroupMe.

[00:18:10] Tiffany Davis: What do we call the, I'm like the honorary, 

[00:18:11] Toya Moore: she's an honorary something. Don't them kids anyway. They embrace me. 

[00:18:15] Tiffany Davis: I'll just say that. 

[00:18:16] Toya Moore: They be like, where's Miss Tiffany? She here today? 

[00:18:18] Tiffany Davis: Yeah, they've been really good. And I feel like they're just really open and they're wanting to do something different if you just give 'em a chance.

[00:18:24] Tiffany Davis: Yeah. Like really, period. Yeah. This is a new 

[00:18:26] Ta-Myia: experience. Yep. Yeah. Yep. 

[00:18:29] Isaiah Barton: And I was gonna follow up, piggybacking on what you were saying was Toya about how one change in the narrative, giving them an examples, seeing them that, okay, this actually exists and you know what I'm saying? You could look a certain way, be a certain way and do this.

[00:18:43] Isaiah Barton: But also I. I may not have met these kids yet, but last, or no, this summer I worked at a like a summer camp kind of thing for kids. It's called ea something friends. But there were a lot of quote unquote problem kids in there. Yeah. And there were not a lot of male teachers in there.

[00:18:59] Isaiah Barton: And [00:19:00] so I came in there and I was teaching them things on my media, arts and nutrition, and. I remember day one, I came in there with the camera and they saw me setting up these little poster bars, post poster boards. Cause I was giving them visuals about the lesson before. Yeah. I gave them a HandsOn thing.

[00:19:14] Isaiah Barton: And soon as they came in there, it was all boys class. The older kids, they were like, ah, these always be so boring, younger boys of course seems like that. And it's oh, it's gonna be so boring. We should have stayed outside, blah. Because they just came from recess. Okay. And. I remember I gave 'em the lesson and then I pulled out the camera.

[00:19:31] Isaiah Barton: I said, all right, who wanna try it? And then all of a sudden they're like, I wanna try it. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? They're open to it now cuz they see, and then once other kid started doing it, they was like, okay, now I want to try it. And then they started liking it. And then this one kid who was labeled a problem kid, he would come up to me every day.

[00:19:48] Isaiah Barton: I I come and be. So we using the camera today, Mr. Today. Using the camera today. Yeah. And now he would come up to me and I made a joke. I was like, man, you really interested in these cameras, aren't you? And I [00:20:00] was like, would you wanna be a photographer or something? He was like, yeah, I'm actually considering it now.

[00:20:03] Isaiah Barton: And so I don't, that's amazing. Help opens mind to whole another. 

[00:20:07] Toya Moore: Career path. Yeah. So that's awesome. I think that's the beauty of experiential learning. really don't, we really don't. Sure. Take that into consideration when working with young people like you have to do something.

[00:20:17] Toya Moore: When Tiffany was like, cut up this cucumber, what knife you going, you gonna cut this cucumber? We go out there. And having them put their hands in hands on experience, right? How to do something, even if it's something as simple as planting something in the ground, speak 

[00:20:32] Kimberly Gibson: ground, speak that Toya about their response when they put their hand in the soil.

[00:20:36] Kimberly Gibson: And 

[00:20:36] Toya Moore: it's, so we did a soil activity where we're learning about soil health. So I'm bringing different types of soil for them to touch and to just see what it's gonna look like and how it's gonna, how your plants are gonna respond. And, they had little attitudes. They was like, I don't wanna be here, 

[00:20:50] Ta-Myia: They don't wanna be 

[00:20:51] Toya Moore: there.

[00:20:51] Toya Moore: Yeah. But as soon as we brought out the soil and I'm like, just, take this and put it in, the seed container or whatever. Ooh, this feels so soft. [00:21:00] Ooh, I like this. What is this? How come teddy bear? It's so soft. Oh, you just had attitude too, and now all of a sudden you're into it.

[00:21:09] Toya Moore: But that goes to, I'm a firm believer, and studies have shown that when you put your hands in soil, it act as a antidepressant. That's considered grounding, right? It's

[00:21:17] Tiffany Davis: to earth. 

[00:21:18] Isaiah Barton: Grounding has a lot of science. It's serious science, a negative ion exchange, 

[00:21:23] Tiffany Davis: a 

[00:21:23] Toya Moore: whole that's real. And but we don't have to go into all of that with the kids. They just know I feel better. They just know I feel bad. So it's accidental learning on purpose. So we actually went outside yesterday and.

[00:21:35] Toya Moore: And planted some mums, some Cris. Take your pictures. Yeah, it was so great. Didn't Sure was out there digging in the dirt barehanded and it was wonderful, but smiling and laughing, having time. So the benefit of experiential learning, I think that's what the U S D A DA grant is gonna do most for the people who come through, not just the students, but other community members.

[00:21:57] Toya Moore: Who come. The garden is gonna help us [00:22:00] to shift our own narrative, right? I didn't think I could go grow anything I didn't think I could. I would like fruits and vegetables. How many times have you had a kid say, I don't like the way this takes. 

[00:22:08] Kimberly Gibson: But it's interesting. There's a preschool on campus and the kids came out to the garden and one little girl, I gave her a Tomato, I can't remember.

[00:22:17] Kimberly Gibson: Whatever I gave her, she did not eat at inside. She started eating it and her grandmother was there and she looked, she was like, she mouth to me. She was like, you should eat that. She doesn't, and I was like, she tearing out and she's may I have more? I was like, sure. So it's, it. The garden is a magical place.

[00:22:36] Kimberly Gibson: It really is. And everyone who comes, I can just see after they're there for a while, their inhibitions start to melt away. Aw. That's amazing. It's, yeah, just being out, just being outside. 

[00:22:48] Ta-Myia: That goes right next to our next question. You heard of the quote, it takes a village to raise a child.

[00:22:52] Ta-Myia: Can you tell us some ways that, that you guys help with strength building and all around just the partnership altogether, [00:23:00] like you guys are basically a village. How do you feel about that? You're impacting and you're coming together 

[00:23:05] Toya Moore: To help. I'm all about collaboration. I believe, what's that song by Neo?

[00:23:09] Toya Moore: I say it all the time. I'm a movement by myself, but I'm gonna force when we are together. Yeah. I 

[00:23:13] Kimberly Gibson: believe, I like that song. 

[00:23:14] Tiffany Davis: Believe that. I believe that 

[00:23:16] Toya Moore: I'm right. Hey Neil. Yep. I have been working tirelessly by myself to do a lot of things for my own business, and me and Tiffany been friends for a long time.

[00:23:26] Toya Moore: She'll tell you it just didn't catch right. It just wasn't doing well. But once I found the team and got with like-minded people. Yeah. That's when it really turned into a thing. Yeah. So I can't teach the children strength building and community and collaboration until I figure that part out.

[00:23:44] Toya Moore: Myself. So once we can model that for the kids and show them how to communicate effectively, you know how to be co. How to be on time, how to do all the things that we're supposed to do as adults. Yep. Then we can teach the children. So I think the community part I know that's big and Diaspora, [00:24:00] nutrition, the community part and being together is the probably the biggest thing that we have going for us with this collaboration.

[00:24:07] Toya Moore: Yeah. Yeah, I would agree. 

[00:24:09] Tiffany Davis: I think. Just to the point of what she's saying about them seeing us, I feel like, especially like when I'm with them in the kitchen, that I feel like that it creates even their own community, as concept said before between each other. Yeah. And I think they really do see how all these elements do fit together, whether that be, again, communication.

[00:24:28] Tiffany Davis: Yeah. Again, food the edible garden. And just how everything really just connects. I think they really get to see that in real time. So I wonder 

[00:24:35] Ta-Myia: how they're gonna act when Thanksgiving's coming up and they're gonna ask their parents like, what did you put in that?

[00:24:39] Ta-Myia: They gonna belan

[00:24:41] Isaiah Barton: something to say about that. See and kids, They're smarter than we think. And sometimes we fail to realize how smart kids are sometimes. Yeah. So remember when I said I was teaching kids about nutrition, right? So I did a lesson about water and hydration. Yep. And take to give them a way of easily digesting the information.

[00:24:58] Isaiah Barton: I would simplify. Of [00:25:00] course. Yeah. So I gave 'em an example of living water versus dead water. So I gave him water, like a bottled water. Would technically, Den water. Yeah. Cause it's devoid of nutrients and minerals. But something like this or with cucumbers or something like, yeah, I 

[00:25:14] Toya Moore: was peeping that.

[00:25:15] Toya Moore: You 

[00:25:15] Tiffany Davis: liveing it up. 

[00:25:16] Toya Moore: I was about

[00:25:16] Skip: cucumber. Is 

[00:25:18] Toya Moore: that, was that pineapple in there? 

[00:25:19] Tiffany Davis: Is that I always do fresh pineapples that, yeah. And so when I cut them, the core that I take out, I put it in my water. 

[00:25:25] Isaiah Barton: That's. I 

[00:25:26] Tiffany Davis: eating my cores anyway. Do you eat your Chos? Okay. I'm not bad at that, 

[00:25:30] Isaiah Barton: But then I would give 'em examples. I would go to the store and get things that they know, like Coke and Fanta and Faygo and things that they drink.

[00:25:38] Isaiah Barton: And I would get things that they've never seen before, like coconut water, like real coconut water. Yeah. The expensive one that's $10 my bottle. Maybe something like that. Or one of those little fruit drinks. Little smoothie. And give 'em examples of living versus dead hydration.

[00:25:51] Isaiah Barton: Yeah. And some of the other teachers in the building would come to me at later days and later weeks and they'd be like, see, I'm tired of you. 

[00:25:58] Toya Moore: What I do, my [00:26:00] nerves,

[00:26:00] Isaiah Barton: they would be coming to me, me telling that the kids will be coming to them, be. Mrs. Zay said, that's dead work. You know what I'm saying? So they will be regurgitating and remember the information that I'm teaching them. So That's awesome. 

[00:26:12] Toya Moore: A learning on purpose. I 

[00:26:13] Kimberly Gibson: love it. Yes. 

[00:26:13] Skip: I think the thing I love about it is you guys have really, and I don't think you guys might not realize it, but you guys have really tapped into utilizing effective learning styles to. And to communicate the information that you're trying to share with share with the kids. Especially when it comes to doing a lot of things. Especially with tactile. Tactile, yep. Learning and that's so big because so much of an issue that you see with education now is it's like a old school and it's a new school thing where you have more of Auditory, your lecture style, sit down.

[00:26:45] Skip: And with social learning technology, right? And, but you have that tact, tactile thing, and that with the pandemic. You're seeing how important those things actually are. Yes. Being able to actually be there to actually experience it, to actually, engage in that way.

[00:26:59] Skip: And then [00:27:00] also, Even going back to, before even being in a traditional class setting, just somebody sitting there maybe learning information and then disseminating that information to you and you're just receiving it and taking notes and then processing it. And it's neat because what you guys are doing is you're finding a way to connect directly with them to where you're just you just step past that.

[00:27:19] Skip: And that's, and what you guys are doing are gonna be with people five years, 10 years from now, are gonna wanna start doing. And you guys are at the cutting edge. 

[00:27:25] Ta-Myia: Yeah. And that's really, You guys can actually go into other schools and branch this off. Cause it's creative learning that's we doing.

[00:27:31] Ta-Myia: It's like a creative learning process. Absolutely. Like on workflow. Yeah. Yeah. So how do you guys manage your workflow and your time altogether? Oh yeah. 

[00:27:38] Toya Moore: Who manages you Manage your time. 

[00:27:40] Tiffany Davis: I don't how answer that right? That's ugh. 

[00:27:44] Kimberly Gibson: That's, I don't when I, honestly, as a health and wellness coach, yeah.

[00:27:49] Kimberly Gibson: I don't believe that there's such thing as managing your time. I just think that's setting your, it's the same thing of people say, I wanna lead a stress free life. Yeah. The only people who are stress fee are dead people. [00:28:00] Yes. If you're living, you are you. Part of living is encountering stress stresses let you know, okay, this isn't a good thing.

[00:28:08] Kimberly Gibson: Maybe I need to move. This isn't a good situation. Maybe I should move. So it's there to protect us. Yeah. It's that we don't, we've fallen out of the habit or people don't, or a lot of the kids that we work with don't know how to manage. Those situ. And manage it. And in the sense that to not end it, but cuz I used the word manage, but how that, what that situation actually is telling you.

[00:28:34] Kimberly Gibson: Yeah. know, And how to deal with the emotions that are coming up in those situations. And I think within these situations where we're meeting these kids, we're giving them. Cameras, tools, things of value. Yeah. And all that's been taken away from them. And so kids are internalize that and see it as I'm not good enough to have it.

[00:28:55] Kimberly Gibson: Yeah. So that's why I don't have it in my neighborhood. Yeah. It's that simple for them. [00:29:00] They don't understand disenfranchisement, they don't understand all that. They're like, I don't have it because I'm not good enough. Yeah. Or my neighborhood isn't a good. Yeah, so by us going into the schools and saying, you can have this, here are seeds, here are recipes, here are new spices.

[00:29:19] Kimberly Gibson: There. It brings value to, to their school and to their curriculum. And it builds confidence. Yep. And they're able to take that with them into those situations that are difficult to manage. Yeah. Because there was Ms. Toya, there was Ms. Tiffany or say, that weren't with me and sat down with me and shared a camera and time with me, so I know that I do count.

[00:29:47] Kimberly Gibson: It's just that situation. Isn't right for me. Yeah, and I think 

[00:29:51] Toya Moore: it's important to have people you can call. Work through some of those stressors. Yeah. With right. I'm pretty sure both of these ladies will [00:30:00] tell you, I'm like, I need to talk. Lemme just get it outta my system. But I told Kim, I was like, I'm going to work with these kids today.

[00:30:06] Toya Moore: I can't. Go into this situation with these children with a whole attitude or being upset or having what I call stank ass energy. Yeah. I'm not bringing my stank energy to these children. You 

[00:30:18] Ta-Myia: being real. You being real. 

[00:30:19] Kimberly Gibson: The, but it also says what goes back to this amazing team of people because you need educators.

[00:30:26] Kimberly Gibson: Realize that's our responsibility, how we show up. We take responsibility million in that and I've never had a group of black people together. Yeah. Especially in a farm because it always was You are the weird black, they called me the weird Kim growing up cuz they were like five Kims and.

[00:30:48] Kimberly Gibson: Class that went, that's how they distinguished you. So I was weird. Wow. And two, three of us had the same initials, so even the teachers were like, okay, y'all gotta figure this out. But I was weird, Kim, because everything, so she just [00:31:00] got the initial. 

[00:31:00] Skip: What, so she just kept the 

[00:31:02] Kimberly Gibson: initial, oh, they called the weird camp.

[00:31:03] Kimberly Gibson: The kids called me Weird. Kemp, the teachers did, 

[00:31:05] Tiffany Davis: not 

[00:31:06] Kimberly Gibson: teachers. 

[00:31:07] Toya Moore: I was like, 

[00:31:08] Kimberly Gibson: I understand YeahDo moment and, but it's like I love Broadway, Annie, and there was always white people, cooking, nutrition. I had a. Stay still friends this day. Yeah. She was 10. She was vegan. A black girl. She didn't like vegetables, she didn't want milk and so we were weird together.

[00:31:27] Kimberly Gibson: But to come out here and have, a yoga tea share, someone who's doing nutrition, a black agricultural student. And Jamica over there. She's not, but doing, social media and art and I sent her pictures and she's composition of song is great. I'm like blowing my mind like, this is awesome.

[00:31:46] Kimberly Gibson: Yeah. And I think that energy, that village for us supports the work that we do for the kids and the kids are teaching us. I think kids are our greatest teachers from having three. They have [00:32:00] taught. 10,000 times more than about myself in the world than I ever could have done without them. 

[00:32:07] Tiffany Davis: One thing I wanted to add was the buy-in from the faculty and staff.

[00:32:10] Tiffany Davis: Oh yeah. And we can talk about that. Yeah. I don't know to what level you may want to add to this, but when we went in and had to initially encourage them that was to do this it was one Thursday. Had what, like a two, three hour period? Yeah. As they came in, like in different clusters.

[00:32:25] Tiffany Davis: So maybe 10 here, another five there, that kind of thing. During their lunch breaks. And they were very apprehensive. But what I wanna say is, in addition to that, since we've been in the kitchen and as we're cooking different things, yeah. Again, the principal's coming in, the was 

[00:32:39] Toya Moore: it the guidance?

[00:32:40] Toya Moore: The head of the guidance department? 

[00:32:42] Kimberly Gibson: Yeah. The 

[00:32:42] Tiffany Davis: maintenance guy. Yeah. And how they actually are connected and I think they see the benefit Yeah. Yeah. Of what it is that we're doing as well. And I definitely want to, really talk about that. Emphasize Yeah. Just a little bit.

[00:32:52] Tiffany Davis: Cause I think that's important part of it too. And I think it feels like they, in that space, I've heard them while we're standing there and they're asking [00:33:00] questions to those principles, to those people that are in these spaces of, Hey, I don't 'em get to talk to you. Yeah. What's going on kind of thing.

[00:33:07] Tiffany Davis: I feel like it gives them, again, another level. I matter. And empowerment and voice Exactly. And that kind of thing. Exactly. So I think that's important 

[00:33:15] Kimberly Gibson: too. And unless the teachers see the kids in a different life. Yes. Yes. They're always a problem in the greenhouse laughing. Exactly. Toys, kids, they came up, toys, sent an email. I was like, we can't get adults to do this. They came with a whole logo. Yep. Yes. For the greenhouse. I'm like, these. Yes, for sure. Yeah. But yeah, the, even the, I was surprised cuz when I first went out to the elementary school, they were like, we don't know.

[00:33:42] Kimberly Gibson: If the teachers are right. And I was like we don't start till the spring, as long as we start and. Met with the principal by the end of the week. They're like, the principal's excited, right? Wait, 

[00:33:54] Toya Moore: can you come before winter 

[00:33:55] Kimberly Gibson: break? I'm like we'll work it out.

[00:33:57] Kimberly Gibson: We're working 

[00:33:58] Tiffany Davis: out. So 

[00:33:58] Ta-Myia: what can we expect from you guys? [00:34:00] Because I know you guys have a lot of different programs with the organization. So can you tell us more about that? What to expect? I think individually, 

[00:34:06] Toya Moore: We all have our own unique projects as far as the U S D A. Our goal is to educate the community.

[00:34:11] Toya Moore: Period. At the end of the day, for me, I can't speak for Kim, but I feel pretty confident saying that we have a similar goal in educating the community. And it doesn't matter what community. It could be the seniors, it could be students, it could be people in this neighborhood, it could be the podcast crew.

[00:34:25] Toya Moore: And whoever, 

[00:34:26] Kimberly Gibson: day one you said you gonna be on my team. I didn't say that. Good. I 

[00:34:30] Tiffany Davis: didn't. I'm sure you told me that too. I did. I didn't say she fast. You said 

[00:34:33] Toya Moore: it right. 

[00:34:34] Kimberly Gibson: Is the plug. You know I'm, we're all like, and she was like, yeah, you gonna be on my.

[00:34:38] Kimberly Gibson: Oh, yes. Yeah. 

[00:34:39] Toya Moore: Yeah. So the plan is to continue just being dope and to spread that dopeness to as many people in the community as we can and change the narrative around black people and gardening. Yeah. And being healthy. 

[00:34:49] Tiffany Davis: Yes. Yes. Smart. And being healthy. And 

[00:34:52] Ta-Myia: tell us what you, each one of you guys have coming up, or what can we expect from you guys also?

[00:34:56] Kimberly Gibson: Yes. I have a couple of things. I am a wellness [00:35:00] coach and one of the things that I love to do is getting women together and talk about self-care. And it just happens organically, so I wanna start doing that probably virtually, cuz it's just easier with managing families and time. Yeah.

[00:35:13] Kimberly Gibson: But to just get on and do virtual calls and then do also out in the garden. We're gonna do like sister dinners and lunches where just come out, brew some tea. It shows you the lemon bomb that was out there. Yes. And just talk, because I think as black women, we don't have safe spaces for us. And I really wanna work this coming year to lay a foundation for creating some space places, safe spaces for black.

[00:35:40] Kimberly Gibson: Along with the U S D A grant. Yeah. 

[00:35:42] Toya Moore: I'm so excited about that. I can't wait to have the sister dinner out there in the garden and do some yoga. Oh yeah. I'm so excited 

[00:35:49] Kimberly Gibson: about that. So we won't wanna go home. I won 

[00:35:53] Tiffany Davis: in addition to U S D A grant, because that runs through what, July? 2023. Feed your inner chef.

[00:35:57] Tiffany Davis: I'm actually kind of restructuring a lot of things right now [00:36:00] because I'm really wanting to do more things as geared like to one-on-one or maybe like workshops and things virtually. But I actually do have another session that's coming up through Bloom Upstate that actually double.

[00:36:09] Toya Moore: I'm connecting people. Listen, that's what it's all about. 

[00:36:12] Tiffany Davis: Yeah. I'm doing my mommy daughter cooking demo. It's gonna be really fun. That's gonna be in February. And then, like I said, outside of that, really again, I wanna really connect with people on one-on-one and do Recipe, menu development, that kind of thing.

[00:36:24] Tiffany Davis: Again, center around foods that you already eat, but again, that you can just tweak it just a little bit with some additional spices. Spices and maybe some elimination of some things. Just say that. Cause I have a job that I work as a dietary manager at in co collegiate hospitality.

[00:36:37] Tiffany Davis: Okay. In Greenville. Okay. So I do that 30 hours a week. So then other days I'm trying to balance my business, that kind of thing. But I love what I do and I want to continue doing it. Educating people again, just how important it is for us to be healthy. And what I call the my hashtag eat like you're woke, but also thinking about, yeah, I saw 

[00:36:54] Kimberly Gibson: that Generational, I'm person.

[00:36:57] Kimberly Gibson: Oh, hoodies. I love hoodies. I'm a hoodie person. [00:37:00] Yes. 

[00:37:00] Tiffany Davis: Okay. I have so many hoodies, it's ridiculous. But yeah. So I want people to think about health in the terms of what I call, like people always talking about generational wealth. Yeah. I want to think about generational health. Ah, 

[00:37:11] Ta-Myia: but there's a hashtag too.

[00:37:12] Ta-Myia: Yes. What 

[00:37:13] Tiffany Davis: about you 

[00:37:14] Isaiah Barton: as well? I am a full-time student at Clemson. So aside from being a full-time student, I'll be, working with my own brand host. So in addition to the U S D A, things that will go in full swing in the spring. So aside from all that aside from new plot product lines and product launches, tinctures, sabs, look BALs I might do lotion, maybe not.

[00:37:35] Isaiah Barton: But I'm gonna be partnering again with our good buddy. Good honeybees. Good honeybees like 10, 15 down the street minutes down the street. He got his own beehive, so I'm actually going to see him after this. We're gonna do some more content. On filming. And I'm actually gonna be buying.

[00:37:50] Isaiah Barton: Bees wax from him. So I can do my own products through whole Soul. 

[00:37:53] Skip: Yes. So I was checking when we were doing research on ig. I was going through the page. And I saw some of that and that was awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I saw [00:38:00] that. Cuz I know we were actually supposed to be speaking with somebody.

[00:38:02] Skip: Earlier this season. We're trying to reschedule now. She's a beekeeper as well, but like beekeeper really. She's in the she's in the Midlands, she's in the Columbia area. Oh, ok. In Midlands. Yeah. Yeah. And and I know that was someone we were supposed to interview earlier this season.

[00:38:13] Skip: We're gonna be bringing them back in Okay. And stuff, but that's been something for some reason I'm really been interested in honey. And beekeeping. Not at I wanna do, but it's just been an interest of mine recently. 

[00:38:22] Isaiah Barton: And see, I guess I'm gonna tell y'all this, y'all the first people to hear this.

[00:38:24] Isaiah Barton: I'm a, I'm actually starting my own colony soon, 

[00:38:27] Ta-Myia: aw, congratulations. Didn't 

I? 

[00:38:30] Toya Moore: That's amazing. When I first met him, I said, are you grow? You gotta beehive on your dorm, your college apartment. 

[00:38:36] Isaiah Barton: Now I got a garden back there. I got a garden, but I don't have no be. 

[00:38:39] Ta-Myia: I knew 

[00:38:39] Toya Moore: that's so 

[00:38:40] Ta-Myia: called. So definitely tell everybody how they can find y'all on social media because I wanna stay connected with all of y'all.

[00:38:46] Ta-Myia: We friends 

[00:38:47] Kimberly Gibson: now, you can find me on Instagram at kmg photo. And then from there, there's a link to my artist's site where I paint and do photography. 

[00:38:58] Toya Moore: And you can find me [00:39:00] on Instagram at wellness om the go. And of course I'm always here at Upstate Circle of France. So if you go to Upstate Circle of France, you gonna see me something.

[00:39:07] Toya Moore: Okay. You live here practically. 

[00:39:08] Tiffany Davis: I'm gonna be real with y'all. I haven't been on social media much, but I do have social media presence. Okay. So you can find me and some posts, that kind of thing. But feed your inner cheff, so fyi. Okay. Dot chef. Play on words for your information cause I wanna feel like I'm informing people about eating nutritious sleep. But feed your inner chef. I'm on Facebook. And on Instagram, and I'm wanting to get more on LinkedIn, so I hope I'll begin on LinkedIn some, 

[00:39:33] Isaiah Barton: and y'all can find me on Instagram at Whole Soul. So L Organics underscore. 

[00:39:40] Ta-Myia: I really appreciate this episode. We gonna have to do this again.

[00:39:43] Ta-Myia: Yeah, we, it 

[00:39:44] Kimberly Gibson: was 

[00:39:44] Toya Moore: fun. We got so much more to say. 

[00:39:46] Ta-Myia: Know I say. I know.

[00:39:48] Ta-Myia: Thank you guys again for having us and course definitely informing us cuz this was a lot, this was very informative. Yeah. And thank you to our listeners and we're just gonna wrap up this episode. Everybody likes subscribe [00:40:00] and definitely tune in and thank you. Signing out. He'll talk love. Thank you.

[00:40:03] Ta-Myia: Thank you. Hey, 

[00:40:04] Isaiah Barton: thank you. Take.