Category: Social Justice

Activism, Citizenship, Community, Down On the Farm, Equal Rights, Events, Food Justice, Freedom, Hope, Juneteenth, Neighbors, Opal's Farm, Role Models, Service to Others, Social Justice, Summer, Thoughts From the Porch, Uncategorized, Unity Unlimited, Inc., Urban Farming, What Can I Do

Just Can’t Wait

gregoryjoel

It’s an overcast Sunday morning here in North Texas. Rain is in the forecast once again and with a little luck it will continue Monday. Another “rain day” would be welcome during this busy time of year. Another peaceful morning drinking coffee and getting some well-deserved rest and some writing time would be amazing even though this is one of the busiest weeks of the year.

Juneteenth is this Friday and Ms. Opal’s Walk for Freedom is at nine o’clock at Will Rogers Coliseum. Opal’s Farm will be there for the celebration with lots of great veggies. I’ve been told that, God willing, Ms. Opal will be there to ride in the comfort of air conditioning to lead the walk and celebrate her hundredth year. After all the miles she has walked to advocate for a day of celebration on June 19th, she has definitely earned the comfort of air conditioning on a Texas summer day.

Our Executive Director (and candidate for Texas Congressional candidate for Texas District 25) will be in Evansville, Illinois (one of our sponsor cities) for Opal’s Walk and then in Chicago for the Grand Opening of the Obama Presidential Center. We’ll all be walking together at the same time as many folks around the country and the world. Please come and celebrate freedom and unity with all of us.

Event Details

📅Date: Friday, June 19, 2026
Location: Walks taking place across the country

Walk Host Cities:

  • Fort Worth, TX
    • Evanston, IL
  • Cincinnati, OH
  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Grants Pass, OR
  • Washington, DC

Juneteenth has never meant as much to me as it does this year. The constant onslaught of bad news – an unjust war, increasing economic hardships for the majority of Americans, the daily attacks on our freedoms and democracy – can be overwhelming, bringing hopelessness and despair. Juneteenth is a reminder that we all have something to celebrate – our freedom and each other. It offers hope for what we were always meant to be. It’s truly a statement of “we the people”. It’s so much more than a holiday simply honoring the freedom of African American enslaved people. It frees us all from the oppression of fear and hatred that old ideas of class and racism that have weighed on us all. It’s a time to join in unity instead of the deep divisions that so many of us feel.

It truly is a time to, as Ms. Opal says, celebrate freedom from Juneteenth to July 4th. In this 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, celebrating Juneteenth has never been more important – it’s about the freedom we all should have and enjoy. Please join us, whether in one of our host cities on in your town , as we walk together to celebrate unity and Juneteenth.

Bad Weather, Community, Down On the Farm, Farmers Markets, Food Justice, Gardening, Gratitude, Health, Neighbors, Non-Profits, Opal's Farm, Service to Others, Social Justice, Spirituality, Springtime, Storms, Thoughts From the Porch, Unity Unlimited, Inc., Urban Farming, Volunteers

What’s Your Impact?

gregoryjoel

It’s severe storm season in North Texas. I pray everyone stayed safe through last night’s intense thunderstorms. There were reports of a tornado and the warnings hit here right before bedtime, so I stayed up late until after the storm passed. Fortunately, our area was spared the bulk of high winds and tennis ball-size hail that so many saw. That wasn’t the case for many of our neighbors. I’ll be leaving in a bit to check on the farm. At least I won’t have to irrigate today. Spring rain is fantastic for the farm – severe storms, not so much…

We couldn’t be at the Cowtown Farmers Market yesterday morning, especially since it was Cowtown’s Spring Festival. Fidelity Investments and their Associate Sustainability Network have been coming to the farm to volunteer on the last Saturday of the month for two years now and they’ve been such a wonderful partner to Opal’s Farm, providing tools and financial support as well as strong backs and willing hands. They brought their largest group yet and many hands make short work of all the work springtime demands of the farm. We thank them so much for their commitment to service for the Opal’s Farm community.

We’ve been blessed with so many wonderful volunteer groups over the years. One of the questions I’m often asked from both volunteers and future donors regards our community impact. To be perfectly honest, I can tell you how many pounds of food per acre we provide, how that translates into the number of meals, or the other quantitative metrics we put on a spreadsheet, but that’s not the whole story. The real impact has to be experienced. It’s one thing to see numbers on paper. It’s quite another thing to see the faces of our neighbors so happy to see us providing fresh, healthy produce that hasn’t been in the neighborhood for a long time.

We opened Opal’s Farm Stand at the corner of Rosedale and Evans three weeks ago. The weather hasn’t always cooperated with us, but yesterday afternoon was a gorgeous, albeit windy, Saturday. We had more folks come by the farm stand and the overwhelming response to our presence was pure joy. Three of our senior citizens came by and were thrilled they could use their SNAP benefits to get twice the amount veggies for their dollar with the Double Up Food Bucks program (Thanks Texas Health Community Hope for making this possible!). I can’t tell you who has been more blessed by the program – SNAP recipients or me – especially when I tell them we’ll be there every Saturday afternoon from 1 PM to 4 PM. We love being part of our community.

No, numbers on paper don’t tell the whole story. I want our volunteers to know that every weed pulled, load of much laid, tomatoes trellised and pruned – all the things that seem so trivial – really do have a huge impact on the community. They represent one more healthy, organic, nutritious veggie on the tables of our neighbors instead of the ultra-processed empty calories provided by local dollar and convenience stores. Healthy food makes healthy people and that impact goes far beyond what can be shown on a page.

Thank you all so much for your help and please know that the time you spend at Opal’s arm is making a tangible difference in the lives of your neighbors – and we’re all neighbors!

Activism, Choices, Community, Connection, Equal Rights, Faith, Food Justice, Gratitude, Heroes, Hope, Neighbors, Non-Profits, Politics, Quotes, Role Models, Service to Others, Social Justice, Spirituality, Thoughts From the Porch, Unity Unlimited, Inc., What Can I Do

Freedom Every Day for Everybody…

gregoryjoel

I was sitting here this morning drinking coffee, reading a great book (Martyrs to the Unspeakable – The Assassinations of JFK, Malcom, Martin, and RFK by James W. Douglass), and thinking about the last year (although the last decade has been a debacle for democracy in general). I’ve been a bit nostalgic lately, grieving the loss of civility and the deep divisions between the communities around me.

My friend, Dione Sims, (who happens to be my boss and the Executive Director for Unity Unlimited, Inc. – the parent non-profit for Opal’s Farm), is running for Congress in Texas Congressional District Twenty-five. I don’t have the opportunity to volunteer with her campaign as I would like. Spring at Opal’s Farm usually requires more work hours than there are hours in the day. During our recent phone check-in, I asked her about her campaigning, and she told me something that gives me hope once again for a return to the civility and unity I long for.

Hood County, southwest of Fort Worth, is dealing with the issue of huge data centers being built next to there communities. I won’t bore you with all the arguments for and against, but many community members oppose the data centers and the noise, energy, and water pollution that accompany such behemoths in their neighborhoods. At a recent campaign appearance in Hood County, a community member asked Dione about her stance on data centers. Her response was telling about what she will bring to Congress – real representation of the people in her district: something we all wish would happen no matter which side of the political spectrum we find ourselves on.

She answered that the issue needed to be decided by the people, and that as their representative in Congress it was her job to reach across the divided and bring the community together and draw a consensus on whatever he issue was. She was there to represent them – to speak their concerns to power. Moreover, that what many of the new candidates, especially Democrats (of which I am not a part and a proud Independent) have the same goals.

I found a degree of hope in this for a return to what the democracy I was taught about growing up. Political Science might have been my college major but politics is no longer my forte. As I’ve grown older it’s no longer about Republican or Democrat, right or left, but about right and wrong, representative democracy over authoritarianism, the will of the people, all people, versus the will of a small few.

I certainly don’t have the answers to all the challenges we face as a nation, a state, or a community, but I believe that we do. Maybe it’s time to put aside our differences and elect real representatives of what we want from our government, people that will listen to us and not the voices of their corporate donors and lobbyists. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll start waking up to the fact that democracy isn’t guaranteed and requires our participation in making this a good place for all of us, no matter what color, race, gender, religion, ethnicity, or political affiliation we are. This is what Dione has been doing at Unity Unlimited, Inc. for over twenty-five years as the Executive Director of Unity and will do. as your representative in Congress.

“Hard work should pay off, and nobody should have to live one emergency away from losing everything.” -Dione Sims

The things that are important to most of us – the ability of afford a home, to have healthy food and clean water, to thrive in our communities, and to be free to live in peace has been ignored long enough. It’s time to ask our elected officials to really listen to us and act accordingly. I’m hopeful that people like Dione Sims and so many candidates like her will be doing those same things in the 120th Congress of the United States.

“I’m running to make freedom livable.” -Dione Sims

And remember, f you didn’t vote in early voting, please to vote on Primary Election Day, March 3rd!

“No one is free until everyone is free, and freedom has to show up in real life.” -Dione Sims

Activism, Belief, Choices, Courage, Faith, Grief, Hate Crimes, Hope, Quotes, Simplicity, Social Justice, Spirituality, Thoughts From the Porch, What Can I Do

“Live right”

gregoryjoel

The arctic front has made its way east and we’re slowly rebounding from last weekend’s ice storm. I still can’t get much done at the farm, so I’ve been working from home the last few days. I’ve been blessed to have quiet meditation time in the morning, unhurried by the usual morning rituals that precede a workday at the farm.

Given the atrocities happening in Minnesota and the constant cruelty and hate coming from our nation’s capital, I’ve found myself reading the Book of Isaiah this morning. The prophets remind me that religious nationalism, authoritarian regimes, corruption, and abusive power have always plagued societies long before us. History and the prophets tell me we’ve been through this before. They also remind me that there’s a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel – that evil doesn’t prevail. I must hang on to that. Otherwise, hopelessness rears its ugly head.

This morning, I found a gem in Isaiah 33.15 (in The Message Bible) that offers me hope for today.

“The answer’s simple:

                Live right,

                Speak the truth,

                despise exploitation,

                refuse bribes,

                reject violence,

                avoid evil amusements.

I also find hope in the people of Minneapolis who have braved sub-zero weather to “speak the truth, despise exploitation”, and look out for their neighbors in the face of terrible atrocities carried out by ICE and the current administration. They’ve refused bribes (“we’ll leave if you give us your voter rolls” -another ploy to fix the next election). They’ve rejected violence, answering violence with peaceful protest. Unlike the ICE agents who celebrated the lynching of Alex Pretti (watch the video) or the constant laughing at another’s pain, they’ve rejected such evil amusements.

I needed the reminder today that no matter how I feel (does “really pissed off”, hurt and grieving resonate with you?), I can heed Isaiah’s words. There is hope. Jesus even made clearer by reminding me that loving God and loving others takes care of everything else. It enables me to “speak the truth, despise exploitation, refuse bribes, reject violence, avoid evil amusements” too…