Ep. 51 - Danielle Guerin - Soul Food Project Indy
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Episode Summary
Danielle Guerin is the founder and executive director of Soul Food Project Urban Farm, a nonprofit with four urban farm sites across Indianapolis. Michael sits down with Danielle at one of her farms in Irvington to talk about growing food and growing people, food deserts, the true meaning of food access, and finding healing through farming.
Sponsors:
City Rising (cityrising.org)
Intro music:
Scared Rabbit by Jennasen
Timestamps
0:44 — Intro
1:43 — Meet Danielle and the Soul Food Project
4:40 — Growing up in a food desert without knowing it
6:02 — The four farms and what each neighborhood needs
7:09 — Why a grocery store doesn't always solve a food desert
11:28 — Farm Visibility
13:09 — How Soul Food Project got its name
16:25 — Building community at the farm
19:47 — Volunteering and what a shift actually looks like
21:47 — Tips for starting your own garden
22:53 — What keeps Danielle going
26:24 — On Indianapolis
29:52 — How farming helped heal Danielle's relationship with food
34:11 — "What is a third space to you?"
37:08 — A third space that no longer exists
39:10 — Center Point Brewery
40:00 — Question from previous guest
42:48 — What's on Danielle's mind
44:07 — Soul Food Project 10 years from now
46:17 — How to find Soul Food Project
Episode Transcript
Danielle Guerin
Danielle Guerin: [00:00:00] I had read that like being outside in the dirt helps with depression, and like I need to get out of the house. And my dad was just like, "You need to get out of the house, so you can't just sit...
You can't spend every weekend just in your bed- Yeah ... and not doing anything else, not be home."
And so I was like, "Sure, I'll go." And then just being in the dirt kind of helped, it help, helped. But like it really, it helped me like, and being around the food and growing food, it kinda helped me heal my relationship with food that way, just being, growing my own food.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm.
Danielle Guerin: And that kinda helped, and that's kinda how, how I started, that's how I started farming. It was like, then just kinda- Yeah.
Michael Zarick: You found your own soul food.
Michael Zarick: Hello. My name is Michael Zarick, and this is Third Space Indy. In 1989, a man named Ray Oldenburg wrote a book called "The Great Good Place," and in this book he coined the term the third place. This describes somewhere outside of your [00:01:00] home and outside of your work that you can go be with others, be together, and build community.
And so I've made it my goal to find people all over Indianapolis who are doing their very best to build these types of spaces. Today, I'm talking to someone who does this in a, uh, unique, specially... Or wait. Who does this in a especially summery way, uh, as we get into sort of planting season. Uh, we've talked before on the podcast about food sovereignty, about food equity, and about sort of destroying food deserts around Indianapolis, so I'm happy to talk to someone else doing this type of work.
Today, I'm joined with the founder and current executive director- Yes ... is that a good word?
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Of the Soul, Indy Soul Food Project here in Indianapolis. Her name is Danielle Guerin.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: How you doing?
Danielle Guerin: I'm good. How are you?
Michael Zarick: I'm doing really well. Was that a good, uh-
Danielle Guerin: Yeah ...
Michael Zarick: good, uh, light-you-up intro?
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: so for anybody who may not know who you are and [00:02:00] what the Soul Food Project is here in Indianapolis, can you tell people what you are, who you are, and what you're about?
Danielle Guerin: Yeah. So I founded Soul Food Project in 2017. Mm-hmm. Um, I had just finished up my master's degree in public affairs at IU in Bloomington at SPEA, and I also did Peace Corps, and I was learning a lot about food security and food deserts, and I kind of came to the conclusion and the realization that I was very luckily and unluckily able to grow up in a food desert, but not know I grew up in a food desert.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Danielle Guerin: And so I was l- I was already getting into gardening and farming, and I really loved it, and so I was just like, "How do I bring that back to my neighborhood community?" And so I came back af- moved back to Indy in 2017. I decided to found this organization to just grow food for the neighborhood, to help kind of alleviate some of that food desert issue and bringing food to the neighbors.
Um, and then very quickly it turned into, like, a lot bigger than just a garden in the neighborhood. I started, um, a youth [00:03:00] program very shortly afterwards, um, in the summer, um, for the youth to be able to have a summer job and also learn about growing their own food. Um, and that has turned into a full on year-round program that we do for, um, the high school students around the city, and so that's called youth... Seeds to Leaders now.
And then we started to do more of farmers markets and food access in our farm stand. We started a CSA, community supported agriculture, um, to help people have more reliable access to our food as well, and then we s- so did markets. And then we started to do more growing fo- plant- Teaching adults as well, because again, another need we saw, and I can go more into this later, but like we then we also started talking about like as you're-- for farming, a lot of time is spent looking at the ground.
And I read this in a book actually, so I think I, I didn't coin this, so I read it in a book. Um, so they were talking about how you-- a lot of when you're farming, you're looking at the ground a lot, looking at the soil and working with the [00:04:00] ground. But like how about you start farming while looking up?
Michael Zarick: Hmm.
Danielle Guerin: And so that's like- At the people
Michael Zarick: around you, the
Danielle Guerin: community? Yeah, people around you, the neighbors who are around us. And so that's kind of why I started pushing more for us to do more community work, because all of our farms are in neighborhoods. They're all around-- We have residents who live next door to us houses.
We're not in, out in the country. We're out here in the city. And so like we're surrounded by houses and neighbors. And so how can we be as a farm, how can we be, be good neighbors? And so let's look around at what, what our neighbors need. So we started doing more community education work as well. And so yeah, we have three, three pillars, I would say, workforce development, food access, and community education.
In short, what we do -
Michael Zarick: Yeah ...
Danielle Guerin: as an org.
Michael Zarick: Perfect. We can go from there.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: I, I latched onto something you said at the very beginning, which is that you said you grew up in a food desert, but you didn't know it.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Can you talk a little bit about like that? Like how, what does it mean that you didn't know you grew up in a food desert?
Is it because you- Yeah ... had good access to food? Or
Danielle Guerin: just- Access to food, yeah. My-- I had a two-parent household, [00:05:00] two-income household. Both my parents had jobs. Both of my parents had cars. When my brother turned-- I had an older brother. When he turned 16, he got a car. When I turned 16, I got a car. So I'd never had to like, to worry about like driving places.
And I remember as a kid with my dad, we would always go to Sam's Club every Friday, and like there's a car show there, and we'd go shopping at Sam's Club. And I never realized that we were driving opposite our neighborhood. Mm-hmm. Like we were driving to like out on the east side or going up 96th Street to places like that to go buy groceries.
I didn't realize that that was abnormal that we did that. I just was like, it just for me, it was just normal for me just to, to get in the car and drive to the grocery store. And so as I started learning more about food deserts and how, and how my neighbors, how some neighbors don't have to have the access to drive, or they can't always drive and go to these places.
They have to take the bus or they have to walk. Like I realized, oh, we've been-- I was really lucky as a kid to be able to just easily get into a car. Or if I didn't wanna drive, I didn't want to go to the grocery, I could just order food and go to, go to a restaurant and eat out. And so like we always had access.
I never had to worry about where my [00:06:00] next meal was coming from.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Um, how-- what have you learned like about Various neighborhoods that you operate in. So you've said, told, just told me that you have four farms.
Danielle Guerin: Yes.
Michael Zarick: Um, one near Fred- two near Frederick Douglass Park. Yes.
Danielle Guerin: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: State? Is it state?
Danielle Guerin: No.
City.
Michael Zarick: Just Frederick Douglass Park. Frederick
Danielle Guerin: Douglass
Michael Zarick: Park, yeah. One over here, uh, right next to Pleasant Run Golf Course. Mm-hmm.
Danielle Guerin: And
Michael Zarick: then, uh-
Danielle Guerin: The Fourth One's in The Meadows.
Michael Zarick: And The Fourth One's in The Meadows near your home. Mm-hmm. Or at your home. Yes. Uh, what have you, like, learned about food deserts and food access through time, um, working with people in the community around
Danielle Guerin: you?
Um, I learned that it's not, it's not a linear thing. It's like, um, in a way that I feel like... How do I say this? Like, it's pretty, like, it can be pretty black and white, food deserts. Like, let's talk about my neighborhood, The Meadows. [00:07:00] We have-- It was a food desert for a very long time until they got that Safe, Save A Lot?
Yeah, it's a Save A Lot. I should know this. A Save A Lot in, like, 2015. Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: In
Danielle Guerin: 2016.
Michael Zarick: It's a grocery store, right?
Danielle Guerin: Yeah, it's a grocery store. And so they, they were, "Oh, no. Okay." Then they were, "Oh, the food desert solution has been solved." Um, but, like, their produce department is smaller than this room that we're sitting in.
Michael Zarick: We're probably in a... Just for those listening- Yeah ... we're probably in a, what? 600 square foot room.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Danielle Guerin: It's a very small produce department. Like, yeah, I can walk there from my house, the Save A Lot, and I can do, I can go, I can shop there and, like, get stuff, but it's not everything I need. And so I'm like, yeah, so we can always put in a grocery store, but, like, is it giving you culturally relevant food that the neighbors want and that we need?
Like, no. And is it giving you what-- Access is not always there either. It's, like, still not. And so what I've learned is that, like, yeah, we can-- There's a lot of band-aids that can come into our place when they place a grocery store or they give, like, a food pantry or a food giveaway, but those aren't solutions to the problem.
There's still, like, [00:08:00] economic opportunities that need to be, that, that exist, that we need to create to help people have, be more food secure. 'Cause if they can, yeah, they can access the food, but if they still can't afford the food-
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm ...
Danielle Guerin: they still don't know how to cook the food.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Danielle Guerin: Like-
Michael Zarick: That's, um-
Danielle Guerin: create
Michael Zarick: the food. The, the cook, the cook the food thing is, like, something I have personally- Yeah What's the word? Witnessed, I guess. Mm-hmm. Uh, so I helped one day with IndyGo does a thing called, um, Food in Transit.
Danielle Guerin: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: Um, sponsored by Second Helpings.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Um, and, uh, we were giving out food to the people there, and this was, like, beautiful produce that they had- Mm-hmm
like lemons, limes, uh- Yeah ... bell peppers and stuff. And then they had, like, bread at the end. And everyone wants the bread because that's just ready to eat.
Danielle Guerin: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: But they don't really know, because of a lack of experience or lack of education, like, what to do with the produce stuff, so they're a little more hesitant to take it.
Yeah. They're like, "I don't even know what I would do with a bell pepper." Mm-hmm. Um, and that's not something that maybe you and I have ever conceived of. [00:09:00] Mm-hmm.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah. And even with our other farms, it's kind of similar to that. Like, we grow a lot of varieties of things, and we grow, like, eggplant, we grow kohlrabi, and we grow leeks, things like that.
But, like, a lot of our neighbors don't know how to do those. They're like, "What is this?" Like, "Why would I buy this?" Like, we... I learned Tuscan kale is not a fun thing, like, or dinosaur kale. People don't like it. It looks weird. I don't
Michael Zarick: like kale.
Danielle Guerin: Okay. But, like, yeah, th- that's a weird... It's just kale, but, like, it looks-- it's crinkly, it's, like, more savory, and a lot of people don't know how to, what to do with it.
Uh-huh. And so it's just one of those things where it's like education's really important, and we have to, like, show people how to cook these things as well, 'cause we can't just, like, say, "Oh, we're gonna grow food for you guys, and it's there. You guys have it now. We'd be happy." Mm-hmm. No, we have to have to, like, have education ba- around people to help them learn.
So we do, like, recipes a lot, a lot of things we do, and, like, pass out recipes, and, like, do, we did, like, Try New Food Tuesday for a while on social media, so we could, like, showcase, like, all the different recipes you can do with, like, the food that we're growing. That way you can try-- you're willing to try this [00:10:00] new food instead of just like, oh, getting what you know.
But, like, even, yeah, providing food, people still know what they have at, um, the grocery store, that they can get there. But also then, then it, then it gets cost too, which is a weird thing to talk about. Like, we're non-profit, yes, and so, but, like, we're still a business. Mm-hmm. It's just a tax status. A non-profit's just a tax status.
That's all it really is. And so, like, helping neighbors and understanding, like, the cost of producing food as well is one, is part of that. Mm-hmm. And the whole food security, food deserts, like, helping people understand that, like, there's still so much more work that goes into paying and valuing people who are producing the food and tr- or transporting the food or pr- cooking it, like, paying them a living wage, and then that way...
And that explains why our bunch of collards is probably $3, $4, but then you go to, like, Meijer or S- or Save A Lot, and it's a dollar for a bunch of collards. But, like, and they're like, "Why?" I'm like, "Because it's coming from less than a mile away versus coming from, like, 500 miles away." It's a whole 'nother conversation, but still.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Danielle Guerin: That's part. [00:11:00] And
Michael Zarick: a lot of, like, uh, potentially, not even potentially, like, questionable business practices- Yeah ... and just, like, economy of scale and all that.
Danielle Guerin: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: Um, that's something Nick Selm at Flanner Farms talks about. He runs Flanner Farms.
Danielle Guerin: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: Um, just talks about the value of food and, like- Yeah
people's perceptions of-
Danielle Guerin: Yeah ...
Michael Zarick: what the c- like, the literal cost of food is.
Danielle Guerin: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: Um, whether it's just collard greens or whether it's, like, a burger.
Danielle Guerin: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: Um, that type of thing.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Um, I'm interested... Okay, so I, I drove up around an hour ago, uh, and then I had to go to the bathroom, so I went to Ellenberger.
Danielle Guerin: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: Which, of course, the public restroom at Ellenberger was locked. Um, and so instead I went over to the golf course over here and just, like, walked in
And I just had this thought while I was walking in there, like how many of the people who are golfing at this golf [00:12:00] course know that there's an urban farm right here? Is knowledge of your urban farm like something you regularly struggle with?
Danielle Guerin: Yeah, I think that's our biggest... We have a really good marketing team.
I've been-- I've invested a lot into our marketing area of the farm-
Michael Zarick: Yeah ...
Danielle Guerin: recently. Um, so we have like a fractional chief marketing officer. We have a marketing person, a social media. So two people that I pay to do marketing for us to help with like the knowledge of the farm and just knowing that we exist because our name is also-- it's probably a barrier to people knowing that we are a farm.
Michael Zarick: That's true. It does sort of read like a restaurant almost.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah. Yeah, and so here's why. So when we originally started the organization, we, we called it Temple Gardens.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm. And
Danielle Guerin: then we-- That was our original-- our very first site is on Temple Avenue.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Danielle Guerin: And that's where I live and things like that. And it's our very first site, so I called it Temple Gardens.
That was our own site we had. As we've grown into an organization, as I started getting 501c3, I changed the name to like Soul Food Project because [00:13:00] I, I saw that we were doing a lot more than just being like a Temple-- I feel like Temple Gardens was like really small, but like didn't encompass all the locations we have, first of all.
Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: It was like restrictive-
Danielle Guerin: Restrictive ... by
Michael Zarick: space.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah. Yeah. And a little bit, yeah. We're not just on Temple anymore. We're on Sheldon now, and then we were like-- we were just on Sheldon at that point, Temple and Sheldon. And so like, I was like, "We need a different name," and then I-- Soul Food Project was more because of the fact that like I was seeing that like...
I hope someone's calling me.
Michael Zarick: Do not disturb. Go away.
Danielle Guerin: Um, I was seeing it more as that like we're doing more than just growing food. Like, and you-- and like food can feed your soul, um, but also so can education.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm.
Danielle Guerin: And so that's why I was just like Soul Food Project is like just an interesting way to call it because like we're doing education with the youth, work, workforce development stuff, and also growing food.
We're feeding the soul in both ways, and so that's how the name came about. Um, but we don't really tell that story as much anymore, and since we changed the name, we just kinda, we just call it Soul Food Project Urban Farm. Um, but [00:14:00] yeah, having that name, people do think about it like, oh, like are you a restaurant?
Are you-- What's, what's your project? And they're like... So we're working a little bit more on, long story short, on getting better at marketing to show that we are a farm, but also we're so much more than just a farm though. We have like all the programming we do. Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Yeah. I mean, especially when you talk about like being year-round, like obviously the farming itself is not happening year-round.
You're working on the farm year-round, but like the actual act of- Mm-hmm ... growing things is not necessarily happening.
Danielle Guerin: Mm-hmm. There's
Michael Zarick: so much more to it than that. Yeah. So, um-
So in terms of like showing people literally just down the street from you. Um, and maybe the people who go to the golf course are not, uh, your target demographic. Um, but like what is it that you like want to share with them? And like how would you communicate like, "Hey, we're like right over here. Here's what we're doing."
Um, that kind of thing.
Danielle Guerin: So we do events. We do open houses a lot. Um, so we did like [00:15:00] community day. It was last month. We had our, our site on near Frederick Douglas Day community day, so we invited people to show it out, come out to the farm and tour the farm. So we did a greenhouse tour. Um, we gave away some plants.
They could plant stuff with us, like flowers, and just kinda like showcasing that way how we do. And then we do another thing called, um, Soul Food Sessions, which is a quarterly event we do each season, and we do one, we do one, might do them here, and we do them at our other farms too, like, and then, but they're a way for people to come to the farm and just kinda see what we do, see what we're about, and just kinda hangout and just socialize and just come and welcome, welcome them to the farm, like open gate policy in a way.
We don't have gates, but like open, open gate, you know? Yeah. Come to the farm, hang out with us, see, tour the farm, see the people who work here, learn about us, and just kinda be, just be here and be in the farm space and like do farm things. So like each, like in the fall we do like garlic planting with the, with us.
We do like product work sessions. They come out to the farm, help us plant our garlic. Um, and then in the winter we do like a, we're doing like a, [00:16:00] like si- like smoke, like hot cider and things like that, and just like more of an adult vibes one inside 'cause it's inside.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm.
Danielle Guerin: But still just like things like that, so you can just gather community at the farm and just hopefully them getting that first little avenue of just being, being at the farm and those little s- those events will help them be more involved and want come to volunteer or come to buy produce.
It just falls plus be, yeah, just like supporting that way.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Um, are there differences between the different farms? Um, and like whether that means like what you're growing, the activities you're doing or like the neighborhoods as themselves and, and stuff like that. Take that question however you like.
Yeah. You did not immediately know. I
Danielle Guerin: think there are differences 'cause like the farm that, the first, our very first site, Temple, that is our very first site. It's our baby si- it's our baby site. It's our smallest site. Um, it's my house now, 'cause I live there too. Um, so we don't, that one's our very private site now, and it's like, it's very, like growing wise it's very shady, and so you can't really like grow a lot of things there.
So we have a lot of our [00:17:00] perennials there, 'cause it's the only site we actually own as well.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm.
Danielle Guerin: So we don't own any of our other sites. We just-
Michael Zarick: Sorry, c- real quick. For, for stupid people like me, perennial means seasonal?
Danielle Guerin: Things that can come back every year.
Michael Zarick: Okay.
Danielle Guerin: They'll come back every year without reseeding.
Okay. They'll just like- What
Michael Zarick: do you call a thing that can't do that?
Danielle Guerin: Annuals.
Michael Zarick: Okay. Okay.
Danielle Guerin: They, yeah. So perennials are like, they're like six, six, six years growing, and then annuals don't. And so our Temple site's the site, only site we own, so we grow all of our perennials there. So we have like a lot of our herbs that come back every year, and then we have like our, we have asparagus there and like some raspberries.
Oh,
Michael Zarick: I've heard asparagus is like once you grow-
Danielle Guerin: Yeah, we're still waiting
Michael Zarick: It rips.
Danielle Guerin: We're still waiting for it to keep going. We have rhubarb out there too, yeah. And so, like, that's our little site, a little fun, little homey site. It's also more a homesteading site too, though, I feel like. When we did have it open to the public, it was like for us to show people that, like, this is how you can do it in your backyard.
Mm-hmm. It's technically not a backyard, it's a side yard.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm.
Danielle Guerin: It's actually still a lot, but-
Michael Zarick: So it's probably, like, not [00:18:00] incredibly large.
Danielle Guerin: It's... No, no. Yeah. It's, yeah. It's, it should- A house could fit there if a house was there, but it's not a house. There's just a lot in between two houses, but it's very small.
Yeah. And so, like, yeah, it could definitely... It's just, like, for what you could do in your backyard, though, essentially, if you had, you wanted to make your whole backyard a, a farm. Mm-hmm. We kind of showcase that way. And then this site at Irvington is, I would say still kind of like a, kind of a homesteading yard, 'cause like, if you had a, a large side yard, you could have a grow tunnel and garden beds.
Mm-hmm. But also we have a food forest in the back too. We have, like, fruit trees growing.
Michael Zarick: The, the, I've noticed that, like- ... the more time I spent outside just, like, glancing around, like, the more stuff I noticed. I was like, "Oh, there's a beetle in the pool."
Danielle Guerin: No.
Michael Zarick: Okay. That's, that's their house.
Danielle Guerin: That's their house.
That's their house, yeah.
Michael Zarick: It looks like it's part of your farm.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah. There, there's a barrier. It's a little, it's a little tree barrier. They're pro- their plants and... Yeah. That's cool. Um, but yeah, so like, I think, so Irvington's kind of that way, and T- then Sheldon is, like, more a production-based farm. And so we do more production on that [00:19:00] side, and like, and so that's where we grow a lot of things for like, you can see, like, an actual, like, if you're interested in how a market farm operates, that's kind of where you would go to Sheldon and see that site.
And then our site at Henry Blair, it's a mixed community garden. It's you-pick, and it's an acre, but it's like, the acre is behind the high school. And so, like, that's more getting in more production-based, but then the front you-pick area is definitely more community garden vibes. Mm-hmm. And so they all have different vibes.
And so, like, Sheldon and Henry Blair are the ones that are, are the most public-facing sites we have. Mm-hmm. And where we let people come a lot more, and they have like s- seating and decking and, like, places where you can sit and gather. Um, and then the other two sites aren't that way, but like, yeah, and there's different vibes.
A lot of different vibes, though. They all, all have different personalities. Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Um-
So you, you allow volunteers to come and do work? Mm-hmm. Like, what's the average, like, volunteer shift ? You're like, you're tilling the soil or, [00:20:00] like, what's the-
Danielle Guerin: We're weeding. Um, they help weed. Um, so on
Michael Zarick: Saturday- You're like, you take the, the most menial labor.
Danielle Guerin: So, yeah, but, uh, yeah, pretty much. Uh, on Saturdays, like, they volunteer at our, in the community garden and they, the you-pick volunteers, they help with the you-pick and they help manage that, and they help people come over and teach people how to harvest certain pro- the crops there and things like that, and kind of they monitor it and help, and hand maintain it and weed it, and, like, just maintain.
Um, most of our other stuff is just like a lot of weeding and, like, a little bit of harvesting is kind of what it is. But we have a, a lot of good partnerships with, like, workforce development and with our, our programming and other places that, like, we have people, like, staffed on the farms for the most of the time, most weeks, and that we can, they can do a lot of the advanced stuff.
So it is unfortunate that most times when we have a volunteer group coming in, we're asking them to do, like, a big project like helping us move this really all this dirt, dirt one place, or help us get this place really weeded really well, um, [00:21:00] things like that, because those are the tasks that need the most, have the most labor intensive that we could definitely have time to do.
But a group, a big group can come in and help us really quickly do that- Mm-hmm ... out in an afternoon. And so we ask-
Michael Zarick: Yeah. You get, like, 30, like, teenagers in there and just, like-
Danielle Guerin: Yeah, pretty much ... just rip
Michael Zarick: through it.
Danielle Guerin: Like, rip through it in, like, a while. Like, oh, very cool. Um, or we do painting sometimes. We'll have them help, help us paint stuff, and then random things like that.
We put, we do a lot-- We try to put all our big projects for the volunteers so it's not just always weeding, but, like, most times just they come out and help us weed.
Michael Zarick: Yeah. That makes sense.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Let's say I was, you know, my wife is trying to grow things, and let's say I was an individual who owned a home-
Danielle Guerin: Mm-hmm ...
Michael Zarick: uh, and I wanted to, like, start my own garden. What's, like, your biggest tip for that? Other than, like, just start. Just do it.
Danielle Guerin: Other than just start, just do it, I would say
Don't go too big your first year.
Michael Zarick: Mm. '
Danielle Guerin: Cause yeah, I would say, 'cause sometimes like, yeah, your backyard can hold a lot of stuff if you do it, but like just a little 4 by 8 bed. Um, square foot [00:22:00] gardening. I don't every-- I don't practice that, but a lot of people-- we, we do teach a lot of people how to do square foot gardening.
I think, I think it's really helpful for beginner farmers to like do that. And square foot gardening is where like it divides the bed into like square foot blocks, and then like it tells you to put this many of this kind of crop into one square foot, or one of this crop in o- in one square foot. Um, so I would say utilize that.
It helps you get a lot, lot of diversity in your garden. Um, but like just plant what you wanna eat. Mm. Like that's the biggest thing. Don't just-- don't plant because, "Oh, this sounds like it'd be fun to plant." But plant what you wanna eat- Yeah ... um, or what you interested in learning about. So like if you just-- if you like, if you like hot teas, plant a lot of herbs and just make your own tea blends or-
Michael Zarick: That's an interesting idea.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: And like herbs are generally pretty easy. They're,
Danielle Guerin: they're pretty easy, yeah.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm. Uh, so what is your-- what would you say is your like driving force for continuing your work?
Danielle Guerin: I think it's fun. And cor- core of it, it's just I think it's fun to-- the farming part of it's fun. I [00:23:00] enjoy it a lot. Um, I think the driving force be- other than it being fun for me, um, is more just like just seeing the benefit for the community and like the neighbors and like the impact we're ha- having, um, definitely keeps me going.
Um, remembering that like if I wasn't doing this, like or we weren't existing, um, what would they have? What would their options be? Like are they gonna have as options to have this fresh produce? Like what are their-- how else are they gonna access like these pr- the produce stuff? And talking to neighbors and like, and them wanting certain things, and like them being excited for things, and like that is what keeps me going, I guess.
Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm.
have you seen, like, impact come out of your work in terms of, like, y- people are like, "Danielle, I learned how to..." I don't know. Like, I was gonna say bake a cake, but that doesn't make sense. Like, "I learned how to create this, like, beautiful dish because of you." Or, "I, um, I started growing my own stuff," [00:24:00] or, "Hey, um, you really taught me so much about cooking and, and, uh, and sort of growing and stuff like that."
Danielle Guerin: Yeah, I think, um, yeah, I think from, like, just probably with the staff, like, as we-- I've grown my team. I think that's when I've seen a lot of the biggest impact I've had with them. It's just that, like, a lot of, a lot of people I, I've hired as part of the Soulful Project, they didn't have, like, farming backgrounds and gardening backgrounds.
Like, um, they've had-- They just, they had other backgrounds, like youth development, youth work, things like that. And so I think the impact they've had with them, what they've grown is into, like... Like, when a girl, one person I married called herself baby farmer when she first started. She started three years ago, and she's like, "I'm baby farmer now."
She said she's a, she's a child farmer. She's like, "I'm a child farmer now. I can do things without supervision." I
Michael Zarick: always say, like, um, when you turn 18, that's when you're zero years old as an adult.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: So it's just kinda like the same thing. It's like, "Oh, I'm [00:25:00] starting a new life as a farmer." So now I'm just like, "I'm a child."
Yeah. I'm three years in or whatever.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah, but with her, with her, the, the, with the staff, I say one thing, and then with the youth program and the youth participants, like seeing some of them, how they've grown in the program. Some of them I've known them since they were, like, 14, and then, and some of them 13, and watch how they've grown and matured into, like, um, being into, like, more leadership, and some of them going off to college now.
And there's, like, some kids who, like, I-- when they first started the program, like, they could barely... Like, we had to hear, hear what they were saying when they were talking. They were, like, just whispering what they were saying. And then now seeing them, like, actually, like, I can hear you without having to tell you to speak up.
Like, you're actually, like, enunciating, and you're like, you're, you're putting some bass in your voice when you're talking to me now. Mm-hmm. And, like, you have confidence. And so we say that with the youth, like, we're not trying to grow future farmers with the youth. We're trying to do future leaders. And so it's like watching them develop those skills of leadership has been really impactful, just seeing how them grow up and them, like, getting ready to go to high school now and, like, going off and doing things.
It's been really help- been great. And then the other, [00:26:00] the adults as well who are part of the program, doing finishing program, watching them, like, start their own farms and seeing how they've impact, how that's impacted them as well has been great. And also obviously people who buy the food and the produce who come at are repeat customers.
They're always great to know- Yeah ... and to see them and just talk to them about what things that they've, they've done and, like, exchange recipes with them.
Michael Zarick: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And growing people as well as food.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Is that, is that what you would say?
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: So, uh, let's talk about Indianapolis a little bit, just, like, as a, as a city.
Mm-hmm. Unless there's, is there anything else you want to talk about in the framing of Soul Food Project?
Danielle Guerin: No. No?
Michael Zarick: Okay. So where did you... Are you from here?
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Okay. And where did you grow up?
Danielle Guerin: Marion, Broad Ripple.
Michael Zarick: Marion, Broad Ripple?
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Okay. But then, then is your neighborhood in that... I don't know where your-
Danielle Guerin: I'm like in the Meadows, Marion, Broad Ripple area.
Like right, we're like on the edge, the edge of each of the neighborhoods. Yeah. So that's where we grew up, yeah.
Michael Zarick: Where'd you go to high school?
Danielle Guerin: I went to Warren for high school. So my parents, my parents were divorced, and then I got moved to the east side. Um, so I went to Warren for high school.
Michael Zarick: Okay, cool.
Uh, what is it about Indianapolis [00:27:00] that... You said you left. Was it just for college?
Danielle Guerin: Um- Or did
Michael Zarick: you leave for another thing?
Danielle Guerin: I left for a lot of things. Um, so I left to go for, I, I, I went to c- uh, college out of state because I didn't want, want to be... Because I feel, I felt like IU and Butler and everywhere else were gonna be just high school again because everyone-
Michael Zarick: You probably weren't that far off.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah. Every- everyone I knew was going to in-state schools, and so I went to college out of state. And so I was in Illinois for four years, and then I came back for a year. You
Michael Zarick: didn't pick a better school, though. You went to Illinois? Yeah.
Danielle Guerin: You- It was a private school in Illinois. I know everybody- Oh, okay.
Okay,
Michael Zarick: not like-
Danielle Guerin: It was IU, but, um, I went to a private school in Illinois, yeah. And then I came back for a year and did, worked, did AmeriCorps for a year living in a hall, and then I went, then I went to Bloomington for grad school.
Michael Zarick: Got it.
Danielle Guerin: Um, so I was there for two years, and then I did Peace Corps for two years- Mm-hmm
in Southern Africa. Um-
Michael Zarick: Oh, where in Africa?
Danielle Guerin: Um, Cameroon.
Michael Zarick: Oh, that's cool.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah, so I did that.
Michael Zarick: How was that?
Danielle Guerin: Amazing.
Michael Zarick: Yeah. What about, what about, uh... Wait, let's linger here for a second.
Danielle Guerin: That,
Michael Zarick: that's cool.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Did you, did you find any, like, [00:28:00] passion for farming or anything there?
Danielle Guerin: Yeah, I farmed there. Yeah. I was a... My official title was Farm and Agri-Business Advisor.
So undergrad was entrepreneurship.
Michael Zarick: But that's for AmeriCorps?
Danielle Guerin: No, Peace C- Yeah, Peace Corps.
Michael Zarick: Peace Corps.
Danielle Guerin: Peace Corps, sorry. Yeah
Michael Zarick: Words
Danielle Guerin: Yeah, they're both cores. Um All the cores. It all the cores.
Michael Zarick: Uh, so like what did you learn, um, from your time in Africa, in Cameroon?
Danielle Guerin: Oh. I learned a lot of, like, a lot of farming, um, a lot of business stuff.
Um, I learned a lot about, like, um, more myself, I would say, while I was there. It was definitely more of self. Like I got... Yeah, I got to do business classes with the p- farm- with the s- people in the village there, and I got to teach them how to like... I started gardens at the schools. I started like gardens at the hospital and things like that, and I did other things.
I did summer camps. So I got to explore a lot of all my farming and like youth work in that aspect, and did business work, and kind of combined all of my passions. That- I think that's what really helped me realize I want to start this nonprofit, 'cause I was, I was actually like... [00:29:00] I love just the flexibility I have in my life that just living out there and just being just kind of my day was just waking up, go to the farm, come home, do some workshop, go back to the farm later that day, you know?
It was like, it was perfect time for me and I really loved, I, but I really learned, like learned about myself about living there and just like learning, like I- my con- my confidence grew and like my abilities and like who I was and like what I valued as a person kind of grew out, out of that. And like it was, yeah, it was hard because like living in a whole different culture, but like, and learning about that culture, having to like be in there.
Um, but like, I think I learned a lot more just about who I was as a person and what I, what I valued for, yeah.
Michael Zarick: What- Taking a step back to like your earlier life, like what is it about food and food insecurity that like you think steered you towards farming? Um, is there like-
Danielle Guerin: There's something ... is
Michael Zarick: there like a special moment or something that like you're like, "That's what sent me to this"?
Danielle Guerin: Yeah. So after college, [00:30:00] I was home, we're living here, living in AmeriCorps, and, and even in college. In college, I had developed an eating disorder.
Michael Zarick: Mm.
Danielle Guerin: Um, and so like my junior and senior year of college, I, I was really deep into an eating disorder. Um, and then I, when I got home after co- graduating college, I was like also depression was like hitting it hard, hitting hard as well.
And so that's what kind of got me into farming 'cause one of my coworkers, um, was like, "Hey, like, we're gonna go volunteer at a community garden. Wanna come with me, uh, with us?" And like, I had read that like being outside in the dirt helps with depression, and like I need to get out of the house. And my dad was just like, "You need to get out of the house, so you can't just sit...
You can't spend every weekend just in your bed- Yeah ... and not doing anything else, not be home."
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Danielle Guerin: Um, and so I was like, "Sure, I'll go." And then just being in the dirt kind of helped, it help, helped. I don't know if it really helps with depression. I don't, I don't know. But like it really, it helped me like, and being around the food and growing food, it kinda helped me heal my relationship with food that way, just being, [00:31:00] growing my own food.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm.
Danielle Guerin: And that kinda helped, and that's kinda how, how I started, that's how I started farming. It was like, then just kinda- Yeah. You found your
Michael Zarick: own soul food.
Danielle Guerin: How bout that Yeah. Yeah. Uh, that's a great story. Thank you for sharing.
Michael Zarick: Um, and I, I wonder how much of it was just like being outside in the dirt, but also just like being with other people-
Danielle Guerin: Yeah
Michael Zarick: and like being, uh, in community, as people say.
Danielle Guerin: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: I'm sure there's aspects of both.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Um, so Cameroon After Cameroon-
Danielle Guerin: Yeah ...
Michael Zarick: you came here.
Danielle Guerin: I came. Yeah, I came. I had to finish my thesis at IU for a semester, and then, yeah. So I was in Bloomington for like a semester, and then I moved back. When my lease ended, I came back here, and I started in 2017.
Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Yeah. So what about Indianapolis has, like, kept you here?
Danielle Guerin: My family, I would say. Like, that kept me here, and then I was always the, the one person saying, "I'm leaving Indianapolis. Leaving Indiana. Like, I cannot-- I hate this [00:32:00] state." Like, like, and
Michael Zarick: then- I, you know, I heard-- I met a guy last night who told me the same thing.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah. And then-
Michael Zarick: He said he lived in LA for, like, 30 years. Now he's back here, which- Yeah ... I think his reasoning was maybe a little different than yours, but-
Danielle Guerin: And mine was really-- mine was more like I was just like it just-- it was just the state was too red, and I was just like, "It's too red of a state. I can't do it.
I, like, my beliefs, I can't do it." And then one of my friends was just telling me, she's like-- she's trying the same thing, and she was just like, "Well, if we all leave, who's gonna make the change? If we all-- everyone who hates how the state is leaves, who's going to be the change that we need?"
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm. And
Danielle Guerin: then I was just like, "Okay."
And so that's kind of why I stayed. I came back because I was just like, "That makes, it makes sense." So like if we're gonna-- if I want the state to change, and my family's still here- Mm-hmm ... like, I can't-- we all can't leave.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm.
Danielle Guerin: Y'all can't flee. Yeah. Leave. Leave at four.
Michael Zarick: Is there anything, um, that's particularly compelling, like about, um, your neighborhood or your part of town or any of the parts of town you visit as a result of your work, um, that you're like, "Man, this is like the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," or anything like that?[00:33:00]
Danielle Guerin: Mm.
Michael Zarick: That's a hard question.
Danielle Guerin: That's a hard question to ask, answer.
I don't know
Michael Zarick: That's okay.
Danielle Guerin: I'll think about it, yeah. Like, that seems like at least TikTok to me just says, "Oh, this is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." But like, I think about the times where like I'm in events though, I'm at a community event or things like that where I'm, something very involved and I, I am actually the official president of my association.
Michael Zarick: Which are you-
Danielle Guerin: I'm the president of my neighborhood association. Yeah, yeah. Um, so like I'm actually, I'm in events and stuff, and like I'm just around my neighbors, like community. Like that's when I'm like, "Oh, this is, this is great. This is why I like being, like staying here and like going to events and things like that and being out in the community."
So like those things right there were kind of like I think about, but there's nothing like particular that like I can say like visually like I go here, I feel this way. But like I think it's like small things like that that-
Michael Zarick: Yeah ...
Danielle Guerin: yeah.
Michael Zarick: It doesn't have to be like visually or- Yeah ... anything like that. It can be...
Like for example, I went to That Peace Open Mic last night. Mm-hmm. Shout out. Um, and I w- I was just like, I'm always so blown away by the talent in this city. Mm. Just like the artists and the poets [00:34:00] and the musicians. I'm just like, "Who-"
Danielle Guerin: Yeah. "...
Michael Zarick: where, where are these people coming from? Why don't more people know about this?"
Yeah. Um, we're gonna move on to what I call the canned questions.
Danielle Guerin: Okay.
Michael Zarick: Uh- Sorry. Are
Danielle Guerin: there official questions?
Michael Zarick: Say again?
Danielle Guerin: There's official questions? There's,
Michael Zarick: there's two official questions- Mm ... kind of. Uh, but first, uh, Third Space Indy is sponsored by City Rising. City Rising is a social impact studio. Most recently, they implemented an eviction data dashboard that looks to highlight and reduce the impact of the 30,000 evictions mostly affecting Black and Latina women Indianapolis faces every year.
Uh, you can learn more by going to cityrising.org. City Rising has sponsored a question-
Danielle Guerin: Okay ...
Michael Zarick: which is, what is a third space to you?
Danielle Guerin: Oh. Hmm. Third Space Indy [00:35:00] Oh
I think, I mean, for me it's like, like a location that I really think I could just drive me in
Michael Zarick: However you wanna take it. I think you were on the right... I think you were on track somewhere.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah It's like anywhere that I feel like is comfortable. Like, like obviously, like obviously I hate saying like, I'm defining without being like, "Oh, not your house."
But like, but you know how when you're like, when you're at home and like you're just like, you're relaxing and you're just like, you're easily like, for me like, for me like when I get home, like first thing I do is like I take off my work boots, I take off and switch into like either my Crocs or like slides, and then I'm a women so I, take off my bra, you know.
Like I'm relaxing like that. And then so I feel like for me for a third space is like, like I can theoretically like take off my work boots and like-
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm ...
Danielle Guerin: take off my bra wherever. It doesn't matter where I'm at. Sometimes I'm at [00:36:00] a park or I'm at like an event and like, so I easily I know I'm just like, I'm just like at ease in that space and I can just be there and be, be myself, be just be relaxed and just be like chill and just and like just exist.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Danielle Guerin: That's like a third space for me.
Michael Zarick: When's the last time you did that? Where?
Danielle Guerin: Last time, last time I did that? Where?
Michael Zarick: Or where. I know you're in the middle of the-
Danielle Guerin: I was like, I'm going to these. I know ... the
Michael Zarick: planting season.
Danielle Guerin: I was like, I don't like remember. I was like it must have been like sometime this winter I think.
I don't know.
Michael Zarick: In the winter?
Danielle Guerin: Yeah. I haven't done it in a minute. Yeah. It's been-
Michael Zarick: You gotta take those work boots off more.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah. No. I haven't gone, yeah, I've done it. Yeah. We've been, we've been deep into it, plant season since like March, so like yeah. It's been going home and sleeping.
Michael Zarick: Maybe find peace in your mind when you're asleep, I suppose.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Um, follow-up question to the previous
Danielle Guerin: question.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm. What is a third [00:37:00] space or place that has existed for you previously that no longer does?
Danielle Guerin: Oh, it no longer does
Yes, success. Like, ironically, I'm like, I say success lots
I don't know that one 'cause like I think-
Michael Zarick: I don't believe that ...
Danielle Guerin: that like no longer does exist for me
Michael Zarick: You've been going the same places your entire life
Danielle Guerin: I'm trying to, I'm trying to think about one that I haven't like, it doesn't exist anymore.
Michael Zarick: So for the, for example, uh, I, I use this as the default- Yeah ... answer for myself so I can-
Danielle Guerin: Yeah ...
Michael Zarick: like sort of guide you a little bit. Um, when I was younger I used to go to summer camp. I was- Yeah ... a camper at the summer camp and I was a counsel- Mm-hmm
counselor for five years. I would say that no longer exists for me. The summer camp still operates.
Danielle Guerin: Oh, okay. But-
Michael Zarick: But I don't go [00:38:00] and it doesn't like exist in the same capacity it does for me.
Danielle Guerin: What about Starbucks?
Michael Zarick: Wha- is there a specific Starbucks?
Danielle Guerin: Um, not any, no, not in particular. Um, so I when I first started, um, working, doing the farm, I would just, I worked at Starbucks.
Michael Zarick: Oh, okay.
Danielle Guerin: Um, and so like before that I was always going in as like, just 'cause it's my, it's my kind of my third space in a way, I would say, just hanging out there and anything like that, relaxing.
Um, and working there was a great and horrible place all at the same time. And so like-
Michael Zarick: I know a lot of people who have worked at Starbucks previously ...
Danielle Guerin: and so after like, after, after working there, I don't consider that a third space anymore for myself anymore I guess because like I don't ever, I don't literally go to Starbucks anymore.
Um, like unless I'm like-
Michael Zarick: Third Space Indy does not condone purchases at Starbucks. I'll say that into the camera.
Danielle Guerin: So like I would say that, but like yeah, like other places, um, that I don't, yeah, that I would say like used to be one for me but not are anymore. [00:39:00] Like the gym used to be one for me, but like not really as, as much I would say.
But like-
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm ...
Danielle Guerin: but I have a gym in my house now, so.
Michael Zarick: Oh. That's
Danielle Guerin: kind of why too, so.
Michael Zarick: That's funny.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Is there, um, somewhere around Indy that you find particularly compelling as a third space for you at this time?
Danielle Guerin: I'm not endorsing this, but like Center Point Brewery is really great.
Michael Zarick: What do you mean you're not endorsing it?
Danielle Guerin: I was gonna say, you're not endorsing it, but like I love, like Center Point, it's like Center Point at CIC, CCIC, that one. Not the one, not the new one- Mm-hmm ... on Broad Ripple, but the one at the, the first location.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Danielle Guerin: Like that one I, I consider like that's one of my favorite like I would say third spaces. Like I've done a lot of like good thinking there and just hanging out and just relaxing, yeah.
Michael Zarick: Yeah. Yeah.
Danielle Guerin: I
Michael Zarick: like that.
Danielle Guerin: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: We love a- I love a
Danielle Guerin: brewery though ...
Michael Zarick: I was gonna say, we love a good brewery. I love a
Danielle Guerin: brewery.
Michael Zarick: I think it's hard to find a good brewery- It is, yeah ... in the year 2026.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Uh, there are a number around Indianapolis though.
Danielle Guerin: There are, yeah.
Michael Zarick: so every episode I ask a question from the [00:40:00] previous guest.
Danielle Guerin: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: The previous guest from your episode, his name is Nigel Long, AKA DJ Grapevine.
Danielle Guerin: Oh my God, fun fact. Nigel-
Michael Zarick: Scary. Uh,
Danielle Guerin: when I was with AmeriCorps VISTA time, I was in McCoy, um, and, uh, we did a youth advisory council, and Nigel was part of that council.
Michael Zarick: Oh, really?
Danielle Guerin: Yeah. That's what I thought.
Michael Zarick: That's funny. Um, Nigel asks, "If you were..." I don't know how... Wait, I haven't read that. Wait, let me see what I wrote.
There you go Nigel asks, "If you had to pick a subgenre of music to describe your life, what would it be?"
Danielle Guerin: Oh my. A subgenre.
Michael Zarick: As in like- I know ... go off the wall. Use some adjectives in here.
Danielle Guerin: Okay. Hmm.
Michael Zarick: What are you listening to right now? [00:41:00]
Danielle Guerin: Right now I'm still on Lizzo.
Michael Zarick: It'll
Danielle Guerin: be like Megan Thee Stallion, Lizzo, and Taylor Swift, and Beyoncé.
Michael Zarick: Okay.
Danielle Guerin: This is the rotation right now. Um, so I would say like, it's, it's not a real, a real subgenre I don't think. It's kind of a fake subgenre.
Michael Zarick: I think you made it up. I said, I said folk, um, sea shanty. That was what I said.
Danielle Guerin: Folk would be like folk trap. Um, oh yeah, folk trap pop music, something like that, 'cause like-
Michael Zarick: Who's, who's um...
You can't use the four artists that you just mentioned. Who is performing this music for you?
Danielle Guerin: Hmm. Who's performing it?
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm.
Danielle Guerin: I would say a mix now. A mix between like Gracie [00:42:00] Abrams or like Olivia Rodrigo.
Michael Zarick: Where does the trap come in?
Danielle Guerin: Yeah, exactly. It's like, you can't, like, 'cause it can't be what I was gonna use. Like, yeah. GloRilla. Yeah.
Michael Zarick: I'm imagining like a Gracie Abrams GloRilla- Yeah ... collab. Yeah. That sounds goofy.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah. It could work, though.
Michael Zarick: I could see it.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah, I could see it. I could see it being a Cy and Taylor Swift collab coming. I could see it. It, it would be like- Who,
Michael Zarick: someone... Oh, it was Ice Spice collab with-
Danielle Guerin: Taylor ...
Michael Zarick: Taylor Swift.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Which was, I don't think my favorite song
Danielle Guerin: ever. It was not. No, I don't think, no.
Michael Zarick: That's so funny. Yeah. Uh, all right.
I don't have anything else on my docket to talk about. Is there anything else on your mind, on your heart? What are you thinking about?
Danielle Guerin: All the plants we have to get in the ground. No, um, I'm not thinking about much. I'm thinking about like, um[00:43:00]
I'm always thinking about like for me as ED, um, and talking to my board president like on Mondays is why I'm thinking about this right now, like top of the mind is that like, are we still on the right track? Are we still like having the impact that we wanna have? And like is, is there something missing in all of this work that all the urban farms are doing and the work we're doing?
And like are we still-- are we hitting it still or are we just following, doing the motions because we can?
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: How do you feel like you're doing right now?
Danielle Guerin: I think we're doing good. I think we're, I think we are on the right track in some areas of our-- as an org. I think we also, we have areas to grow in.
Um, and so I'm-- we're figuring it out and whether or not we're still... But like that's kind of more my board to figure that out, not for me. Yeah. That's strategic. No, really it's, it's both of us to figure it out, but like strategic-wise and vision-wise, long-term thinking, like I think it's-- I think we're on the right track in what we're doing.
I think we have some areas to tighten up in. Mm-hmm. But like [00:44:00] that's the fun part about figuring it out and like solving that problem and figuring out like what to do next. Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Danielle Guerin: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: Where do you see like Soul Food Project 10 years from now?
Danielle Guerin: In-
Michael Zarick: It's like such an interview que- such a classic interview question, but like I wonder if you think about it.
Danielle Guerin: Oh, I do. Yeah. I have a whole document.
Michael Zarick: The vision, the vision doc. It
Danielle Guerin: is. It's called the official vision document.
Michael Zarick: Of course.
Danielle Guerin: Um, 10 years from now, I see us, if we haven't condensed down from four sites, I think we will be condensing down from four sites by that point. Um- What
Michael Zarick: does that mean?
Danielle Guerin: Like I see us-
Michael Zarick: Like a bigger singular
Danielle Guerin: a bigger singular site.
Michael Zarick: Mm.
Danielle Guerin: Um, it's gonna f- it just helps us a little bit more and then- I
Michael Zarick: mean, just hearing you talk about your day today was like -
Danielle Guerin: Yeah ...
Michael Zarick: it sounds stressful.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah. And so like I think having us, like 10 years from now, if we haven't started thinking about condensing down from, uh, from four to like a sing- more singular sites, a bigger singular site, I think that'll be what we're doing and having [00:45:00] more like of community food center kind of aspect.
We already do the program we already do and all of the work that we're doing with the growing the food and like distributing it and having our farm store. We process food here and we do like dried herbs and like we're trying, trying it into teas and stuff. And so like having a more singular space where we can do all those different things has like I feel like that's the vision and just helping but also training people and doing that as well and like helping create more jobs.
Um, so I think that 10 years from now, like we'll be more like that food center space and then instead of just a farm or instead of this, but we're still Soul Food Project, but like we'll have more of like, um, focus in some of our areas. Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Hmm. Interesting.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Okay.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Cool. Thank you for sharing.
Danielle Guerin: No probs.
Michael Zarick: One last question.
Danielle Guerin: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: What question would you like to ask, uh, Jesse Brown who's who I'm talking to
Danielle Guerin: tomorrow?
[00:46:00] If he was any plant, what would he be and why?
Michael Zarick: Any plant?
Danielle Guerin: Yes.
Michael Zarick: I think he might, he might wanna be like a, like a government plant, if you know. Okay. It's like, I mean, just a joke.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah. Uh,
Michael Zarick: but
Danielle Guerin: yeah.
Michael Zarick: Great question.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Okay. I'll keep that in mind. Thank you so much. Mm-hmm. Uh, Danielle, if you want to be found, where can the people find you or the Soul Food Project?
Danielle Guerin: Um, Instagram and Facebook and Threads for Soul Food Project, um, and, and TikTok. Um- What are
Michael Zarick: you doing on TikTok? Just like-
Danielle Guerin: We do random videos of like me and like, um, we do like the unboxing of our seeds sometimes. And like-
Michael Zarick: Seed unboxing.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah, yeah. And we do like some things of our like, of my front, my front yard is in need of, need of plant garden, so we're watching right now.
We're doing-- Uh, right now on my personal TikTok, we're doing videos of like how it's transforming over the season, 'cause like it's starting to bloom and stuff, and different things come up. Um, and so like it's a lot of random videos like [00:47:00] that on TikTok just- Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Cool ...
Danielle Guerin: showing casing.
Michael Zarick: So it's, uh... What is it one more time on Instagram?
Danielle Guerin: Um, soulfoodprojectindy on Instagram. Cool. Facebook is Soul Food Project. Um, TikTok is also Soul Food Project, I think.
Michael Zarick: And if people wanted to come pick weeds or
Danielle Guerin: volunteer- On our website, soulfoodprojectindy.org, um, and they can sign up to volunteer from our website. And yeah.
Michael Zarick: Cool.
Danielle Guerin: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Hey, thank you so much for watching or listening to this episode of Third Space Indy.
You can find me by going to thirdspaceindy@instagram.com. Wait. You can find me by going to Third Space Indy on Instagram or by going to thirdspaceindy.com where I write a weekly blog that goes out with the show notes. Thank you so much to City Rising for sponsoring the podcast, and thank you to one more, Proformus.
Uh, Proformus is an urban planning and design firm that helps neighbors and communities shape the places they already [00:48:00] love. Based in Indianapolis, they're here to help you make your place happen one block at a time. Shout out to Proformus as always. And of course, shout out to the local artist Jennasen for letting me use your song, "Scared Rabbit," as the intro song.
Thank you once again for watching. See you in the next one. Goodbye.
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