Celebrating the Harvest with the USAL Community

“How tall will you grow?” I asked a kernel of corn in the palm of my hand.

I wasn’t expecting an answer… mostly. Communing with this corn seed was just one part of a dining experience meant to help us connect with our food from ‘seed to plate.’

The dinner was organized by Padma, who partnered the USAL Project. Kyna Payawal, founder of Padma and our host for the evening, explained that her gatherings are “all about caring for community and gathering together through one of the most direct ways that the Earth cares for us: food.” She went on to share that the name ‘Padma’ is one of the 5 Buddhist energies that manifests as passion. It is, in essence, an expression of everything that Kyna is passionate about.

This particular meal centered around the concept of the Honorable Harvest. Based on Robin Wall Kimmer’s Braiding Sweetgrass, the Honorable Harvest sees the “gifts of harvests as kin rather than just resources.” Much of the produce Sarah used for the meal was harvested the day before at Grow Good, a small 1.5-acre farm nestled just a few miles away from Downtown Bell. But what makes Grow Good different from other urban farms is their relationship to the Bell Shelter across the street.

What started as just 12 raised vegetable beds in a vacant lot has grown into a thriving farm that provides thousands of pounds of fresh produce every year to the Bell Shelter kitchens. Grow Good not only feeds the unhoused community, they also offer support though wellness programs, activities at the farm, and weekly classes where they help shelter participants build life skills.

“Our mission is to feed the shelter,” said farm manager Francis River, in between mouthfuls of grilled cactus, “It’s such a nice circular operation: we basically grow the food, we bring it across the street… they prepare it, and then we collect the food scraps, compost it on the farm, use that to grow more vegetables…it just keeps circulating around.”

20% of the proceeds from the dinner was donated to Grow Good—fitting for a Honorable Harvest themed gathering—and the whole operation—Grow Good, Chef Sarah, Kyna, Francis—really everyone there—is supported by the ecosystem of humans that make up the USAL network.

Founded by Michael Washington, USAL curates experiences designed to connect participants back to nature and build community though a shared love of the outdoors. Their offerings range from rock climbing and foraging to dinner experiences like the meal shared at Kyna’s home.

“What we’re teaching is the human connection to nature,” Michael explained, “Before you get into the act of whatever the activity is… the guides that we work with are there to tell you their story of why they love to do it. It’s not just about getting to the top of the mountain.”

While the activities themselves are unique and fun, the magic sauce of USAL is that it creates spaces for people to make friends, as he says, “micro-opportunities to meet new people.” Many guests at the dinner met though an USAL event, and those connections sprouted more events and offerings.

The centerpiece of the meal that night was, you guessed it: corn, or maize, which means, in indigenous communities, “bringer of life, mother of all things, the daily bread.”

Before everyone sat down to eat, Kyna guided us through a sensory experience and meditation. In other words, we got to play with our food. Since maize was the cornerstone of our meal, we asked questions of the stalk, seeds, and fruit of the corn. This might sound, at the least, a little alternative, but I found that, by the time the first course was passed around, I was thinking about every bite a little differently. (I also told myself the corn I’d just befriended was excited to be an appetizer).

Chef Sarah Alikhan (also known as pop-up chef @biri.bibi) took the maize theme and ran with it, creating a four course menu and one of the most delicious and unique meals I’ve had in a long time.

We cracked open the crispy golgoppa (a fried street-food bread) and stuffed them with a tempting mixture of mashed Jerusalem artichoke, gold potatoes, yellow corn (can’t forget the star), and black chana, a chickpea mixture of tomatoes and onions and herbs. This was followed up with an “honorable harvest” taco bar with 12-hour stewed Nihari, or slow-cooked and spiced lamb stew with all the fixings. Sarah was especially excited about pickled radishes she’d cut into little hearts.

“Cooking is a dance,” Sarah explained, when I asked about recipes. “It’s just really intuitive. I feel like I cook like a grandma because I learned from my grandpa—no measuring, I can tell you.”

That night I learned that the essence of USAL is, as Michael explained, “purely just a community,” and I was grateful to get an introduction to a small piece of that network at Kyna’s home. I left feeling warm and taken care of and I’m excited to see how those connections bloom.