A Fresh Future
MOST OF US CAN’T RECALL THE EXACT TIME AND PLACE WHEN WE FELL IN LOVE WITH VEGETABLES, but Germaine Jenkins sure can. It was an autumn day in Cleveland, Ohio, when Germaine, then a bright-eyed and curious 4- or 5-year-old girl, first visited the community garden across the street from her daycare. She and her brothers harvested lettuces and radishes and who knows what other cool-weather crops with the glee that only a child can express. They came home that evening, their tiny hands filled with vegetables and their faces with pride as they raced through the door to wash and enjoy their harvest. It was a day Germaine never forgot.
Whether it was that fall day in Ohio that sparked something in her or it was a flame that was lit at birth, food became a treasured part of Germaine’s life.
