Local food systems advocate speaks at CEFS event
Community activist Wicks hopes to help consumers maintain their connections to the land and to local production.
Photo by Becky Kirkland
Judy Wicks had no intention of becoming an activist when she moved into a Victorian brownstone house in Philadelphia in 1972. But when she learned that her block was to be demolished to make way for a shopping mall, she had to act.
“I joined a community group, and I became a community organizer,” Wicks told a crowd of 300 at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems’ second Sustainable Agriculture Lecture, held in September. Wicks is owner and chef of the White Dog Café Philadelphia, where she is a leader in promoting local foods and organizing local living economies.
Wicks and her group preserved the community, where her business still is today. She started the restaurant as a coffee and muffin shop in her backyard, with picnic tables and lawn furniture. She had a charcoal grill for cooking, a dishwasher in her dining room, and her home’s bathroom served as the restroom. Today the White Dog Café remains in the same neighborhood but spans three houses and a fourth for a retail store and grosses $5 million a year.
“I took responsibility for my community, where I’ve lived for 35 years,” she said. “That’s one of the first principles of the local living economy movement, and that’s to take responsibility for your place.”
Living and working in the same community has helped Wicks to make more balanced decisions, “not to maximize profits, but to maximize relationships” with her employees and customers, she said. Her connection with her employees encouraged her to offer her full-time employees a “living wage” — paying employees enough to actually live on. The White Dog also was the first Pennsylvania business to purchase all its energy from renewable sources.
The White Dog became one of the first restaurants to buy local and fair trade foods, more than 20 years ago. Wicks began purchasing two pigs a week from a local farm to “serve pork that aligned with my values,” Wicks said. She later began buying local grass-fed beef.
“Without the local farmers selling locally, consumers lost their connection to the land. And today most Americans no longer know who grows the food, who brews the beer, who bakes the bread, who sews the clothes, who builds the houses. We’ve become disconnected from our places,” she said.
Wicks realized that her local food restaurant was in a niche market all its own, and she could have held that competitive advantage. But hoping to expand restaurant markets for local growers, Wicks began sharing her local food practices with competing restaurants. Today, 20 percent of the White Dog’s profits go into a nonprofit designed to build a local food system.
To encourage institutions like restaurants, schools and hospitals to “buy local,” Wicks helped establish “The Common Market,” where institutions can call one phone number to access a range of local food products. And the White Dog has started a local farm stand — now an actual grocery story — where 90 local vendors market their products.
Beyond just talking the talk, Wicks has learned to “walk the walk” at the White Dog Café. When she first heard the concept of a “living wage,” she said she had what she described as a typical business owner reaction of, “I can’t do that – I’d go broke.” Later, while working with several employees, she realized how important it was that anyone working for her full time earned a living wage, with appropriate benefits.
In spite of the White Dog’s financial success, Wicks still believes success is measured, “not by belongings, but by belonging.” And with that philosophy, White Dog continues to build community in Philadelphia through celebrations and educational events.
White Dog invites its community to participate in community tours of gardens, affordable housing and eco-friendly practices. The café supports a mentoring program, table talks on issues, storytelling, community service days and “take a senior to work” to help community seniors get out more. In addition, White Dog hosts celebrations of multicultural events such as Noche Latina, Native American Thanksgiving Dinner, Rum and Reggae, Dinner in Memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi Birthday Dinner and a Freedom Seder.
The day after Wicks’ lecture, she joined the CEFS community at a roundtable discussion facilitated by Wes Jackson, president of The Land Institute in Kansas, and Wendell Berry, author, farmer and philosopher. Jackson and Berry hosted a series of discussions around the country on a “50-year farm bill” to present to presidential hopefuls Barak Obama and John McCain in hopes of influencing future agriculture policy.
— Natalie Hampton
“I joined a community group, and I became a community organizer,” Wicks told a crowd of 300 at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems’ second Sustainable Agriculture Lecture, held in September. Wicks is owner and chef of the White Dog Café Philadelphia, where she is a leader in promoting local foods and organizing local living economies.
Wicks and her group preserved the community, where her business still is today. She started the restaurant as a coffee and muffin shop in her backyard, with picnic tables and lawn furniture. She had a charcoal grill for cooking, a dishwasher in her dining room, and her home’s bathroom served as the restroom. Today the White Dog Café remains in the same neighborhood but spans three houses and a fourth for a retail store and grosses $5 million a year.
“I took responsibility for my community, where I’ve lived for 35 years,” she said. “That’s one of the first principles of the local living economy movement, and that’s to take responsibility for your place.”
Living and working in the same community has helped Wicks to make more balanced decisions, “not to maximize profits, but to maximize relationships” with her employees and customers, she said. Her connection with her employees encouraged her to offer her full-time employees a “living wage” — paying employees enough to actually live on. The White Dog also was the first Pennsylvania business to purchase all its energy from renewable sources.
The White Dog became one of the first restaurants to buy local and fair trade foods, more than 20 years ago. Wicks began purchasing two pigs a week from a local farm to “serve pork that aligned with my values,” Wicks said. She later began buying local grass-fed beef.
“Without the local farmers selling locally, consumers lost their connection to the land. And today most Americans no longer know who grows the food, who brews the beer, who bakes the bread, who sews the clothes, who builds the houses. We’ve become disconnected from our places,” she said.
Wicks realized that her local food restaurant was in a niche market all its own, and she could have held that competitive advantage. But hoping to expand restaurant markets for local growers, Wicks began sharing her local food practices with competing restaurants. Today, 20 percent of the White Dog’s profits go into a nonprofit designed to build a local food system.
To encourage institutions like restaurants, schools and hospitals to “buy local,” Wicks helped establish “The Common Market,” where institutions can call one phone number to access a range of local food products. And the White Dog has started a local farm stand — now an actual grocery story — where 90 local vendors market their products.
Beyond just talking the talk, Wicks has learned to “walk the walk” at the White Dog Café. When she first heard the concept of a “living wage,” she said she had what she described as a typical business owner reaction of, “I can’t do that – I’d go broke.” Later, while working with several employees, she realized how important it was that anyone working for her full time earned a living wage, with appropriate benefits.
In spite of the White Dog’s financial success, Wicks still believes success is measured, “not by belongings, but by belonging.” And with that philosophy, White Dog continues to build community in Philadelphia through celebrations and educational events.
White Dog invites its community to participate in community tours of gardens, affordable housing and eco-friendly practices. The café supports a mentoring program, table talks on issues, storytelling, community service days and “take a senior to work” to help community seniors get out more. In addition, White Dog hosts celebrations of multicultural events such as Noche Latina, Native American Thanksgiving Dinner, Rum and Reggae, Dinner in Memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi Birthday Dinner and a Freedom Seder.
The day after Wicks’ lecture, she joined the CEFS community at a roundtable discussion facilitated by Wes Jackson, president of The Land Institute in Kansas, and Wendell Berry, author, farmer and philosopher. Jackson and Berry hosted a series of discussions around the country on a “50-year farm bill” to present to presidential hopefuls Barak Obama and John McCain in hopes of influencing future agriculture policy.
— Natalie Hampton