It’s a Saturday morning. My alarm chimes from across the room, the sky is still grey and sleepy (just like me), and I have a pair of rubber boots waiting for me at the door. I fight the comfort of my bed and begin to get ready for my morning, donning jeans with dirty stains decorating my knees and a ratty old t-shirt. In thirty minutes, I’ll be driving out to a small church, where I’ll join friends and like-minded peers in an impressive garden, weeding and composting until noon. This is the People’s Freedom Farm, and there’s no other way I’d rather spend my Saturday.
The Freedom Farm
The People’s Freedom Farm was founded by the Revolutionary Education and Action League, “an organization of working-class people with the goal of building REAL power within our communities.” REAL frequently organizes protests in the city, along with forums and movie nights featuring educational films on American history. In addition to the People’s Freedom Farm, there is the People’s Free Kitchen and Defense Program. I’ve attended several of REAL’s events and have found them to be enriching and enlightening. While I appreciate and applaud every opportunity that REAL provides the community, it is the Freedom Farm that is dearest to me.
In an Instagram post introducing people to the organization, REAL.orl describes the Freedom Farm as producing “local, sustainable foods to distribute directly to the community and to aid in the sustainability of the People’s Free Kitchen.” They also host events that teach “essential skills and techniques for producing, preparing, and preserving the foods we grow.” The garden is the largest I’ve seen, with an abundance of crops, along with a massive pile of compost that will be turned and refreshed. I’ve seen eggplants, pineapple, carrots, peppers, cucumbers, and many other fruits and vegetables harvested here.
All the produce gathered from the farm is sent to People’s Free Kitchen, which turns the crops into beautiful meals distributed throughout Pine Hill to those dealing with food insecurity. An Instagram post from @freekitchen.orl showcases one of these meals: a scoop of macaroni and cheese, Caesar salad with a generous serving of dressing, a homemade biscuit, and glistening barbecue chicken legs. This delicious meal is just one of many.
On Aug. 11, People’s Free Kitchen and Farm celebrated a wildly successful three years of aid and over 7,000 meals delivered to those in need.
Orlando’s Needs
To those who’ve been blessed to live free of food insecurity, like me, the situations that REAL combats might seem distant and foreign. The sad reality reveals that food insecurity is much closer to you than you think. According to Data USA, Orlando’s poverty rate sits at 15.5%, which is slightly above the national rate of 11.1% in 2023, and the coming year seems grim.
There have been numerous headlines concerning President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which affects a myriad of policies, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP.
SNAP exists to provide quality food to low-income families. It allows families to purchase fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, bread, and snacks. In 2024, the USDA reported that 12.3% of Americans utilized the program. On average, SNAP aided 41.7 million people each month to cover groceries — over half of these participants are also providing for children. But under President Trump’s tax policy, work requirements have expanded, limiting who can apply for the program’s benefits, and a demand for “cost neutrality” makes it harder to afford quality food with SNAP. Simply put, fewer people will be able to use it — including people who have already been benefiting — and those who still qualify will be undermined.
The need for REAL’s Freedom Farm and Kitchen is more crucial now than ever, and you can join the community’s efforts to provide. REAL’s Instagram handle is simply “@real.orl,” where the information in this article and more can be found. Even though the Freedom Farm is not harvesting for me, the work remains incredibly rewarding, and I can’t help but keep coming back.