“There’s been a culture shift and people don’t raise gardens like they used to. I wanted to teach people to grow their own food, so they can teach others, because there’s a huge connection between good fresh food and good health.” —Laurie Berman-founder AMI.
Elora Overbey’s face lights up when she talks about food and family. “Our family’s love language is food,” she tells me. “It’s a shared passion.” So, it’s no surprise that she eventually ended up at the Allegheny Mountain Institute.
Perched against the clouds that drift across the mountains of Highland County, Virginia, the Institute is remote, even by mountain standards, but the vistas, learning, and lifestyle are, as Elora says, “magical and impactful.”
Founded in 2011, AMI’s motto is “Growing Food. Building Community.” Fellows, who are typically young adults “near the beginning of their careers,” are selected “based on their passion for creating a more sustainable food system and their change-making potential.”
Being a Fellow at AMI is all about the food and the community. It’s about learning to grow, not only from seeds planted in the greenhouse and garden, but also from the community of Fellows who’ve come there to learn with you.
Overbey came to AMI by way of what she refers to as “a series of overlapping concentric circles.” She began her post-college career as a freelance photographer and journalist in Portland, Oregon with a desire to tell stories about communities. She supplemented her income by working at an Israeli-themed food cart. There, she learned that she loved to cook, and that she was intrigued by the way that food defined the quality of human life.
Then, Overbey moved back to Virgina and began volunteering with her mom at Lynchburg Grows. She became more interested in the idea of food deserts: urban areas where there is no easy source of fresh produce. As she helped with the program’s Veggie Van, Overbey ran into people who didn’t know what to do with the vegetables that they were buying.
“Something was missing,” she says. “The tools I had weren’t helping me address the issues of teaching people how to access good food and take charge of their own health.”
When Overbey saw a posting for a Fellowship at Allegheny Mountain Institute, she realized her life had come full circle. Not only did the program emphasize the same passion her family found in sharing and preparing food, it’s also possible that one of the buildings was constructed with the help of her mother, who attended timber-framing classes there when it was Bear Mountain Outdoor School. Overbey says that “life is strange and does full circles all the time.” Recognizing the significance of those overlapping circles, she applied to the program. . .
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