Lowcountry Cuisine Spring 2018

lowcountry cuisine LC 13 www.LowcountryCuisineMag.com | www.CharlestonRecipes.com neighborhood searching for food that she decided to do something about it. That was more than 10 years ago, when she worked at the Lowcountry Food Bank. Despite a career in the food industry – and a degree from Johnson & Wales – Germaine did not picture herself as a farmer. But training through the Clemson University Extension and avid volunteer work at the old Chicora-Cherokee Elementary School inspired her to grow food. “I’d had little gardening experience until the Clemson Extension,” she said. “Then my husband and I dug up the grass in our front yard and put a garden there. What we ate for several years came from our yard. Neighborhood kids would come by and ask me if I had a farm. I would say, ‘I guess I do – here, take a pepper home.’ I had the feeling that we shouldn’t be the only people with this experience and this access.” Germaine sprang into action soon after, conducting internet research and visiting other cities to attend conferences on food access. In 2013, the South Carolina Community Loan Fund announced a Feeding Innovation competition, and she decided to enter. By 2014, Fresh Future Farm had set up in the neighborhood on a swath of land owned by the city. Germaine claimed she chose it for the proximity to major thoroughfares such as Rivers Avenue and the CARTA station. A year later, the farm had a produce stand up and 1/3P ADVERTISER Rated Best Seafood by Southern Living Magazine 9 Years in a Row 215 Meeting St., Charleston 843.723.6000 | Open 11am until 7 days a week | hymanseafood.com | like us on facebook 2015,2016,2017 Voted Best Crab Cakes in Charleston Charleston Living Magazine readers poll survey BY LOCALS (not tourists) Family owned businesses since 1890