Apr

The Kale Project

by Meredith Mullins on April 24, 2014

Kristen Beddard, creator of The Kale Project, toasts her new life in Paris.
© Meredith Mullins

Life-Changing Experiences in Paris with a Leafy Green Vegetable

This could be a story about many things.

a crusader
an expat trying to feel at home in a new country

inspiration for healthy eating
how to awaken an interest for something lost and forgotten

persistence
persuasiveness
success against challenging odds
the ability to see a problem and create a project to fix it
life-changing experiences

Or, this could just be a story about kale.

A kale leaf, part of Kristen Beddard's life-changing experiences with The Kale Project in Paris

In France, kale was a forgotten vegetable.
© bhofack2/iStock

A Tale of Kale: The Story of a Crusade

In fact, this story is about all these things, punctuated by “Oh, I see” moments of the best kind.

The two main characters are kale and a young American woman, Kristen, in Paris. Both have superpowers.

Kristen Beddard is a kale crusader. America embraced kale years ago, and even overmarketed it into a hashtag. It is the leafy green vegetable that has it all (the food you should probably vote to have with you on a desert island).

However, France needed a nudge. Kale was a légume oublié, a forgotten vegetable.

A nutritious staple in the Middle Ages in Europe and even in WW II in the UK, kale was unknown to most contemporary French farmers and consumers. They hadn’t ever seen it. It just didn’t exist in the French culinary world of the 21st century.

Kristen Beddard with a kale salad, part of her life-changing experiences with The Kale Project in Paris (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

A destiny of kale
© Meredith Mullins

A Leafy-Green Destiny

Enter Kristen—to the rescue.

Destiny? Perhaps.

In the third grade, the students in her class were asked by the teacher to associate the first letter of their name with something that was meaningful to them.

Kristen did not hesitate. “My name is Kristen and I like kale.”

Although most of the kids in class had no idea what kale was, Kristen had been raised with it . . . and many other organic foods. Home was healthy—a place where watermelon was dessert, carob cake was for special occasions, and the words Ding Dong could never be uttered.

“My mom believed in nourishing food,” Kristen says. When I was sick, she fed me brown rice, miso soup, and kale. I associate these things with home.”

kale soup, part of Kristen Beddard's life-changing experiences in Paris with the Kale Project

Nourishing soup, with kale at its center
© Sage Elyse/iStock

Making Paris a Home

Kristen arrived in Paris two years ago when her husband’s job brought them to France. As with all new expat arrivals, she knew it was important to find a raison d’être, a meaningful plan to pass the time and a way to feel at home in new surroundings.

For Kristen, kale served both purposes. It grounded her with her organic past and made her think of home, and it provided a challenge for her present and future.

She had a mission. She would reintroduce kale to Paris. The Kale Project was born.

All Things Start with a Seed

seed packet for The Kale Project, part of Kristen Beddard's life changing experiences in Paris

The first Kale Project seed packet

The first step was to convince farmers to grow this lovely leafy green. Like Johnny Appleseed, she gave seed packets to likely candidates and provided (in her words) a “wholesome, earthy, and fresh” taste of kale to tempt producers and consumers.

A former NY ad account manager, Kristen knew how to sell. She knew the kale headlines in the U.S. were a plus (kale was trending). She knew its nutrition value was unsurpassed (protein, calcium, vitamins A and C, wrapped up in just a few calories). She knew, instinctively, “if you grow it, they will come.”

She convinced several farmers to give it a try.

A kale field, part of The Kale Project in Paris and the life-changing experiences of Kristen Beddard

Kale . . . as far as the eye can see
© Tom Brakefield/Stockbyte

On the Trail of Kale

The next step was to gain the attention of restaurants and boutiques. She talked with chefs. She organized several kale events in Paris to make kale a topic of conversation in the community.

She even briefly pursued being a kale chef, bringing huge bags full of kale from Normandy on the train and turning her kitchen into a production haven for kale chips, kale pesto, and kale salads.

kale chips, part of Kristen Beddard's life changing experiences with The Kale Project in Paris

Kale Chips (They’re Addictive!)
© bhofack2/iStock

(This was a period of frustration for her husband, since the refrigerator full of kale was designated for her clients and not for their own dinner. Kale, kale everywhere, but not a leaf to spare.)

Her passion and drive had results. She began to note on a Google map on The Kale Project website the places where kale was appearing—in markets and in restaurants. The kale network grew.

Jay with kale leaves, the result of the successful Kale Project in Paris and the life-changing experiences of Kristen Beddard (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Jay, of Cantine California in Paris, makes a mean green kale juice, chock full of kale plus apples, cucumber, and kiwi.
© Meredith Mullins

New Horizons

Now that kale sightings in Paris are more frequent and The Kale Project could be considered a success, what’s next for Kristen?

She has many projects that keep her entrepreneurial spirit busy, including helping people in the south of France and other European countries bring kale to their farms, markets, and restaurants.

close up of kale leaf, fresh from the fields, a goal of Kristen Beddard's life changing experiences related to The Kale Project in Paris

Local produce: fresh from field to market
© Lookamotive/iStock

Like any good environmentalist and champion of local produce, she would like kale to be planted wherever it can grow, so it travels only short distances from field to market.

She will always be a kale supporter. However, she did mention that it’s been hard to find dandelion and mustard greens in Paris. Is there a new movement in the making? Time will tell.

What we do know is that we need more crusaders like Kristen. One person CAN make a difference.

These are the life-changing experiences that make the world a better place.

Ready for some interesting kale in your life? OIC offers this download of great kale recipes by Kristen Beddard:

For more about Kristen and The Kale Project, take a look at this film made for Dark Rye. If video does not display, watch it here.

If you’ve always wanted to know more about how to massage kale (who hasn’t?), check out this massage video. If video does not display, watch it here.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins 10 Comments

France (Paris)/The World's Entrepreneurs

Dec

Meaningful Greetings for the Holiday Season

by Janine Boylan on December 9, 2013

Rwandan orphans overcoming obstacles through their fair-paying jobs at Cards from Africa. (Image © Cards from Africa)

Youth in Rwanda display their hand-crafted cards.
Image courtesy of Cards from Africa, a division of Good Paper

Crafting Cards and Overcoming Obstacles

When we choose our family’s annual holiday greeting cards, we try to find something that shows a bit of our personality and what is important to us as a family. After all, this is often the only letter some friends receive from me all year long!

But what if our cards could help others at the same time?

I discovered three card lines that do that. These handmade greetings are transforming the lives of people in Haiti, the Philippines, and Rwanda.

Hope for Haiti

The 2010 earthquake in Haiti turned many lives upside down. People lost their homes and livelihoods in a matter of moments.

Six months after the quake, a group of woman met in the government camp where they were living. They decided to do something to work their way out of the crowded, unprotected tents they were living in.

Ranging in age from 18 to 82, the women chose to make and sell greeting cards. They named their group OFEDA—Organisation des Femmes Dévouées en Action (Organization of Dedicated Women in Action).

OFEDA women in Haiti overcoming obstacles through work on their handmade cards. (Image © Paula Allen)

OFEDA women at work in their camp
Image by Paula Allen

handmade card from OFEDA, illustrating women from Haiti overcoming obstacles. (Image © OFEDA)

A hand-stitched holiday card from OFEDA
Image courtesy of OFEDA

Eventually other women joined their group.

They drew pictures, cut and glued paper, and stitched designs to create the cards. They worked on rickety tables, through blistering heat or pouring rain.

Then, in 2012, tropical storm Isaac ripped through their camp.

Somehow they managed to keep their card-making supplies safe. Just days after the storm, they overcame this latest obstacle and were back at work.

Now, four years later, the fairy tale ending hasn’t happened yet. The woman are still in the tent camp.

But some things have changed. The group has expanded to 200 members. A group of U.S. soap makers has taught the OFEDA women how to make handmade soap to sell.

The women also added hand-sewn bags and knit hats to their product line. And the card makers continue with their cards.

With the profits from their work, the women have been able to buy needed personal supplies. Currently their supplies are provided by donation, but as the sales increase, the women will be able to fully run their own business.

See their work at OFEDA.com.

Hope for the Philippines

Women in the Philippines overcoming obstacles through work on handmade cards. (Image © Sanctuary Spring/Good Paper)

Image courtesy of Sanctuary Spring,
a division of Good Paper

The women of Sanctuary Spring make sweet, humorous cards. But their pasts were not sweet or humorous.

Due to poverty, trickery, or desperation, these women turned to prostitution for income.

They faced humiliation daily. But one by one, they found their way from this frightening life on the street to a safe and secure job with an income that allows them to provide food and education for their families.

The women’s lives have changed dramatically. Some have learned to be more patient as they cut and piece together the cheerful cards; others have learned the art of sewing for the first time. They feel safe in a community of friends who understand and support them. Some women are making plans to create their own businesses.

One card maker, Jasmine, explains, “Above all, I am learning hope and transformation from the darkness of my past. I have seen the value of women and my thinking has changed about how a woman should speak, think, and live.”

View the cards on the Good Paper site.

Through Sanctuary Spring, women in the Philippines are overcoming obstacles with jobs making handmade cards like this. (Image © Sanctuary Spring/Good Paper)

Image courtesy of Sanctuary Spring, a division of Good Paper

Hope for Rwanda

The horrific genocide in Rwanda during the 1990s made international headlines. While the country has made tremendous progress since that time, its young people are still recovering.

Many youth lost their parents to either the killing or to disease. That meant that these school-aged kids instantly had to act as responsible adults and care for their multiple siblings.

Through Cards from Africa, youth in Rwanda are overcoming obstacles with jobs making cards like this. (Image © Cards from Africa/Good Paper)

Image courtesy of Cards from Africa,
a division of Good Paper

Cards from Africa has given these young people, aged 18–25, an opportunity to work in a safe and clean environment and earn more than five times what they might earn elsewhere.

These wages support the families, and, perhaps just as importantly, allow the younger siblings to stay in school.

In addition, the cards are made from office waste. With no official recycling in Rwanda, waste paper is normally burned instead of reused. So, these cards lengthen the life cycle of the paper and keep the air a little cleaner.

Visit the Good Paper site to see the cards.

Youth overcoming obstacles and making cards in Rwanda. (Image © Cards from Africa/Good Paper)

Making each card with joy.
Image courtesy Cards from Africa, a division of Good Paper

Oh, I see so many great choices for meaningful seasonal greetings!

Now how do I choose?

Sanctuary Spring and Cards from Africa are two product lines from Good Paper. Check out their site to see other hand-crafted fair trade items.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Janine Boylan Comments

Haiti/Philippines/Rwanda/The World's Entrepreneurs

Nov

How Creative Thinking Kicks The Soccket Ball to Success

by Sheron Long on November 7, 2013

Brain-shaped light bulb symbolizing the power of creative thinking to solve problems

When brain power lights up and creative thinking flows, people find the
good ideas that solve perplexing problems.
© iStock

Powered by Play

In 2008, for an engineering project at Harvard, Jessica O. Matthews teamed up with Julia Silverman, to prototype a soccer ball that traps kinetic energy during play and then turns the energy into a light source.

They called it the SOCCKET because a light inserted into the ball uses the stored energy for power. Thirty minutes of play harnesses enough energy to power a LED light for three hours.

During soccer play, a pendulum-like mechanism inside the SOCCKET captures the kinetic energy and stores it in the ball for later use as an off-grid power source.
© Uncharted Play Team

In 2011, Matthews and Silverman co-founded Uncharted Play to produce the SOCCKET and thereby harness the power of play as a power source for people.

Their story is a fascinating one on how creative thinking, fortitude, and perspiration lead to successful products. And their work illustrates (at least) five stages of creative problem-solving.

1. Seeing the Need

Over 1.3 billion people worldwide lack access to electricity that is reliable, affordable, clean, and safe.

As a result, households use dangerous sources of power, such as kerosene lamps and diesel generators, which cause nearly 2 million deaths per year and harm the environment. According to Uncharted Play, “Living with fumes from one kerosene lamp is the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes every day.”

Jessica O. Matthews, who applied creative thinking to invent the SOCCKET ball. Image © Uncharted Play Team.

Matthews explains how she came to understand the need:

Just a few months before the SOCCKET was first developed, I visited Nigeria for my uncle’s wedding. I remember very distinctively choking on the fumes of a diesel generator outside their house.

My cousins said, “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” Their complacency really bothered me.

2. Putting Two and Two Together

Though her relatives didn’t want to change the situation, Matthews noticed that they did want to play soccer:

Around my aunt’s compound, kids were kicking around whatever they could find. I even saw kids playing soccer with a bottle cap. Still, their skills were more impressive than those seen in a FIFA level game.

As often happens in a creative “Oh, I see” moment, Matthews combined the two ideas and the inspiration for the SOCCKET came alive.

Typographic art using two light bulbs to replace the o's in "Solution" and symbolizing how creative thinking is often seeing the connection between two disparate ideas. Image © iStock.

The solution she envisioned would use people’s passion for play to create the power for households, allowing kids to study and families to accomplish tasks after dark.

Boy studying after dark with the light of the SOCCKET, a creative solution for families in energy-deprived locations. Image © Uncharted Play Team.

3. Getting the Idea Off the Ground

After prototyping the SOCCKET for their engineering project, Matthews and Silverman (who were studying to be social scientists, not engineers) discovered the inevitable obstacles that come with pursuing an idea.

In an interview with Inc., Matthews discussed how she ran into an engineering community that insisted “there was no way to build a ball that would be light enough to kick and capable of generating substantial energy.”

That’s where the perspiration came in. She “taught herself the basics of soldering, building circuitry boards, and whatever else it would take to bring the idea to fruition.” The final SOCCKET weighs only one ounce more than a soccer ball.

Soccer balls rising from grass, symbolizing how a creative idea gets off the ground.

Textbook Example: As happens with many ideas, it was harder to get
the SOCCKET off the ground than to think it up.
© iStock

Matthews also had to maintain a strong belief in the value of her idea. As she says of the SOCCKET:

I knew it would be a good product at the very least. I never once said that it could be huge; I only said that it was meaningful. I was very persistent in my belief the SOCCKET would matter to people in a way that made it worth continuing its development. So I pursued it.

And she gives due credit to her naiveté in business, citing it as an advantage in not worrying about what could stop her.

4. Going for Quality

On the journey from the creative idea to the quality solution, Matthew’s company recognized the importance of testing, listening, debriefing, redesigning, and retesting.

The SOCCKET after plenty of use in field trials that are essential to creative problem-solving. Image © Uncharted Pay Team.

Companies with a commitment to quality always kick around a new product before its release.
The SOCCKET took plenty of kicks in field trials this fall in Nigeria.
© Uncharted Play Team

So far, over 10,000 SOCCKETS have been tested in Central and South America, Africa, and in a few communities in the USA.

New ideas emerged, so the SOCCKET that goes on sale in the next few months will also come in a Portable Power Kit—one SOCCKET and ten portable lamps that remain lit for an hour after a 25-second charge from the SOCCKET.

Diagram showing how multiple lamps can be charged from one SOCCKET and representing the importance of product testing in reaching creative solutions. © Uncharted Play Team.

Testing a product leads to improvements. Uncharted Play identified the need to charge multiple lights from one SOCCKET and to make the lights portable.
© Uncharted Play Team

According to Uncharted Play, “That way, children living in off-grid communities can play with a single SOCCKET ball as a team at school and still have their own personal light for reading . . . each night.”

5. Keep Asking “What’s Next?”

Consistent with its mission to inspire people around the world to lead playful lives and to foster well-being from that play, Matthew’s company keeps the creative thinking going.

For the developing world, it has prototyped other energy-generating play “tools,” like jump ropes that hold four times as much power as the SOCCKET.

For the developed world, it has created a smart soccer ball called Ludo, due out in 2014. A motion sensor detects time used in play. The number of minutes are converted into Play Points that individuals can “spend” to direct donations from sponsors to social development projects.

It looks like the power of play will keep such creative problem-solving going for years to come!

Jessica O. Matthews and Julia Silverman were honored by the Harvard Foundation in 2012 as “Scientists of the Year.” To keep up with the latest at Unchartered Play, check their Facebook page.