3 Ways to Grow Collective Care Around Food
In partnership with Good Food Community, we're helping create tangible ways for you to participate in co-creating ecological, equitable and just futures through food.
Hello, ka-Hapag Ugnayan!
You’re here because like us, you want to reconnect with the land, the kitchen and your kapwa through food and creativity. And the reason we pursue this is because this is the first step in growing collective care and maka-kapwang kalinga for the land and for our fellow beings.
The good news is, there are many ways to participate in reconnecting with the land, the kitchen and each other; many ways to participate in growing collective care through food.
We hope this humble space on Substack and @hapagugnayan on Instagram can be a part of surfacing more and more of those ways as we connect with more and more people who, like us, have a healthy enough amount of delusion and audacity to try.
There is so much uncertainty and possible “failure” in trying to cultivate connection and care, let alone create change around us — in wider social systems and even in our homes. Some changes feel so intractable, but I suppose that’s where a level of stubbornness, delusion and audacity become our lifeline.1
Jen Horn | Pagbubuo
In the meantime, we’d love to share three tangible opportunities for you to engage with the work of growing cultures of collective care, in solidarity with our friends from Good Food Community, who have worked tirelessly for 15 years, trying to grow this culture.
No matter where you are in your journey of learning more about food systems and food sovereignty, and no matter where you are in the world, there is a way for you to engage and participate.
1. Tampipi ng Ugnayan (for PH-based folks)
We’ve created Tampipi ng Ugnayan, not merely as a product or commodity, but as an experience and an invitation to our ka-gulay community.2
By sharing your solidarity with us, you will receive:
The gift of nourishment from 4 weeks of organic produce from Good Food Community’s Pamayanihan / Community-Shared Agriculture (CSA) with their smallholder farmer partners
The gift of connection from:
Physical and digital tools for connection from Ugnayan Cards and Hapag Ugnayan
Joining our Ka-gulay Online Gathering on July 11, 9:30AM-11:15AM
Joining Tikim at Tahi on July 19, 12:00NN-4:00PM
The deadline for this offer is on July 6, but even past that, you may also continue to check out ways to be a ka-gulay through Good Food Community’s other CSA farmshare offerings.
2. Tampipi ng Ugnayan (for US-based folks)
By working with the diaspora, we get to create international networks of solidarity. We’re grateful to @kimsaira for helping us make it possible to engage with fellow Filipinos based in the US.
Similar to the Tampipi ng Ugnayan for Philippine-based folks, you also get to support Good Food’s organic farmer partners, receive tools for connection, but this time, you also help us deliver organic veggies to urban poor communities in the Philippines!
Learn more about it here. You can customize your expression of solidarity according to what feels right to you, and we’re happy to welcome you into our ka-gulay community across the world. ❤️🔥
Support this initiative until July 31, 2026 only. Our US-based kapwa Kim Saira will help us ship your Ugnayan Cards to you when she flies back to the US from the Philippines in August.
3. Tikim at Tahi on July 19
A potluck carries the spirit of collective care and co-creation.
Join us for Tikim at Tahi July 19, 12:00NN to 4:00PM at Good Food Sundays, Mandala Park, Shaw Blvd., Mandaluyong to reconnect with the land, the kitchen and each other through this potluck of food and creativity!
WHAT TO EXPECT
Celebrate in community through a potluck or salo-salo of different gulay-forward dishes and plant-based food vendors at Good Food Sundays
Connect with more gulay and gathering friends through organic produce from Good Food’s partner farmers + Ugnayan Cards-supported conversations with friends from the multiverse of Good Food Community and Hapag Ugnayan
Create together ~ Co-create a zine around food with Jen Horn of Hapag Ugnayan or stitch your solidarity on our shared table cloth with Keina Sabay of Hiwaga Hands
To help us better prepare for the gathering, registration is open until July 16 only.
These are only a few ways to engage for now, and we will continue to work on sharing more ways for you to learn, connect and participate in co-creating these cultures of collective care.
We hope to see you in one of these spaces soon!
Tungo sa sustansya at sagana sa Hapag Ugnayan,
Jen Horn | Pagbubuo
Read The Inconvenience of Cultivating Collective Care Through Food by Jen Horn.
In Tagalog, “ka-” is a prefix that indicates connection, partnership, or shared identity. To be a ka-gulay means being someone who shares our same gulay, and through our Tampipi ng Ugnayan, someone who engages with us through Pamayanihan or Community-Shared Agriculture (CSA) — a pagtataya or betting on small organic farmers and on growing our ka-gulay community.