Finding Kinship, closing Crossroads and a Hundred Acre chat

Because we like to keep things fresh around here, let’s flip the usual approach and start with the roundup so we can close with the centerpiece of this episode:

• As our hosts are both dumpling aficionados, they were happy to talk about the places doing them right around the city.
• They also check in on Kinship Café, which got some well-deserved attention thanks to a recent visit from comedian (and volunteer) Jim Gaffigan.
• Over on the East Side, Crossroads Collective will close so “a local restaurant” (possibly Shanghai) can expand into the space.

All caught up? Great. We’ve got special guests to introduce.

Chris Corkery established Hundred Acre during what can be generously called tumultuous times. It was 2020, and just about everyone had suddenly gotten to know the term “supply chain” and how disrupting it can change pretty much everyone’s lives.

One of the areas most affected in those circumstances is the food system, especially when it comes to underserved areas in cities like outs. Corkery decided to address the situation by establishing Hundred Acre — an urban farm “providing a rapid response solution to food insecurity in the heart of Milwaukee.”

It’s an ambitious project that’s still going strong five years later, and yet somehow we’ve never had Corkery on the podcast to talk about it. So we made up for lost time by covering the farm’s origin story, why he chose Milwaukee over other cities, “pesto with purpose” and growing even more in the years ahead.