The Ethicurean put it better than I ever could have. Despite Jamaica Plain’s progressive community and seeming hunger for everything “green” and “sustainable”, they have missed the opportunity to secure Lionette’s Market at the Brewery. Apparently the problem is financing, which is a very familiar story in my industry as well. In an email Jamey Lionette said, “We are NOT moving into the Brewery.  We tried lots of different banks, lenders, and development corporations and they all felt the project was too big a risk,  so they all said no.  We got next to nothing from the city and less from the state.  I had several ‘money adviser’ type people who all thought it was a slam dunk, but alas, a Lionette‘s market and year round farmer’s market at the brewery is nothing that any lending institution wants anything to do with.”

Lionette's Market has low carbon trike delivery

I was blown away when I heard this. Are you kidding me?! If ever there was a location perfectly suited for a “slow food“  business, it’s Jamaica Plain. Every condo in town would be getting deliveries from the little MetroPed trikes.

I’m on a bit of a sustainability/environmental warpath and I’m embarrassed to say that I never even thought about where my food was coming from until the last two years.

Vitoria Brokhof

This probably had a lot to do with my concern for my daughter Vitoria’s health. We saw a couple of documentaries that most of you are probably familiar with like, King Corn, Super Size Me, Fast Food Nation and then just happened to follow up with a 10,000 mile road trip which just happened to take us past some of the food we had previously been eating. We drove by one of those huge cattle yards on a cold rainy day. There were thousands of absolutely massive cows mushing around in 6 inch deep mud and manure. We slowed down to take in the unusual size of the beasts and actually witnessed one collapse under it’s own weight. This made us really get serious about our food (although we could be doing much better). Until you really start to look around, you don’t realize how hard it is to find food that is made within your state, let alone organic or at least friendly farm food.

I was at Trader Joe’s the other day trying to find foods that were localish. I was really surprised to find that they don’t put the origin of the food on the package. Obviously things that have complex ingredient lists are harder to pin down, but fish and berries, etc. should be fairly straightforward. Nope.

If you call Jamaica Plain home and you think you’d like to support a business like Lionette’s Market, then speak up. Write the JP Gazette, drop a post on Neighbor’s For Neighbor’s, or at least leave a comment here. Also, check out the links in this post and learn more about some of the factors involved.

I just happened upon Andree and Ken’s weblog on Neighbor’s For Neighbors community organizing website (I guess it’s working). I’m excited about the prospect of watching them renovate their very old home with an eye to giving it a zero carbon footprint.

Jack's Store is now JP Green House

I signed up for their newsletters and I think you should too. Here’s a snippet from their project page:

The JP Green House is a zero carbon* demonstration project, sustainable urban model and hub for 350.org climate action founded by Andrée Zaleska and Ken Ward. We are rehabbing an abandoned, 100 year old, former neighborhood store located on the line between Jamaica Plain and Roslindale in Boston, Massachusetts. Our aim is to achieve passivhaus standards, win substantial independence from grid supplies of water and electricity, and supply a large portion of our food on a modest income. We are retrofitting the former “Jack’s store” as space for workshops and trainings, neighborhood events and gatherings like our JP Family SongFest.

The JP Green House is located at 133 Bourne Street, Roslindale. We welcome visitors & volunteers and have a schedule of activities and events. You can contact us at:

greenhousejp[at[gmail.com 617.512.8350