July '06

For educators, the summer is a time for renewing. For food service directors, summer often offers room to breath—either the cafeteria is closed, or it serves far fewer students through summer food programs. For parents and youth garden educators, summer may not be a resting period – but it is a break from the normal schedule.

Beyond breaks, I propose, at risk of sounding like a horoscope column, that summer is also a time for experimenting: a time to try new foods, new curriculum ideas, and new educational opportunities. Take the change of pace as a cue and see what other changes you can implement in your gardens, your education program, or on your plate.

This month’s articles were designed to inspire new directions or provide new resources for you as you think about experimentation. In the Cafeteria article, Claire Morenon revisits Chicopee’s program in “The Road to Local: How Chicopee Schools Made the Transition to Local Food.” Maggie Shar shares the story of a Holyoke school garden program field trip in the Community article, “A Sweet Escape: Holyoke Students Hang at Hanging Mountain Farm,” and Kerry Cesan provides a review of Seeds of Solidarity’s educational offerings in "Educating for Change: The Seeds of Solidarity Way."

As always, I invite you to share your own Farm to School story ideas, event announcements, or articles.

Grow well,
Kelly Coleman

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(Cafeteria)

In the last newsletter, Chicopee Public Schools’ food service program was profiled because of its commitment to purchasing locally grown produce. I met with Joanne Lennon, Food Service Director for the Chicopee Public Schools, to find out more about how the program got off the ground. Here is the story:

In 2004, Project Bread, an organization that works to help alleviate hunger in Massachusetts, received grant money to support institutional purchasing of local food. Project Bread approached Lennon because the Chicopee Public Schools demonstrated a need: the schools had a high percentage of children who were eligible for a federally funded summer food service program which provides free or reduced-cost meals to children in lower-income areas. Chicopee was also a good fit for a pilot local foods purchasing program because of the large volume of produce the school system used during the summer and because Lennon was enthusiastic about including local food in the food service program. To build a purchasing relationship between the school system and local farmers, Project Bread and Lennon teamed up with Kelly Erwin, who contracts with the MA Department of Agriculture Resources, and Anne Carter, an Assistant Professor at UMass, who negotiated a purchasing program with Czajkowski Farms of Hadley, MA. Anne Carter, through a Public Service Endowment Grant, provided additional funds to facilitate and promote Chicopee’s new purchasing relationship.

Lennon said that, for a food service director who is interested in purchasing locally grown produce, the most daunting part is finding a farmer who can meet the demands of a city-wide food service program. She said that the partnerships with Project Bread, who provided grant money to the program, Erwin, and Carter, who covered the transportation costs for the farm and provided some money for promotional material, were vital to getting the program off the ground.

There were some early challenges, of course. Project Bread provided financial support for the new equipment that was needed, such as a vegetable chopper and a smoothie machine, but handling fresh food still takes staff time. Some of the produce arrives chopped and ready to use, but some doesn’t, and it was the additional preparation time that required the most adjustment from staff. Lennon stressed that, without a supportive staff, this program would have been impossible. Nutrition is very important to the food-service workers, Lennon said, and if the kids eat it, even if it’s time consuming, they don’t mind doing the work. The staff has gone above and beyond the call of duty, even freezing vegetables and berries to use during the winter. But even for enthusiastic staff, handling fresh food takes time, and when the fresh corn comes in, Lennon is expected to show up in the cafeteria to help shuck it alongside everyone else.

The cafeteria staff is not alone in supporting the local food purchasing. Nurses at the school have been very helpful with promotion because of the nutritional benefits of encouraging local fruit and vegetable consumption in children. The mayor and superintendent of schools, and the administration in general, have also been very supportive.

When the program first started, Carter and Lennon created billboards to let the community know about the changes occurring in their school lunchrooms. Today, there are signs in the cafeteria and on the menu so the students know what items are local, which is an effective way to involve the kids in the program. Once, while visiting a cafeteria, Lennon overheard a third-grader ask a friend why the menu included local strawberries. The friend replied, “Nutrition, duh!” Parents have also noticed the changes, often commenting, “This sure isn’t what we had to eat when we were in school!”

When asked to pinpoint the most valuable lessons to come from this local-buying experience, Lennon said she has discovered that purchasing local food is a win-win situation for schools. Buying local produce only improves the quality of the food cafeterias can serve. The food tastes better, looks better, and is better for the kids. She added that a lot of patience and dedication, from the food service director, staff, administration, and the farmers, are required to establish such a program, but that once it’s in place, it is very worth it. Undoubtedly, the kids who get to enjoy the fresh meals in the Chicopee Public Schools agree.

Project Bread and Kelly Erwin have since partnered with other school districts to implement direct farm to school relationships. For more information you can contact Kelly Erwin with the MA Farm to School Project or Project Bread. Claire Morenon is the Program Assistant at CISA.

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(Community)

A Sweet Escape:
Holyoke Students Hang at Hanging Mountain Farm

By Maggie Shar

Sugaring season may feel years away now that the heat of summer has set in. But for Holyoke students the sweet taste of sap lingers. At the culmination of an eight week after-school gardening program at three Holyoke middle schools: Kelly, Sullivan, and Donahue, students toured Hanging Mountain Farms Sugar House in Westhampton, MA to learn about (and taste) maple syrup.

In late March when days were rapidly growing warmer and nights remained cool, maple sap flowed through sugar bushes, into evaporators and eventually onto pancakes and waffles throughout New England, including those belonging to over twenty Holyoke middle-schoolers. Packed into Hanging Mountain Farm’s strawbale restaurant, students poured, and poured, maple syrup over homemade buckwheat pancakes. Using compostable forks they devoured numerous pancakes and ingested more than their fair share of maple syrup. The meal was a rich reward for the afternoon spent touring sugaring stands and the sugar house and a season preparing beds in their own school gardens.

Holyoke’s after-school gardening program serves youth who spend early spring getting beds ready for the growing season. This year at Donahue, students constructed a few new beds and are experimenting with no till or “lasagna” gardening. The youth worked very hard to haul wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of compost to the garden and sawed boards to line their new beds. At Sullivan students built trellises and garden signs and started planting a seeds for Pizza Palace, a local restaurant who will buy vegetables from the garden. Kids are also busy gardening at Kelly school where perennials have been growing strong. Many of these youth will work in these gardens over the summer, thus getting an opportunity to see the garden through a complete cycle and learning a full suite of gardening skills. In addition to garden work, the program provides other agriculture education opportunities as well, such as farm tours, guest farmer visits, and field days.

On one of these field trips, students clambered onto a yellow school bus and drove from of their urban community out to rural Westhampton. After passing many pastures noted by students to host cows and horses and the distinct smells of both, we arrived at Hanging Mountain. Anita and her husband, who is a member of the Aloisi family and life long resident and farmer at Hanging Mountain Farms, greeted the large group. It is part of the farm’s mission to be an educational farm and this group of young Holyoke gardeners was one of the first school groups to visit.

After a tour of their old-fashioned sugar house, which included a complimentary sap steam facial, the youth were able to help collect and taste fresh sap, remarking it tasted like sugar water. Following this was a detailed tour of the sugaring operation and an explanation of the sugaring process. As we walked towards the woods to view the impressive collection of old maple trees and other tree varieties, the youth had fun running slalom races through the cultivated Fir trees.

At dusk the group all piled back into the yellow school bus, drove back through the fragrant pastures, over the mountains and back into Holyoke. This was a great field trip for learning about the origins of maple syrup, eating delicious pancakes with real maple syrup, and providing an opportunity for the youth to run around in a rural open space. The trip got ideas flowing like maple syrup in March about where they would like to go for their next garden field trip and what they should do next in their own back yard.

In Western Massachusetts we are lucky, not just because we have so many great farms, but a large number of these farms are interested in providing educational tours or are willing to come in to classrooms for talks. If your program is interested in setting up an educational farm tour, give CISA a call (413-665-7100)– we can help you find a farm and a farmer. Maggie Shar interned with CISA this spring and will be starting a graduate program at Antioch New England in the fall.

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(Curriculum)

Educating for Change:

The Seeds of Solidarity Way
By Kerry Cesan

If you don’t yet know about an education center in Orange, MA that is “Cultivating Hope and Educating for Change,” then you should promptly visit www.seedsofsolidarity.org and acquaint yourself with the good work of a non-profit group called Seeds of Solidarity. Deb Habib, Executive Director of the Seeds of Solidarity Education Center (SOS), reviewed with me a number of SOS resources for teachers and others, that have been developed in our own backyard.

Local Food/Local Energy Teacher’s Resource Kit

The Local Food/Local Energy Teacher’s Resource Kit is just as it sounds: a resource for teachers on local food and local energy. Each kit contains the following:
1. School Food – Rude or Renewed
Powerpoint presentation that covers issues such as why farm to school programs are important. This presentation is appropriate for teachers, administrators, school committees, parents, etc.

2. School Gardens and Greenhouses
Booklet chock full of how-to information and ideas on involving students in the planning process.

3. Lessons from SOL (Seeds of Leadership Garden)
SOL is an after-school gardening program for teens that takes place both during the school year and during summer vacation.

4. 15,000 Miles to Pizza
Sing-along storybook that is geared toward upper elementary and middle school students.

5. What Fuels Your Life?
Power-point presentation that compares biodiesel/waste-grease and fossil fuels from a cultural, environmental, and social perspective. The presentation takes a look at what things are made of and the impacts of the different approaches. A teacher’s disc is included to help cover the topic in the classroom.

SOS has donated teacher’s resource kits to libraries in the North Quabbin area (Wheeler Library is one), to Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, NH, and to the Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst, MA. These kits can be borrowed. Entire kits or in many cases individual pieces from the kit are available for purchase by contacting SOS.

Course: Reading, Writing, Wellness
This course was offered as a pilot course of six - 2 hr. sessions this past February and March 2006 for North Quabbin teachers and school staff. It is a graduate level course approved by Fitchburg State College for PDPs -professional development points. SOS is considering offering the course again and expanding to other communities. SOS welcomes inquiries regarding offering this course as a day-long workshop in other communities or as an in-service workshop for school districts.

According to the course description, "Implementation (of school wellness policies) will be most effective if approaches to wellness are integrated across the curriculum and foster school/community partnerships. This course is designed to provide educators with ideas and inspiration to get students personally invested in nutrition and wellness and to engage students in growing, preparing, and consuming local foods. Course participants will gain knowledge and content in relevant health, nutrition, and food system topics. Additionally, participants will gain method skills to develop project based service learning curricula in order to integrate wellness into their teaching. "

Workshop: School Gardens for Wellness
A workshop to be held Thursday August 17, 2006 from 3-6PM at SOS that links school gardens and greenhouses with wellness policies.

Consider taking advantage of SOS's many educational activities and resources as you prepare for the coming school year.

Kerry Cesan interned with CISA's Farm to School program while finishing a graduate program at Antioch New England.

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Events

July 27-29, St. Louis, Missouri
National Children and Youth Garden Symposium
Presented by the American Horticultural Society and hosted by the Missouri Botanical Garden, the theme of this year’s Symposium is “Cultivating a Sense of Place: A Youth Gardening Adventure.” Workshops, tours, and networking opportunities are capped by the keynote address by Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder. Learn more at the American Horticultural Society website.

July 31 - August 6, Everywhere!
Eat In, Act Out Week
Groups around the world are celebrating local farmers and food grown and raised in their own community. Learn how to host an event or find one near you!

August 9, Hartford, CT
LIFT Training at GROW Hartford in Hartford, Connecticut
Join the Food Project and others for a LIFT Training at Added Value in Brooklyn, New York. The LIFT initiative is a 3 year USDA-funded Training and Technical Assistance program designed to build capacity and lend support to agriculture-based food security organizations working to build an equitable, just and sustainable food system. In partnership with local organizations across the country, workshops are tailored to address the most pressing training needs of each community. Specific information about this training will be available here soon.

August 9- 10, New York
NY Farm to School Summit
This summit will be held at the Watson Homestead, Painted Post for all interested in the NY Farm to School Program. The agenda will include updates and reviews of existing program, recent events, and policy options as well as a discussion of the structure of the NY Farm to School program.

August 10-13, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
Northeast Organic Farming Association Conference
The 32nd Annual NOFA Summer Conference will feature over 150 workshops for all ages from games and wellness activities, to how-to practical skills lessons and farm tours, to issue oriented discussions. The conference will also feature music and local food. A pre-conference on Food and Farming Education will take place August 10th and 11th. . For more info go to the NOFA website.

Announcements

Award
SeaWorld/Busch Gardens/Fujifilm Environmental Excellence Awards
The 2007 SeaWorld/Busch Gardens/Fujifilm Environmental Excellence Awards will recognize the outstanding efforts of students, teachers, and community groups across the United States who are working at the grassroots level to protect and preserve the environment. Deadline November 30, 2006. Visit the program's website for complete application information and examples of previous award winners.

Funding Opportunity
Healthy Sprouts Awards
These awards support school garden programs that use the garden to teach about nutrition and the issue of hunger in the United States. Sponsored by Gardener’s Supply Company. In this grant cycle awards will be presented to 25 schools or organizations. Each will receive a $200 gift certificate to Gardener’s Supply Company and a curriculum package from the National Gardening Association. Apply by October 15, 2006.

Award
Golden Carrot Award
Learn about these cash awards that recognize school food service professionals who make a difference through innovative programs and nutrition education. Deadline September 15, 2006.

Grant Resource
Kids Gardening and Massachusetts Ag in the Classroom
To find a listing of grant resources for school garden programs and farm to school projects check out Kids Gardening! and Massachusetts Ag in the Classroom’s quarterly newsletter (to sign up for the newsletter email Debi).

White Paper
"Understanding Obesity: Beyond Teaching, Tinkering & Blaming"
The Hartman Group's white paper, "Understanding Obesity: Beyond Teaching, Tinkering & Blaming," suggests that the root of the obesity crisis is the sheer volume we eat: 2,700 calories per capita. They offer free downloads until Wednesday, July 26th. To get a copy, sign up here.

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Poverty a Contributing Factor in Teen Weight Gain
Older American adolescents living in poverty gain weight more rapidly than other teens, according to a new study published in the May 24, 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The percentage of adolescents age 15-17 who are overweight is about 50 percent higher in poor as compared to non-poor families. The main difference was among older teens, who generally have more autonomy to buy and eat what they want and determine their own activity level. Increases in the consumption of sweetened drinks and the likelihood of skipping breakfast were two factors contributing to weight gain among poor teens. “The campaign against obesity and the struggle against poverty are, in fact, one and the same,” commented Adam Drewnowski, a University of Washington obesity expert not involved in the study. To review the study, go here.

School Foods Report Card Released
The Center for Science in the Public Interest has released the “School Foods Report Card.” CSPI evaluated the school nutrition policies of all 50 states and the District of Columbia regarding the foods and beverages sold outside of the school meal programs through vending machines, a la carte (i.e., foods sold individually in the school cafeteria), school stores, and fundraisers. Each state policy was graded on five key considerations: 1) beverage nutrition standards; 2) food nutrition standards; 3) grade level(s) to which policies apply; (4) time during the day to which policies apply; and 5) location(s) on campus to which policies apply. No states receives an A grade, although 1 (Kentucky) received an A-. Twelve states received a B grade, fifteen received a C or D grade, and twenty-three states, including Massachusetts, received a failing grade.

News

Senator Clinton hosts congressional briefing on Food Systems
“Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton joined yesterday with Senators Arlen Specter, Tom Harkin and Herb Kohl to sponsor a congressional briefing on “Leveraging Local Food Systems for Healthy Farms and Healthy Communities”. The briefing provided an overview of model programs, economic impacts, and policy recommendations for leveraging local community food systems to improve access to healthy foods by schools, retailers, restaurants and local communities. In addition, a “Local Foods” reception was held in the evening, which focused on the importance of local food systems in improving school nutrition for kids and the importance of making locally grown, healthy food available to as many markets as possible.”To read the full release see here.

Summer Food Numbers Continue to Drop
Some 2.8 million children received meals at parks, schools, recreational programs, and other community sites through federal programs during a typical day in July 2005. Unfortunately, that represented only 18 percent of those who received a free or reduced-price meal daily during the school year from the School Lunch Program. Moreover, it was the seventh year in a row that the percentage of children fed in the summer declined. Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) in Washington, D.C., called for further expansion of a summer food pilot program, currently available in 19 states, that reduces paperwork for program sponsors. In the pilot states, summer feeding numbers increased by 4.3 percent. “Less red tape means more children fed,” he noted. “Summer meals programs are effective weapons in the fight against obesity,” added Lynn Parker, FRAC’s director of child nutrition. “The summer meals help children get the nutrients they need. And because they draw children to programs that often also offer physical activities, like basketball or swimming, summer meals promote fitness,” she said. View the FRAC report.

Child Nutrition Reimbursement Rates Updated
USDA also announced, in the July 17, 2006 Federal Register, that in compliance with federal law it would provide 16.75 cents worth of commodities for every school lunch served during the 2006-2007 school year. Though this amount is 0.75 cents lower than last year’s rate, an unexpended $86 million in commodity entitlement dollars will be spent this school year, increasing the amount of food going to schools for their meal services.

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Funding for CISA’s 2006 Farm-to-School program is provided by CISA’s community and farm members and by a grant from the Lawson Valentine Foundation.

Pictures in header are used with permission from The Food Project, CISA's Local Hero Campaign, and parents.