MLK Day isn't a day off here at the Food Shuttle. Rather, it's a day of service. AND it's the same for many of you. We have volunteers coming to our Raleigh facilty and our Durham Service Center today, using their time off work to give back to their communities. Keep checking with us throughout the day here and on twitter (@foodshuttle) for pictures and video of a community in action, working to make sure children, seniors and families get the food they need.
Week 2!
We're in the middle of Week 2 of the Culinary Job Training Program's 50th session! Take a look at this video to see what the students have been learing:
Stay tuned in the following days when we'll be introducing the CJTP staff: Chef Terri, Chef Will, Sharon and Sue.
A Pressure-Treated Dilemma
Here Comes the Sun...* A recent question from New Hope Community Garden got me thinking about the whole pressure treated wood issue again. I checked recent research and did some soul-searching and here is what I came up with…
“Dear Sun –what about using treated wood or railroad ties for raised beds. If we use un-treated wood will we have termites?”
The first question is - do you really need boxed beds? There are two reasons to box in container beds.
- Where space is limited - boxes allow more efficient and intensive plantings.
- Easier access for seniors - a 10" or 20" high bed is easier for senior gardeners to work.
Most community gardens utilize a combination of free-standing raised beds and box beds depending on the space available. Free-standing beds can be built up with compost and surrounding soil to a height of 8". This gives you good drainage and soil depth. You lose some garden space due to the sloping sides but I think this is minimal given the size of the garden that New Hope is planning (1/4 acre or more). With the space that you all have available I do not think that boxed beds will be cost effective for the whole garden. The two 20" high 3'x 60' beds we built for seniors at the Mayview Community Garden cost over $600. Add another $150 if you use treated wood.
The debate over possible health effects of treated wood rages on and is adequately addressed in the two articles I reference here at the bottom. It really comes down to how much arsenic do you think is safe in the soil where you grow your food? Even though arsenic migrates only a few inches from treated wood surfaces, the plant’s roots will be in this zone regardless. When you till or turn the soil this contaminated zone will be mixed into the rest of the soil and, over time, arsenic levels will rise in your garden.
Regardless of how you feel about arsenic in your garden, the continued production and use of CGA treated wood, especially on decks and landscape (where it leaches into the environment) presents a long-term threat to our health my opinion. That is why the federal govt. called for industry to voluntarily phase out CGA treated wood 5 years ago. The racks are still full at Home Depot. So much for voluntary efforts from industry.
Railroad ties are treated with cresote, a highly toxic and carcinogenic chemical and should never be used in gardens or anywhere around your home - period.
Termites are everywhere. If you use untreated wood, the life of your bed boxes will be 3-6 years. Termites will not hurt your plants but you will want to keep untreated wood structures at least 12' from your home or storage shed. I am trying some different organic treatments on the Farm including diatomaceous earth to see if they are effective on termites.
My recommendations would be to
- Minimize boxed beds to where they are really needed. Raised free-standing beds are just as effective unless you are really crunched for space.
- Where you do need boxed beds use treated posts sunk in concrete and painted with sealant. Use untreated boards for the sides. Try to find salvaged 2"x 6", 8" or 10"s if possible.
Other boxed bed alternatives include...
- cinderblock walls - (must have masonry reinforcement over one row high)
- landscape block walls ( expensive and take up more space),
- natural stone (even more so).
- If there is a sawmill nearby you can sometimes get slab-wood, the pieces that are sawn off logs to make structural timbers. These will only last 3-4 years but are very cheap(sometimes free) and can be replaced easily. Otherwise any untreated 4" or wider salvage wood will create a good boxed base and then you can hill up another 4" of free standing dirt on top of that.
One more thing - whether you do free-standing or boxed beds you need to get your roto-tilling done first. This week may be the longest dry-spell we have all winter given the El Nino effect. So as soon as we get a thaw, put your tillers to work. Soil that is tilled now will break down clumps and turf before Spring. If you wait until April you will be dodging showers and trying to work new ground - a recipe for a late garden.
Here are a couple of other views on the subject.
Pressure-treated wood: Old poisons, new cautions
Does Pressure-Treated Wood Belong in Your Garden?
http://www.finegardening.com/design/articles/pressure-treated-wood-in-beds.aspx Hope this helps you as you begin to think about your garden this year.
Sun
* Since we appropriated the name of Sun's Blog from George Harrison, we thought we'd pay homage with this. From the Concert for Bangladesh:
Durham Service Center ended the year with a bang!
Thanks to Emily Cox and Family along with Rev. Deborah Cayer of Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (ERUUF), over $5,400 was raised to sponsor BackPack Buddies. The Generosity Sunday collection in December, 2009, at ERUUF was the greatest collection of its type in church's history.
Whole Foods class on January 20th
Whole Foods is offering a class for parents on January 20th about Healthy Eating for Kids. Our very own Director of Nutrition, Katherine Andrew, will be one of the leaders for the class. Not only will the class be filled with great tips for parents, but the $5 registration fee will be donated to the Food Shuttle! Check out the poster below and make sure you register for the class soon before it fills up!
Where's Riley?
It's a new year, and it's started off with some interesting changes here at the Food Shuttle! If you haven't stopped by since we rang in the new year, you might be unaware that some of your IFFS friends have changed offices and some have even changed buildings. Take a look at this video to see how The Food Dude investigates and gets down to the bottom of what's been happening at the Shuttle.
Weekday volunteers needed at community garden
Food Shuttle Farm and Garden Crew,
Welcome back from the holidays; we hope you’re surviving the cold out there! Due to the bitter cold predicted over the next week we are NOT going to have a crew call this Saturday. However, we have quite a few things to do in the next few weeks and can use all the help you can give.
In particular, we are looking for volunteers who can come out during the week and help at one of our community gardens, Neighbor to Neighbor, in South Raleigh. The Neighbor to Neighbor was the second community garden that we started through our Hands on Health program where we are working with local community members and youth at that organization to get them excited about growing and eating healthy foods. Neighbor to Neighbor is a community organization that comes alongside families in daily partnership in Southeast Raleigh through mentoring, after school programs, adult classes, and various other engagement programs. There is a huge population of youth and families there and we’re hoping to get them involved with our garden.
Amanda will be leading the charge at Neighbor to Neighbor; she and Sun are hoping to find volunteers who can come out during the week to help with a few projects this month. If you are available to do this (weekdays, during the day) please email Amanda at NutritionCoord@foodshuttle.org and let her know your preferred day/time. Amanda will also be in Mayview on Fridays from 3:45-5pm if you are available then.
Again, we would love to have your help during the week if you can make that happen. And stay warm!
What’s your New Years Resolution?
Is it making a difference in your community?
Or is it to spend some time helping others?
Did you decide to volunteer more?
Maybe it’s become an OFL Volunteer Instructor?
Well if you made a resolution or not the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle has some exciting opportunities with the OFL Program in 2010.
That’s right 2010 has arrived and the next block of OFL classes is about to begin. 2009 was a great year for our program and we could not have done it with out the hard work of our volunteers and supporters. This year we plan to expand our reach and impact in the communities we serve by offering more OFL classes; we cannot do this with out you!
Below upcoming classes are listed along with positions that need to be filled. Send us an email (operationfrontline@foodshuttle.org) or give us a call (919-250-0043) if you are interested in being a part of a class.
Power of Eating Right at Loaves and Fishes, Raleigh
Wednesday’s 4:00pm-6:00pm January 20th-Febuary 24th
Positions Needed: Chef, Nutritionist, Class Manager, Class Assistant, Food Runner
Power of Eating Right at House of Hope, Clayton
Wednesdays’ 5:30pm-7:30pm January 6th-Febuary 10th
Positions Needed: Food Runner
Eating Right at Shaw Early Childhood Center, Raleigh
Tuesday’s 5:30pm-7:30pm January 12th-Febuary 16th.
Positions Needed: Food Runner
Power of Eating Right at Reality Center, Durham
Friday’s 4:00pm-6:00pm January 16th-Febuary 14th
Positions Needed: Class Manager, Food Runner
Eating Right at Threshold, Durham
Tuesdays 1:30pm-3:30pm February 2nd- March 9th
Positions Needed: Chef, Nutritionist, Class Manager, Class Assistant, Food Runner
Power of Eating Right at SEEDS, Durham
Mondays 5:00pm-7:00pm February 15th – March 22nd
Positions Needed: Chef, Nutritionist, Class Manager, Class Assistant, Food Runner
Please Contact Matt (operationfrontline@foodshuttle.org) if you are interested in filling one of these class positions.
CJTP 50! (with Bonus Footage!)
Today is the day! 12 men and women looking to start a culinary career came in bright and early to start session 50 of the Culinary Job Training Program. It's going to be an exciting thirteen weeks for them as they learn cooking techniques, safe food handling, job readiness and life skills and much more. Our great CJTP team of Chef Terri ,Sharon, Chef Will, and Sue will be with them every step of the way. We're really excited about our 50th session of CJTP. From now until Graduation Day in March, we will be bringing lots of CJTP features your way. Interviews with students, guests chefs, field trips- it's going to be a lot of fun. Here's Chef Terri kicking things off this morning.
And here's some bonus footage for you, in honor of this being the 50th session. We hope you enjoy the videos we make. We like doing them and we hope they give you a better look at the problem of hunger, how we work to solve it and the great people (staff and volunteers!) who make it happen.
But it's not easy, or always safe. Watch Chef Terri get bonked trying to do a take this morning. Kids, don't try this at home.
Welcome to 2010 on the Farm!
How was your holiday? We hope it was terrific. We're glad you're back here checking out what the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle is doing to fight hunger via our Farm and Community Gardens Project. Did you make any resolutions? Check out some from the Food Shuttle staff here. One resolution that didn't make it in the video is that we want Sun Butler to show up more on the Farms and Gardens blog.
Sun is our Farm Manager/Educator, our Garden Guru, the Sultan of the Soil, the Viceroy of Vegetables. He's been farming for, oh, most of his life and has so much knowledge and passion about the subject that we have to share it with you. You may remember Sun in his turns as star of a few of our Food Shuttle videos. Check him out here. And here.
With that in mind, we are hitting the ground running in 2010. Here are a couple of posts that Sun wrote up recently. One is about working with the students from the University of Florida who were here for an alternative break. The other is about how Sun spent some of his New Year's Day. The cold temperatures that settled in last week meant that Sun was on the move. Enjoy!
PS-The best way to glean from Sun's knowledge of all things AG is to help out on the Food Shutle Farm or in the Community Gardens.
Sun’s blog - Through The Garden…
Dec 22nd, 2009
University of Florida left for home tonight. 13 college students on an alternative service break arrived four days ago to help out on Food Shuttle Farm. With looks that can only be described as “what have we got ourselves into?” they clambered out of their vans last Saturday at 8 AM in a 10 knot wind blowing a cold mist of rain and water standing in the garden rows. After an orientation and pow-wow in the greenhouse there was a unanimous decision to put off farm work and tour Food Shuttle headquarters and a few community gardens. Later that afternoon, after cleaning out the vegetable cooler at Food Shuttle, we headed for Chapel Hill with a stop at Walmart to buy long-underwear. By this time they had figured out that they were not in Gainesville anymore. More community gardens in Chapel Hill, a quick orientation on Franklin St. and then our intrepid convoy pulled into Harry’s Community Market in White-Cross for music, hot-cider and conversation. They wanted to meet the locals so who better than our locally colorful farming and gardening community just west of the ‘Paris of the Piedmont’.
Sunday dawned clearer but colder. Never-the-less, with fresh layers of thermals, hoodies and jackets those Floridians tore into a compost pile that needed turning, transplanted broccoli starts into pots and started bending hoops for the new tunnel greenhouse. On Monday the guys worked on the greenhouse while the ladies rode shotgun with Food Shuttle drivers. We finished the greenhouse by Tuesday at lunch and picked 100 lb. of collards as well. It is always a blur of activity keeping these large work-groups busy, especially one that stays four days straight! It is also a wonder to see how much we can get done working together for a common cause.
We had so many cool discussions these last few days about organic farming. We talked about how tiny soil organisms called mycorhizal fungi live in symbiosis with plant roots, supplying them with dissolved nutrients while thriving on the sugars that plant roots exude. We talked about the microbial ecology of soils and how conventional fertilizers and herbicides like Round-Up burn-up beneficial soil dwelling organisms.
We talked about food deserts and food insecurity. When kids on the school lunch program go home and the refrigerator is empty and all they have to eat for the weekend is on the dollar fast-food menu – then we are all food insecure. I also talked about how good it feels to prepare food from the garden for your own table at home. Healthy living is more than just eating the right things. It is cooking at home with food that has been grown in our own community if not in our gardens. It is the positive “intent and energy” that goes into helping to grow, cooking and then sitting down to a meal together. I call it garden chi. The UF students got a big kick out of that.
I am really encouraged when student groups come out for a day or more to help on the Farm. It takes grit and determination to brave the elements for a whole day while working out of your own element at unfamiliar tasks. Volunteers here learn that farm work is not all fresh air and sunshine. We also learn that there is a connection that we share when working together. One that goes beyond the physical bounds of toiling with pitchforks, shovels and harvest buckets in near-freezing temperatures with a stiff wind. A sense of understanding and empathy for those whose job it is to grow and harvest our food. An appreciation for our connection to each-other, and therefore to the natural world we are a part of. UF went home for Christmas, grateful and wiser. I could not have hoped for more. Happy Solstice!
Jan. 1, 2010
New Years Day finds me on the road back to Raleigh. The weatherman has advised that we are heading into the longest cold spell in a generation. If we are going to keep the lettuce, turnip greens and kale going at Mayview Community Garden, the beds will have to covered with frost-guard cloth. The translucent white cloth will keep plants from freezing down to 24 degrees Farenheit. Even if they do freeze, the cold hardy greens will continue to grow and thrive with the cover protecting them from dehydration as they thaw. I have picked frozen broccoli out of the snow that thawed and tasted wonderfully fresh and sweet in January.
As I pulled into the parking lot at Mayview the kids were playing out front in spite of the cold. I recognized several who attended the Will Allen Urban Farming lecture last month. I called out –“Hey guys, can you help me spread this cloth over the beds? It will help keep the plants in the garden from freezing.” Four of the boys aged 6-10 jumped up and said “we will!” Turning cartwheels and swinging on lampposts they tumbled down the hill. I marveled at their energy on this cold day. The girls, only a degree or two shyer came to watch from the hill – commenting on our progress.
We unrolled the Frost Guard cloth and spread it over the wire hoops. “Hey look! Its like a tunnel under here!” one calls out. As we pin the sides down the boys want to know the name of each plant. “Those are turnip greens, we just planted that lettuce last week, kale grows all winter long” I elaborated. “Can we eat it? they asked. “Sure, lets pick some and you can take it home for your Moms to cook” I suggested. “No, we mean can you eat it now? Right out of the garden?” “Well sure, but you probably ought to wash it off…” Too late – broccoli shoots, lettuce leaves and collards started disappearing into curious lips, a bite or two at first, then handfuls. In 10 minutes the kids had memorized the names of every plant in the garden and were scampering up and down the rows repeating them and daring each other and to try them raw. “Hey that’s sweet! I want to try the collards! This oriental tatsoi is pretty good too!”
Caught off guard, I just stood there grinning. Is this what we are out here for or what? Kids discovering that winter grown greens are even sweeter than summer time; full of energy and the thrill of discovery these boys and girls are truly engaged on their own terms. We cut heads of broccoli and some small cabbages for them to take home. With the garden bedded down for the cold nights ahead we all headed back up the hill talking about having collards and black-eyed peas on New Year’s day for good luck. My New Years good luck has started already. I hope yours has too.