Gardening for the Community at BCBSNC in Durham

An update from IFFS Garden Manager Kevin McDonough

On April 17th, the new Food Shuttle garden on the campus of BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina was born. 

BCBSNC is beginning a new initiative in partnership with North Carolina Recreation & Park Association (NCRPA) called Nourishing North Carolina, through which they will work with communities across the state to install or enhance a community garden in  all 100 North Carolina counties. They felt it was thus important to have a garden on their Durham campus as well, and felt it was a great way for BCBSNC employees to learn, as well as a great way to partner with IFFS to address food insecurity and healthy eating in the Triangle. All produce grown in the garden is donated to IFFS to distribute to programs and agencies feeding the hungry and increasing access to fresh fruits and veggies for those in need.  With the planting of tomatoes, peppers, buckwheat, basil, and squash, BCBS and IFFS staff began our new collaborative venture. Since those first tomato roots and buckwheat seeds touched soil, there has been much excitement and enjoyment at watching the garden grow and spending time together under the sun.

IMG_1747

Along with the crops already listed, we have beets, swiss chard, sunflowers, parsley, radishes, spicy salad mix, and onions happily growing in the garden (with cucumbers, beans, okra, and sweet potatoes coming soon).  Many have been impressed with how quickly everything has grown (and that only 5 weeks later we have harvested 25 pounds of salad mix, radishes, and squash!).  Here’s hoping for continued abundance as we grow into the summer!

More than the production of fresh, healthy vegetables, we are making new relationships and connections in the garden.  Dozens of BCBS staff have already participated in the weekly workdays and many more have enjoyed looking at and walking among the plants. Several groups of employees have committed to adopting/sponsoring a raised bed in the garden, meaning that they agree to care for the space throughout the 2012 growing season. Some groups have also added personal touches to their garden beds - gnomes, bird houses, and other decorative pieces of flair. Individual volunteers who register to work in the garden on a one-time basis come and enjoy spending time there as their schedule permits as well.

Gardening is an easy and natural place to make these connections and enjoy time together with people you may have not met otherwise. It is also a place for learning!  In our workdays, we have talked about:

constructing a trellis for tomatoes

• fertilizing the soil with worm compost tea
• organic methods of disease and pest resistance
• how to build your own garden bed
• container planting
• permaculture
• soil amendments

Additionally, nutrition education staff from IFFS did a Food Matters cooking demonstration and shared recipes with us.  We also planted kiwis and a Japanese snowbell tree!  This is just the beginning, as we hope to expand on these topics and keep learning from one another. It is a joy to participate in this new garden and foster a stronger sense of community among IFFS, BCBSNC, and the greater Durham community.  The connection to the community comes when we deliver the food to other agencies in Durham, providing produce to local families in need.  The Food Shuttle already has strong partnerships with agencies that provide healthy food to those in need.  The garden at BCBSNC will serve to strengthen this effort that is already under way.

It is with much enthusiasm that we celebrate what the garden has already brought to the health of ourselves, our organizations, and our community, and with much excitement that we plant the next seeds!

Many thanks to all,

Kevin McDonough

Garden Manager

To learn more about how to donate produce from your community or backyard garden, visit our Plant a Row for the Hungry page.

Human Gluten!

In today's first Cooking Matters class with teens from the IFFS Young Farmer Training Program, Chef James taught us all about the dough making process.  To demonstrate, the teens were turned into human gluten, forming the elastic network that traps the carbon dioxide released by the yeast.  Eventually, everyone turned back into teens who really love to eat yummy, healthy pizza!

The Fish Have Arrived! Completing the Aquaponics Cycle

Fish have arrived at the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle Farm in Raleigh!   Foster Lake & Pond Management generously donated 20 channel catfish this past Wednesday. What are fish doing on the farm, you ask? They're completing our Aquaponics project! Over the past few months we have built a 300 gallon Aquaponics system. 

What is Aquaponics?

Aquaponics is a symbiotic method of cultivating both fish and plants in a re-circulating system that utilizes fish waste as fertilizer for plants.  In turn, the plants and the associated root microbes detoxify and clarify the water for the fish. It's a closed-loop cycle! The model we’re using is inspired by MacArthur Genius Award winner Will Allen’s internationally recognized urban agriculture organization Growing Power.

Inter-Faith Food Shuttle's aquaponics intern Doug Purvis explains:

How does Aquaponics work?

Water containing ammonia from fish waste is pumped from the fish tank up to the gravel grow beds, where we are currently growing cucumbers, tomatoes, watercress, pea shoots, and basil. There, beneficial bacteria turn the otherwise toxic ammonia in fish waste into nitrite and then into nitrate, which is an essential nutrient for plant growth.   Gravity takes over from there, as the filtered water then drains through the top grow bed down to the lower grow bed. After nourishing and hydrating the plants, the water then flows from the lower grow beds back into the fish tank to start the cycle all over again.

Why Aquaponics?

• Produces fresh, local, organic, and nutritious vegetables and fish in a small space;
• provides a working model for workshops, training, and education on more sustainable food production;
• easily scalable from apartment-size to commercial-size, meaning that it is an easily replicable system;
• conserves water;
• IFFS is a Regional Outreach Training Center (ROTC)  Growing Power. We partner with youth, established farmers, and community members to teach intensive commercial urban agriculture skills – including Aquaponics and vermicomposting.

At long last, the wait is over - the fish have arrived!

After sitting in the bag, acclimating to the water temperature in our fish tank for about ten minutes, we released them into their new home! Hooray!

Apprentices on the Farm: Feeding, Learning, Growing!

The IFFS Young Farmer Training Program is a paid multi-year farming apprenticeship for youth in Wake County. The IFFS Raleigh Farm hosts apprentices two days per week beginning each Spring.  Apprentices grow vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, and flowers on our 6-acre Raleigh farm, helping feed IFFS's distribution across over 183 agencies in seven counties. Not only do YFTP apprentices hone their green thumbs, they also become leaders who co-design and implement profitable farm plans, market their farm products while keeping good records, cook and share healthy meals, teach the community about farming and gardening, and advocate for a better food system! So what has this fresh crop of apprentices  been up to lately?

Learning about food and farm safety!

Food safety is of the utmost importance to us here at the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle in all of our programs. YFTP apprentices will be preparing some of the food they grow and making it into nutritious meals, so last Tuesday, Chef Terri from IFFS's Culinary Job Training Program came out to teach the apprentices about food safety, including

• how to keep food safe on the farm
• foods most likely to contain food borne pathogens
• temperature regulations
• sanitation
• the importance of washing hands between working the soil and preparing food

But it’s important to stay safe working in the heat and variable weather conditions out on the farm, too! So, beginning with a jog across the field, Farm Educator Sun Butler taught the teens about acclimatization – summer is just around the corner, and soon it will be hot out on the farm everyday. It’s important to start adjusting their bodies now so that when the heat hits, they’ll be ready. Sun went over the signs of heat stress and heat stroke and emphasized the importance of staying hydrated.

Not only is it important to have your body acclimated to the outside temperature, but also for your muscles to be ready, too. Farmwork is great for coordination and strength – farmers use all of their limbs to accomplish their daily work.  To continue the acclimatization, Farm Aquaponics Intern, Volunteer, and Sensei Doug then led the teens in a series of exercises to get their blood flowing and their muscles warm.

Meanwhile, the second year apprentices headed to Southeast Raleigh with Maurice Small, IFFS Urban Agriculture Program Manager, to check out the sites for some new community gardens and urban agriculture projects they will be helping with! Stay tuned for more details coming soon…

Growing their own Gardens

The following Saturday, YFTP Apprentices were back on the IFFS farm in Raleigh, double digging a plot for their own gardens.  Good thing Sun had prepared them for the heat, because it was already starting to get hot! They had visited SEEDS in Durham the previous week, and were inspired to want to expand their own plots back in Raleigh. In the coming weeks, they’ll be setting up the garden beds, a drip irrigation system, and planting some seedlings they started in the greenhouse. The project was taking longer than expected, but the apprentices were undeterred – many even wanted to stay past their scheduled time on the farm to continue working.

To re-fuel from the morning of hard work, the apprentices helped prepare and then shared a meal together using produce from the farm.

They also recently learned from a guest teacher about fermentation in the forms of cheese and bread making. Yum!

Spring Graduation

But the Spring Session is rapidly coming to a close. They will wrap up with a graduation potluck and celebration this Friday before their last day on June 2^nd, which they’ll spend at the Raleigh Farmer’s Market learning to buy food on a budget and then will head back to the farm to a big group lunch.

Many of the teens will be sticking around for the Summer Session starting June 12^th, while others will take the knowledge and skills they’ve learned and head off on other ventures. The program will be accepting applications for apprentices starting in the summer as well.

IFFS Seeking Satellite Partners

Promote Healthier Communities . . . We'll Make it Easy for You!

IFFS is currently seeking partners interested in hosting Cooking Matters courses.

Cooking Matters teaches adults, kids, and teens how to shop for and prepare healthy meals on a budget.  The curricula is very adaptable and designed to meet the needs of diverse audiences such as adults, families, childcare providers, young parents, parents of young children, persons with diabetes, etc.  It can be implemented in a variety of settings; only running water is required!  The program provides meals and snacks in each class, and take home groceries.  Small start up funds are available to interested organizations.

If you would like to learn more about the program and/or other free programming opportunities such as our one-day grocery tour, Shopping Matters, please contact Amy at Amy@foodshuttle.org.

What is That Thing?

Photo by SimplyRecipes.com

This week, the infamous Kohlrabi arrived in my CSA box.  My boyfriend, sheltered from all things farm and garden, was the first to encounter it.  His reaction, "What is that thing?"  Laughing, I explained to him that this veggie is a relative to cabbage and cauliflower, sweeter than a potato, and similar in texture to most root vegetables.  Kohlrabi is now in season in the Piedmont, and because the "What is that thing?" response is unfortunately common, you can get it for a pretty cheap price.  Visit any farmers' market in the area, or your local grocery store and look for some Kohlrabi to purchase.  All of us at Cooking Matters, Food Matters, and Shopping Matters want to encourage you to try new foods, experiment, and keep things fun!  Checkout the link below for some clever Kohlrabi recipes.  I made the Kohlrabi and Apple Slaw.  Yum!

Kohlrabi Recipes by Simply Recipes

Hunger Fighters Visit Mobile Market!

On Saturday, May 19th Inter-Faith Food Shuttle's Hunger Fighters Group (made up of teens hired through the Young Farmer Training Program and Community Garden programs) came to visit and learn about the West Durham Baptist Church Mobile Market.  They observed the Food Matters cooking and nutrition demonstration, and then assisted the church volunteers with handing out fresh produce to the market participants.  To learn more about Mobile Markets go here!

Librarians, Outstanding in the Field

Lindsay, IFFS Local Produce Coordinator here. Last Friday our Field Gleaning was powered by librarians from NCSU. Their group leader Adam warned me not to work the “tender handed office workers” too hard, but once they arrived they pushed themselves with no prodding on my part. Burch Brothers Farm invited us to glean the lowermost leaves of a field of collard plants—tender, succulent leaves that would have yellowed and degraded as the plants reached maturity. Genya O’Gara told me she was delighted to be out from behind the computer, in the fresh air and using her body in a different way than usual. That seemed to be the consensus.

With 23 people, we managed to fill our box truck almost to the ceiling with bags of collard leaves. Instead of becoming field waste, all those collards went to good use feeding and nourishing those in need. We distributed most of them at our three free Mobile Farmer's Markets that evening and the following day, and the folks there loved the super fresh greens!

Like many progressive companies and organizations, NCSU Libraries offers its staff community service days, in which they can use a paid work day to serve their community. Does your employer offer community service days? Find out, and bring your office mates to volunteer at Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. It’s a wonderful way to get to know your coworkers better!

Chefs stand up for SNAP

Millions of families across the country rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, to feed their kids.  Drastic cuts to SNAP are on the table now as Congress is working on the Farm Bill, legislation that provides funding for SNAP.  Share Our Strength is calling on chefs and members of the culinary community to add their names to a letter urging Congress to protect SNAP and other federal nutrition programs in the Farm Bill.  Visit NoKidHungry.org/Chefs-Tell-Congress to sign on by May 30, and please forward to your peers!

Giving Thanks for a Fruitful Year of Gleaning

A message from Lindsay Perry, IFFS Local Produce Coordinator, on marking and celebrating one year of successful Field Gleaning and sharing abundance with those in need:

It has now been a full year since we were first invited to Everlaughter Farm in Hillsborough to glean a variety of salad greens from several overgrown rows. With five people we gleaned 120 pounds of salad greens, taking care to shade the bags from the sun. Rebecca Page, Triangle Gleaning Coordinator at the Society of Saint Andrew showed up in her trademark green corduroy overalls to help glean and meet me, and so began a relationship that led to a most fruitful partnership.

This year we’ve built relationships with farmers supportive of our mission—wonderful, generous people, willing to put in a little extra effort to make sure their excess crops go to good use, and in some cases, allowing us to harvest crops that could still be sold. Burch Brothers Farms, Howell Farming Company, and Vollmer Farms have been particularly generous, donating over and over.

We’ve gathered volunteers who are drawn to this project, and whose dedication amazes me! Like Meredith Bradshaw, who will offer to glean in the morning before she runs a 5K, and pick up sweet potato donations in Goldsboro between classes at NCSU. And Sandie, Samantha, Diane, Ron, Jack, Dianne, Tom, Edna, Triangle Catering Company, and so many others, who have all together given 1,354 volunteer hours!

We’ve found creative and fluid ways to collaborate with the Society of Saint Andrew, sharing resources and considering each organization’s needs. They could have seen our entry into field gleaning as competition, but instead we have chosen to find the ways we can support each other and create a better system for salvaging wasted and wholesome foods for the hungry in our community. They have affirmed my belief in collaboration as the best way, the way of Abundance.

Through the contributions of everyone, so far we have gleaned 89,000 pounds of fresh produce from the field, and picked up another 150,000 pounds of produce direct from farms—114,000 of these pounds came through some form of collaboration with the Society of Saint Andrew.

On this anniversary, we  give thanks to Rebecca and the Society of Saint Andrew for their partnership, all of the generous farmers who have donated to IFFS and those in need, and all of our treasured volunteers who have given of their time and sweat!

What’s Next?

Year Two finds us focused on strengthening our connections to partners and farmers; continually seeking volunteer groups excited about this work; and working to develop a core of Field Supervisors, or gleaners who are trained to supervise volunteer groups, as well as truck drivers to help pick up farm donations.

The season is unfolding rich in abundance! If this project speaks to you, please get involved! Help us to harness this abundance for people in real need! Sign up to glean here. Please contact me at localproduce@foodshuttle.org if you want to help with the above mentioned needs.

Want to learn more? 

Check out this video about Inter-Faith Food Shuttle Field Gleaning! You can also learn more on our website.