The USDA Comes to Town!

Yesterday was one of my proudest moments as a FoodCorps Service Member. USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition & Consumer Services, Kevin Concannon, and his staff made a visit to our school district to learn more about our sustainability efforts and Seed-to-Student programming. The Owl Creek School classroom was full of community partners, district administrators and board members, state and federal leaders, and one uncomfortable-looking produce farmer in a tie. The FPS team presented the many facets of what makes our programs unique and successful. It was a wonderful reminder that none of the local products or food education we bring into our district would be as successful if we didn’t work together and take advantage of the unique assets each partner brings.  

photo courtesy of Fayetteville Public Schools

The attendees moved through the cafeteria line anticipating the meal prepared by the district’s chef and food service staff that featured eight products from local producers, the University’s farm, and the Owl Creek School garden. The conversation in line and during lunch highlighted big wins for the district’s Seed to Student program, the benefits and importance of farm to school, and warm fuzzy stories of students enjoying and exploring healthy, local food and school gardens. 

Students proudly present their ongoing compost project.

By far the most meaningful part of the afternoon was our time in the garden with the students. Three high school boys presented their bike-powered water cistern pump that brought rainwater from the roof of the school to the plants in our garden. The crowd was all smiles and Mr. Concannon was clearly impressed. Next three student’s from Mrs. Richardson’s 5th grade science class, whom I have been working closely with all school year, told us how they built the compost bin, tended their pile, took measurements, and made observations to reinforce what they learned in class. The story of ecosystems, decomposers, and nutrient cycling came alive for them in their compost piles. They said their favorite part of garden time was planting seeds and harvesting compost from their worm bin. After working with their class for almost a year, no words could have made me feel happier. They are so smart. They are so inspiring. I am so proud.

photo courtesy of Fayetteville Public Schools

We hope that our message was clear, and I think it was. Everyday, I experience first hand how Farm to School programming and garden-based education helps connect classroom lessons to the real world, and supporting local agriculture is crucial to the health of our students and community.  The group took photos and finished up conversations. Mr. Concannon and his staff were very thankful for the afternoon and left with smiles on their faces. We are grateful for their time and know our stories and successes will be shared with important decision makers in Washington D.C.

- by Ally Mrachek

Fringe [Foodie] Benefits

With AmeriCorps Week behind us, I’ve had a lot of time to consider how “AmeriCorps works,” and the impact I witness firsthand each day as a FoodCorps Service Member. It’s easy to look at the benefit of my service as simply the community that I serve in, the pounds of produce we harvest and donate, the new dishes kids have tasted and the minutes we spend together in the classroom or the garden. Those are hard facts, raw data. We compile all of those figures specifically because they do paint a pretty fascinating picture—assigning some sort of number value to my service. Lately, I’ve been more inclined to look at the benefits of service that I receive.

Just a few weeks ago, I got a package in the mail from Seed Savers Exchange. I was really excited to open it and find a beautiful French Breakfast radish t-shirt, some awesome heirloom seeds, and a book on saving seed. There was information on how to sell seeds as a spring fundraiser, which I hope to do next year because it was unfortunately a little too late for this spring. I have admired Seed Savers Exchange ever since I read about the organization a few years back. To be receiving a package full of goodies from them because of my affiliation with FoodCorps was unreal.

Lettuce and spinach thrive in Sara's greenhouse. 

A few weeks later, I received an email from the folks at FoodCorps double-checking my mailing address where I could receive a package. This request was just enough detail to get me excited, but I had no idea what I was in for. For Christmas this year, I got a fancy food dehydrator. After experimenting with all sorts of raw recipes and kale chips and dried-every-kind-of-fruit, I made the decision that the next big-ticket kitchen gadget I would need to invest in was a Vitamix blender. I’m not sure where I learned about Vitamixes, because it almost seems to me that the legendary blenders have always had a spot in my food/cooking obsessed brain. Imagine my surprise about a week after the mailing address email, when I got a new email announcing the shipment of a Vitamix blender for each FoodCorps Service Member. I immediately started fantasizing about all the kale smoothies and nut butters I would soon be whipping up.

The Vitamix has arrived!

I waited anxiously for my new culinary toy to arrive. And waited. And waited. I was starting to worry that it was lost in the mail. My fellow Service Members around Arkansas had received theirs. Service Members in very remote, rural places had received theirs. I was stressed. Finally one Tuesday evening, (probably only a little more than a week after the announcement was made) my blender was here.

I unpacked the box. There was an instructional DVD. I wasn’t sure why a blender would need a DVD accompaniment, and I skipped ahead to the beautiful hardcover cookbook. Again, never realized that a blender would need a cookbook. But then I saw the recipe for milk substitutes (soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk, cashew milk, rice milk, on and on). I was hooked.

Look at that crowd!

That week in the garden, we harvested 6 pounds of sweet winter kale. In each class the following week, we made kale smoothies. Each group started off a bit skeptical—kale, strawberries, peaches, and other assorted fruits and veggies make for a bizarrely colored drink. However, after the first sip, most of the students were converted. After school, a group of students approached me to ask for some more kale so they could go home and recreate their own smoothies. I am so excited about all the creative ways we can use the Vitamix to expose kids to new ways to incorporate veggies into their day. 

- by Sara Fulton-Koerbling 

Priming the Pump: Helping Families Find Motivation for Making Healthy Food Choices

A nutrition professor of mine once said, “You can’t motivate people to change, they have to motivate themselves.” Since joining FoodCorps last August, I have wanted to create an educational opportunity just for parents to offer tips and information about helping their students eat more healthfully. I am passionate about working with families because I know there are many factors that play into what goes into a sack lunch or a dinner meal. I also know that early food experiences influence lifelong eating habits, so family eating practices are very important. Because I am new to the district, I wanted to serve in the community for a while before figuring out what nutrition topics are important to Fayetteville parents and how best to present them, or if they are even interested in nutrition education.               

Ally and Sophia team up to talk nutrition at a family
healthy cooking class.

For the last few months I have been serving with garden clubs and cooking classes, talking with PTO presidents and other school staff, and providing free nutrition counseling to parents and students through the district’s Wellness and Education Clinic. These experiences have given me a better feel for the nutrition topics of interest in the parent community. Next, I sat down with my supervisor and the district’s Coordinated School Health Coordinator to better understand what sort of setting and timeframe parents would be willing to come to an educational event. We thought a class series would interest parents but it would have to include kid-friendly activities or child care, occur before dinner, and be promoted like crazy. I remember thinking, “Let’s be realistic. The classes will be a success if I can get just five parents to show up at these events”. If national service and community outreach have taught me anything, it’s that 1) low turnout does not mean low impact and 2) offer free food at any event you host-and advertise that food.

Photo credit Alison Hewitt

The night of my first child nutrition class, 20 people showed up! Success. The constant, shameless promotion and free snacks worked! I presented on basic nutrition for kids and picky eating. The presentation seemed to go well. The parents and older kids were nodding and asking questions and the young kids were busy coloring and making masks and munching on healthy snacks.  I presented a Think Your Drink activity in which everyone guessed how many teaspoons of sugar were in various sweetened drinks and then parent-kid dyads scooped the actual amount of sugar in each drink into cups with plastic spoons. Oh, I almost forgot, community outreach has also taught me that, in some cases, eliciting “shock and awe” is acceptable.  Every parent and child had a look of astonishment on their faces as they scooped up to 16 teaspoons of sugar into their cups.

At the end of the presentation, a middle-schooler asked how to make the kale chips I offered as a snack. The other attendees were also very interested in knowing too. I almost squealed with joy. I briefly explained how to prepare them and made sure to take their email addresses to send them the recipe. Since then the kale chips recipe has been sent to the families in attendance, the coordinated school health committee, the assistant superintendent and a lady in Florida. Double success!

My second class in the series was presented at in existing parent event called, Parent University. I presented Meals on the Go and Healthier Fast Food Options. Though there was very low turnout at the event as a whole, and I only had two people total attend my three sessions, I feel like the time and effort preparing for the event was worth it. I set up a one-on-one nutrition counseling appointment with the daughter of one attendee after one session and helped a frustrated single mom of three troubleshoot quick and cheap lunch and dinner ideas for her family. These conversations may not have happened if more parents were in attendance. The mom of three also told me that after attending the first nutrition class, she and her three kids stopped drinking soda and chocolate milk—cold turkey. She had no idea there was so much sugar in all those drinks. The kids order water at restaurants on their own now, she said. She reports feeling great since she stopped drinking soda and plans to attend the rest of my classes.

It’s true you can’t motivate people to change. I can tell people about healthy eating until I am blue in the face, but if they are not self-motivated to make that change, it ain’t gonna happen. I have experienced this time and time again. However, you can offer knowledge and teach skills. You can prime the pump. I plan to continue the child nutrition class series, shamelessly promote it, and offer free healthy snacks. It’s rewarding to know that the information I share is of value to motivated parents who find the time to attend nutrition classes and focus their energy on healthy lifestyle changes for their families. 

by Ally Mrachek

Feel free to contact us if you would like resources from Ally's presentation. 

MARCH-ing INTO SPRING

It’s just about time to start planting our spring garden. Unfortunately for me, weeds have proliferated to such an extent that I’m afraid to even lift the frost cloth to see really just how much needs to be done. “One step at a time” is the mantra that saves me from hiding in my closet of an office all spring…

Nitrogen fixing cover crop at Holt.

Garden Club was slow this winter, but I have high hopes that students will be scrambling to get involved once it gets warm enough to go outside again. It’s amazing what a 10-year-old boy will accomplish when you give him a hoe and a pile of dirt. Students have been starting seeds indoors and learning to prune blueberry bushes, blackberry bushes, and apple trees. We’ve been trying wild new things like tofu, eggplant, and sweet potato fries with the skins on! This week, we’ll create an enlarged map of the garden to plan out where we will transplant all of our seedlings in the coming months. Soon, our pile of weeds, cover crop, and old lettuce will be transformed into the productive garden we’ve been dreaming about.

In the classroom, I’ve worked with math classes to map the garden to practice proportions, ratios, and scale. In science classes, we’ve discovered the caloric content of Cheetos and walnuts by burning them using a homemade calorimeter. The calorimeter lesson was part of the 6^th grade energy unit and gave the students a better understanding of what calories are and how they act as an energy source for our bodies. Students were able to observe that a walnut burns for about four times as long as a Cheeto, and connect that observation with the understanding that eating a walnut will give you energy for longer than eating a Cheeto. We then had an economics debate, coming up with arguments for why one might prefer to buy Cheetos over walnuts as a snack and vice versa.

Teaching this lesson made it obvious how little most students know about energy balance and nutrition. Many students were surprised to learn that our bodies are burning calories constantly, not only when we “exercise.” Although many 6^th graders maintained their loyalty to junk food on the grounds of taste, there were several students who showed a level of curiosity about nutrition and health that should be nurtured. Unfortunately, these topics are not given their due in schools these days when there’s not even enough time to fit in the number of minutes of physical activity mandated by the federal government each week, so the more we can sneak them into core subjects, the better.

Last but not least, our very own Arkansas Fellow, Rachel Spencer, was head chef at my last hands-on cooking class for Holt Families. Thank you Rachel for showing our lovely families that Southerners can eat vegetarian, and without giving up the BBQ sauce!

- by Sophia Gill