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.
Reaching a milestone
Tomorrow begins the 50th Culinary Job Training Program class. It’s hard to believe that the program began over 10 years ago, and we’ve been through 49 graduations that send unemployed or underemployed folks into the culinary field with newly acquired job skills! The last class ended up being our largest class to date- 11 men and women! Andy Beal took the photos at the ceremony and captured the joy and anticipation of the future in people’s faces quite well. Check out the pictures. In honor of this milestone, we’ll be following students of the 50th class right here on the blog as they learn knife skills, how to make sauces, and earn the ServSafe® Certification. By the time graduation rolls around in 11 weeks, you’ll see a glimpse of the strenuous program the students must complete and get to know the students along the way.
Best of luck to the 50th class!