This week's Crew Call

          Inter-Faith Food Shuttle Farm and Garden  Crew-Call

The weather has slowed down growth at the farm and in the gardens but we’re still hard at work, particularly as we continue to recruit and engage community members and plan new gardens.  We have regular garden days and a community outreach event planed for this week. If you are interested in community engagement this is the week for you!   Please see below for more information.

VOLUNTEER TIME & EVENTS:

• Community Garden Work times:
  • Neighbor to Neighbor      Thursdays        3:30-5:00pm
  • Mayview         Fridays         3:30-5:00pm
  • In both gardens we will be working with community members and youth to prep new beds for spring planting and get rid of all the water!  We have limited room for volunteers - please email Amanda (NutritionCoord@foodshuttle.org) if you are planning on coming.

• Saturday, Feb 20^th from 9:30am-12pm at Alliance Medical Ministries in Raleigh.  We are working with Alliance Medical Ministries and the Raleigh Community Gardens MeetUp group to potentially develop a new garden.  Our first step is to find out if the community is interested and willing to get involved.  This Saturday we will be going door to door to conduct a survey with the community about their gardening interests. If you are planning on coming please email Steve (steven.p.horton@gmail.com) for directions and more details.

**WINTER WEATHER PLAN**

Please note that with the winter weather we might have to cancel crew calls and volunteer times at the last minute.  Often the ground is too wet or frozen from previous weather, even if it is nice outside at the time of the crew call.  If you are interested in coming to an event and note bad weather please call the Food Shuttle (919.250.0043) an hour before the scheduled time to confirm that we are still going out if you have not heard from us at that point.

LOCAVORE LUNCH – Every Wednesday!

Every Wednesday at noon we are holding local agricultural discussion groups at Farmhouse Pizza, 3011 Hillsborough St. in Raleigh. We will be serving a pizza made using some (hopefully soon to be all) local ingredients from NCSU's Farmers' Market. Please RSVP to Steve (steven.p.horton@gmail.com) so he knows many pizzas to have made.  If you can contribute, he is asking for a $5 donation... if you can't afford the cost we’ll gladly cover you in return for good conversation!   A portion of the proceeds will go to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle.  This week's topic will be food labeling.  Organic, natural, naturally grown, local, chemical free, fair trade, free range, pasture raised. What do they all mean!?! 

FARMS & GARDEN BLOG

Keep up with what’s going on with our Farms & Gardens and PAR programs through the IFFS blog farmsandgardens.wordpress.com.  Use the blog to check out weekly ripe recipes, find yourself in photos of weekly crew calls, hear from other volunteers, and stay up to date with activities at IFFS.  Let us know if you’re interested in contributing to the blog!

GARDEN SUPPLIES:

We are still in need of hand-tool donations.  We gladly accept new and/or lightly used equipment. Thanks to all who have responded.

New Volunteer?

If you have not filled out a volunteer form or have a friend who is interested in helping out please email Janet at RGSJRS@aol.com.

Hope to see you all out there!

Katherine, Sun, Amanda, & Steve

Mini-Pizzas: Fun For the Family!

The following is a blog from NCSU student Holly Starks. It is the second (click here to read the first week's recap) in a series of 5 Blogs she will be writing chronicling her experience as a Nutrition Instructor for a OFL Class she is Teaching. Holly is teaching OFL as part of a Service Learning Class that has teamed up North Carolina State Students with the Inter Faith Food Shuttle’s  OFL/Nutrition Program.  Through this partnership the IFFS and NCSU hope to engage students in service learning and community nutrition while expanding the reach of its OFL program.

This week at the Crosby Head Start Center, the OFL Side by Side class learned about making fun and healthy mini-pizzas. Mini-pizzas are a great way to get the kids involved by giving them opportunity to create their own individualized pizzas by being able to choose from a variety of toppings like peppers, mushrooms, onions, spinach, broccoli, or even pineapple. The mini-pizza recipe is also healthy, easy, and budget friendly for the parents. A healthy balanced meal is achieved through the incorporation of cheese, whole grains, lean meats, and variety of fruits or vegetables. The ingredients in the meal can be used for multiple dishes throughout the week and are also relatively inexpensive. When vegetables are not in season, choosing canned or frozen veggies can also help save money.

The entire class had fun together this week while making the mini-pizzas. The kids enjoyed watching their parents cut up the veggies while also getting to take turns grating the cheese. While the parents cooked the vegetables on the stove in the kitchen, the kids helped put the sauce onto the English muffins. Together, the participants put the toppings on the pizza while some chose to just add the sautéed veggies and others included an extra topping of canned corn. After the mini-pizzas came out of the oven, loaded with veggies, the participants delved in to trying their new creations. Even though some of the kids didn’t like the vegetables in their taste test activity earlier in the lesson, they enjoyed eating the cooked vegetables on the pizza. Sometimes preparing foods differently can help kids enjoy eating their fruits and vegetables.

During our mealtime together, there were many expressions of excitement as everyone came to a consensus that the pizzas were yummy and delicious. The parents were encouraged to make the pizzas at home this week with their kids, and we encourage you to do the same! Personalize your pizza and let the kids enjoy putting on the toppings, and always remember to include variety in your vegetable choices, choose lean meats like turkey or chicken, and try whole grain or whole wheat English muffins. Click here to for the Operation Frontline Mini Pizza Recipe!

Lesson Two “Try It, You’ll Like It!”

The following is a blog from NCSU student Kate Towery. It is the second (read Kate's recap from Week 1) in a series of 5 blogs she will be writing chronicling her experience as a Nutrition Instructor for a OFL Class she is teaching. Kate is teaching OFL as part of a Service Learning Class that has teamed up North Carolina State Students with the Inter Faith Food Shuttle’s OFL/Nutrition Program. Through this partnership the IFFS and NCSU hope to engage students in service learning and community nutrition while expanding the reach of its OFL program.This week in our “Side by Side” class we wanted the kids to try something new and the parents to identify ways in which mealtime could be more budget and kid friendly. I was really excited to make something that I myself had never tried: Jambalaya! Originally calling for barley, we actually used brown rice; the recipe incorporated our nutrition lesson, which stressed the importance of using whole grains and a variety of fruits and vegetables in our diets. Read the recipe here! First, Cadi and Caitlin had the kids sit on the floor with them for a taste test. The participants tried papaya, kiwi, blackberries, whole grain pita bread, and whole grain tortillas. They each shared their favorite out of the bunch, many of which they had never tried before. During this time the parents discussed the pros and cons of frozen, canned, and fresh produce. We compared costs and their nutritional content. We also discussed the benefits of buying seasonal produce. After this we rejoined the two groups and the kids and their parents acted as detectives to follow the “clues” for identifying whole grains on food packages. We also reviewed the importance of a colorful plate and identified which colors benefitted which parts of our bodies, like strong bones, vision, and heart health. After a review of safety guidelines we started our cooking lesson with our chef, Will, and were soon enjoying jambalaya, hummus and homemade whole grain tortilla chips, and veggies. We discussed ways to exercise each week and the kids shared some stories of what activities they had done in the snow last week. Next week we’re looking forward to creating healthy snacks and using some really fun cooking steps!

Nutrition Tips From MyPyramid

• make half of your grains whole
• eat a variety of fruits
• choose orange or dark green veggies

For more information visit www.mypyramid.gov

Congratulations!

To Lauren, who won a date with the Food Dude! Lauren is donating 18 hours to fight hunger and go on a Food Recovery and Distribution route with our Director of Food Sourcing, the Food Dude himself, Don Eli. We're working feverishly to setup details and of course we will bring you all the highlights.

Thanks to everyone who bid!

MyPyramid, My Skills, My Family

The following blog post is writte by Madelaine Frye. It is the first in a series of 5 blogs she will be writing chronicling her experience as a Nutrition Instructor. Madelaine is teaching OFL as part of a Service Learning Class that has teamed up North Carolina State Students with the Inter Faith Food Shuttle’s OFL/Nutrition Program. Through this partnership the IFFS and NCSU hope to engage students in service learning and community nutrition while expanding the reach of its OFL program. Hello! My name is Madelaine Frye and I am one of the NC State students that teach the OFL Side by Side class that is held at the Knightdale Head Start Center on Thursdays. The stars of our class are parents and their pre-school children who are trying to learn the best way to live a healthy lifestyle and enjoy the wonderful benefits of cooking at home with their families. Our Side by Side class is taught by myself (the nutritionist) and four other NC State students: Jay Seman the chef, Mary Andrews the class manager, Kelsey Wilson the community liaison, and Byron Green the gardener. We also have two fellow students who volunteered to aid us with translation: Victor Saxena and Vincent Feucht.

For our first class lesson, our mantra was “There are no bad foods..in moderation!”  We discussed the sections of the food pyramid and how all of our favorite foods fit into the five food groups. The five food groups are grains, fruits, vegetables, milk, and meats and beans. Each family got to share their favorite foods and, along with their classmates, helped me place them in the correct categories. Sometime we like foods that aren’t as healthy as others, which is why we should eat them in small amounts. Each food pyramid gets skinnier at the top showing us that we should consume more of the healthier foods at the bottom and all of our treats in small amounts located at the top. It is always best when we try to vary our food groups that we eat each day. The class also discussed the importance of exercise along with consuming nutritious meals, and how it is a step-by-step process on our main mission of eating healthy. We picked things that we like to do everyday that might help us exercise a little bit more than usual, such as jumping jacks, taking the stairs, and walking our dogs.

Byron spent some time sharing gardening experiences of his with the class and finding out some of the things that each family may have participated in on their own. The class had a wonderful conversation about the reasons why we enjoy cooking at home and how much fun it can be to help out our families.

The most exciting part of our afternoon was learning cleanliness, knife safety, and how to chop with Chef Jay. Both parents and their children learned “the claw”, which was a fun new way that we all learned to hold our foods properly when we cut them to avoid any injuries. We all also learned the proper way to hold a knife, at the bolster, to ensure that we had the most control over the knife while using it. As a group we cooked a wonderful meal of Chinese vegetables and brown rice. The children did a fantastic job with helping us stir our soy sauce ingredients together and monitored for individuals who may have needed to wash their hands while the parents stir-fried some tasty vegetables.

At the end of the evening, we all sat down and enjoyed a scrumptious meal together. Cleaning up was also a group effort and was a fun end to an exciting day. All of us had a great class and are very excited to meet again in the five upcoming weeks!

Chinese Vegetables and Rice, serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown rice (substitute: white rice)
• 2 medium celery stalks
• 1/2 pound broccoli
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 (15 1/2 ounce) can chickpeas
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• optional ingredients: 1 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, mushrooms, peppers, red onion

Directions:

1. Cook rice according to package directions. Make vegetable mixture while rice is cooking.
2. Rinse vegetables.
3. Chop broccoli into small pieces, peel and dice carrots and celery.
4. Drain and rinse canned chickpeas using a colander (strainer).
5. Measure and stir together soy sauce, brown sugar, and cornstarch in a small bowl.
6. If using, stir 2 teaspoons of peeled and minced fresh ginger into the soy sauce mixture.
7. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat and add canola oil.
8. Add chopped vegetables and chickpeas into saute pan. Stir frequently and cook for 5-7 minutes.
9. Pour soy sauce mixture into saute pan.
10. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 2 minutes or just until sauce is slightly thickened.
11. Serve vegetables over brown rice.

TIP: If you cook more rice than is needed for this recipe, you can use it for another recipe later on in the week.

Learning to cook healthy meals through Operation Frontline

Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign has made Americans begin a conversation about nutrition among children in America. Inter-Faith Food Shuttle is working to educate families and children by going into communities and teaching healthy cooking classes through Operation Frontline (OFL).

Today's guest post is by Madeline Frye, a senior in NC State's Nutrition program and OFL volunteer.

I am fortunate enough to be working with an amazing group of fellow students to teach the OFL Side by Side class in Knightdale’s Headstart Center. I have been keeping you all informed on how our classes have been progressing through our six-week healthy lifestyle adventure. This week sure was full of exciting activities!

For our second week (catch up with the 1st Knightdale class on our OFL blog), the class came together and learned many new things about fruits they had never tasted before, economic ways to purchase healthy foods, and how to tell the differences between whole and refined grains. At the beginning of class, everyone got to taste test some uncommon fruits and vegetables. Mangos, kiwis, and hummus were loved the most and became snacks for the rest of the day. Hummus is another form of chickpeas (Garbanzo beans), which was and ingredient we cooked with in our Chinese vegetables and rice last week.

The children learning about their plants!

We were also very lucky to plant our first snap pea plants! Byron, our class gardener, made sure to tell everyone the proper ways to care for their plants, such as making sure to water it every day, and place it in lots of sun light. Every plant also had a green stick for it to wind up as it starts to grow. Each family got to take them home to care for while they blossom over the next couple of weeks.

Nate and his daughter chopping some veggies

At the end of the day, we cooked an amazing meal of Barley Jambalaya. Chopping up all of the vegetables was no problem with our talented parents showing off their knife skills. The children were great kitchen aids by collecting the chopped vegetables, mixing all of the spices, and helping to set the table. Chef Jay really enjoys the amazing help and company in the kitchen!

It is always nice to sit down and enjoy an amazing meal with your family that you made together. All of the families loved our dinner and were discussing the different vegetables and spices that you could substitute and experiment with. Why don’t you try this week’s recipe on your own?

Barley Jambalaya

serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1 cup barley*
• 4 cups water
• 2 whole bay leaves
• 2 medium celery stalks
• 1 medium green bell pepper
• 3 medium onions
• 2 medium cloves garlic
• 4 ounces turkey ham*
• 1-tablespoon canola oil
• 1-teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1-½ teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, no salt added

*Chef’s Notes:

Turkey ham can be substituted with ham, turkey, chicken, or turkey sausage. You can also substitute brown rice for barley if you like. To save time, cook the barley up to two days ahead of time, refrigerate, and add to soup pot in step 11.

Directions:

1. Measure and place barley in a colander and rinse under cold water. Add barley, water, and bay leaves to a medium saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and cook 45 minutes or until barley is tender. Place barley in a colander, draining any excess water, and set aside.
3. Rinse celery and green pepper.
4. Peel and rinse the onions. Peel garlic cloves.
5. Dice onion, celery, and green peppers. Mince garlic.
6. Dice turkey ham into tiny, ¼-inch pieces.
7.  Heat large soup pot over medium heat, and add canola oil when pan is hot. Add meat, onions, celery, peppers, and garlic to the soup pot. Mix well.
8. Sauté 5-10 minutes, scraping bottom of pan periodically.
9. Measure and add salt, cayenne pepper, oregano, and black pepper to the pot, along with the canned tomatoes, and stir.
10. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.
11. Add cooked barley, and stir to combine.
12. Add more liquid, if necessary, and cook over low heat for another 5-10 minutes to combine flavors and reheat the barley.
13. Remove bay leaves before serving.

If you'd like more information on volunteering or sponsoring an OFL class, contact our Director of Nutrition, Katherine Andrew, at Katherine@foodshuttle.org

Healthy tips to manage your PFP weight loss pledge

Today's guest post is from Amanda Sajczuk, one of our hard working Nutrition interns. She is a team captain for our Pound for Pound Challenge at Meredith College, and has a passion for sharing fitness tips and healthy recipes through her personal blog.  

Thanks to everyone who has pledged to lose weight! (If you haven't pledged yet, visit http://www.pfpchallenge.com. For every pound of weight you pledge to lose, a pound of groceries will be given to Inter-Faith Food Shuttle!) I’m sure it’s been a great motivator for you to become healthier while helping us out with our cause to fight hunger. I hope you’ve had some luck losing the weight you pledged, and to make it even easier, here are some tips!

The smallest changes can sometimes be the biggest help, so in addition to getting enough daily physical activity, do simple things to help you lose weight.

• Always choose skim or 1% milk instead of whole milk - you get much more calcium for much less calories and you’re taking away lots of unnecessary fat!
• Make sure you get lots of dark green veggies and other bright colored fruits and veggies.
• Choose whole grain breads and pasta, and make sure when picking out your bread it says “100% Whole Grain”, and not something like “an excellent source of whole grain” because those don’t count as a whole grain.
• Make sure to get enough protein - it’ll keep you healthy, strong and fill you up! Choose lean protein like grilled or baked chicken breast or tuna fish (made without mayo!) instead of hamburgers and steaks.
• Eat beans! Black beans are also a great source of both protein and fiber.

All of the whole grains, vegetables, and fruits are high in fiber which is very helpful when losing weight.  It keeps you full longer without adding extra fat and calories, as well as helping to get rid of some extra cholesterol in your body.

Here are some links to help you in your endeavor to lose weight:  www.calorieking.com ; www.nutritionmd.com ; www.mypyramid.gov

Crew Call on the farm this weekend!

 

Inter-Faith Food Shuttle Farm and Garden

Crew-Call

 It’s been a rainy month but we’re still hard at work and trying to keep up with the soggy ground.  Bring your valentine and join us for Friday and Saturday work days – what better way is there to celebrate than getting your hands dirty together?!   Please see below for more information.

 VOLUNTEER TIME & EVENTS: 

• Friday, Feb 12^th from 3:30-5:00pm at the Mayview garden.  We will be recruiting community members to come out and then prepping new beds for spring planting.  We’d love to have you but if you are planning to come please email Amanda (NutritionCoord@foodshuttle.org) so she can let you know if the ground is still too wet to work.

• Saturday, Feb 13^th from 9am-12pm out at the Farm.  If you are planning on coming please email Sun (Farm@foodshuttle.org) so that he can let you know if the work day gets cancelled for any reason.

FARMS & GARDEN BLOG

Keep up with what’s going on with our Farms & Gardens and PAR programs through the IFFS blog .  This week Sun has posted a great description of his childhood and the life events that prepared him to become the incredible farm master and local food activist that he is today.  Use this blog to check out weekly ripe recipes, find yourself in photos of weekly crew calls, hear from other volunteers, and stay up to date with activities at IFFS.  Let us know if you’re interested in contributing to the blog!

LOCAVORE LUNCH – Every Wednesday!

Every Wednesday at noon we are holding local agricultural discussion groups at Farmhouse Pizza, 3011 Hillsborough St. in Raleigh. We will be serving a pizza made using some (hopefully soon to be all) local ingredients from NCSU's Farmers' Market. Please RSVP to Steve (steven.p.horton@gmail.com) so he knows many pizzas to have made.  If you can contribute, he is asking for a $5 donation... if you can't afford the cost we’ll gladly cover you in return for good conversation!   A portion of the proceeds will go to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle.  This week's topic will be pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, etc.  We'll talk about the pros the cons and the risks involved.

GARDEN SUPPLIES:

We are still in need of hand-tool donations.  We gladly accept new and/or lightly used equipment. Thanks to all who have responded.

New Volunteer?

If you have not filled out a volunteer form or have a friend who is interested in helping out please email Janet at RGSJRS@aol.com.

Hope to see you all out there!

Katherine, Sun, & Amanda

Through The Garden

 By: Sun Butler In 1972, my Mom quit her modeling job in NYC to start the first natural foods cooperative in Westchester County – in our living room. Furniture, TV and her prized stereo were replaced with bins filled with whole wheat flower, granola and brown rice. She stocked our refrigerator with tofu, kefir and local farmers cheese. We often arrived home to a packed house for coop meetings. If customers arrived at dinner time they were invited to sample her latest health food creations and to trade recipes for delicacies like mung bean soup and tofu lasagna. For the three of us, brought up on a traditional southern meat and greens diet it was quite a shock. But the real shock came 6 months later when my step-father lost his job and our struggling family was left practically income-less.

One day my Mom sat us all down and laid it out for us. There was no money for camp, scouts, dance or judo lessons. In fact there was precious little money just to pay rent and buy groceries. If we were going to “get-by”, we would have to grow a garden. That would be our summer project.

Born on the tail end of the Great Depression, Mom learned the art of “getting-by” with less on her grandmother’s farm , where her large extended family gathered to grow cotton and vegetables and wait out the bad times. Her Cherokee aunts taught her to make fertilizer with vegetable scraps, straw and fish heads from the local groceries and fish markets. We planted the entire back-yard with spinach, lettuce, tomatoes and the classic Native American ‘Three Sisters’ garden of corn, beans and squash. My nickname that summer was Jethro since much of the heavy lifting fell on my 14 year-old shoulders.

We hand dug, weeded, mulched and picked bugs in that garden without chemical fertilizer or pesticides at a time when organic farming was only mentioned in a few obscure books. The rewards were stupendous. Our back-yard became a garden of eating. We kids were delighted that really fresh vegetables tasted so much better than what we were used to from the grocery store. When the garden chores were over we went swimming, picked berries and netted shad out of the river. I found an old pressure canner at a yard sale and we learned to can what we grew.

A year later my grandparents arranged for my sisters to attend Rabun Gap Nacoochee School in north Georgia where they were privileged to work on the Foxfire books and magazine. I became my grandfather’s right hand man in his declining years, helping to look after the farm until I finished college. Lynn and Juel came home on vacations to help Grama can and freeze the pick-up truck loads of corn, beans, tomatoes, apples and black berries that Grapa and I brought in from the farm. And we all learned to sucker and barn tobacco. I remember at the time feeling like the poor country cousin to my friends in New York when we came home for visits. It was worse for my sisters who toiled away at the cannery in Chase City while their drama queen girlfriends participated in summer stock in NY.

For all of our complaining though, we acquired a fearless-ness and sense of self-sufficiency that has stead us well through the ups and downs of our adult lives. As Grama often said, “we have lived high on the hog and low on the totem pole, but we always had something good to eat.” It is my goal here at Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s Farm & Community Garden program to pass some of that certainty on to every volunteer and participant in our programs. We will see ya’ll at the Farm this Spring.

Take the Challenge!

The Pound for Pound Challenge, that is! For every pound of weight you pledge to lose on this website (http://www.pfpchallenge.com), a pound of food will be donated to Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. It's a neat way to meet personal weight loss goals in 2010, while helping our neighbors who are hungry in the Greater Triangle. A number of staff members and interns have already pledged weight loss goals on the website and we'd love for you to join us!

After you pledge, what are some other ways you can help out the Food Shuttle?

Try looking at the Challenge from a different perspective—become an advocate to your community by telling everyone you know about the Challenge and ask him or her to pledge for the Food Shuttle! It’s important for the Food Shuttle to get your pledges so that we can help those who are food insecure even more!

If you’re on Facebook, join our Food Shuttle Pound for Pound group and post your motivation story for why you’ve pledged!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=248262053027&ref=nf