CRAFT United Piedmont at Ever Laughter Farm: Sharing about Tool-Sharing and How to Grow Year-Round

No tools? No problem? Beginning farmers and the farm-curious came from Wilmington to Rougemont to learn about a tool-lending co-op that allows beginning, first-generation farmers to save money by sharing instead of purchasing pricey equipment. The tour this past Sunday, October 20^th, was part of another monthly meeting of the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT), United Piedmont, coordinated by Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. They gathered at Ever Laughter Farm in Hillsborough to learn about fall/winter season extension methods and a Sustainable Agriculture Tool-Lending Library cooperative to which the farm belongs.

Ever Laughter Farm is in their fifth year of production on their 7-acre property, where they have been farming since 2008. Farmer Will Cramer had previously studied sustainable agriculture at Central Carolina Community College's Sustainable Agriculture program and farmed through apprenticeships as well as through the PLANT @ Breeze Farm's  Incubator program. In 2008, he joined forces with his now farming partner, Sam Hummel, who had recently moved to Hillsborough to start a farm but wasn’t ready to farm full-time. Now, they grow a wide variety of vegetables, raise chickens for eggs, and are also developing another 10 acre plot of land eight miles down the road from their current farm. They sell at both the Chapel Hill and the Durham farmers markets twice a week as well as to a few restaurants.

The CRAFT crowd, as always, came from a variety of background and parts of region, but all shared in interest in learning and growing food.  Participants were beginning farmers, part-time farmers, incubator farmers, apprentices on local farms, and even a resident at a co-housing community in Rougemont that wants to grow 80% of its food. One person had driven all the way from Wilmington for the afternoon to be a part of the learning environment. All were excited to learn from each other’s successes, mistakes, and experiments as they try to make a living farming or begin their own growing endeavors.

Sustainable Agriculture Tool Lending Library

Ever Laughter Farm belongs to a cooperative called the Sustainable Agriculture Tool Lending Library. Started by George O’Neal of Lil Farm and his girlfriend, Kelly Owensby, in 2008, the co-op of 10 farmers buys and shares tools together. The Lending Library was initially funded by a cost-share grant from RAFI(Rural Advancement Foundation International)-USA’s Tobacco Community Reinvestment Fund, which assists farming communities transition out of tobacco and farmers develop new sources of income.

The co-op allows beginning, first-generation farmers to save money by sharing instead of purchasing pricy equipment outright that they might only need one day a month. Will and Sam started farming at Ever Laughter without a tractor. As they grew and a tractor eventually became necessary for them, belonging to the co-op allowed them to purchase a better tractor than they would have otherwise because they had the security of knowing that they would not also need to purchase lots of implements like a bush hog and a disc harrow to go with the tractor – those would be available through the Sustainable Ag Tool Lending Library. These types of tools save lots of work by hand, and lots of time.

The farmers use a Google calendar to manage scheduling – creating an event for when they need the tool and for how long. The tool then stays at that farm until the next farmer needs it. They capped the group at 10 members for a reason -- Will cautioned that having more than 10 members could make it harder to coordinate and to keep track of where all the tools are at any given time.They hold a yearly meeting to decide what their purchasing priorities are and make all the decisions for the year. Farmers also pay $200 yearly in dues, which mainly goes towards maintenance of the shared tools.

What other types of tools has the cooperative purchased?  An augur for post-hole digging, a vacuum sealer for on-farm meat processing, different types of hand seeders, a transplanter, a disc harrow, a tillage tool, a tiller, a small plastic mulch layer, a bush hog, a manure spreader, a trailer, a bedder, a  pressure washer, a wood splitter, and a leaf vacuum.

With that last item, Ever Laugher Farm has collected large amount of organic material (leaves) for compost and mulch. The first year they used it, they tried driving into the town of Hillsborough to collect leaf piles that folks had raked up from their yards, but ending up spending too much on gas in the process. So the next year, they instead put up flyers around Kenion Rd (the road their farm is off of), and found that their neighbors were happy to have someone pick up their leaves instead of burning them or pushing them to the woodline – it’s a mutually beneficial relationship! From their leaf collecting efforts, Ever Laughter was able to fill a 100 ft bed 5ft tall, mixing the leaves with horse and chicken manure to create compost and enrich their soil , which is especially important in the beginning stages of farming and here in the Southeast, where heat and rain leach organic material out of soil quickly.

During the CRAFT event, participants got to look at and inquire about the usefulness of various tools, and even got to try one of them out! They helped bend pipes for a caterpillar tunnel (similar to a hoop house) that the farm uses to continue growing when the weather turns cooler. Watch this video to learn more about the Sustainable Agriculture Lending Library and its creation.

Fall/Winter Season Extension

Ever Laughter Farm aims to grow and sell produce year-round. We’re lucky enough to live in a climate that allows this to a large degree, but many crops still need protection from the elements during the colder months of the year.

To extend the growing season into the fall and winter months, Will and Sam say they first experimented with cheap methods, which didn’t work very well. They have since invested in better systems, but are still experimenting to determine the best methods for what they can afford. Heated greenhouses , for instance, work well to grow year-round, but require a lot of capital or really good credit to build, and the farmers would rather not burn lots of fossil fuels if they can avoid it.

So what’s the solution? They grow hardier crops that can withstand cooler temperatures, and use low tunnels and high “caterpillar” style  tunnels to insulate the rows from the cold.

Low tunnels fit over individual rows of crops – pieces of PVC pipe are stuck onto 1.5 ft pieces of rebar to form hoops over the rows. Next, they string rope or twine down the center of the row, looping it around each hoop at the top to create the spine of the tunnel. They then cover the hoops with greenhouse fabric and weight the ends of the fabric on the ground.

The farm’s larger “Caterpillar” tunnels use the same basic idea, but fit over multiple rows and use greenhouse plastic instead of fabric as a cover.

When it's really cold out, Will also sometimes put low-tunnels on the rows inside the Caterpillar tunnels for double protection from the cold. The hoops on these tunnels are composed of top rail and footer material they get from chain link fence supply companies like Dickerson’s Fencing Supply in Durham.

But this event wasn't just a tour -- CRAFT participants got to do some hands-on learning, too!

Thanks to all who have attended the CRAFT tours this fall! We have our final tour for the 2013 season November 10th at Raleigh City Farm from 2pm-6pm. The tour will focus on agriculture with an urban strategy, production emphasis, community mission, and restaurant support. Attendees will also have the chance to participate in building modified hugelkultur beds! Find out more and register here!

Sugar Overload Season and Healthy Alternatives

Inter-Faith Food Shuttle delivers fresh produce in low income neighborhoods through Mobile Markets, meeting people at their point of need.  Did you know we also provide nutrition lessons and cooking demonstrations at these mobile markets to help families prepare the fresh produce they receive in healthful, safe, and tasty ways? It's fall, and the cooler weather has begun to set in. With the change in season often comes warm, rich, sweet dishes and sugary foods.  So this month, our Food Matters Nutrition Education team is focusing on teaching people at Mobile Markets how to reduce their sugar intake and locate where extra sugar can sneak into our diets (like in sodas, condiments, and even salad dressings).

We're showing people how to make some healthy alternatives to sodas using seltzer water and 100% fruit juice to make a fizzy drink that both kids and adults can enjoy. We're also demonstrating how to prepare simple smoothies for breakfast, lunch, or as a snack. Smoothies are great when you crave something sweet and/or creamy, while giving you an extra serving of fruit!

Want to get involved with our Nutrition Education programs? Now is the time! We're still looking for a few more volunteers for our Food Day event this Thursday, October 24th! Find all the details here.

Learning to Grow from the Ground Up: Lynn Alker, IFFS Incubator Farmer

Check out one way we’re insuring a food secure and hunger-free future for our community by mentoring the next local, sustainable farmers through out Incubator Farm Program!

Lynn Alker first starting volunteering on the IFFS Teaching Farm this past winter. This spring, she starting working at the IFFS Farm Stand, which she still does on Fridays. Now, she’s part of the IFFS Incubator Famer Program and has her own plot on the farm.

Lynn has always had an interest in clean food and grew a smaller garden at home for many years. When her house recently became an empty nest, she decided she wanted to get back into gardening and learn how to grow –literally- from the ground up.

On her plot, she’s testing things out this year to see what grows the best – squash, pumpkins, eggplant, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, okra, tomatoes, various beans, flowers and herbs.

Eventually, she hopes to market what she grows – maybe even to a local chef. At our farm stand on Tryon road this fall, she sold herb bunches (sage/basil/rosemary/parsley), petite eggplant, Malabar spinach, sunflowers, edible nasturtium flowers, peppermint sprigs, and lemongrass.

For now, she’s enjoying learning the science of farming and gardening, and learning from Farm Managers Kay and Sun as well as the other Incubator Farmers.

But the benefits of being on the farm to Lynn extend beyond monetary value for what she grows.  She brings her grandson out to the Teaching Farm to teach him about where food comes from, environmental stewardship, and the amount of work involved in farming.

The IFFS Incubator Farm Program supports and grows new viable, independent farm businesses and aims to serve as a model new-farmer program.

You can help support the our agricultural training programs by donating today, or help sustain them year-round by becoming a monthly Ground-Level Giver! Or want to get your hands in the dirt, connect to where your food comes from, and help grow wholesome produce? Volunteer on our Teaching Farm!

Cooking for a Cause: Team Build with IFFS!

“10 minutes left!” Chef Khaleel reminded the three groups working speedily to finish their cooking challenge dishes in time for the judging. This isn’t Iron Chef, Chopped, or any other competition cooking show – it’s a group participating in Cooking for a Cause at Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. Cooking for a Cause is a half-day culinary team building course conducted by our professional chefs in the IFFS commercial kitchen. The course is specially designed to stimulate collaboration and communication among group members through a series of cooking challenges and culinary skills training. The group also experiences the satisfaction of preparing food for distribution to families in need.

The Food Shuttle Kitchen cooks and blast-freezes over 2000 meals per week using fresh food that is recovered daily from over 200 food donors. Though we’re not actually on a cooking show, because we never know what might come into the kitchen, every day at the Food Shuttle really is like the TV show “Chopped”!

The Food Shuttle Challenge includes:

• A line-cooking speed competition.
• A cooking challenge using an assortment of fresh ingredients arriving in the kitchen that day.
• Judging for the coveted Golden Spatula Award.
• A PB & J making race

Chef Khaleel and Chef Terri

Teams are judged both on how they work together and communicate, as well as the creativity, visual appeal, taste, and use of ingredients in the meals they make. For those less experienced cooks, we offer three “Ask the Chef” ticket lifelines per group to get advice or answers from Chef Terri or Chef Khaleel. Use them wisely.

Recently, groups from Red Hat and NetApp have participated in this team-building experience. The competition can get intense at moments, but that’s when their creativity shows. Some participants even proved to be true marketers, pitching the worth of their prepared dishes to the judges! Here’s what they’re saying about the experience:

“If you want to have fun and get to know your team, the IFFS cook-off is a great way!”

“Cooking for a Cause was a lot of fun and a rewarding experience...I really enjoyed making meals for others while also competing against and working with my coworkers.”

“The activity really honed in on teamwork. The setup and execution of the activity was superb! I think that the thoughtfulness and detailed approach to the activity made it successful.”

Want to bring your group in for a unique, fun, and rewarding team-building experience? Get all the details about how to sign up here or contact Amy@FoodShuttle.org for more info.

Growing Oyster Mushrooms alongside Vegetables: CRAFT United Piedmont Tour at Granite Springs Farm

On Sunday, Sept. 29^th the Collaborative Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT), United Piedmont met at Granite Springs Farm in Pittsboro to learn from farmer Meredith Leight about growing oyster mushrooms.

Granite Springs Farm started in 2010 and currently run a 40 member CSA and sell the vegetables, eggs, and mushrooms that they grow at the Pittsboro Farmers Market, Chatham Mills Farmers Market, and several local restaurants, including a UNC sorority.

Folks came from all over the greater triangle area for the tour and potluck event – from Pittsboro, Durham, Raleigh, Hillsborough, Silk Hope, Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and some from as far away as Fayetteville! The crowd included new and beginning farmers, established farmers, farm interns, local restaurateurs, a horticultural therapist, and even folks looking to start their own farm-based non-profits or other growing businesses.  Some grew shiitake mushrooms, but wanted to learn about oyster mushroom. A few were interested in incorporating mushroom growing into their aquaponics operations.

Mushroom Beginnings

Granite Springs started growing oyster mushrooms with an $8000 grant from the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI)’s Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund, which gives money to projects that are replicable by other farmers and focused in areas that have been adversely affected by the demise of the tobacco industry.  Granite Springs wanted to fit mushroom production into their existing vegetable operation. Their goal for the grant is to grow mushrooms in an already-existing farm building, making adjustments as needed to retrofit the space for mushrooms, and to stretch towards year-round production.

And indeed –that’s what the farm is doing. The mushrooms grow in cylindrical black plastic bags that hang from ceiling poles in their hoop house and greenhouse (Oyster mushrooms require an enclosed growing space due to pest problems – there’s a particular beetle that loves to chow down and infest them).

The farmers first learned about growing mushrooms from Tradd Cotter through a workshop at Mushroom Mountain. He’s also giving a pre-conference talk at the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association’s Sustainable Agriculture Conference this November if you’re interested in learning more from the experts first-hand!  Meredith also recommended the book Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms by Paul Stamets as a helpful resource.

She buys spawn from Mushroom Mountain as well – they clone wild spawn found growing locally that are well adapted to our climate. Part of the challenge in growing mushrooms is that each strain prefers different temperatures at different stages of development, but can generally tolerate from 50-90 degrees Fahrenheit. To keep the mushrooms cool enough in the summer, Granite Springs’ hoop houses have screens and sides that roll up to let in cooler air and they also regularly mist the growing mushrooms. .

In terms of light, mushrooms like 10-12 hours of exposure, so when the days get shorter they use florescent lights to substitute. Elongated stems and “funky” caps are usually signs of not enough light or of too much carbon dioxide.

Mushroom Production Processes

Mushrooms need a substrate material to grow on – and Granite Springs uses a mix of wheat straw, cotton seed hulls, and wheat bran. While oyster mushrooms are some of the easiest to grow and will grow on many waste-stream mediums, the carbon-nitrogen ratio in the substrate material is important.

The first step is to prep the substrate – shredding it small enough to pack very densely into the growing bags, and mixing the different materials together in the correct ratio. They first put the substrate into a welded basket – because then the substrate must be pasteurized to create as clean a slate as possible for the mushrooms to grow on.

Granite Springs pasteurizes their substrate in 55 gallon barrels filled 2/3 of the way full with water that has been heated to 170 degrees using propane tanks . They lower the substrate into the heated water, weigh the substrate down so it doesn’t float to the top, and then let it cook for two hours. The same water can be used for two batches but then needs to be replaced with fresh. .

But the process isn’t done yet – then they spread the substrate out on a sanitized tarp to let it cool and inoculate the substrate with the mushroom spawn by mixing it in with a rake before stuffing it into the big (5 to 6 feet tall) cylindrical plastic bags that the mushrooms will grow in.

Granite Springs is primarily a vegetable grower who is growing mushrooms to supplement their other crops. They usually dedicate 1 day a week to stuffing these bags and using this process they can stuff about 8 bags a day.

There are many ways to do this process, and Granite Springs is constantly tweaking it as they go. For example, other mushroom producers like Growing Power use lime to pasteurize the substrate instead of hot water.

For each batch of mushrooms they stuff in the grow bags, Meredith also creates a small, clear plastic “test bag” so that they can monitor how the mycelium is growing, whether it’s getting moldy, etc. Each bag is labeled with the type of mushroom, the date the bag was filled, and a batch letter.

Finally, they hang the bags and poke holes in them for the mushrooms to grow out of and to allow oxygen in. This process is best done in as sanitary an environment as possible – or in the environment they’ll be growing in – as the bags suck in air when the holes are punched.

The mycelium “run” throughout the bag until it is fully colonized, eating the substrate for nutrients. Then, when the bag is fully colonized, the mycelium realizes they need to replicate – or die! Good old evolutionary survival instincts at work. That’s when they begin fruiting – sending out super strong mushroom fruits through holes in the bags

Harvesting and Storage

The mushrooms need to be misted each day throughout the growing process to keep moist up until right before harvesting. If they are wet when they are harvested the mushrooms can turn to mush, so the timing of the misting schedule is very important

The mushrooms should be harvested before they start to drop their spores (you’ll be able to tell because they change shape). A warning: when mushrooms release their spores into the air, it can be harmful for those with asthma or other lung issues – so it’s important to set up careful air exchanges in growing spaces, as well.

Harvesting usually involves just pulling and twisting the mushroom lightly, but some are stronger than others: Meredith recounted a tale of a time when she pulled with all her might and couldn’t get the mushroom stem to break off!

After harvesting, the mushrooms should then ideally be stored at 35 degrees. Meredith uses a CoolBot, which overrides an AC system allowing it to maintain a cooler temperature (actually usually 39-40 degrees) without freezing over.

Granite Springs stores the mushrooms in labeled paper bags and will keep 4-5 days before sale – but fresh is best, which is why mushrooms are a great local product to sell to local restaurants! The quality will be much better than anything shipped in from the Northwest.  You can also store the mushrooms in cardboard boxes covered with film and with holes punched in them – they need to breathe and not gather moisture, so they don’t like wax boxes!

After harvest, the spent substrate can be composted!  The already once waste-stream material can become yet again useful in another cycle. Granite Springs will soon be borrowing the vermicomposter from Piedmont Biofarm and is determining the best ratio of green matter needed to compliment the straw material.

Marketing  Mushrooms

Why grow mushrooms? In addition to being super tasty, the economics are great for farmers. According to Meredith, it costs about $15 per column to grow, and each column yields about 10 lbs of mushrooms. Meredith then sells the mushrooms at $12/lb (blue oyster) and $16/lb (gold, pin, and phoenix oysters). She sells between 35 and 40 pints of mushroom per week.

At markets, she’ll bring a grill and offer samples for customers – and with one taste, they’re hooked. Then she’ll launch into the nutritional and health benefits of mushrooms. Did you know oyster mushrooms are colon and breast cancer tumor inhibitors? They’re also high in Vitamin C, are a great non-animal source of Vitamin D,  can lower cholesterol, and contain two times the amount of protein as an egg by weight. Oyster mushrooms are also amazing filters. They can break down toxins and clean up a multitude of petroleum spills through a process called mycoremediation.

Looking into the Future

Granite Springs Farm is also in the process of starting an intentional agrarian community on their land.  They’re holding open meetings every 3^rd Monday of the month with a potluck and discussion topic if you’re interested in learning more!

They also hold many workshops and other events on the farm – check out their website or Facebook page to stay in the loop!

You can register now for the next CRAFT United Piedmont tour happening October 20^th at Everlaughter Farm in Hillsborough. The special topic will be tool-sharing and fall/winter season extension!

Bees Move in at Hoke Street!

The bees have moved in to 500 Hoke Street!  Thanks to Berry Hines of Bee Blessed Pure Honey for donating a hive to the IFFS Hoke Street Training Center, where our Urban Ag interns have built raised beds to grow everything from herbs to watermelons.

“Now we have bees on one corner and worms on the other corner,” commented Urban Ag Educator Maurice Small, referring to a section of the property where composting with worms, known as vermicomposting, is creating rich soil for use in the raised beds.

Small explained that adding the hive in the neighborhood will make the plants healthier by providing the pollination needed to make plants thrive. The bees thrive, too, being around healthy, organically grown produce.  With tender loving care by the Urban Ag interns, the hive will expand and split off to spread their bee magic to other parts of the neighborhood.

Hines, a local beekeeper, runs a small family-owned operation (www.BeeBlessedPureHoney.com)  that produces pure, unprocessed and unfiltered honey.

“I teach people about bees to reconnect them to nature. Kids in this neighborhood are in a food desert and I want to help them understand how food is grown.”

We agree, Berry!  Our Urban Ag Program is designed to chip away at the root causes of hunger: lack of access to fresh, nutritious food and a lack income to purchase it. Inter-Faith food Shuttle hires community members as interns to learn how to grow food for themselves and their families.  In fact, two of our interns who live nearby are now selling their home-grown produce every Saturday at a Food Shuttle Farm Stand. The stand is open Saturdays, 9a-1p, through October  in the parking lot of Mount Peace Baptist Church at the corner of Martin Luther King Blvd. and Raleigh Road in Southeast Raleigh.

Want to help keep good things growing at the Hoke Street Training Center?  Small says his Urban Ag crew is looking for a donation of 2000 tulip bulbs to bring some spectacular color to the neighborhood.  They also need 5 gallon containers with handles and lids to hold compost, and a garden dolly.   Contact Ricky@FoodShuttle.org if you’d like to help!

"Beet" Hunger with your own Backyard Garden!

September is Hunger Action Month. Learn how one young woman who works with Inter-Faith Food Shuttle's gardening program in Parrish Manor is taking action to help BEET HUNGER in her community by teaching her neighbors how to grow fresh, healthy food in their own backyards.   Kiara Sanders has always loved to draw. Pencil and ink sketches of people are her favorite pursuits,  but  she credits gardening for giving her  the confidence and the problem-solving skills required to pursue a college degree in art education.   “Although art and gardening  are different, they both require learning technical skills.”

Kiara, 21, has lived with her family in Parrish Manor, a friendly, tree-lined low-income housing neighborhood in rural Wake county, for more than half her life. Growing up poor and with no car, her mother and grandmother depended on food stamps and family members to get enough to eat.

“We never knew when we might have access to a car, so we often got too much fresh food that would go bad before we had time to cook it all.”

In the past year, Kiara has participated in IFFS’s Urban Ag Program as a paid intern learning how to grow food in her neighborhood.   Urban Ag educators Maurice Small and Lara Khalil teach a small cadre of part –time interns how to compost , build beds, mulch, and grow food as a means of feeding themselves.  The goal of IFFS’s urban ag training is to chip away at the root causes of hunger:  lack of access to fresh, healthy food and lack of income to buy food.

Beyond agricultural skills, Kiara says she has learned about leadership, “… how to function within a team; how to get organized; how to settle disputes and decide what to do when things don’t go as planned. “

By going door to door to drum up interest in the project, Kiara says she learned to overcome fear of social interaction,  and to listen to what her neighbors needed.

“We learned that the community garden was too far away in the back of the property,”  says Kiara. “ So we came up with the idea of backyard gardens because they are more convenient.  We can spend our time teaching  people who really are committed to doing the work, in their own backyards.”

Kiara and her fellow interns grew basil, peppers, cucumbers, and watermelon this summer in an area that used to be a “jungle of weeds” before the Urban Ag training began.  In the fall, they plan to have their own backyard gardens sprouting winter crops.  Naming the project “Raise the Roots”, they built a demonstration bed next to  Parrish Manor’s centrally located office and have begun marketing the idea through signage, flyers, and newsletters.  They hope their marketing efforts pay off by the spring with at least a dozen more neighbors joining the project.

“Not only can you eat better, you’ll learn responsibility and confidence by growing food.  If I can turn a jungle of weeds into all this produce, it shows that with a team, I can do anything!”…even  pursue that dream of getting a degree in art education!

You can help BEET hunger, too, by donating today, or you can help sustain programs like this one by becoming a monthly Ground Level Giver! Already have a backyard, community, or school garden? Consider donating some of what you grow through Plant a Row for the Hungry! Only by working together can we truly end hunger!

Squashing Hunger with Shopping Skills

September is Hunger Action Month, and we're featuring some of our wonderful volunteers who help us SQUASH hunger everyday. Check out how Aila Goforth helps SQUASH HUNGER with our Nutrition Education program, Cooking Matters at the Store. 

“It blows my mind that 1 in 4 children in North Carolina is going hungry. I think it should blow everyone’s mind!”

So says Aila Goforth, a senior in NCSU’s Applied Nutrition program and a volunteer with IFFS Nutrition Education programs.

“I volunteer to get out of my comfort zone and engage with the world, to help the world understand that hunger exists and if everybody helps, we can make a difference.”

Aila leads Cooking Matters at the Store grocery store tours to teach families healthy nutrition on a budget.  From reading nutrition labels to deciphering unit pricing, the Cooking Matters at the Store curriculum arms families with the practical knowledge to make little changes  that add up to a big difference in health.

“The amount of sugar in cereal is often the big eye opener,”  says Aila.  “When mom sees that 12 grams of sugar in the average box of cereal equals 3 teaspoons of sugar, the light bulb goes off.”

Aila teaches families to compare the advertising on the box to what’s on the nutritional label.  “It may say ‘healthy’ or ‘natural’, but the label shows it has 16 grams of fat.”

Because Aila works with low-income families, her eye is always on balancing what is healthy with what is affordable.  That means buying a whole chicken, which is more economical than buying a chicken already cut up. Or buying milk on sale and freezing it to drink later.

Coming from a family that often needed help to stretch the budget, Aila knows first-hand what it’s like to go hungry or eat what’s filling rather than what’s healthy.

“If everyone learned just a little bit about hunger and health, and then helped just a little bit, we could solve this. There are so many ways to volunteer.”

If Aila can do it, you can, too!  Find out all the ways you can volunteer at www.FoodShuttle.org. Want to help out with grocery store tours like Aila? How about on October 24th for Food Day? We're hosting tours in Food Lions all across the greater triangle! Find out more here.

“Food Is Beautiful”

September is Hunger Action Month. Learn how Inter-Faith Food Shuttle volunteers and staff BEET HUNGER every day -- through programs like our Culinary Job Training Program -- and how YOU can join in the fight through Catering with a Cause!

No one knows better than Kitty Banks how food can lead to opportunity. Over a decade ago, she was struggling and alone, but IFFS’ Culinary Job Training Program was the second chance she needed. Twelve years later Chef Kitty leads IFFS’ nonprofit catering service, Catering with a Cause. As Kitty says,

“Food is everything… it’s like the olive branch, able to cross many bridges to simply allow me to connect to all different types of people. If a child is mad or having a bad day, I can make them smile with a simple grape. Food is beautiful.”

The Culinary Job Training Program is an eleven-week hands-on program taught by IFFS’ professional chefs and a social worker. Men and women with severe life challenges are prepared for careers in food service by learning in the Food Shuttle commercial kitchen. The program addresses the root causes of hunger by teaching skills for self-sufficiency. Some of the graduates become paid interns who staff Catering with a Cause. All profits are reinvested in the Culinary Job Training Program and other hunger relief programs. Catering with Cause specializes in box lunches, and lunch and dinner buffets, using purchased ingredients from local sources where possible, and fresh vegetables in season from the IFFS Teaching Farm. In additional to their delicious regular menu, they've even got a seasonal autumn specials menu out - check it out here!

Help us BEET HUNGER by placing your next catering order with Catering with a Cause. It’s a delicious way to support your community! Donate today or sustain our programs year round with monthly Ground Level Giving.