| Author |
Ecopinions:  Local Food Policies  |
|
|
Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
|
|
Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 02 2007 : 1:47:36 PM
|
Wanted to share the letter I just sent to the editor of my local newspaper (mind you, my town has about 1500 people in it who grew up here are mostly related, so I may cause a stir. Yee-haw!):
--
Dear Editor,
I'd like to branch off of Rich Fischer's recent editorial about the taxation of Farmers' Market produce and talk about a growing revolution in school lunch programs which could significantly improve the health of our kids and our community.
Consider this: In the past 10 years, the U.S. has lost an average of 300 farms per week, while processed food like corn dogs and Jello® have infected school lunch menus like fire blight. Because school meals are funded by limited federal tax dollars, schools have turned to large-scale food distributors that source cheap products from who-knows-where. Labor costs have also been cut by eliminating on-site food preparation. These days, processed meals full of chemical preservatives are the norm.
Who said it was okay for food coloring to replace fresh spinach as the green component in our kids' diets? Who voted to rob the American farmer to pay China for tainted grain and rotten meat? I sure didn't, and neither did you, but we've gotten what we paid for. Corporate demigods started slipping cheap toxic additives like high fructose corn syrup into our food supply, hoping we'd all get fat and lazy enough not to protest. And now here we are on a crash course of obesity and disease, and small farmers are being trampled in the process.
Fortunately, a bunch of us taxpayers are people who want to change course. We're parents, grandparents, farmers, teachers, and concerned citizens – and we have the power to turn tides. As part of a national movement, more than 400 school districts in 22 states have started successful Farm-to-School programs (and many are in low income districts). These programs connect schools with local farms in an effort to serve fresher, healthier meals in school cafeterias while supporting local small farmers and market gardeners. Believe it or not, kids who once thought pizza, chips, and soda were 3 of the major food groups are now getting hooked on salad bars stocked from gardens in their own counties!
Through the Farm-to-School program, schools are buying farm-fresh foods such as fruits, vegetables, eggs, honey, milk, cheese, and meat. Even if a school's entire menu can't be supplied locally, it can certainly be supplemented in order to provide healthier options for kids. Plus, getting in touch with the local food supply creates opportunities for teachers to enhance nutrition and agriculture-based curricula that incorporate school gardening, farm field trips, and recycling programs. The result: Kids gain good nutrition and appreciation for the ground they're growing up on, and farmers are able to access a thriving new market.
Change is rarely quick or easy, but making up our minds is what sets change in motion. Maybe we'll have to start with your extra jars of pickles, Rich Fischer's surplus squash, or a few bags of my own blackberries – but those are all steps in the right direction. Yes, as Rich mentioned in his editorial, current state laws require food to be prepared in certified kitchens - but the school kitchen is certified, and certified church kitchens would be great places to get together and can garden goods. It is possible - we can feed ourselves! And we don't have to be wealthy, just determined.
Here's how we start:
Cut this editorial right out of the paper and send it to the Calico Rock School Administration, PO Box 220, Calico Rock, AR 72519. Or write your own letter expressing your interest in a Farm-to-School lunch program. If you've got the gumption, send copies to our district Senator Paul Miller and Representative Eddie Cooper in Melbourne, and then to Governor Mike Beebe, State Capitol Room 250, Little Rock, AR 72201. These more momentum we get, the better.
For more information or for technical assistance (with grants and other funding opportunities, finding farmers, transportation/distribution issues, and forming a farm to school advisory committee), go straight to Marion Kalb, Director of the National Farm-to-School Program:
Marion Kalb, Director
National Farm to School Program
3900 Paseo del Sol
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507
Phone and Fax: 505-474-5782
Email: marion@foodsecurity.org
Website: http://www.foodsecurity.org
And, you can also check out the USDA's detailed online guide called “Farm to School Guidance: Eat Smart - Farm Fresh" at www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Guidance/Farm-to-School-Guidance_12-19-2005.pdf.
Let's start a local revolution: Real Food from Real People. Our kids are worth it!
Jennifer Bové
Flying Mulberry Farm
Pineville, AR
--
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
|
 |
|
|
marybeth
outstepping
146 Posts
Marybeth
Washington
USA
146 Posts |
Posted - Aug 03 2007 : 08:28:05 AM
|
Great Jen. Could I copy the letter to send to my local editor? Did you know I was the lunch lady at a grade school for 18 years and I made sure that the self serve table was always filled with fresh fruit and raw veggies. I was brought up in a naturepathic family and tried to impart anything I learned into the school lunches. We could order what we needed and the district was willing to serve healthy lunches. I realize that not everything was perfect but I tried. I always washed everything really well to make sure I could remove what ever bad would be on the fruits and veggies and even washed the lettuces for the salad bar. I pushed buying local but that doesn't always work. We had a lot of vegetarians in that little school and they always told me they felt safe in sending their kids through the lunch line. I tried. MB
PS. that particular school didn't allow pop machines or candy machines on the property. MB Being outside is being |
Edited by - marybeth on Aug 03 2007 08:29:59 AM |
|
|
|
Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Aug 04 2007 : 3:28:46 PM
|
Yes, MB (& everybody) - copy & distribute as much as you can! Just got confirmation today that it'll be in next Thursday's paper....
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
|
|
|
|
Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Aug 04 2007 : 5:29:58 PM
|
The modern food message is eat local
Thursday, August 02, 2007
By Marlene Parrish, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Think globally, act locally.
That's a challenge we hear over and over. Since I
think a lot about food, when I think globally -- or at
least nationally -- on the subject, I'm appalled at
the condition of the food system. It's a great big
mess. There was the E. coli outbreak in spinach last
year. Before that it was scallions, then lettuce,
peanut butter, and the last straw for many, the
adulteration of our pets' food. And those are only
some of the ones we know about.
The food we eat comes from a global Everywhere. The
latest official catch is toothpaste from China
containing a chemical used in antifreeze. Less than
one percent of our imported food is inspected. I won't
hold my breath until President Bush's newly created
cabinet-level panel finds ways to guarantee the safety
of imported foods.
Then there's the dark side of crop regulation and food
manufacturing that I learned about from Michael
Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and Eric Schlosser's
"Fast Food Nation." Last week I finished Barbara
Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," a memoir
about how Ms. Kingsolver and her family gave up
nonlocal foods for a year.
Add it up, and what do you get?
Act locally.
I have challenged myself to eat locally grown and
locally produced food.
Eating local usually means that your food comes from
within 100 miles of where you live. That's called the
100-Mile Challenge. Some give themselves the name
"locavores." No thanks. Why eating local has to be
labeled a trend, a fad or the latest hit on the foodie
bandstand escapes me. It's just B.S. -- as in Before
Supermarkets.
Two generations ago, most people ate locally because
there wasn't the highway system, refrigeration,
industrialization or technology to do otherwise.
People had vegetable gardens, they baked, they raised
their own chickens or knew somebody who did. They had
to.
Today we have a choice.
Eating local
For the month of August, I'll aim for 80 percent of my
food purchases to be locally grown or produced within
a 100-mile radius. If I can find them, great. If not,
then eastern Ohio and northern and central
Pennsylvania will become local enough. I don't expect
this to be easy. This isn't California, where eating
locally is a breeze and I'll bet there's a law against
can openers.
But I have no intention of denying myself any
pleasures of the table.
Let's call the other 20 percent of my food buys "the
gimmes": olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano, lemons,
sugar, all-purpose flour (I bake a lot), spices and
seasonings. Coffee and chocolate are in if I want to
stay married. Good local beer is easy to find, but
wine? Unless somebody can improve on the likes of,
say, the Wilmerding Wine Works, I won't be drinking
local.
I won't be buying avocados, mangos or Italian canned
tuna this month. I won't be making Asian-based
dinners, which I usually do at least once a week.
But fish? Whoa, here's a problem. Henry Dewey of Penn
Avenue Fish Company occasionally has trout from
Ligonier. That's not enough. I'm going to go with
unfrozen, wild-caught fish from U.S. waters and those
that are green-lighted by the Monterey Bay Aquarium's
sustainable Seafood Watch list.
Not local doesn't mean bad. Giant Eagle carries local
produce in season, but spokesman Dick Roberts notes
that can never include fresh pineapple or coconut.
"Our goal is to provide customers with the opportunity
to cook with and experience both the delicious flavors
of our local markets as well as those from around the
world." And you can bet when I'm not local this month
-- visiting Seattle -- I'll pick up some marionberry
jam.
August is an ideal time to eat local. We are in high
season for local produce. Farmers' markets are
bursting with fruits and vegetables, and there's a ton
of home-canned pickles, relishes, preserves and jams
on the tables.
Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07214/806141-34.stm
J. Huston, MA, CEC, CDM, CFPP
Consulting Chef, Food Services Consultant
San Francisco, CA
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
|
|
|
|
Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Aug 15 2007 : 2:15:09 PM
|
Please circulate this alert around to others in your office, your community, your district.
ACTION UPDATE ON COMMUNITY FOOD PROJECTS IN THE FARM BILL
Thank you for all your efforts to date on behalf of Community Food Projects and other progressive farm bill legislation. Unfortunately, despite all your efforts, funding for Community Food Project (CFP) remains discretionary at $30 million and not mandatory as it has been for 10 years. This means that right now, CFP HAS NO MANDATORY FUNDING FOR FY 2008. We need your help to change this in the Senate Farm Bill.
The key next step is to get CFP mandatory funding into the Senate’s initial draft of the Farm Bill. Your efforts right now can make a big difference as to this outcome! THE NEXT FEW WEEKS ARE CRITICAL FOR INPUT TO THE SENATE’S VERSION.
NEXT STEPS FOR CFP ADVOCATES: Contact your Senators about Community Food Projects and ask them to fund CFP as close to $30 million in MANDATORY money as they can.
A. Calls and letters: As with the House, this is a great strategy for your Senators:
Call both your Senators and ask them to demand MANDATORY funding for Community Food Projects in the Senate mark up of the Farm Bill. If you don’t know your Senators’ contact information, call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Or look it up here: http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/index.html http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm <http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm>
ALL Senators are important to contact, but if your Senators is on the Agriculture Committee, they ESPECIALLY need to hear from you because they are on the Senate Agriculture Committee and will be marking up the Farm Bill in September. To see if your Senator is on the Agriculture Committee, go to http://agriculture.senate.gov/sen.htm <http://agriculture.senate.gov/sen.htm>
These quick phone calls will take only a few minutes of your time, but could make a huge impact on whether this program continues. Enclosed are talking points and background on Community Food Project for you to use in your calls.
Faxed letters: If you can, request your Senators’ FAX numbers and compose a brief letter. See talking points enclosed and add something about your own CFP projects or others in the district. (Note: emails are not preferred because they tend to get lost or ignored. Calls are recorded and faxed letters go right to the appropriate aide. Regular mail is not advisable).
B. Meeting with your legislators—especially in the Senate—is vital during this recess! Decisions are still being discussed and deals are being brokered, and WE NEED YOU to stress the importance of small but powerful programs like Community Food Projects and the need to adequately fund them with mandatory money. Contact their local offices for appointments. Meeting with aides who handle the farm bill can be very effective.
C. Project site visits: While Congress is officially on recess, your legislators are likely to be in their home states and districts, attending summer fairs and events. Many of them will even accept invitations to tour community food projects such as farms, community gardens, farmers’ markets, and other activities that highlight local food systems, especially if you invite the press along too! It’s easy to find your legislators—just call their local office and ask to speak to their scheduler. They may also post events on their websites.
D. Letters to the Editor and editorials in local papers have also been extremely successful, and we encourage you to continue submitting them. Sample op-eds and letters to the editor can be found at www.foodsecurity.org/policy <http://www.foodsecurity.org/policy> under “Farm Bill Materials”.
Updates, background, alerts and links on the Farm Bill (and there are others):
· Community Food Security Coalition: www.foodsecurity.org/policy <http://www.foodsecurity.org/policy>
· Farm and Food Policy Project: www.farmandfoodproject.org <http://www.farmandfoodproject.org/>
Thank you for all your hard work and support, and we look forward to working together to make a big impact as the Farm Bill moves to the Senate.
This message is sponsored by the Community Food Security Coalition and its partners
--
Stephanie D. R. Larsen
Policy Organizer
Community Food Security Coalition
110 Maryland Ave. NE Suite 307
Washington, DC 20002
Phone: 202.543.8602
Email: Steph@foodsecurity.org
www.FoodSecurity.org
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
|
|
|
|
Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
Posted - Aug 23 2007 : 8:59:37 PM
|
Hey Jen-
How did your letter go over in your new town?
Elizaray |
|
|
|
blueberries in alaska
outstepping
109 Posts
Jo
hillsides of the Chugach
AK
USA
109 Posts |
Posted - Aug 24 2007 : 09:59:04 AM
|
Jen, this makes me think of some yahoo I heard speaking on public radio not too long ago who thought we should buy ALL of our food from other places because they could do it so more cost effectively! I came home and told Paul that he was one of Bush's cronies, so SENSIBLE!
We have the 100 mile rule, but it is really tough in Alaska.... we fill our freezer to the brim in the summer, all of our protein is local, but fresh is really difficult. jo
there's no place like home....
http://web.mac.com/thomja
http://homepage.mac.com/thomja/PhotoAlbum22.html |
|
|
|
Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Aug 25 2007 : 2:47:31 PM
|
Have gotten some good feedback, so I'm starting a small, informal network of like-minded locals, and will see where that goes. It's tough to be a mom of 3, spare-time writer, and activist of some kind! We've started buying goat milk from a local guy - it is fantastic, with no goaty taste at all! I'm going to try to make some yogurt w/ it tonight.
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
|
|
|
| |
Ecopinions: Local Food Policies |
|
|
|
Local Food Policies
