***This is the second post in our series “Tales from the Specialty Crop Ambassadors” – blog posts written by farmers working with the Center for Land-Based Learning in Winters, CA. The Specialty Crop Ambassadors are spearheading projects that support consumption, education, and access to California specialty crops.***

By Anna-Ruth Crittenden

It has been a very eventful month for Farm-to-Mouth as our ½ acre garden is producing more than in previous years. I have been running Farm-to-Mouth for about two years and was looking forward to this summer season because we had successfully gotten a cover crop in in the fall, made contact with a neighbor willing to do tractor work for us, and received an amazing donation of 60 yards of compost. In addition to that, we built a greenhouse in the springtime so we were able to start many of our transplants right here on site.

Here’s the garden on the day we received the compost donation, when we were spreading the compost, and right after transplanting:

Farm-to-Mouth is a supported employment-training program for people with mental illness in Yolo County. We grow our produce on a ½ acre garden at the Farmhouse, a long-term residential care facility and part of the Yolo Community Care Continuum, a well-established non-profit based in Woodland that provides many services to this population.

This season Farm–to-Mouth has had about 12 employees and every week there is lots to do in the garden. The summer squash was the first crop to be ready for harvest and other crops were growing quite well so we planned the first Farm Stand for Wednesday July 1st.

I asked two of Farm-to-Mouth’s longest standing and most consistent employees to work the first Farm Stand. It was a great start: we had four customers. There were mostly squash and quite a few lemon cucumbers available; the brown paper bags are full of dried tulsi, or Holy Basil. This herb gets a high price in the commercial market and is used to make a refreshing tea similar to chamomile. Many Farm-to-Mouth employees have never heard of tulsi when they start working in the garden but become fans of the herb as a tea and are encouraged to take it home with them.

I am glad that we have gotten started with the Farm Stands this season because it is the first time since Farm-to-Mouth started that the employees can be directly involved with marketing their produce. Although the attendance at the Farm Stand events has been low, I am optimistic that as word spreads people will tell others and we can get more of a buzz going for our efforts. As it is now, Farm-to-Mouth employees take home surplus produce after the event and we have connected with Davis Community Meals for donations of everything leftover after that.

We have received many positive responses to the Farm Stand but our biggest challenge is our location which is quite far off the beaten path for many people. However, I think that the more often people make the trip out to the Farm Stand, the more they will learn about the program which will be very beneficial in the long-term.

Group picture after harvest, before farm stand in the evening (not all employees pictured)

A customer selects a bunch of Italian basil

***This is the first in our series of “Tales from the Specialty Crop Ambassadors” – blog posts written by farmers working with the Center for Land-Based Learning  in Winters, CA. The Specialty Crop Ambassadors are spearheading projects that support consumption, education, and access to California specialty crops.***

By Shane and Katherine McKenna

July was an exciting month at McKenna Farms!  Our specialty watermelons looked great – the Black Tail Mountain variety came in first and the Sweet Siberian close behind.  The Moon and Stars watermelons were the last to ripen but their beautiful speckled rinds make them worth the wait and fun to watch grow. These watermelons are sure to make an impression on our student visitors!

We are excited to have local students out to the farm this season and prepared the field for these events.  To facilitate student visits we have created wide furrows between our beds of specialty crops, so that the students can easily walk through the field and make observations.  Our field was also designed with a wide path through the middle, so that we can accommodate a large class. This area will act as an outdoor classroom where students will gather before and after walking the field.  Here they can share their observations and any questions they have about growing specialty crops.

In addition to the watermelons we have two varieties of cantaloupe, three gorgeous varieties of heirloom tomatoes, and several different sweet and hot peppers.  The sweet peppers are all Hungarian heirloom varieties and turn a bright lipstick red when they ripen.  The spicy peppers may not be as visually striking but they make up for it in flavor.  From the mild Poblanos (prized for Chile Relleno) to the super spicy Habanero, these peppers are delicious!

***Cross-posted from Planting Seeds***

For the past three years, kids have eaten healthier breakfasts, lunches and snacks at school thanks to the bipartisan Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which made the first meaningful improvements to the nutrition of foods and beverages served in cafeterias and sold in vending machines in 30 years. Thanks to the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act and other strategies, the national obesity trend is slowly reversing, and our children have more energy to learn and grow, greater opportunity to thrive, and better overall health.

As Congress turns its attention to reauthorizing the Act this year, it is important to remember that our children are battling a national obesity epidemic that costs $190.2 billion per year to treat and, according to retired U.S. generals, threatens our national security by making almost one in three young adults unfit to serve in our nation’s military. If we don’t continue to invest in our children’s health, this generation will be the first to live shorter lives than their parents.

The Act has undoubtedly improved the quality of school meals as well as the health and wellbeing of our children and for those reasons is supported by parents, teachers, doctors and kids themselves. USDA continues to work with schools, listen carefully, and provide time, flexibility, guidance, and resources to help them serve the healthier meals. Now is not the time to backpedal on a healthier future for our kids—that is why Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is encouraging Congress to act quickly to reauthorize a strong Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and support the ongoing success of the healthier meals.

• Kids are eating more healthy food and throwing less food away. Plate waste is not increasing. A study released in March 2015 by the University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity shows that students are eating more nutritious foods and discarding less of their lunches under the healthier standards. Kids ate 13 percent more of their entrees and nearly 20 percent more of their vegetables in 2014 than in 2012, which means that less food is ending up in the trash today than before the national standards were updated.

• Americans agree that healthier meals are the right thing for our kids. A poll released in mid-August by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation shows that 9 out of 10 Americans support national nutrition standards for school meals. Nearly 70% believe school meals are excellent or good, compared to just 26% in 2010, before the healthier school meals were implemented in schools.

• Students like the taste of the healthier school meals. A 2015 study from the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Public Health found that nearly 90 percent of surveyed students liked at least some school meal options. And according to an August 2014 survey by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 70 percent of elementary school leaders nationwide reported that students liked the new lunches.

• Kids are eating more fruits and vegetables as a result of updated standards. A May 2014 Harvard School of Public Health study shows that, under the updated standards, kids are now eating 16 percent more vegetables and 23 percent more fruit at lunch.

• Parents support the healthier school meals. A September 2014 poll released by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the American Heart Association shows that 72 percent of parents favor strong nutrition standards for school meals and 91 percent support serving fruits or vegetables with every meal.

• Support for healthier school meals is bipartisan. A September 2014 poll released by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the American Heart Association found that 87 percent of Democrats, 70 percent of independents and more than half of registered voters with kids in public schools surveyed were supportive of the new meals.

• Over 95 percent of schools report that they are successfully meeting the updated nutrition standards. Students across the country are experiencing a healthier school environment with more nutritious options. The new meals are providing children more whole grains, fruits and vegetables, lean protein and low-fat dairy, as well as less sugar, fat, and sodium.

• USDA continues to work with schools as they implement the new standards. USDA recently launched an initiative called Team Up for School Nutrition Success that allows the schools who still face challenges to pair up and learn best practices from schools that are already successfully serving healthier meals. The program has provided training for more than 3,500 individuals and has been enthusiastically received by schools and school officials.

• School lunch revenue is up. Despite concerns raised about the impact of new standards on participation and costs, a USDA analysis suggests that last year, schools saw a net nationwide increase in revenue from school lunches of approximately $450 million. This includes the annual reimbursement rate adjustments, as well as increased revenue from paid meals and the additional 6 cents per meal for schools meeting the new meal standards.

• Participation is increasing substantially in many areas of the country. Total breakfast participation increased by 380,000 students from FY2013 to FY2014 and has increased by more than 3 million students since 2008. USDA has also received reports from many schools indicating a positive response to healthier offerings and increased participation.

• Virtually all schools continue to participate. Data from states indicated very few schools (only 0.51 percent of schools nationwide) reported dropping out of the programs due to struggles over providing kids healthy food. State agencies reported that the schools no longer participating in the NSLP were mainly residential child care institutions and smaller schools with very low percentages of children eligible for free and reduced price meals.

• USDA has and will continue to listen to stakeholders and provide guidance and flexibilities, as appropriate, to help schools and students adapt to the updated requirements. Early in the implementation process for school meals, when schools asked for flexibility to serve larger servings of grains and proteins within the overall calorie caps, USDA responded. In January of 2014, that flexibility was made permanent. USDA is also phasing other requirements in over the next several years. And hearing schools concerns on the lack of availability of whole grain products, USDA is allowing schools that have demonstrated difficulty in obtaining adequate whole grain items to submit a request to the States to use some traditional products for an additional two years while industry works to create better whole grain products.

Link to fact sheet

The CDFA Office of Farm to Fork is proud to introduce a new blog series Tales from the Specialty Crop Ambassadors!

As part of the Office’s 2014-2015 CDFA Specialty Crop Block Grant we were able to partner with the Center for Land-Based Learning (CLBL) in Winters, CA to start the Specialty Crop Ambassador program.  CLBL is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating the next generation of farmers and teaching California’s youth about the importance of agriculture and natural resource conservation.

The program offers an opportunity for CLBL California Farm Academy students, graduates, or incubator farmers to undertake projects which support consumption, education, and access to California specialty crops. Ambassadors’ projects include work in one or more of the following areas (1) developing or furthering farm to school efforts through specialty crops (2) decreasing food insecurity and increasing access to nutritious food options through the use of specialty crops (3) promoting the farming of specialty crops as a career to the community or (4) increasing public awareness of the health and environmental benefits of specialty crop production.

This year the Office is proud to have selected four fantastic Ambassadors.

Aimee Sisson is the farmer and founder of Root Cause Farm, an urban farm in West Sacramento, where she grows a variety of vegetables and melons.  Aimee began farming as a way to increase access to healthy, affordable food, a passion that stems from her background as a public health physician.  As part of CDFA’s Specialty Crop Ambassador Program, Aimee runs a Farmer in Training program for grade-school children who live in the neighborhood around Root Cause Farm.

Shayne Zurilgen is a former middle school science teacher from Stockton who moved to Davis a year ago to join Flyway Farm. For his specialty crop grant project he will be planting a small orchard of Pineapple Guava, raising bees for honey and pollination, and teaching the community about the health and environmental benefits of the Pineapple Guava.

McKenna Farms is a small farm located in Winters, California founded by Shane and Katherine McKenna.  Shane is a graduate of the California Farm Academy class of 2014 and Katherine is an Elementary educator.  They are passionate about farming and educating future generations about the food system and stewardship of our natural resources.

Anna-Ruth Crittenden is the program coordinator for Farm-to-Mouth, which provides supported employment training for people with mental illness in Yolo County. Those who work for Farm-to-Mouth appreciate the training, as well as access to high quality vegetables they take home after work days. The 1/2 acre garden is currently growing tomatoes, peppers, 2 varieties of basil, watermelons, okra, eggplant, popcorn, and 3 varieties of summer squash. Farm-to-Mouth is a grant-funded program, so this summer, they are launching a Farm Stand, and inviting community members to come by.
 

To hear more about their great work from the ambassadors themselves, keep an eye out for the upcoming episodes of Tales from the Specialty Crop Ambassadors!

WHAT: USDA Webinar for farmers and distributors interested in selling to schools as part of the Pilot Project for the Procurement of Unprocessed Fruits & Vegetables

WHEN: Thursday, August 13th at 11 a.m.

WHERE: Register here

California was one of eight states selected to participate in USDA’s Pilot Project for the Procurement of Unprocessed Fruits and Vegetables. This pilot program allows schools to use their entitlement dollars to purchase fruits and vegetables directly from farmers and can be a great way for farmers to sell directly to school markets. (See our earlier post here)

For farmers and distributors interested in selling to schools as part of the pilot project, tune into USDA’s upcoming webinar this Thursday, August 13th at 11 a.m. This webinar, hosted by USDA, will review the eligibility requirements and application submission process. The USDA will also cover how the pilot can leverage existing relationships between farmers and schools and encourage formation of new partnerships. As Californians become more aware of the benefits and importance of locally sourced produce, parents and students are looking to school nutrition programs to incorporate a high variety of local fruits and vegetables in their school food service operations. We highly encourage you to join this Webinar and find out more about how you can take part in this wonderful opportunity! Registration here.

The goal of the pilot is to develop additional opportunities for both farmers and schools, using preexisting commercial distribution channels with growers, produce wholesalers, and distributors, to purchase unprocessed (fresh, fresh-cut, and frozen) fruits and vegetables from local farmers. Currently, 43 school districts are participating in this pilot with a total of $1,062,972 in funding set aside for potential use.

A celebration was underway this past Thursday at schools across Contra Costa County. Collectively, school districts are joining together to promote “California Thursdays” by offering freshly prepared items grown and produced in the state of California in cafeterias. California Thursdays™ is a collaboration between the Center for Ecoliteracy, a nonprofit advancing ecological K-12 education; participating school districts; the California Department of Food and Agriculture; and other allied organizations.  Schools take the opportunity to provide local items that may be new to many children, such as asparagus from Kings Crown Packing in Stockton and tofu from Tofu Yu in Berkeley. Many schools also have staff stationed at salad bars to encourage children to try new things, even if it is just a bite. “Some children have never tasted asparagus at home or may not have the opportunity to eat fresh strawberries. I want to bring them that experience,” said Matt Belasco, Director of Child Nutrition at Pittsburg Unified School District. To kick off the event in Pittsburg schools, the District invited local media, area stakeholders, and state policymakers to taste their lunchtime menu.

Belasco welcomed over fifty attendees at Heights Elementary School in front of a colorful display of local fruits and vegetables provided by Daylight Foods. Speeches were made by Jim Houston, California Department of Food and Agriculture Undersecretary, Sandip Kaur, California Department of Education Nutrition Services Director, and Janet Schulze, Pittsburg Unified School District Superintendent. Each speaker stressed their support and enthusiasm for the program and all the hard work that goes into making changes in children’s lives.

Belasco then led tours of the kitchen, cafeteria and schoolyard to show a number of educational and physical activities organized to get kids to move and learn more about healthy eating. The day ended with attendees queuing up with lunch money in hand for a meal with the students. Displayed along the lunch line were posters describing how asparagus is grown and where each item on the menu came from. School lunch trays varied in colors and shapes but most plates featured roasted chicken drumsticks, spinach and romaine salad, asparagus, and ripe strawberries – all from California.    Overall, the event demonstrated broad support for California Thursdays and the commitment of many community members to provide quality food and nutrition education to children.  California Thursdays will continue weekly in the Pittsburg Unified School District and monthly across the state.

-Nicole Sturzenberger

The Office of Farm to Fork is pleased to release three reports today. The first report, Farm to School Food Safety Guidelines: How to Safely Handle Fresh Produce from Farm to Fork, outlines food safety tips for farms and schools engaged in farm to school programs. The second report, Agriculture and Culinary Arts Career Technical Education (CTE) Best Practices, offers an overview of agricultural and culinary arts/food service CTE programs, best practices for such programs, examples of model programs throughout the State, strategic planning advice for new programs, and opportunities for expansion. The third report, California Schools and Universities: Procurement of Locally Grown Produce, summarizes best practices for local procurement among K-12 school districts and California colleges and universities and makes recommendations for how to expand and sustain such programs.

All three reports were written in collaboration with the California Department of Education and the California Department of Public Health and are available on the Farm to Fork Website, at http://cafarmtofork.com/ftfpublications.htm

We look forward to adding more resources and publications soon!

Pilot will support schools’ efforts to procure more fruits and vegetables; Offers new opportunity that supports local producers and local economies

By: Fiona L. Mattson

Many of you saw our vertical garden at Ag Day and we’ve been taking care of it all summer long and into the fall. We initially had many different types of plants in the vertical garden such as tomatoes and sweet peppers, but early in the summer we decided to repot some of them to give them more space to grow, and added some additional plants in their place.

Verticial garden on Ag Day (March 19,2014)

In the vertical garden we added the herbs in place of where the tomatoes once were. We now have lavender, lemon thyme, oregano, sweet basil, cinnamon basil, lemon basil, pineapple sage, and bean plants. We also potted a jalapeno plant when were transferring all the tomato plants and sweet peppers.

Our Jalapeno pepper plant and our sweet pepper plants really took off this summer! As did our herbs that grew our vertical garden! We have been fortunate enough to harvest a great summer crop from the tomato plants and we have had a few little visitors along the way as well.

                        Praying mantis                      Garden Orb Weaver Spider        

                                        Dragon Fly                                                 

 Our garden became an inspiration for not only the staff at CDFA, but for school gardens and other types of urban gardens. We take care of this garden in an urban setting, right outside our office building, and it shows how you don’t have to have a lot of space in order to create something beautiful (and tasty) – anyone can plant a garden at their home, office, or school.  We have already posted about some of the school gardens sprouting up around California and are sure there will be more to come!

By CDFA Secretary Karen Ross

***Cross-posted from CDFA’s Planting Seeds Blog***

A quick quiz:  If you could be a student anywhere in the nation during National School Lunch Week, which state would you choose? Easy answer, right? California!  Students across the nation celebrated this annual observance last week, October 12-18, and of course the California kids had the best spread to choose from. But then, we’re allowed to be a bit biased about things like that at CDFA – in fact, we’re proud of it.

To show our pride, California is taking National School Lunch Week one step further today (October 23) with “California Thursdays,” a partnership at schools throughout the state seeking to serve more healthy, freshly prepared, California-grown fruits and vegetables in cafeterias. The project is a collaboration by the Center for Ecoliteracy (CEL), partner school districts and allied organizations; and will make each Thursday a focal point for featured California-grown menu items at our schools. It’s a great way for students to learn that their state’s agriculture is something to take pride in – and something to take part in as well.

CDFA has provided support for the program with a Specialty Crop Block Grant, and our Office of Farm to Fork is helping participating schools source directly from California growers. I’m pleased to note that Office of Farm to Fork employees will be in Turlock today for the “California Thursdays” event there.

California’s innovative growers, our Mediterranean climate, our rich and varied soils, and all of the other ingredients that our state boasts help to make this the very best place for a student to get a tasty, healthy, nutritious, energy-infusing school lunch. We also have a lot of dedicated, hard-working cooks, chefs, nutritionists, food service professionals and school staff throughout this state who make it their business to put California produce on the menu at our schools. From farmers to administrators, servers and students, it takes all of us to get the job done.

There will be “California Thursdays” rollout events in 15 different school districts: Alvord, Coachella Valley, Conejo Valley, Elk Grove, Hemet, La Honda-Pescadero, Lodi, Los Angeles, Monterey Peninsula, Oakland, Oceanside, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, and Turlock. We look forward to seeing that list grow in the future.

These events are wonderful ways to feature California-grown produce, enrich the lives and the nutrition of our students, and emphasize the natural link between health and education.

Tomorrow, five students from the Pittsburg Unified School District in Contra Costa County will join First Lady Michelle Obama and students from schools in Arizona, Ohio and Washington D.C. to harvest vegetables from the White House Garden and work with chefs to turn them into a healthy meal.

Pittsburg’s students are attending the event in recognition of the Farm to School programs the district has implemented. The district now has eight school gardens, incorporates local produce in school cafeterias, and provides nutrition education in the classroom as well as after-school programs.

Harvesting Carrots at Willow Cove Elementary School (Pittsburg, CA)

The students visiting the White House all come from Pittsburg’s Willow Cove Elementary School. The school’s garden began last year, when second-grade teacher Elba Ramirez requested milk crates to start a small classroom garden. Instead, district child nutrition director Matthew Belasco offered to build a larger garden with raised beds. Ms. Ramirez and her students planted and cared for the garden throughout the year and then harvested the vegetables, which were served in the cafeteria.

CDFA’s Office of Farm to Fork has been working closely with Pittsburg Unified’s Food Service Department to develop these programs and incorporate more locally grown food in district cafeterias. The office is also working with Pittsburg and surrounding school districts to directly connect them with nearby farmers to provide local food.

“I am so pleased that the White House has recognized the Pittsburg Unified School District for all the hard work it has put into its amazing farm to school program,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “It helps connect our students with food grown right here in California and, to the extent possible, from Contra Costa and surrounding counties. CDFA and its Office of Farm to Fork is committed to these types of programs. They teach our kids about where their food comes from while giving them access to healthy foods, and they support California farmers and ranchers.”

***Cross Posting from CDFA’s Blog, Planting Seeds***

We farmers love our tractors, but if you had to pick an official “tool of the 21st century,” you’d probably put the “app” at the top of that list. Apps (mobile device software applications) are a great way to reach the Millennial audience on its own technological wavelength. Our friends over at the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers (CANGC) have joined in the fun, launching the new Plantable app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod.

Available online at http://plantable.org, this resource gives consumers a swipable menu of DIY projects like “The Incredible, Edible Patio Garden” and “House Plants that Clean the Air,” complete with materials lists and simple, straightforward instructions. It’s the kind of tool that can transform a young, urban audience into new urban farmers and home gardeners, giving them a chance to share a little bit of the thrill that farmers get every time they bring a crop to harvest.

CANGC developed the Plantable app with the help of a $237,000 grant from CDFA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. The app will help drive young consumers to nurseries and garden centers, which is great for the industry – but it also accomplishes the goal of raising consumers’ “ag IQ” and that’s good news for all of us.