Olivia Park Elementary School Honored for its Bountiful Garden

The following is reprinted by permission of the author, Leah Abell, of Whole Foods:

Staff members at Olivia Park, community members and 80 family members gathered at the Olivia Park Garden on August 27 to enjoy a “Feast from the Garden,” hosted by the Lynnwood Whole Foods Market. The dinner featured dishes made from produce grown in the garden, combined with food donated by Whole Foods Market. The purpose of the meal was to celebrate and honor the school’s beautiful garden, its bounty and those who contributed to the success of the garden.

Mary-Kate Olsen, teacher and coordinator of the garden project, explained that Whole Foods Market is very passionate about eating healthy and helping people achieve that goal. She said the market has partnered with Olivia Park and its garden project since the opening of its Lynnwood store last year. Olivia Park also received one of the first garden grants from the Whole Kids Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Whole Foods that is dedicated to helping kids eat better—and enjoy it! The recent grant funded a shed and hoop house to help grow foods in the colder months. More than 20 Whole Foods team members also have volunteered their time working the garden.

The Olivia Park Garden was originally founded 12 years ago by John Smith, then a teacher at the school. He planted apple trees and grew flowers around the area. The garden was re-established in January 2010 by the school’s PTA, families, staff, and community partnerships. The garden is now used by teachers to integrate hands-on science and math lessons that are aligned with curriculum. Teachers around the area also have learned more about agricultural engineering and integrating other STEM concepts by using the garden. 

 

The Olivia Park Garden grows a bountiful amount of rhubarb, kale, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, beans, peas, corn, squash, artichokes, pumpkins, tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, currants, grape, plums, and apples at different times throughout the year.

The garden is maintained by Olivia Park students, families and community members who volunteer their time. Other families and community members who want to volunteer to harvest fruit and vegetables can do so on Thursdays from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. 

Extra harvest is sold at the South Everett Farmer’s Market through the nonprofit, Farmer Frog, a non-profit organization devoted to teaching people to grow food in cities. All proceeds from sales go back to the garden.

Celebrating Relationships and Healthy Food

This is my favorite time of year!  At the tip of summer with the melding of the last of spring veggies to savor and the oncoming of the bounty of luscious, sun-filled summer fruits and veggies.

Yes, those are insect holes.  We don't use chemical insecticides so sometimes we end up sharing our produce!

 

It's as if the earth has been planning a great food festival all year and we are all invited!  Here at Farmer Frog we are all about food--the growing, the harvesting, and the EATING!  Food--good, healthy, sustainably-grown food--is literally our middle name.  If those of us who are actively involved in FF have anything in common it is that we love to eat great food.

Luscious and ready, ripening on the vine

As evidence, we all are involved in a variety of other groups and activities around food and growing things, such as Chris Hudyma, board member and Director, Organizational Development,  Employee Training & Community Events, Edmonds Community College.  Among other things she has a great Facebook page for all you FB fans and foodies to check out:  www.facebook.com/FoodRevSnoCo. 
As Chris dubs it, the page is "Celebrating our relationships to wholesome food."

And speaking of Facebook, if you haven't already, check out our Farmer Frog page and  "like" us!  And share your ideas for other resources for food and gardening.

Happy Eating!

 

Why is it so hard to eat right?

I'm starting my day early trying to catch up on (and frankly unsubscribe to also) some of the multitudes of email newsletters to which I subscribe.  One of my favs that I don't get to often enough is Grist.  Today's includes an article on the recent move by the USDA to loosen up the rules a little in its relatively new school meal standards because lawmakers and children have been complaining.  While it won't mean sweeping reform to the standards spurred by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act passed in 2010, it does demonstrate again how difficult it is to get Americans to eat healthier.  We are a nation of whiners!

In a previous article in Grist, announcing the release of the new standards, the author, Ed Bruske, bemoans the fact that the "quality" of the food served to the nation's children seems to still be in question--and possibly not as high a priority as it ought to be.  He refers to statements made by Margaret Wooten, director for nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, who has been the chief lobbyist in the campaign to pass the new rules.  In an interview in The Washington Post, she implied that the "pennies" being thrown at schools to help meet the new standard would be enough and that going for quality is a "foodie" concern.  But as Mr. Bruske said in his article, 

"But of course the quality of food does matter if you want kids to eat it, and if you’re trying to teach children the difference between real food and the junk they’re exposed to every day.

What Wootan and these guidelines fail to take into account is the growing belief that schools should not merely feed hungry children, but show them there’s another world of food besides the junk food culture they grow up in.

It’s not just a matter of putting calories in kids’ bellies, not when food insecurity and obesity exist side-by-side. This is really a question of social justice for our times. Do the disadvantaged children for whom the subsidized meal program is designed deserve the opportunity to eat the same quality food as children from families who can afford to shop at a farmers market?"

At Farmer Frog, we're on Bruske's side.  We believe that everyone deserves healthy and quality food and that it should not just be available to folks who can shop at the high-end stores.  Food insecurity is high on our list of priorities to overcome.  Eating right starts with access to good food in the first place.

But its more than that.  Americans have learned to eat poorly--in part, I believe--because we have had access to too much cheap, unhealthy foods.  And many of us are so far removed from knowing what is healthy and how to prepare it that we just don't want to eat better.  I am reminded of my recent stay in the in-patient rehab clinic at a major medical center in our region after suffering from a stroke.  The food that I was offered at that fine establishment was probably not too far off from the local school lunch.  It was heavy on the carbs (and not necessarily healthy ones at that!) and light on fresh fruits and vegetables (in fact, even though it was the beginning of the summer season the only fresh fruit I remember was an apple and "fresh" veggies were represented by very "tired" iceberg lettuce).

One day, not long after I arrived I received a visit from the Nutrition Director for the clinic.  She was there to advise me--as I'm sure is standard protocol for patients who have suffered heart attack or stroke even if their stroke (like mine) was not caused by a clot in a clogged artery--on healthier eating habits to help prevent a repeat of the attack.  She talked to me about healthy choices (again, making assumptions--this time that I didn't have a clue how to eat!) and handed me a one-page print out of better food choices.  At the top of the list were whole grains, legumes, and dark leafy vegetables and yet...not one of these items was ever offered to me or the other patients in that clinic!  When I questioned this to one of my PT's later she concurred that it was a conundrum and could only offer that they had to gear their menus to the majority of their patients who were elderly and needed softer, more bland foods.

Truth be told...I believe that the real reason is because those mountains of mashed potatoes and gravy and mystery meats were just cheaper to serve in order to meet some established caloric goal and more likely to be eaten by people who just didn't know any better!  I wanted to know where the whole grains and legumes and dark leafy vegetables were that they were touting as healthier for me and why they were not taking advantage of this opportunity to teach people a better way!

That what Farmer Frog aims to do...teach people a better way to eat and give them access to better food they is affordable and healthy for them and the planet.  Will you join us?

First Official Fundraiser a Smashing Success!

On Saturday, December 1 Farmer Frog hosted its first official fundraiser, a gourmet dinner designed and created by Chef Jonas Story Drake of The Repp restaurant in Snohomish, WA (http://www.therepp.com/).  Delighted diners were treated to a lavish feast many local seasonal foods including a soup of cumin winter squash puree, tomato powder and smoked mussels and an entree of lamb & beef (grass-fed local) two ways, or salmon, halibut or chicken, potatoes or gluten-free pasta (all local ingredients), and a chanterelle conserva a jus lie.  The whole menu is posted below for you to drool over! Many local companies donated the superb ingredients for the feast.  Special guest, Ciscoe Morris of local television and radio fame (Gardening with Ciscoe, http://www.ciscoe.com/) who gave the toast and entertained the group, pronounced the food the best he had ever eaten!  From the looks on the faces of the diners below it would appear that they wholeheartedly agree!

Many thanks to all of our generous corporate and individual donors for your support of Farmer Frog!

 The talented kitchen crew:

L-R: Chef Jonas Story Drake; Jen Roeter; Rachel Stokes; Chef Dan Mitchell; Tim Mcway

 

Happy Diners/Generous Donors!

Starting from bottom, L-R: Zsolt Pasztor volunteer; John Hunkele community volunteer, ‘Farmer John’ at Olivia Park; Amy Baker community volunteer; Jon Bostrom farmer across the train tracks and landscaper; Liz Hunter realtor and Coordinator for Lively Environmental Satellite; Chris Muhinyi Zambia Satellite land owner and program founder; Aze Malawo Zambian Satellite land owner and program founder; Chris Castro permaculturist farmer and urban famer, major sponsor; Jami Burke LID Specialist and Program Manager Cedar Grove Composting Inc., our sponsor; Ciscoe Morris Super Star; Zsofia Pasztor; Chris Hudyma Board Member Farmer Frog, Celebration Of Food Festival; Jen Rafter community member volunteer horticulture student; Liz Bostrom farmer across the train tracks; Bence Pasztor volunteer; Scott Busby volunteer hort student; Dallas Davis supporting community member, retired high school teacher; Susan Rafter community volunteer, major donor; Mary  Ranahan Cedar Grove Composting Inc. sponsor; 

Mike Gerodetter DirTWorks sponsor

You're Invited to Our First Official Fundraiser!