Thanks to our friends at Common Good City Farm, we were introduced to Mindy Mitchell, who not only made the beautiful signage around our small garden but also worked with our staff to create the mural illustration.

Then a year went by, then another and maybe another…I can’t even remember – but no group, no individual, nobody was interested in making a mural on the side of a shed.  And so the beautiful illustration just sat in a file.

But then, through a friend of a friend (you know how that works) a connection was made and our team was put in contact with Katherine Elkins, the Visual Arts Teacher at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria. After looking for years for a community group, the perfect person just fell into our lap!  The partnership couldn’t have been more perfect.   The high school would benefit from an exciting off-site art project while learning about the work that the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Capital Area Food Bank do at Clagett Farm.  And the FYI program benefited exponentially by having a beautiful mural painted by volunteers.

Ms. Elkins decided to project the image onto the shed for students to trace, so with numerous orange extension cords snaking their way around basil and parsley plants we found a power source.  We used a combination of rain barrels and wooden boards to balance the projector and laptop.  Of course the “best place” for this balancing act ended up being directly in the middle of our Pizza Garden. 

But alas, no luck, it was too bright a day for the projection to actually be visible. And that is where the really impressive work began.  Ms. Elkins immediately set to work organizing a few students who would work with her to make the freehand sketch, while I took the other students on a tour of the farm.

By the time we returned from the tour the image outline was up. The students were phenomenal workers!  While one team worked on the mural others took turns eating their lunch, catching up on other class assignments and exploring the farm.  Within a few hours the painting was nearly complete.

 A few weeks later a handful of students and Ms. Elkins came back to the farm to add a few finishing touches and voila!  The project that took years to get off the ground was done!

Not enough can be said about Ms. Elkins’ leadership.  Without her extra effort in so many areas none of this would have been possible.  The students were thoroughly inspiring – they are talented artists, joyful individuals and cooperative teammates.  My day with them was thoroughly a delight.

 Ms. Elkins and her class made the garden space at Clagett Farm a warm and inviting space for the nearly 200 children that used that garden this summer through the FYI program. 

We just finished our eighth week of the Farm Youth Initiative and despite this summer’s heat, our kids seem to love getting out of the city to visit Clagett Farm.  A joint venture of the CAFB and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Clagett is a 285-acre, certified organic farm located in Upper Marlboro, MD.  The FYI program consists of a two-day nutrition and gardening class for children from Kids Cafe sites in the Washington metropolitan area.  FYI education themes change every growing season, with this year’s theme centered on every child’s favorite thing – snack time!

The first day is a one-hour session on how to read an ingredient list in order to tell if you have a healthy snack.  The class uses hands-on demonstrations and activities to keep the kids interested including getting to prepare a snack together in groups.  The “edu-tainment” continues the next day with games and activities at Clagett Farm.  Students plant, water and harvest fresh vegetables from the “pizza” and “pasta” ingredient gardens.  Then, they make a healthy pasta salad together with the freshly picked vegetables.  They also get to play in the sprinkler and feed crickets to the Clagett chickens.

Close to 200 children participated in the program this summer.  The Farm Youth Initiative is a truly collaborative project.  The program works across a number of departments within the food bank, including the Food for Kids, Harvest for Health and the Nutrition Education departments. This year, FYI operated at 11 different sites in and around DC, with some sites participating more than once. 

As part of the Fresh Produce Grant shared between the CAFB and Clagett Farm, every child who goes through the two-day course receives a ½ CSA share, which works out to about 75 pounds of fresh, organic produce for every site who participates in the program.  In addition to the CSA shares the students take home with corresponding recipes, participants harvested over 145 pounds of fresh produce.

As one young participant put it, “This is more fun than all you can eat pizza and wing night at my summer camp!”

We couldn’t agree more.

Over the course of one month, this team of 11, thoughtfully named Moose 1, truly served as an integral piece to our ‘community response to hunger.’  The team split their 40-hour work week between farming and gardening at Clagett Farm, performing SNAP outreach at out Mobile Pantry sites, as well as helping our Food For Kids department with packing Kids Cafe boxes and assisting at our Kids Cafe sites.

Despite having to wake up at the crack of dawn every morning to perform their morning team building activities, the team always carried along a smile and the willingness and eagerness to serve.  This inspiring and dynamic group of individuals made a huge impression on our hearts and in the communities we serve.

We hope that this experience was as influential and meaningful to them as it was to the food bank, our partners and the people we serve.  If you are a nonprofit organization in need of a group of dedicated individuals to work on a specific project for special amount of time, I would highly recommend you consider applying for a team of AmeriCorps NCCC volunteers.  The amount of work this team was able to accomplish in such a short span of time was incredible and worth every minute!

Thank you team Moose 1 and we wish you the best in all of your future service projects!

AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps is working with the Capital Area Food Bank to end hunger in the Washington metro region.   

Together, the food bank and NCCC transport thousands of vegetables; assist D.C. residents with food stamp applications; teach kids the importance of a healthy diet; and package food for after school/ summer programs for children – all in an effort to end hunger in the nation’s capital.  The members of NCCC were humbled and inspired by Brian Banks, the CAFB’s Director of Public Policy and Community Outreach, who recently delivered a short and powerful message. 

“Hunger can happen everywhere.  People come home from work and the kids ask, ‘What’s for dinner?’  Mom or dad goes to open that refrigerator and all they see is a bright light.  What we do here with the help of volunteers like you is to help feed people and educate the general public about hunger in our communities.”  

The team, Moose 1, work three days a week at Clagett Farm in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, toiling away in the fields planting thousands of potatoes, egg plants, zucchinis, peas and peppers – all of which will either be sold to shareholders or donated to the CAFB.  Volunteers also mend broken fence posts, weed fields, stack hay, and transplant vegetable cuttings into larger pots to help them grow.  Each day at the farm brings a new challenge to Moose 1; and each day the team tackles these challenges with enthusiasm and high spirits.

Moose 1 works at both the D.C. and NOVA warehouses for the remainder of the week.  In the morning, Moose 1 goes into the community, informs residents about the SNAP Program and gets them started with the application process.  In the afternoon, Moose 1 sorts and packs meals for the Kids Cafe program, and also visits Kids Cafe sites to teach school-aged children about the importance of nutrition.  It is a real treat for Moose 1 to interact with members of the community and to hear their stories.  After each encounter, team members walk away with a smile knowing they have made a positive impact on another’s life.

Written  by:  Mike Rood and Stephanie Snyder

Tomatoes and peppers from Clagett Farm.

Slipping along icy sidewalks every morning on my walk to the Metro, I know I’m not the only person eagerly awaiting the first signs of spring. As a native Virginian, every year I look forward to the first spinach and strawberries, knowing that the local, seasonal produce will have been worth the wait.

But I’ve been twice as excited about spring since I came to the Capital Area Food Bank in October to manage the From Ground Up Fresh Produce Grant.  In 2010, the CAFB awarded this grant to nine of our partners.  Grantees went to Clagett Farm in Upper Marlboro, MD every other week to pick up hundreds of pounds of free, sustainably grown, chemical free produce to distribute to their clients.

It’s time for CAFB partners to look forward to spring with me—and apply for the 2011 FGU Fresh Produce Grant.  Applications can be found here are due February 18th.  Anyone with questions or requesting a paper copy can call or e-mail me at 202-529-5344 ext. 222. 

Warmer days at Clagett Farm. Photo by Roshani Kothari

Clagett Farm is a project of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a farm that is as dedicated to protecting the Chesapeake Bay Watershed as it is to producing some of the most delicious vegetables I’ve ever tasted.  The more I learn about the health and environmental benefits of sustainably grown, chemical free produce and the economic benefits of Community Supported Agriculture, the more I like Clagett Farm.  But the reason I love Clagett Farm, and the reason I’ve been anticipating spring since Halloween, is their commitment to donating 40-50 percent of their vegetable production to the low-income community. In 2010, through programs like the FGU Fresh Produce Grant, Clagett Farm was able to donate 36,698 pounds of their high-quality produce to people who need it the most.

Last year, the HIV+ patients at the Carl Vogel Center and Damien Ministries; homeless men struggling with addiction at the Father McKenna Center; and clients of the Allen Chapel AME and Bread for the City food pantries benefited from the Fresh Produce Grant.  Clagett produce is nutrient-rich because it is harvested locally, safe because it’s free of chemicals, and a pleasure to eat because it is delicious.

I’m so excited that, when I get to cut into my first locally grown tomato this summer, I can do so knowing that I had a hand in getting the same quality produce onto the dinner tables of my neighbors in need.  If you’d like to help the CAFB distribute local produce, donate to Share the Harvest.  When the ice finally melts, consider coming out to Clagett Farm to volunteer for a day.

Through the FYI program, more than 150 children from Kids Cafe sites in D.C., Maryland and Virginia learned about the health benefits of incorporating eight servings of fruits and vegetables into their meals every day.  Each group of kids practiced making “packed snacks” by matching kid-friendly snack foods with fruits and vegetables they’re likely to encounter at school, home or their community center. 

So instead of eating plain salsa and chips, a “packed snack” adds peaches, black beans, corn and cheese to that store bought salsa and it is then served with whole wheat crackers.  Now that’s a snack that is good for you, tastes great (just ask the kids) and is very filling!

During field trips to Clagett Farm, the kids had the chance to harvest and taste-test veggies and herbs from the garden. And they worked together to create healthy snacks that included fruits and vegetables with other familiar ingredients.

All of these activities aim to increase children’s comfort level with eating fruits and vegetables.  By engaging kids with new tastes and textures, FYI hopes to increase the likelihood that they will gobble up at least eight servings of these essential foods on an everyday basis. This summer’s FYI participants had a lot of fun and we think they’ll head back to school ready to include fruits and vegetables with their meals whenever they have the chance.

This past Friday morning nine grant recipient organizations came to Clagett Farm for their introduction to the Fresh Produce Grant program. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day! Staff learned the specifics of the program including, how to weigh produce at the wash station and new vegetable varieties. They also tasted recipes that highlighted “spicy mix” a zesty mixture of garden greens that are unfamiliar to many people.   Jodi Balis, the Director of Nutrition Education made a delicious spicy mix soup, and my favorite—turkey meatballs with spicy mix and quinoa. So tasty!

Once the specifics of the program were out of the way, the group headed outside to tour the farm with Michael Heller, the Director of Clagett Farm. This gave participants a broader view of the importance of local sustainable agriculture.  Michael explained some of the sustainable growing practices used at Clagett Farm and how this type of agriculture effects the soil and water quality of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.    Check out the video below to see what Michael says about soil:

The Fresh Produce Grant program is a partnership between the Capital Area Food Bank and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation owns the farm, and runs various programs—including a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), tree nursery, and educational programs about the Chesapeake Bay and sustainable practices to protect it.

It seems like agencies that serve underprivileged people are always stretched to their limits.  So our challenge with the FGU program is to help agencies to learn about how to grow, store, and prepare fresh produce in a way that is exciting, but also manageable for busy agency staff members. Ultimately, our goal is to not only provide healthy food to front line organizations, but to help them become their own source of fresh produce through farmers markets, urban gardening, and partnerships with local growers.

Some agencies are a little hesitant at first, but they get the hang of it in no time. After two years of participating in the FGU Fresh Produce Grant, Martha’s Table has started growing their own produce on location! Last summer they built raised, movable garden beds in an underutilized parking lot by their trash bins.  This will be a learning tool for the kids in their daycare program. Bounty from the garden will supplement the produce received from Clagett farm to help feed kids in the daycare, as well as folks from the “McKenna’s Wagon” mobile food pantry. Growing in the beds are wax beans, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, kale, celery, morning glories, and lots of herbs. They even built a trashcan compost which can be easily rolled for aeration.  Check out the Martha’s Table post to see the whole story of their urban garden adventure!

Aromatic herbs help deter the smell from the trash bins behind them.

Can you believe they did all this in a matter of weeks? Go Martha’s Table!

The FGU Fresh Produce Grant is a partnership project of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Clagett Farm and the CAFB with the goal of providing up to 50% of Clagett’s harvest to low-income individuals in the Washington, DC metro area.  We invite you to help us Share the Harvest by contributing to this wonderful collaboration. For more information about the FGU Fresh Produce Grant, or to get an application for your CAFB agency visit our FGU page.

Share the Harvest is an innovative collaboration between the Capital Area Food Bank and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. This collaboration enables the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Clagett Farm to distribute up to 50% of its annual harvest to low-income families and underserved communities in the Washington metro area.

This past harvest season, Capital Area Food Bank partner, SOME (So Others Might Eat), used Clagett Farm produce in meals served to clients at residential addiction treatment programs. SOME received over 2,400 lbs of produce throughout the 26 week harvest season, but numbers can’t measure the entirety of the program’s impact as expressed by Brian Bilenki of SOME:

“Part of our mission is to serve people with respect and dignity. Serving people fresh, chemical-free produce gives our clients worth. It restores dignity to them. Food is ingrained in people; it’s so much of who they are. There’s nothing more nutritious than the food received from Clagett Farm, and we are showing our clients that they deserve to receive it.” -Brian Bilenki, SOME

Share the meaningful gift of local, sustainably grown produce for our neighbors in need! Help us Share the Harvest in 2010 and donate in honor of a friend or family member this holiday season.  Click here for more information or Donate Now!