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.

Cucumber Salad with Fresh Grated Coconut
Tamales World Tour Show; c. 1997, M.S. Milliken & S. Feniger

Serves 6

Kaila was our resident cucumber expert last year!

4 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced
3 tomatoes, cored, seeded and diced
2 carrots, peeled and grated
1 serrano chile, finely chopped
2/3 c. fresh grated coconut
1/2 c. finely chopped, lightly toasted peanuts
1/2 – 1 teaspoon sugar
1 – 2  tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Cilantro leaves for garnish

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Spoon onto individual plates.  Garnish with cilantro and serve.  This also tastes good with a dollop of strained yogurt.

Marian Peele, director of Agency Relations

 I’m growing 15 different types of herbs (all legal), cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini and lots of perennials!  So talk to JuJu or Susan, they’ll give you lots of information and inspiration for you to start your own garden.    

Grow A Row got started last summer as gardeners called to see if we could take their extra produce. Not only does the food bank warehouse accept produce donations, but Grow A Row pairs gardeners with non-profit organizations in their neighborhood to form a produce partnership. The program starts in April and runs through November and spans the entire D.C. metro area . Right now we are in the midst of pairing produce partners and are really excited that we already have lots of new gardeners on board.

We are inspired by a group that has stepped into the role of gardener for Grow A Row this year: schoolchildren! We have three schools growing produce in their schoolyard gardens. Holton-Arms school in Bethesda decided to take part in Grow A Row after attending a “Face Hunger” hunger advocacy and awareness class taught by our very own Advocacy Coordinator, Amanda Melara. Georgetown Day School will donate produce to Grow A Row through a new aftercare gardening class that includes cooking lessons by Slow Cook blogger, Ed Bruske. Bancroft Elementary school is also a Grow A Row participant as a natural extension of their involvement in DC Farm to School Network’s Local Flavor Week and their work in the White House garden with Chef Sam Kass and First Lady Michelle Obama.  All three schools are doing really exciting work around nutrition, garden education, and working to feed their neighbors in need.

Inspired? Check out the Grow A Row website for details and email us at growarow@capitalareafoodbank.org to sign up!

Co-taught by JuJu Harris and Susan Topping, the class is part of a three part series covering the basics of site assessment and garden planning and construction.  Information is also dispensed regarding local resources for free and low cost seeds and construction materials, vegetable planting schedules, and contacts for community gardening grants.  Interest and energy were high as folks shared their stories regarding their recently germinated seeds and techniques they’d already applied from what they’d learned in last week’s class.  Several plan to begin a gardening program with children at their sites, while others looked forward to sharing the seedlings and harvest with members of their congregations. 

Those who attended the workshop at a co-worker’s urging, or who seemed initially unsure about their “green thumb” were some of the most effusive by the class’ end.   Carrying pots of newly sown swiss chard, chives, and mesclun mix, the participants left with smiles on their faces, ready to share their nascent enthusiasm for gardening with staff and clients at their sites.

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!

Harvest for Health had no intention of starting a new program this spring, but we were open to it when the need presented itself.  Actually, the need has always been there.  We know that we need to get more fresh produce to the people who most need it – that’s why our department exists.  But the opportunity became more apparent when home gardeners started calling us. “Where can we take our extra vegetables?” Within weeks Grow a Row was born!

Rather than ask gardeners to bring their produce to the Capital Area Food Bank warehouse, we connect them with one an organization in their local community. The best part of this “Grow a Row” program is what goes unmeasured.  We can measure the produce that is donated, but how can we measure the connections that are being made?  When we made a connection in Cheverly, Maryland our gardener said, “I didn’t even know this place existed!” The agency
staff responded, “now that you know about us, you can send people here who need help.”  Hopefully communities and neighborhoods will grow closer through this effort — people who are already doing good work can team up to make not only a nutritious meal for a person in need, but a lasting connection to strengthen the community.

Are you interested in learning more about Grow a Row, or how you might get involved for the 2010 growing season? Email us.