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. 

Today marks the inaugural Food Day, an initiative created by the Center for Science in the Public Interest to inspire Americans to think about their relationship with food.  Modeled after Earth Day, Food Day is intended to generate recognition of the challenges we face in changing the way we think about, produce and consume food in America.  The goal of Food Day is to start a movement to “Eat Real” in communities across the country –  it is the hope of Food Day activists and organizers that today will mark the beginning of the transformation of the American Diet.

To celebrate Food Day, the food bank’s Harvest For Health Department has teamed up with the National WIC Association to provide gardening and healthy eating education to mothers and children at a WIC Clinic in Anacostia.  Participants will learn how easy, valuable and fun gardening can be with children, and better understand how gardening can help grow healthy eaters at a young age.  We will read great gardening children stories, learn about what plants need to grow, transplant peas to grow in a sunny windowsill and taste fresh and easy to grow produce.

Today’s celebration serves as a great marker of the work that the Capital Area Food Bank and all of our partners do daily!  Everyday, the agencies that we work with create access to food and feed those struggling with hunger in the Washington metro area.  The food bank’s commitment to fresh produce and partnership with regional farmers increases the availability of real and equitable food in our warehouse.  The education and capacity building initiatives of our programs raise awareness about healthy eating and living.  All of these things and more empower us daily to feed hope, nourish change and create sustainability, making the work of the food bank an example of Food Day’s Guiding Principles in action!

Visit the Food Day to learn more about how you can join the “Eat Real” movement and take a moment to encourage Congress to support Food Day’s goals by clicking here.

Happy Food Day!

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.

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.

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.