First Few Photos!

Adorable little sign we put up the first week. The demonstration gardens are in formerly little grassy areas that students congretated in a lot during breaks. We're trying to make a gradual shift away from that, so the students don't feel like we stole their space

The set up for the raised beds. 48" wide, and 2 sets of anywhere from 98" to 102" depending on how good the wood was. We're using cedar seconds from the local sawmill. Trying to keep as much in the local economy as possible.

The first few beds. The sides are reinforced with some rebar stakes. In order to keep that hazard to a minimum, I had the idea of putting the piping on now to cover the stakes. We'll drape the fabric for the hoops over the piping to retain heat in the colder months.

Another view of the beds. The science classes all meet in that building in the background. 

A few of the starts from Katherine's house. They should be ready to go once we finally get the soil from the broken down truck. More on that and everything else that can possibly go wrong in a future post. 

Getting From Here to There

DISCLAIMER: This post is a bit of a reconstruction of lots of starts and updates I never posted between August 10th and now. Apologies if it's all over the place--that's exactly where I've been.

Last week we had National Orientation in the bay area. Eighty service members, 12 fellows, the professional staff, and various mentors/facilitators spent about a week going over rules and regulations, and also doing a fair amount of bonding and singing by the campfire. It was a great taste of what was to come in the other two sets of orientation.

I have completed one-third of the drive out to Arkansas, and am consumed by the worst combination of boredom and utter and complete madness of all the things I have to get done. It was the same leading up to leaving on the drive this morning. I felt so overwhelmed by figuring out what to pack into the car, what to keep for safekeeping in California, what to set aside for donation/garage sale, and how to squeeze in time with all of my friends and family before I leave. I realized that I have a tendency to sort of shut down if I get overwhelmed, and it keeps me from making ANY progress.

Two-thirds of the way out, I stopped in Amarillo, TX. Got some brisket and pulled pork, because you can't not have barbeque in Texas, right? Took a quick dip in the hotel pool, and fell asleep. I woke up way later than I had intended to because of a cell phone alarm clock confusion. Luckily, my Aunt Lisa had been keeping up quite the communication about our respective trips, and she woke me up with a text around 9:30. I still made it to Little Rock by about 6:00pm, so no harm, no foul.

In Little Rock, there was one day of training/orienting with the service site. Then I had 36 hours in Yellville to meet some people and work in the garden before two days of training/orienting in Fayetteville with the host site. Don't worry if you're confused about all the different sites and training sessions. I'm still figuring out the best way to describe the sort of flow chart going on here.

Fayetteville is an awesome little city. Yellville is a really nice little community that I really haven't had time to explore yet. I've met amazing people from all over Arkansas, and I'm ready to get settled.

Web Roundup

Just a few things I have been reading online this week:

Growing Home in Chicago ...to utilize organic agriculture as a vehicle for job training, employment, and community development. 
Discusses issues of profitability and demand for these programs.

From the Huffington Post: Can "Pop-up" Grocery Stores Solve the Problem of Food Deserts?
With a good reminder that education and affordability are just as important as access in changing people's habits.


Also this little ditty about the absurd nature of government regulation. It's illegal to purchase un-aged raw milk cheese, but automatic weapons are good to go? (I know that is an overly simplistic assessment, but the underlying point still remains) Photo Credit: http://www.facebook.com/farmtoconsumerlegaldefensefund

The Central Role of Food

Nowadays we think of consumers as people who “buy” food, but if food concerns us
only insofar as it is sold and bought (thus becoming a competence of economic policy
and not of politics as such), then we lose sight of food as a right. Yet that which is
essential for survival is part of the sphere of rights: this is why we speak of the right to
food and the right to water.

The Central Role of Food, Slow Food International Congress Paper

When I applied to study abroad, I wrote an essay on learning a culture through it's food. At the time, this idea was novel enough to a lot of my friends to be granted 'great idea' status insofar as application essays have to be different enough to set you apart in the reader's mind. I think that this concept of eating as a political, cultural, and social act cannot be discounted. Read the document, it's about 20 pages and a great conversation starter about food, how it's grown, how we eat it, and what that means economically, socially, environmentally, and culturally.

How Farming and The Internet Collide

"All farming is an act of faith, an expression of hope and possibility. I cannot imagine that there are any farmers out there, who no matter how many times they have seen the miracle of a seed germinate, or a lamb being born, or a tree flower and set fruit, are not in awe of a force far greater than themselves. This is what keeps us going even when the work is hard and the return not commensurate. It is this force we rely on, it’s what we set the table for."   --- This is an except from Mark Ableman, a farmer, author, and photographer and a recognized practitioner of sustainable agriculture and proponent of regional food systems (http://www.fieldsofplenty.com/).

This is why I love the internet. All it takes is a series of clicks, seemingly random, and you stumble upon something fantastic (especially pictures of cats?). I've always thought that somewhere out there, someone has said what I'm trying to say, infinitely more precisely and brilliantly, than my frustratingly inarticulate mind is able to come up with.

More to the point, I really appreciate how much urban agriculture and knowing where your food comes from is gaining traction in today's world. The other day, the USDA released their Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food compass 2.0. Essentially, it's a resource you can use to see what's going on near you--including farmers markets, food hubs, funding levels, healthy food access (although I'm not sure what they're measuring or what the criteria for that are), and more. These resources, mainly available because of the widespread dissemination of knowledge enabled by the internet, are proof that people care about food.

That's it for now. More on my progress as soon as I find out any news.

Southern Hospitality

"You possess the skills, experience, and motivation it that will take to successfully build school gardens, teach hands-on nutrition education, and get healthy local food into cafeterias. It's going to be a very exciting year."

Somehow,  I have managed to receive at least  4 position offers/welcome letters, and I think each one had a link to some sort of intake survey for me to fill out. There must be so many spreadsheets to keep track of right now at headquarters. I am feeling very welcomed. The above statement was the intro to the latest Welcome! emails. It does indeed seem like this will be a very exciting year.

I have to take a moment to remark on how amazing this whole 'networking' thing is. Never having done any internships in college, or had any sort of job where the hiring process wasn't simply apply, interview, get job, I am generally skeptical of the concept of networking. I have a linkedin account, and I accept people's invites, but only as a sort of stockpiling for some future time when I understand the whole point.

BUT

There's always a but. Earlier this week I sent one email to the host site and service site directors looking for leads and guidance on finding housing in Yellville. They forwarded it to others, gave me names and phone numbers, and the results are outrageous (in the best way possible). I have received probably ten responses at this point, all of which are FULL of advice, congratulations, and suggestions. Someone not only gave me a new contact person, but offered to let me stay with her while I get settled in. Maybe this is some 'west coast' thing, but I am so taken aback by the outpouring of selflessness and generosity. I am looking forward to sharing a community with these people.

What am I doing?

The second most frequent question people ask me, besides 'you're moving to Arkansas?' is 'what are you going to do for a year in Arkansas?'

After struggling to come up with a satisfying one-line response, I've found a few different sources that can help answer this legitimate question my friends and family keep asking.

From the SustainableYellville Facebook:

...Implementing a comprehensive gardening program for 6-8 graders. What is the Delta Garden Study? - About The Delta Garden Study ...The Delta Garden Study is a $2 million research study funded by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service designed to prevent childhood obesity and social risk behaviors, and improve academic achievement, in middle school children in the Delta and Central regions of Arkansas.

Our project goals are :
1) To reduce childhood obesity in the state of Arkansas.
2) To decrease social risk behaviors in Middle Schoolers and to improve academic acheivement.
3) To support the Farm to School effort by helping to provide fresh, locally grown produce to schools.

It is the largest, and most scientifically rigorous, school garden research study in the nation, utilizing 10 intervention and 10 demographically pair-matched control schools in a quasi-experimental, nested, pair-matched design including 6-10 teachers per school and over 4,000 students. The primary outcome variables are increased fruit and vegetable intake and increased minutes of physical activity. Secondary variables include reduction in body mass index (BMI) and body fat, increased school bonding, reductions in absenteeism and fighting at school, and improved student grade point averages and benchmark testing scores. Each participating intervention school will receive a 1-acre garden and greenhouse, and study-funded Garden Manager for one full school year. The corresponding study-developed curriculum is aligned to the state educational frameworks for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade science, math, language arts, health, and P.E. The Delta Garden Study is a cooperative research project funded by the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), through the Delta Obesity Prevention Research Unit. Additional information about this research unit can be found at www.ars.usda.gov.

They also linked to a great youtube video from the ACHRI explaining the goals of the Delta Garden Study. 

My role in all of this is to work with the Garden Manager, assistant teach the science, physical education, and health curriculum to reach the state mandated learning objectives, and to interface with the community to create a sustainable network of volunteers and supporters of the garden. 

Now that you know what I will be doing, let me give you a quick recap of how I got here. Initially, I heard about the program from Bob Gottlieb, one of my professors at Occidental College who is involved with the UEPI and Farm to School Network. Off the bat, I thought it was an amazing opportunity. I applied for the inaugural cohort, and like most things in my life, wasn't accepted the first time around (See awkward boarding school application process). After spending a year living in Santa Barbara, honing my culinary chops at the school of culinary arts at Santa Barbara City College, I reapplied and as of last week, was accepted to serve in Arkansas. 

I gave notice at my job when I first got the offer. I withdrew from culinary school in the fall. I still have a lot of loose ends to tie up here, and even more things to take care of on the ground in Arkansas. I have just over three weeks before all the new service members meet up in the bay area for our national orientation and training. That's five days long. Then, I have one week to get from the national training to my Arkansas training and really start this crazy adventure.

My goal is to write about my experiences on a daily basis, and post to the blog at least twice a week.