healthy food - Scarecrows! - SIBEJO

From the e-mail inbox:

Dear Ms. McAdam:

Hello, my name is Brianna Larrabee.  I am a sophomore at Canton High School and I am working with a group of high school students on a new volunteer project with the Canton Recreation Department.  They are gathering 6th-8th grade kids on June 29th at Taylor Park to make scarecrows.  We would like to donate the scarecrows to gardeners and farmers in the community to thank them for their hard work growing our food.  We were wondering if you could help us spread the word to local farmers and gardeners about our project and give them the link to request scarecrows.  I have learned from Mrs. Pynchon, through my mom Beth Larrabee, that you might be able to include an announcement with a link to the request form in the GardenShare electronic newsletter. Other options could be to send it out in an email to local growers and/or post it on your website. We would be grateful for any kind of help you can provide.  I have included the information below.    

My grandfather was a farmer and my two uncles now run his dairy farm.  Through their hard work and sacrifice I have learned how lucky our country is to have people like them that will put their time and effort to help support other families.  I was excited to hear about the opportunity to help educate young kids on the importance of the farms in our community.  And I thought it was awesome that we would be able to help contribute at the same time.

Thank you for your consideration and please let me know if you have any questions. 

Brianna

Scarecrow Request Form:
Need a Scarecrow? Canton youth would like to help YOU with your agricultural efforts by making you one! For more details to request a scarecrow for your vegetable gardens or farm fields, please visit: http://goo.gl/forms/appbgEonGriqc9yM2

Project sponsors:
littleGrasse, TAUNY, GardenShare, Canton FFA and Canton Recreation Department

Please also announce that we are collecting clothing donations:
Donations Wanted:
We are collecting clothing donations to dress our scarecrows!

Items Needed (adult sizes):
Hats, Long Sleeve Shirts, Pants and Panty Hose (please have all items on bags)

Drop off locations:
TAUNY: Monday June 13-Friday, June 17 10am-5pm and Saturday, June 18 10am-4pm
McKenney Middle School Office: Monday, June 13-Friday, June 17 8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

healthy food - Extending Your School Gardening Season: High Tunnels in Schools Conference - SIBEJO

The school calendar and the growing season in New York do not necessarily overlap. School gardens are excellent tools learning but students often miss prime growing conditions and experiences because of how late the outdoor school garden has to be planted in our state - and summer vacation does not allow interaction with growth, blossoms, tending, and even harvesting. Whether you have a strong school gardening program and are looking to increase your garden's impact, or are just beginning your garden connections, this conference will give you insight into best practices, challenges, and curriculum integration. As a culmination of the High Tunnels in Schools grant program, learn from teachers who have been using this tool to extend the gardening season and student learning. All participants will receive 16 hours of professional development credit, curriculum, books, and classroom resources. Date: August 9-10, 2016 Location: Edmeston Central School, Edmeston, NY Fee: $30 registration fee, includes meals Click here to learn more and register by August 1, 2016!

healthy food - Smith Farm Chicken - a local success story - SIBEJO

SLU student and summer intern Amanda Korb will be spending part of her time visiting farmers and profiling them here on the GardenShare blog.  Here's her first entry:

�Fajita spiced Smith Farm Chicken Breast on a crisp house made blue and yellow corn tortilla with queso fresco, shaved lettuce, toasted cumin sour cream and fresh cilantro.� Sounds delicious right? So describes a dish prepared by the 1844 House, an American bistro in Potsdam, made with chicken raised and processed by Massena locals Ron and Cathy Smith.

On Farmers Market days, Ron and Cathy get up at 6am
to prepare their trailer with fresh poultry for customers

Smith raises approximately 800 chickens, a handful of turkeys, beef, and occasionally pigs. Their primary focus is chicken; a USDA inspected and certified processing unit stands within yards of their chicken barns. The chickens have 24/7 access to an outside yard from their clean and spacious coops. Each chicken receives an abundant of food, water, sunlight and socialization.

The Ron and Cathy�s bottom line is the humane treatment of animals. Ron said he knows many farmers who dislike their livestock, or find their daily farm life a chore. He believes if one doesn�t like an animal, then one shouldn�t raise it. Cathy asserted. �It�s not about how long the animals lives, but the quality of life we give them�. Evidence of Ron and Cathy�s words was abundant as I took a tour of their facility. The impeccable cleanliness of the slaughterhouse would impress even my Grandma. What is more, Cathy nurtures any sick animal on the farm personally. They currently have two pet turkeys and four pet laying hens.

This is Ron�s retirement job. Cathy works full time as a dog groomer in a shop right next to the slaughterhouse. When I asked Ron if he could have the same quality of life if poultry farming was his lifetime occupation, his answer was clear a �no.� Sustainability, Ron believes, is the capability to break even on expenditures while still making some sort of income.

Ron sits next to his daughter and granddaughter
at the Canton Farmers Market

That income can be found in the freezers clustered around the farm. Ron said he had intentions of installing a walk-in freezer, but the cost did not outweigh the benefits. Instead, a horse trailer filled with freezers of chicken processed the night before is one of the first to make an appearance at the Canton and Potsdam farmers markets. Aside from the markets, the Ron and Cathy also profit from the aforementioned 1844 House as well as Jake�s on the Water. The couple both survives and relies on local business alone. When I asked which subsidized them more- markets or restaurants- Ron replied it is a balance of both. One challenge they face is competing against the cheap chicken prices Wal-Mart and Aldi�s offer, which is a quick 15-minute drive down the road from their farm. For families receiving SNAP, a $1.65/lb chicken breast is the more affordable option than Smith Farm $3.00/lb. Ron even admitted he would shop at WalMart if the roles were reversed.

The question of cheap food v. the added cost local food then comes into play. At GardenShare, we focus on raising the region�s economy by encouraging families to buy local food. For every $10 spent at Wal-Mart or Aldis, a farmer only receives $1.58 in return. Contrasting, a farmer collects $8-9 for every $10 spent at a local farmers market. GardenShare recognizes buying local as a point of paramount significance; therefore, we try to promote programs such as CSA Bonus Bucks and SNAP Double Up, which make choosing local the more promising option. EBT machines are available both the Potsdam and Canton Farmers Market, where Ron and Cathy can be found selling their fresh poultry. Taking the same $10 spent at the farmers market, about $7.80 is re-spent into the region. Paying a few more cents for local food supports the farmers who raise the product, the community surrounding the farmers and in turn the next generation.

healthy food - Agriculture and sustainability - SIBEJO

Austin Miles, a college student, wrote an interesting piece about sustainability and scale, which ran in Ohio University�s student newspaper, The Post.  The article states that no measure of distance, no simple definition of local or global is an indicator of either inherent sustainability or environmental degradation.  Here's the conclusion:

"To zealously support local food systems themselves may be unsustainable. That defensive localism, often characterized as elitist or bourgeois, stresses the importance of a sort of purist local food system in opposition to the global, capitalist system. In Athens, for instance, the 30 Mile Meal promotes local food as a sustainable response to the influence of corporate interests over the food system. But the local food system in Athens could not be characterized as sustainable because it is not necessarily equitable.

"A truly sustainable food system may require consideration of multiple scales because they are all connected. The local scale is nested within the national scale, which is in turn nested within the global scale. The world, globalized as it is, will require an food system that can operate on all of those scales. The local food system surely is important, but the road to sustainability will require that we move beyond localism and regionalism and figure out how we can use the various scales as means to create a sustainable food system."

Read full article

healthy food - Coalition on Human Needs Responds to Speaker Ryan's proposal - SIBEJO

Deborah Weinstein, executive director of the Coalition on Human Needs, issued the following statementy in response to the House GOP anti-poverty proposal:

�The plan put forth by House Speaker Paul Ryan and his GOP colleagues actually is a blueprint for exacerbating poverty and inequality in the United States. While lacking in legislative and policy specifics, this blueprint cannot be separated from the budget proposal championed by House Republicans. This year�s GOP budget derives three-fifths of its cuts from programs that help low- and moderate-income Americans, while protecting tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations.

�The issue of funding is a gaping hole in this proposal. It costs money to give people the tools to escape poverty. But the budget approved by the House Budget Committee earlier this year would cut low-income programs by $3.7 trillion over 10 years, mostly in health care, but also cutting SNAP by $150 billion (a 30 percent cut between 2021-2026), and cutting Pell Grants and other low-income education programs. Do Ryan and his colleagues now disavow these cuts?

�While the report mostly chooses rhetoric over specific proposals, it does hint at an intention to reduce cash assistance. In one very troubling example, it criticizes Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for children with disabilities, calling for �access to needed services in lieu of cash assistance.� Children who receive SSI have severe and long-term disabilities, requiring time and expense that diminish their parents� ability to work. Denying cash assistance to these families will drastically worsen their ability to provide for their children�s significant needs. 

�The report vaguely favors giving states more authority to change federal programs. This appears to be a nod to Speaker Ryan�s past recommendation to create �Opportunity Grants� � fixed funding to states that allow them to change rules in effective safety net programs. It is also similar to the House Agriculture Committee�s Child Nutrition Reauthorization proposal to allow three states to take a reduced funding level and change school meals program standards as they choose. There should be no doubt that freezing or reducing funding while allowing states to change program rules is no way to reduce poverty or increase opportunity. Instead, it will give states more incentives to deny help to people who need it. 

�If Speaker Ryan and his colleagues are serious about cutting poverty and expanding opportunities for American families, they should embrace policies that actually benefit working families. This requires investing in good jobs, raising the minimum wage, ensuring an adequate safety net, adopting family-friendly work policies such as paid medical leave and predictable hours, and investing in human capital through a sound education system, all the way from pre-K through college.�

healthy food - New CCE ag teams aiding North Country - SIBEJO

ALBANY � Home to rich soil, a large dairy presence and determined crop producers, New York�s North Country also has more square miles than the entire state of Vermont and faces unique agribusiness challenges. Helping farmers navigate those issues are a pair of new regional agriculture teams fu...

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healthy food - BABIES COST MORE WHEN YOU�RE POOR - SIBEJO

New parents quickly learn there are very few financial supports for families with young children to help them buy baby supplies. Many low-income families are doubly penalized because they can�t  afford to join wholesale stores or shop online and therefore pay more for basic supplies. One blogger (with Amazon Prime and Costco memberships and a car) compared her costs with the retail options available to a mother without these options.

• Diapers--22 cents/diaper online versus 36 cents at the local grocery store
• Formula--$20 per week at big box store versus $29 at local grocery
• Baby food--$5 made at home (thanks to  food processor/blender/dishwasher) versus $18 for jars at grocery store
• Baby supplies (swaddles, laundry detergent, diaper cream, and bottles)--free thanks to points on Amazon credit card versus $10 at grocery store.

Total savings=$41 per week or over $2000 a year.

Source: Talk Poverty, 6/1/16, Baby Costs