FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Roger Ludlowe Middle School Garden Sass- Plant Sale

SATURDAY, MAY 22^ND, Fairfield, CT

FROM 10:00-2:00 RAIN OR SHINE

RLMS FRONT PARKING LOT 689 UNQUOWA ROAD

(IN THE EVENT OF RAIN RLMS GYM)

Heirloom Tomatoes and Vegetables, Annuals and PerenniaIs, Herbs, Fruit Trees & Ornamental Shrubs, Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries and Rhubarb will be available for purchase

FOOD, LIVE MUSIC, AND GARDEN SYMPOSIUM

Roger Ludlowe Middle School will be hosting their First Annual Garden Sass & Plant Sale next Saturday. A Garden Sass is a Yankee term for the home garden. Three farm vendors with ties to our community will be selling seedlings - Maple Row growers in Easton, Moorefield Herb Farm in Trumbull, and Daffodil Hill Growers in Southbury.

We will hold a Garden Symposium, provide live music and offer local fare to fortify our shoppers as they purchase the best of what Connecticut Growers have to offer. Goatboy Soap will supply gardeners with wonderful soaps to use before and after gardening.

Michelle Flashman and Amie Hall will give a tour of the RLMS Garden Square Foot Garden and answer questions. They will be selling seedlings they have grown themselves. The Operation Hope Community Garden will be also be selling vegetable seedlings and will be on hand to share the success of their garden.

CONTACT: Kate Carroll at tenlittlelines@yahoo.com

by Eileen Weber

Joining the ranks of other Fairfield schools, North Stratfield Elementary School has planted a new garden. On a recent breezy spring day, students gathered together to break ground on what would become the site of an edible schoolyard garden full of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. The following Saturday, the scout troop constructed the two raised beds that will support the plantings.

Since Mill Hill Kindergarten teacher Dan Smith started the first one in 2004, school gardens have been popping up all over town. In 2006, Roger Sherman Elementary School incorporated their organic garden into their curriculum with the help of Annelise McCay, a staunch advocate for school lunch nutrition. As a self-proclaimed foot soldier for organic school gardens, McCay has been partly responsible for gardens spreading like wildfire among the elementary schools.

But along the way, McCay gained a partner in crime. Amie Guyette Hall, a certified holistic health counselor and founder of her own business, From Your Inside Out, heard about what McCay was doing with the school gardens and has been working with the town middle schools. In the last six years, eleven of the sixteen schools in town either already have built a school garden or are in the process of building one.

Because of that, Hall and McCay are spearheading a new community organization. Modeled after the Westport Green Village Initiative (GVI) and a sister group to Ridgefield GVI, the Fairfield GVI will support all the school gardens as their first attainable goal in making the town green. “It’s an important message we’re sending,” said Hall. “This is where we are starting because we can realize that goal.”

And that’s where North Stratfield comes in. As the most recent member of a grassroots movement to introduce Fairfield’s agricultural ancestry to school children, they have planted the seeds and are watching them grow. And to McCay, that agricultural ancestry is a key element to their education.

Years ago, Fairfield had over 200 working farms. Today, we have one. And that farm’s lease will be up in less than four years. It will be anybody’s guess as to what will happen with the land. That’s one of the reasons McCay thinks gardening is so important.

“Fairfield has lost its agricultural roots,” said McCay. “One by one, farms have disappeared. I find it heartbreaking.”

Fortunately for North Stratfield, the parents, teachers, and administration, specifically the school’s principal Deborah Jackson, share that energy. Anika Knox, co-chair for the school’s garden, said everyone involved has been very enthusiastic. “What’s not to love about it? It’s a garden!” she said. “And my son loved it! Anything that gets him dirty, he likes.”

Knox said the kids started their planting on a “growing” cart-or traveling dirt, as she called it-with potting soil and newspaper cups. They worked with sunflower, cucumber, eggplant, and nasturtium seeds. Over the summer they hope to plant corn, squash, beans, and onions. Lettuce will be planted  in the early fall. With plans to schedule maintenance over the summer, this will give the kids the opportunity to see the garden in three seasons.

The hope is that with support and regular maintenance the garden will not only thrive, but eventually be used to support the greater community. “The first stage will be to grow the garden for the school,” said Knox. “But ultimately, we’d love to donate to shelters, like Connecticut Food Bank or Operation Hope, or some of the elder communities in our area.”

Knox also said another goal will be a Seed-to-Table initiative to get the food from the garden into the cafeteria. For Leann Ratner, whose two sons Ben and Zachary helped in the garden with their scout troop, the kids’ reaction to the garden shows what an impact it has made. “My son Ben, who is in first grade, couldn’t wait to tell me they planted eggplant. I hate eggplant,” she said jokingly. “He came in and said, ‘Mom, guess what we planted? It’s your favorite!’”

Ratner said this kind of project is appealing to all age groups. No matter the grade in school, all the kids seemed excited at the idea of seeing things actually sprouting. Part of what feeds that enthusiasm is a supportive community. “If you ask for something,” said Ratner, “someone always steps up and says ‘I can do that!’”

The garden has not only had community support but financial support as well. In the fall, they received an ACT (Adults and Children Together) Grant of $400. That money went to purchasing organic compost, tools, hoses, and other gardening equipment. This spring, they received an in-kind donation of $500 from Whole Foods Market in Westport. The donation included seeds, herbs, and some tasty snacks to give the kids a little break from all their hard work.

Aimee O’Brien, who co-chairs with Knox, doesn’t think the hard work should discourage other schools from their own garden projects. “It’s not as hard as people think,” she said. “Folks are really willing to help out. Building relationships is key to a successful garden.”

She also said no matter what way you look at it, gardens bring adults and children together. Fairfield GVI hopes to accomplish that one garden at a time. At the same time, each school garden brings the parents, teachers, and students together. Apparently, vegetables aren’t the only things that grow in a garden.

Win two nights in Maine, a GE Energy Star appliance (up to $500.00 in value, shipping incl.)

a bike,  a family pass to a Bpt.Blue Fish home game & many more prizes!!!.

FREE Admission! Town of Ffld. canvas shopping bag.

Plenty of Free Parking
SAT, MAY 8, 2010 from 10:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.
@ Fairfield Warde High School, 755 Melville Ave., Fairfield

Learn about…state of the art, clean and renewable alternative energy choices, conservation, our environment, organic and sustainable methods of gardening, cleaning, and safe organic products and services, etc.

Recycle… Old sneakers, batteries, eyeglasses, hearing aids, cell phones, wire hangers, and even clean pairs of socks and unmatched socks.

Enjoy… Free samples, face painting, arts & crafts, kid’s wood construction projects with Home Depot w planting wStudent Exhibits.

See… “Trashy Fashions“ A combined elementary & high school student fashion show using recycled materials. A “Green” Auto show

Hear… Experts discuss current & future trends in automotive transportation.  What’s up with healthy eating, gardening, etc.?

Taste…Fantastic food by Catch a Healthy Habit  and Chef Jeff’s portable wood-fired brick oven. Indulge yourself!  Try kettled corn!

Sing along with… the Mill River Band w Lisa Furman & Friends w Roger Ludlowe Middle School (RLMS) Chamber Choir w Fairfield House Band

Meet … 80+ exhibitors

Schedule

* Please see posted information at the event for most up to date information*

10:15 OPENING CEREMONY by Fairfield’s First Selectman Ken Flatto in the Courtyard.

LECTURE SCHEDULE

Lecture Room:

10:30   An Organic Teaching Farm in Fairfield ?

Pam Jones/Jody Eisemann

11:30   Local Food Panel Discussion

Moderated by Analiese Paik, Founder Fairfield Green Food Guide

Guest Panelists:

• Schools gardens - Annelise McCay & Amie Hall,
• Organic gardening - Nick Mancini
• Community Garden - Eric Frisk
• School Food - Michelle McCabe
• CSAs & Food Coops - Sarah Bollman
• Town Farm - Jody Eisemann and Pam Jones

2:00     Bees into Battle Win Baum

3:00     Organic Gardening Simplified Nick Mancini

Court Yard (Lecture Room if weather is inclement):

1:00       Future of Transportation - a panel discussion.

Moderator -  Jim Motavalli

Sure to be an exciting and informative panel discussion on our current transportation behaviors and the prescription for the future for attaining sustainability in the way we should choose to move ourselves, and the alternatives that will available to us.  Be sure to attend this engaging discussion by our panel of transportation experts.

Cooking Room :

Ongoing demos begin at 10 am. Stop in any time! Follow the signs to the cooking area

Coordinator and Speaker - Amie Hall

11:00    Sustainable Eating

11:30    The Green Lunch Box

1:30    Square Foot Gardening in the Curriculum

2:30    Square Foot Gardening - The Basics

10:00 am- 4:00 pm - Earth Food Tour, Self Guided, Ongoing.  Visit 5 interactive family friendly stations that will expand your food knowledge and build comfort in your kitchen. Topics include Glorious Greens, Great Grains, The Mighty Bean, Flour Power and The Green Lunch Box.

ENTERTAINMENT SCHEDULE

Time               Court Yard

10:45                   Mike Dougherty & the All Star Energy Band

11:15                     Save our Trees-Reading by Persephone  Ocasio

Trashy Fashions

11:45                     Drumming Circle

12:30                     Trashy Fashions

2:00                       Drumming Circle

2:45                       Mike Dougherty & the All Star Energy Band

Main Entrance (Outside)

Solar Powered Music

11:15 -2:00         Lisa Furman Band

2:00                       FFld House Band

2:45 - 3:45           Lisa Furman Band

Lecture Series Speakers:

Pam Jones and Jody Eisemann, former Westporters, re-met as Fairfield residents and found they had numerous interests in common, including the preservation and restoration of their local environment. Both of them believe that the earth is facing an unparalleled environmental crisis of resources, out of control pollution and most importantly the safety and security of our food sources. Pam and Jody believe that learning to grow your own food is a simple solution to lowering the area’s carbon footprint, accessing really healthy food and is real security for people everywhere. They have spent the past year pursuing the idea of creating a town owned organic teaching farm as a way to help create a sustainable future for our town and our children.

Analiese Paik is a local/sustainable food advocate and founder of the Fairfield Green Food Guide, an online consumer resource for finding local and sustainably grown food and connecting with the green food community. Launched in January 2009, fairfieldgreenfoodguide.com features a blog, database of green food resources, event calendar and e-newsletter that empower consumers to eat fresh, local and sustainable food in Fairfield County. Analiese organizes documentary food film events to benefit not-for-profits, and is a regular monthly guest on News Channel 8’s Good Morning Connecticut show.

Win Baum, Fairfield Backyard Beekeeper, is back this year and will talk about the perils honeybees and fellow pollinators, like bats and butterflies, are facing from chemical pesticides and other man-made foes. Win and his wife, Stefanie, have been keeping bees in their backyard Fairfield apiary since 1992.  Win’s experience with honeybees and other pollinators is sure to be informative and useful for gardeners of all types.

Nick Mancini will show you how to maintain a trouble free garden through good sanitation, crop selection, proper fertilization and Organic pest management. Nick is a Certified Master Gardener from the Cooperative Extension System of the University of Connecticut, specializing in organic vegetables, fruits and brambles, and past head Master Gardener of Vegetables and Tree Fruit at Bartlett Arboretum in Stamford, Connecticut. He teaches organic gardening at Norwalk Community College’s Extended Studies program and the Kathryn Croaning Child Development Laboratory School where they have developed an organic garden. Nick also teaches Organic Gardening at the Westport Continuing Education, Fairfield Continuing Education, Northeast Organic Farmers Association and lectures in garden clubs, horticultural societies and libraries throughout Connecticut and neighboring states.

Amie Hall - Amie Guyette Hall, is a certified health coach, Square Foot Gardening teacher and Founder of Fairfield’s Middle School Gardens.  Amie has helped our foods teachers develop a whole foods based curriculum. She connects children and families to their food, their community and the land through educational workshops and wellness programs in our schools and at a local farm.

For more information visit: fairfieldearthday.org or call (203) 256-3010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Amie Guyette Hall

E-mail: amieghall@aol.com

Phone: 203-256-0426

Fax: 203-256-0323

April Declared National Gardening Month at Roger Ludlowe Middle School at 3 pm on April 5^th

Where does your food come from? That’s a question Roger Ludlowe Middle School (RLMS) students have been asked by Amie Guyette Hall, Founder and Director of From Your Inside Out, a health counseling practice located in Fairfield, CT. Their response was to take part in building an organic vegetable garden. In recognition of that effort, Fairfield’s First Selectman Ken Flatto will attend a ribbon cutting on Monday, April 5^th in the school’s garden. The cutting will be a kick-off event in declaring April National Gardening Month and a celebration recognizing the outstanding gardening efforts of student gardeners across the district. All community members are welcome to participate in the excitement!

A lot of hard work went in to planning the Square Foot Garden (www.squarefootgardening.com), now in its second growing season. RLMS’s Jeff Iwanicki and Scott Morris of Fairfield Woods Middle School, both Tech Ed teachers, have been instrumental in the physical construction of the raised bed boxes guiding students during and after school in practical application of woodworking skills. But even more effort has been put into growing gardens across Fairfield. Flagship efforts for organic school gardens started a few years ago. Roger Sherman Elementary, spearheaded by Annelise McCay, sparked the interest. They have successfully integrated their garden as a teaching tool for nearly six years.

But they are not alone. Since then, the idea has spread like wildfire. A number of community schools have implemented a garden as part of their curriculum. “I support these outdoor classrooms as they present unlimited learning opportunities for our students,” said RLMS Principal Glenn Mackno.

And that’s where Amie Guyette Hall comes in. Ms. Hall has been very active in our schools the past few years. She continues to support these projects working diligently to involve students and to bring them together across the district. She believes that connecting children and families to their food, their community and the land is essential to the health and happiness that we all want. School gardens are a big piece of making that happen.

About Amie Hall

Ms. Hall supports individuals and families in achieving health and lifestyle goals while living a passionate life. Her unique approach to wellness combines food counseling with lifestyle coaching and offers nutrition and cooking education through workshops, as well as one-on-one and group health programs that are geared to meet the unique needs and goals of each individual, of all ages.

For more information, contact Amie Guyette Hall at amieghall@aol.com. [www.fromyourinsideout.com]

By Eileen Weber

The Food for Thought Expo took place at Fairfield Warde High School this Saturday. A good buzz of people attended the fair to hear lectures and experience what local vendors had to share. From locally made breads and honey to fresh milk and organic gourmet take-out, this showcase had it all.

As part of a series of lectures included in the event, Analiese Paik, this site’s founder, spoke for close to an hour about getting the message out about local, organically grown food. “It’s there for the taking. It’s out there,” she said.

Paik went on to describe the opportunities consumers have at their fingertips. From CSAs to farmers’ markets to retail chains selling whole foods, there is something for everyone. The biggest joy for her, she said, is connecting the farmer to the consumer. It’s making that connection that is key to fresh food’s survival in our society.

“We need to check the box on local food. Check the box on the local economy. Check the box on farmland preservation,” she said. Paik’s point was that local, organic food should be a way of life and not something we do once in a while. With obesity and juvenile diabetes rampant in this country, the very thing that makes a difference with those two epidemics is the kind of food we put in our mouths.

In a recent press release about the event, Michelle McCabe, Chairperson for Fuel for Learning Partnership (FFLP), the expo’s organizer and sponsor, said the event was meant to remind us of what foods to avoid. “It seems almost daily that we hear or read stories about the foods we eat, many of them with bad news,” she said. “…the main goal is to help us better feed our families. With the help of cooking instructors, educators, and local businesses, visitors to the Food for Thought Expo will be introduced to the vast range of resources available to help us all attain that goal of healthful eating.”

The FFLP sponsored the event as part of an on-going effort to help educate the general public about the best ways to approach nutrition, and how we can overcome the health challenges Paik mentioned in her lecture. “We’re all on a journey toward changing the way we eat,” said McCabe. “That comes with a learning curve, and our focus is to help people take ownership of their health, and the health of their children.”

Paik sees consumer interest in natural foods growing exponentially. She sees her role as providing a way for people to get to the food they should be eating. It’s also a way to keep our precious farmland preserved. “There are a thousand points of light out there and we’re connecting them,” she said. “There is hope.”

But it’s not just the farms. It’s everything that relies on the farm that provides fresh food to families. Maybe you go to food stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods Market. Or maybe you decide on take-out from Fairfield area hot spots like Health in a Hurry, Catch a Healthy Habit, and Green Gourmet To Go. Fairfield County’s latest farm-to-table restaurant comes in the form of a mobile brick oven caterer and Cheff Jeff had it stationed outside to serve pizza made with fresh, local toppings to the more than 600 guests that attended the event.

But there are some people who are a little apprehensive about buying shares in CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture). Frequently, farms provide an abundance of produce at some point during the season that the average consumer can’t use up in a week. To that, Paik said there are easy ways to avoid that problem. Blanching the excess and freezing it makes it easier for you to use the vegetables any time you choose. And if that doesn’t work for you, try Veggie Trader. They link people with excess produce to those who are looking for it. And if you can’t make it to a farmers’ market and don’t belong to a CSA, use CT Farm Fresh Express to get farm-fresh food to your table in one quick delivery. Of matching a farmer’s produce with the consumer, Paik said, “That’s a match made in heaven.”

While real estate is location, location, location, food has a similar concept: local, local, local. “CSAs are selling out,” said Paik. “We’ve stopped losing farmland. Smart people are running farms with a good business plan.” She said that farms are the hub, providing the raw material for the consumer, government, institutions like New Milford Hospital and their Plow to Plate initiative, retail chains, chefs, and school lunches. “It’s a jigsaw puzzle,” she said “and we are all finding ways to work together to be part of the solution.”

Paik feels we’ve reached our tipping point with the organic food movement. “We’re not waiting for our government to fix the food system. We’re doing it for them.”

A celebration of local farms, stores, restaurants, local/sustainable food advocates, businesses and educators for National Nutrition Month.

Type:     Free expo with guest speakers and workshops
Date:     Saturday, March 27, 2010
Time:     10:00am - 4:00pm
Location: Fairfield Warde High School, 755 Melville Avenue, Fairfield, CT

Don’t miss this amazing, free event sponsored by Fairfield PTA Council’s Fuel for Learning Partnership Committee. Come with your family and enjoy the cooking demos, panel discussions, guest speakers, exhibitors and free tastings of fresh, local food. Lunch may be purchased from the portable, wood-fired brick oven caterer featuring locally grown foods.

Participants include:

Samantha Heller, MS, RD, CDN, author of Get Smart: Samantha Heller’s Nutrition Prescription for Boosting Brain Power and Optimizing Total Body Health.

Amie Hall, CHHC, AADP, From Your Inside Out, is host to many delicious farm lunches and part of the edible schoolyard garden team.

Health in a Hurry, an award-winning restaurant offering inspired organic, vegetarian food to go.

Catch a Healthy Habit, an organic, raw food cafe and host to many live, education events.

Fairfield Green Food Guide, your guide to local and sustainable food.

Red Bee Artisanal Honey, a Weston apiary offering honey, a full line of honey products, honey tastings and book events.

Wave Hill Breads, Wilton, handcrafted, artisan breads available at specialty stores and farmers’ markets including the indoor winter farmers’ market at the FTC.

Fairfield Bread Company, Fairfield, home of  “The Flaxette”

Chef Jeff Borofsky and his portable, wood-fired brick oven catering company featuring locally-grown food. Come hungry because Chef Jeff is catering the event.

Sport Hill Farm, an organic farm in Easton run by Patti Popp and also the site of The Unquowa School’s Summer Farm Camp. Her CSA is sold out, but you can buy just picked produce at her farm stand once the season begins.

Stone Gardens Farm, an IPM (Integrated Pest Management) farm in Shelton offering CSA shares for pick up at the farm or at Westport GVI’s Wakeman Farm in Westport

Green Gourmet to Go, a brand new, organic, vegetarian restaurant located in Black Rock.

The Farmer’s Cow, Lebanon, provider of milk, eggs, cream, cider and lemonade. Ask them about their ice cream which is coming out soon.

SPEAKER SCHEDULE

10:00 - 10:15am    Introductory remarks

10:15 - 11:15am    Growing your own Produce: Organic Backyard Gardening with Nick Mancini

11:30am - 12:30pm
Get Smart: Samantha Heller’s Nutrition Prescription for Boosting Brain Power, Samantha Heller, MS RD CDN, Registered Dietitian, Clinical Nutritionist, Exercise Physiologist

1:00 - 2:00pm
Get it Local: Finding all Your Cooking Needs in and around Fairfield County with Analiese Paik, Founder and Editor of the Fairfield Green Food Guide

2:15 - 3:15pm Panel Discussion

From Classrooms to Cafeterias: Why Public Schools are Important in the Fight Against Obesity and the Fight for Sustainable Food Systems

Marlene Schwartz, PhD, Deputy Director, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity

Bruce Gluck, Food Services Director, New Canaan Public Schools
Michelle Flashman, Curriculum Leader and Instructor , Family and Consumer Science Department, Fairfield Public Schools

Please feel free to stop in at any time to attend the following family friendly activities! For everyone - of all ages and all stages of life! All talks, demos, and displays are designed to help build confidence in your kitchen and comfort at your table.

Location:
Barlow’s Restaurant (in the school)
10:30am Healthy Eating Choices for the Whole Family, JoAnn Koebbe

11:30am Healthy Eating Choices for the Whole Family, JoAnn Koebbe

12:30pm Cooking in the Classroom: the Fairfield Middle School Curriculum, Michelle Flashman

1:30pm Cooking in the Classroom: the Fairfield Middle School Curriculum, Michelle Flashman

3:00pm Healthy Eating Choices for the Whole Family, JoAnn Koebbe

Instructors & Classes
JoAnn Koebbe, Certified LEAN Coach & Health Counselor
Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitude, Nutrition are the key components to this interactive, FUN, lesson in making healthy eating choices. For everyone, children, parents, grandparents.

10:30 am, 11:30 am, 3:00 pm, 3 sessions, 30 minutes each

Michelle Flashman, Family & Consumer Sciences Curriculum Department Leader, Fairfield Public Schools
Discover what Fairfield middle school students are learning about food in the cooking classroom!

12:30 pm, 1:30 pm, 2 sessions, 30 minutes each

Location:
Family & Consumer Sciences Classroom

SPEAKERS & DEMOS
10:00 - 10:45am Whole Foods, Whole You — Amie Hall

10:45 - 11:00am Gluten Free and Flour Power — Amie Hall

11:00 - 11:30am Small Batch Baking and Buying local breads — Michael Mordecai

11:30 - 11:45am Whole Foods, Whole You — Amie Hall

11:45am - 12:45pm Food Scientists! — Valerie Wilke

1:00 - 2:15pm An Introduction to Health Supportive Cuisine - Sue Cadwell

2:15 - 3:15pm Lunch Box Fun and Co-op Bulk Buying - Valerie Wilke

3:15 - 4:00pm    Re-thinking the School Lunch Menu - Bruce Gluck and Amie Hall

Instructors & Classes
Amie Guyette Hall, Health Counselor and Cooking Coach, From Your Inside Out

Whole Foods, Whole You! We all know we should eat better food. This workshop helps us understand WHY. Kick off the day’s events with this helpful way of understanding the food mood and chronic condition connection that we are all trying to conquer. Insightful, eye opening.

10:00 am - 10:45 am, 11:30 - 11:45am

Gluten Free & Flour Power. A supportive introduction to alternative flour and pantry products.
10:45 am - 11:00 am

Michael Mordecai, Fairfield Bread Company, Bread Baker
Learn about small batch baking and buying local. Bread is the staff of life, and Michael shares
11:00 am - 11:30 am

Valerie Wilke, Chef, Blood Root Restaurant
Food Scientists!
Become the food scientist that you and your children want to be! Find encouragement and discover fun, fabulous ideas of how to experiment around the rainbow!
11:45 am - 12:45 pm

Lunch Box and Co-op Bulk Buying
2:15 - 3:15pm

Sue Cadwell, Owner, Health in a Hurry
An Intro to Health Supportive Cuisine. Easy recipes & food samples. Grains, Greens and Soy.
1:00 pm - 2:15 pm

Bruce Gluck, chef and Food Services Director in the New Canaan Public Schools
Rethinking the School Lunch Menu
3:15 pm - 4 pm

SELF GUIDED KITCHEN TOUR
Visit 5 interactive family friendly stations that will expand your food knowledge and build comfort in your kitchen.
Topics include Glorious Greens, Great Grains, The Mighty Bean, Flour Power, and Power Tools!
10:00 am - 4:00 pm

RSVP for this event on my Facebook page

Charlie is a fourth grader at King’s Highway Elementary School in Westport who has a deep passion for the farming life. It’s immediately obvious that Charlie would rather be farming than anything else, so when his teacher offered him the opportunity to do an independent study project, he jumped at the chance to share his knowledge and passion with his classmates.

Working with his teacher, Mrs. Malizia, he spent the last six weeks preparing a multimedia presentation for his class about local farms and their importance to our community. Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the class presentation. Charlie very confidently stood in front of his class and gave them an eloquent primer on local farms. “Do you know where your food comes from?” he asked the children sitting on the floor around him. He then presented the basic facts about what a farm is, how varied they are in size and nature, defined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and talked about the history of farming in the area. Corn and apples figure prominently in the area’s agricultural past (and present), but I really enjoyed learning that onions were grown in Westport during the Civil War to combat scurvy in the army ranks and “young boys our age would miss their spring and early fall school terms to harvest the onions.”

Charlie has a soft spot for Patti Popp, owner of Sport Hill Farm in Easton and host to almost 200 children in a summer farm camp run through The Unquowa School. During his “Meet the Farmer” segment, Charlie described Patti as “a hard working organic farmer who sometimes works from 7 am to 9 pm in the busy season on her four-and-a-half acre farm.” Highlighting the special relationship Patti has with her CSA families, Charlie pointed out that “once a week people come to pick up their shares that she picks that morning. Sometimes crops don’t do well, like broccoli this year, but there was arugula, spinach, lettuce, cabbage, bok choy, peppers, garlic and Swiss chard.”

“Farms are important to our way of life and we don’t want to lose them. If we can eat what is in season, it will save a lot of energy and fuel. One way to eat locally is to visit the farmers’ markets” recommended Charlie. “More and more kids are eating closer to home” from local farms and community, school and backyards gardens. “If we had a school garden like Staples and Greens Farms Academy, we could use it for science and maybe use the food in our cafeteria” Charlie suggested. One classmate added “cafeteria food isn’t healthy; I don’t like it” and received a roar of consent from the other children.

“It is important for kids to visit farms because you could like farms and not even know it” pointed out Charlie.  His best recommendation for   learning about farms and farming is to attend a farm camp. And he should know, he’s been attending them for years. “When I was 8, I went to Shelburne Farms in Vermont to their summer farm camp. It was a thousand acre farm, one of the largest farms I’ve been to. We helped collect eggs, feed pigs, help garden and visit the dairy.” At The Unquowa School’s Summer Farm Camp kids plant, harvest and really get their hands dirty at Patti’s Sport Hill Farm in Easton. They also get to eat what they’ve harvested after cooking it back at the school with Chef Peter Gorman. Charlie’s been attending the camp for two years now and said “It’s fun to get in the dirt and help.”

After the talk, it was all hands as the children peppered him with questions. “What is your favorite farm animal?” to which he responded “chickens, because they give you eggs every day.” “What do you like to do most on the farm?” elicited  “I like planting, harvesting and working with the animals. Harvesting cauliflower was really hard because we had to twist and turn them to get the heads out of the ground.” “Will you grow up to be a farmer?” really required no response but it was wonderful to hear him say that yes, he would, and he’d be just like Patti raising vegetables and taking care of animals.

Mrs. Malizia manned the laptop to run a slide show on the classroom SmartBoard of  Charlie visiting his favorite farms . When he got to the photo of broccoli and cauliflower, one child responded “Nice!” and the photo of hot peppers elicited a “Oh those are good!” from another. It’s obvious that these children know what real food is and like it! One little girl said her mother is an organic gardener and they even have chickens.

The last portion of Q&A was directed at Charlie’s special guest, organic farmer Patti Popp. “Do you really have a farm?” one girl asked almost incredulously. “Yes I do but we had to clear a lot of land to plant the farm” responded Patti. “When did you start?” another wanted to know. “It took many years to clear the land so we are now in our fourth year of farming” explained Patti. In response to  “What is your favorite vegetable to grow?” Patti said with great certainty “tomatoes and spaghetti squash - both to grow and eat!” Chickens are her favorite farm animal and she raises Rhode Island Red hens to provide her customers with farm fresh eggs.

Patti talked about the  summer farm campers’ experiences, ranging from  learning that farm chores need to be done “even when it’s hot, rainy and sticky”, to playing zucchini baseball, to cooking and eating the foods they’ve picked. “Fresh picked food tastes different; don’t say you don’t like something until you’ve tasted it” she suggested. Mrs. Malizia summed up pretty much everyone’s thoughts when she said “I want my son to go to your camp as soon as he’s not one!”

After the presentation Mrs. Malizia pulled out the latest issue of Time for Kids magazine entitled “From Farm to You: A Fresh Look at Lunch” and shared that she had used it in class and felt it enabled the kids to better relate to Charlie’s message. It’s not often that a student takes her up on an offer to do an independent project, but it seemed she genuinely enjoyed meeting once a week with Charlie to help him manage the project, sometimes working over lunch with him. He told me that with help from his parents, he researched the history of Westport farms at the library and obtained information about the Westport Community Garden on Hyde Lane from Westport Now, a new resource for him. Welcome to new media Farmer Boy.

Time magazine ran and excellent article on August 21 entitiled “Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food” by Bryan Walsh. Early in the article he point out “And perhaps worst of all, our food is increasingly bad for us, even dangerous. A series of recalls involving contaminated foods this year — including an outbreak of salmonella from tainted peanuts that killed at least eight people and sickened 600 — has consumers rightly worried about the safety of their meals.” I encourage you to read the entire article but I’m going to focus on food safety for now.

As we head into Labor Day and the final summer weeks of outdoor grilling, I feel compelled to share a very sobering number with you: “an astonishing 1,675,600 plus pounds of beef and ground meat were recalled since June 8, 2009″ for possible salmonella and E-coli contamination according to US Food Safety. Some was distributed to Connecticut and could have been further processed into other products by the stores.

If you have some ground meat in your freezer that you bought at a local grocer, I recommend you follow US Food Safety’s advice to throw it out just to be safe. My motto is “when in doubt, throw it out” because E-coli can be deadly.

You have options for buying local meat! Here are quite a few farmers’ markets that have local meat vendors that do not use hormones, steroids or antibiotics and raise their cattle at least partially on pasture:

Fairfield Farmer’s Market at the Brick Walk on Saturdays from 9-12 counts Eagle Wood Farms as a vendor. You can call or email ahead to place a special order for pick up at the market. Call 860-379-5978 and ask for one of the owners, Bryan Woods or Dave Finn, or email them using their web form. My favorite so far is their baby back ribs.

You can also find Eagle Wood at:

• Georgetown Farmers’ Market on Sundays from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
• Monroe Farmer’s Market on Fridays from 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Please visit the Fairfield Green Food Guide’s Buying Guide for farmer’s market locations and other information.

Westport Farmer’s Market at Imperial Avenue on Thursdays from 10-2 features Ox Hollow Farm, which just merged with Greyledge Farm and now bears their label. Contact them to place a special order you can pick up at the market. E-mail Tammie at tammie@oxhollowfarm.com
or call her at 203.263.6807 or 860.354.3315. The last steak we got from her was like butter.

Ox Hollow Farm is also a vendor at these farmers’ markets:

• Darien on Wednesdays from 11-6
• Ridgefield on Fridays from 3-6 pm
• New Canaan on Saturdays 10-2
• Branchville sells their burgers on Saturdays from 10-3, to go or hot off the grill.

Please visit the Fairfield Green Food Guide’s Buying Guide for farmer’s market locations and other information.

Rowayton Farmers’ Market at Pinkney Park on Fridays from 12-5 (new hours) offers Kinderhook Farm’s pasture-raised, grass-fed beef. This Hudson Valley, NY farm boasts “several hundred acres of rolling hay meadows and pastures allow us to raise our beef cattle on a 100% grass and legume diet that includes no grain, antibiotics, growth hormone, or animal by-products.” I haven’t tried this farm’s meat yet, but plan to soon.

What’s your favorite source for local meat?

I had a few requests during the event for a list of panelists and exhibitors at the FRESH screening at Pequot Library on Wednesday, August 12 so here they are. These respected members of the  local-sustainable food movement took the time to serve as panelists and/or exhibitors, and also helped spread the word to their contacts, members and customers, resulting in a sold out audience of 200! Check out the pics below to see what a great time everyone had.

Panelists:

Moderated by Analiese Paik, Founder Fairfield GreenFood Guide

1. Bill Duesing, Executive Director of CT NOFA
2. Sue Cadwell, Chef/Owner Health in a Hurry
3. Deb Marsden, Founder CT Farm Fresh Express (CTFFE)
4. Environmentalist Janak Desai and Ken Kleban of Kleban Properties, co-founders of Fairfield’s Farmer’s Market at the Brick Walk
5. Annelise McCay, Founder Sherman School garden, and Amie G. Hall, Holistic Health Counselor and Cooking Coach, Founder Fairfield Ludlowe and Fairfield Woods Middle School square food gardens

A special thank you to Amie G. Hall for finding videographer Janet Luongo, literally at the 11th hour, to tape the event for publication on YouTube and screening on public access television. Janet, thank you so much for enabling us to share this event with so many more people.

A huge thanks to our host Pequot Library. The auditorium and Community Reading Room are such beautiful and spacious rooms that we were all quite comfortable despite our numbers. One of our guests was a blogger from Brooklyn and he posted about the  fine venue and their rather forward thinking leadership.

Exhibitors:

1. Pequot Library
2. Fairfield Green Food Guide
3. CT NOFA
4. CT Farm Fresh Express
5. Health in a Hurry
6. Fairfield Farmers’ Market at The Brick Walk
7. Fairfield Edible School Gardens
8. CT Farmland Trust (at CT NOFA table)
9. Bluebelle Muffins, Jerri Graham
10. Organic Gardening Simplified, Nick Mancini
11. The Double L Farmstand, Lloyd Allen
12. Aspetuck Land Trust, David Brant and John Hamlin
13. Sport Hill Farm, Patti Popp
14. Fairfield Earth Day Committee & Clean Energy Commission, Larry

I announced an Eat Local Challenge at the FRESH screening on Wednesday night, inviting attendees to pledge to eat more local food. You set the bar where you feel comfortable. Whether you’re a newbie or already well on your way to eating locally and sustainably, think about one more thing you could do. Stop in a farm stand on the way home? Buy local cheese at a farmers’ market or specialty shop?

10 Ways to Eat FRESH is designed to help you find that “one more thing”. The Challenge doesn’t end; it’s a new way of eating. Email me at info@fairfieldgreenfoodguide.com to add your name to the growing roster of  Challenge participants. You’ll receive a special monthly e-newsletter providing you with new and interesting ways to eat locally and sustainably and are invited to submit comments about how taking the Challenge is changing the way you eat.

10 Ways to Eat FRESH

Click here for printer friendly version (pdf)

1)      Pick from your own backyard garden. Do you have some tomatoes, fresh herbs or lettuces growing? Add them to any meal to make it a CT Grown feast. If not, consider starting a fall garden, even if it’s just a few containers.

2)      Go foraging for free food! Raspberries and blueberries are in season and you can find them in your neighbor’s backyard (ask first) or along the roadside. Be sure to wash well. Ask your local school garden if they’ll trade volunteer hours for picking rights.

3)      Visit your local farmers’ market or farm stand and stock up for the week. Fairfield’s newest farmers’ market at the Promenade at The Brick Walk features live music from 9-12 and an ever-growing list of vendors. The Double L Farm Stand in Southport offers an eclectic mix of produce, fruit and artisan foods ranging from foraged berries to local, organic pies on the weekend. Visit the Fairfield Green Food Guide’s Buying Guide to search for farmers’ market and farm stand locations and hours in your town.

4)      Visit a farm and vote local with your dollars. Sport Hill Farm in Easton supplies local families with CSA shares, The Unquowa School with organic food for their cafeteria, and is hosts a Summer Farm Camp. A wide variety of local, organic produce, eggs, bread and honey can be purchased at the farm Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10-6. Ask Patti about upcoming events or visit their events page online at www.sporthillfarm.com.

5)      Go to a farm to pick your own. The CT State Dept. of Agriculture and pickyourown.org both offer extensive lists of pick your own farms and it’s really a fun family outing. Crops available for picking right now include blueberries, corn, peaches and tomatoes. Jones Family Farm in Shelton offers blueberry picking from 9-5:30 Tuesday thru Saturday. Please call (203) 929-8425 the morning you’re picking to hear that day’s crop report.

6)      Buy from a local specialty or independent grocer that makes it a point to carry locally grown and produced food. Palmer’s Market in Darien, Fairfield Cheese Company and The Pantry in Fairfield, and Walter Stewart’s Market in New Canaan carry local fruits, vegetables, breads, cheeses, honey, artisanal and prepared foods.

7)      Eat at a restaurant that sources local ingredients. Health in a Hurry and Café Lola in Fairfield, The Dressing Room in Westport, Bloodroot Vegetarian Restaurant in Bridgeport, Cobbs Mill Inn Restaurant in Weston, David’s Catering and Napa & Co. in Stamford and Woodway Country Club in Darien all make it a point to source fresh, local ingredients.

8)      Buy CT Grown foods online for home delivery. Order online from CT Farm Fresh Express by midnight Tuesday for a Friday home delivery. You pick what and how much CT-grown food you want from their online store and they deliver it to your door. No minimums, no membership fees and no ongoing commitment. Leave a cooler with ice packs on your doorstep if you won’t be home for delivery.

9)      Get some local seafood straight from the source. Take a drive to Stonington to buy some scallops, shrimp or fish right off the fishing boats or at Stonington Seafood Harvesters on 5 High Street in Stonington, which is open Monday through Friday from 8-5 and Saturday form 9-12. Ask for the prized Bomster scallops - you can’t get fresher or more delicious scallops because they’re flash frozen on the boat within hours of being shucked. Bring your cooler.

10)   Buy some Connecticut wine directly from a winery or wine shop that carries local wine like Harry’s Wine & Liquor in Fairfield. Some standouts I tasted at the Connecticut Wine Festival were Sharpe Hill Vineyard’s Ballet of Angels, the award-winning wines of Hopkins Vineyards, Miranda Vineyard’s Seyval Blanc and Woodridge White, Land of Nod’s Bianca, Taylor Brooke’s Traminette and Connecticut Valley Winery’s Chianti and port-style Black Bear.

Eat Local, Eat FRESH, and Eat Well.