After over a year of friendship and neighbordom in Seattle, my good friend, Laura, recently (and reluctantly) divulged a well-guarded family secret – a secret she was quite self conscious and sheepish about: her family doesn’t cook. At all. Ever.

Growing up, her nice and larger-than-average home in Colorado had every coveted toy, every new gadget, and a beautiful, large, and well-kept kitchen. But in this kitchen there were no pans in the cabinets, no peelers in the drawers, no potholders on the counter, and their state of the art refrigerator remained empty except for cereal milk. The pantry was loaded with ready-to-eat packaged snacks and microwave meals in case there was a need for an after-school or midnight snack. Every meal was eaten out at restaurants, or delivered to the house. This was never odd to Laura. To her, this was just how food was had.  Laura’s two working parents were together very well-off and to them their limited time with their three children was much more valuable than the money spent on going out to eat. Because of the centrality of food now inherent to the Thanksgiving holiday, the lack of skill in and appreciation for the practice of cooking, and because of the high value placed on their time, Thanksgiving was never a celebrated holiday at Laura’s house. Some years, her family would go out for Chinese Food, but most often they just stayed home, ordered in, and watched a movie as a family.

When Laura told me this, it made me feel really sad.  My immediate impression was (without good reason, because Laura has a wonderfully caring and tight-knit family) that something so essential and fundamental must have been missing from her upbringing. That somehow, her childhood had been incomplete.

Growing up in my family, cooking was done out of necessity and utility, but also – more so, even – as a thoughtful and direct way of nurturing, nourishing, and showing love for one another.  My Dad made dinner most nights and loved getting good feedback on a successful new stir-fry concoction after a long day of often hurdlesome work at a nonprofit. My mom, who worked very long hours and served as a volunteer board member for many local organizations in the evenings, cooked less often but when she did it was phenomenal! She’s famous for her garlic-heavy fresh basil pesto and her apple pie, both of which take a lot of time to prepare. Taking time to cook with us and for us was maybe the most primary way my family shared and showed love.  As I got older I began sharing the work of preparing dinner: sometimes just a quick meal thrown together after sports practice and before homework, and sometimes cooking all day long during summer vacation just to surprise my parents with a thoughtful, inventive – and yes, laborious – meal that through the passion put into it showed the love, gratitude, and respect I had for them.

The process of preparing food makes me feel intimately connected with and responsible for the food I buy, prepare, eat, and share with loved ones. This is part of what baffles me about Laura’s situation. To never have cooked food or even seen food prepared by a parent or family member at a holiday meal, and to only relate to food in its finished state as a plated restaurant dish, to me must mean that Laura has an extremely reductive, selective, and limited understanding of and relationship with food. It’s like trying to glean the context, plot, characters, and meanings of a book by simply reading the last sentence to see how it wraps up.  Of course, one can select restaurants that place more emphasis on the sourcing of food and talk up high-status and high-integrity ingredients and exquisite cooking technique, but there is inherently a reduced amount of connection to food when someone else prepares it for you, especially in a commercial setting.  From the diner’s perspective, the meal is more often than not ambiguously sourced from anonymous places through abstract or foreign channels; it is prepared by an often nameless chef in a sterile, stainless steel kitchen behind closed swinging doors; is cooked with undisclosed ingredients; and is served or delivered by a polite and obliging stranger (a situation not unlike that at our campus dining halls, I’ll note).  On top of that, dishes are selected by each diner according to her tastes and preferences, and rarely does a meal eaten at a restaurant actually involve sharing the same food and food experience, and sharing food… well… to me that’s the bottom line.

Thanksgiving is maybe the epitome in some ways of why food matters to me. Food to me, both while growing up and now, is most notably a way of bringing people together. Bringing family, friends, and loved ones to the table for a meal; connecting the family to the farmer; bridging rivers, continents, and cultures in connecting field to fork.  At Thanksgiving we come together with family and friends (for many, just that one time a year) to share food, secret recipes, and cooking tips; to share company, memories, and laughter; to share updates, stories, and plans for the future.  Thanksgiving at our house was a somewhat chaotic gathering of a motley crew of uncles, aunts, spouses, and cousins. Everyone contributed a dish: mashed turnips with tarragon and butter; braised carrots with apricot brandy and amaretto liqueur; Campbell’s green bean casserole… My mom has a habit of straying from recipes, and many things were improvised or invented for the occasion.  Little was magnificent (in fact, some dishes were quite mediocre) but the eclectic whole was perfect. It wouldn’t have felt like Thanksgiving without those dishes made year in and year out, with love, by family. Through the exhausting and time-consuming efforts of cooking, cleaning, and hosting we give and take nourishment, and nurture our bodies, our families, and our spirits.

It is this idea of nourishment which inspires the work of the Real Food Challenge. Real Food has the power to truly nourish – to nourish the body and soul of the consumer with real, quality food. To nourish the producers of our food: the breeders, farmers, ranchers, processors who work and sacrifice to bring food to our plates so that they might also be healthy, be safe, and thrive. To nourish the communities in which our food is produced, processed, packed, shipped, prepared, eaten, and disposed of so that our own experience as consumers is not at the detriment of another being. And to nourish the environments and resources that beget our own nourishment. Real Food goes beyond the supermarket shopper looking for health food, and beyond the stereotypical environmentalist looking for reduced packaging, shorter food mileage, and a smaller carbon footprint. Real Food, in many ways, is not food at all, but rather a system of decisions, players, actions, and commitments that fundamentally respects the integrity of producers, communities, the earth, and consumers. It’s about connection, relationships, and saying yes to a better way.

Thanksgiving, after all, isn’t just about the food. It’s about being grateful for the resources, experiences, and privileges we’ve been given; being generous with our time, our contributions, and our patience; and it’s about validating and saying out loud the things we are thankful for and so often take for granted.

I’m thankful that my family cooked for me and that the responsibility of preparing food for the family was shared with me.
I’m thankful for friends like Laura, who remind me about the gifts I’ve been given and remind me about what I value, and why.
I’m thankful that I am engaged in communities of people who thrive on cooking and sharing food with friends, and who place an enormous amount of emphasis on expressing gratitude for their gifts and for one another.
I’m thankful that through the tools of the Real Food Challenge I am able to affect change in our food system on a large and far-reaching scale and with effective impact.
I’m thankful that I’ve met so many of you inspired and inspiring students engaged in the Real Food Challenge who are learning that we have a say in the decisions being made for us, and in the food system we create, enable, and support; you who are working to leverage your power to create a better world.

To all of you: thank you, and Happy Thanksgiving.

Emma Brewster is a 2011 – 2012 Northwest Regional Field Organizer

Find Real Food Challenge Northwest on Facebook

It’s been a crazy few weeks since the Northwest Regional Training we held September 16-18. Students (and RFOs!) left feeling energized and dove right in to making real food wheels, starting groups, and planning awesome events for Food Day coming up one week from today on October 24th! There are currently 210 campuses signed up in 46 states and 5 countries–and the number continues to grow. Make sure to check out Food Day and consider holding an event if you haven’t registered one already. Print out some posters, pop in a video, or gather materials and table about Real Food-it’s not too late! It’s going to be an amazing day for the Real Food Movement. Tricia, our Food Day Coordinator at RFC and a student at Northeastern said it best: “Our society does not value real food the way it should and we are suffering the consequences economically, socially, physically and environmentally. It is time for a change!”

We’ll be posting updates from Food Day and hopefully some guests posts about folks’ experiences–but before we do that next week we wanted to invite Genevieve Jones, a RFC Grassroots Leader at Whitman College, to share her thoughts regarding her experience at the Regional Leadership Training. Thanks Genevieve!

————————————————————————————————————————————————–

I’ve never really been one for leadership conferences. For some reason I thought they were too cheesy and cliche. However, the Northwest Real Food Challenge Leadership Conference made me a believer. The night the conference began I pulled up to the farm in the dark, excited but nervous to meet Real Food young’ins. The leaders, Alex, Katie, and Emma quickly got the ball rolling. Standing around the Real Food Wheel each of us expressed our passion in certain aspects of the food system. It was heart warming to be around a group of people who really cared about food, and I slowly began to feel the vibes of empowering energy.

Each workshop thrilled me. Every one was jam packed with information: The Food Service Industry: Challenges and Opportunities, Strategic Campaign Planning, and Organizing 101 and the Get Real Campaign. And then it came time for the leadership conference activity that I dread the most: role playing. But I have to say that I found this one useful and fun.

At our last workshop we were asked to reflect on the weekend and here’s a little bit of what I wrote as goals for myself: “Overcoming my inferiority complex, or thinking that there’s someone who could do my job better than I could. Completely undermining myself every time I try to act. Knowing that I have really good ideas and good leadership skills and can make change. Having faith in myself to make things happen. I need to know that I’m going to make mistakes but that I now have resources and skills. I shouldn’t be afraid to reach out for the things I want to see happen.”

I came away from the conference feeling empowered to make change to a degree I hadn’t been expecting. The conference was a balance of fun, good food, and lots of learning. I met really cool people from our area and created networks of support and communication. The Real Food Challenge completely changed my opinion of leadership conferences. I can’t wait for the next one!

-Genevieve Jones~Whitman student~Grassroots Leaders Project

As a student leader in college, I was passionate about the work we were doing on my campus–but there was something special about being able to connect to the larger movement that was taking place through attending national conferences or speaking with a regional organizer. The energy buzzing in those conference rooms was tangible and inspiring. There was a fever to learn more, discuss more, innovate, create, shake things up, and get things done! Seeing our work as a part of something bigger and more powerful than ourselves countered any doubts we had about the significance or direction of our passion—we were fighting and it was worth it! And we weren’t alone! That energy combined with the resources and tools provided by the national movement meant we could be effective, we could contribute, and we could win. Not only to our own campus changes but also to a great, magical, subtle shift in the long haul transformation of the system.

That’s why I wanted to spearhead the resurrection of this page. I want the campuses in the Northwest to feel the passion of every other campus in this region AND of Emma and I in working in and for it. I also want this region to be able to connect with the other regions by making our work as a region accessible. As a national movement we are trying to shift a BILLION dollars of the budget currently spent on food by colleges and universities toward food that is local/community-based, fair, ecologically sound, and humane by 2020—this is not a small feat! But it begins with each of us and we achieve it because we join together.

In addition to facilitating our regional unity and making our work available to other regions, my hope is that curious NEW Northwest students and lovers of the Northwest can be linked here by the national Real Food Challenge website to learn how to get involved, what kind of work is being done, and how to connect with the awesome national network and resources that the Real Food Challenge provides. One of my favorite parts of my work with the Real Food Challenge so far has been meeting so many passionate, driven, creative—basically flat out awe-inspiring—people who bring such great energy, perspective, and knowledge to the Real Food Challenge. It is so exciting to think of what new students will bring to the table (haha-food movement) and how they will continue to improve and sustain the Real Food Challenge until we reach and surpass that 2020 goal!

SO-in re-establishing this blog as a place for the Northwest region to unify, network, and represent—Emma and I thought we would start out by introducing the people who will be working most closely with the region…namely, ahem, us—the Northwest Regional Field Organizers!

Alexandra Frantz (me)

As a sociology major at Villanova University concentrating in peace and justice, Alex discovered that many of the issues she had studied—disenfranchised communities, health deterioration, environmental degradation, abuse of animals, immigration policies, dynamics of power and privilege—could connect under the umbrella of food justice and food policy. Drawing on her experiences organizing students at Villanova and tackling policy work as a grassroots organizing intern at Food & Water Watch, Alex is beyond thrilled to actively engage her passion and ignite change through her work as a Northwest Regional Field Organizer! She is moving from Chicago to Seattle and excited to immerse herself in pacific northwest happenings–hopefully to include awesome music, concerts, ballet, hiking, composting, and lots of delicious vegan food!

Emma Brewster

Originally from the tiny town of Lyme, NH, Emma has worked her way westward via Cornell University where she studied Development Sociology and Inequality (with assorted international detours) and is now happily settled in Seattle. Emma came to the Real Food Challenge through an interest in the intersection of cuisine and food culture; community development; and public health.  Because of its necessity and centrality, Emma believes that food and the food system – though challenging – offer unparalleled opportunity to positively impact communities by strengthening relationships, and improving human and environmental health. When she’s not musing about the food system, she enjoys dabbling in kitchen table tourism, stompin’ to bluegrass music, willing tomatoes to grow in Seattle’s climate, and planning impractical international food tours.

Look forward to more posts from Emma and I! We will also have posts from special guest authors like our regional Grassroots Leaders and other campus leaders reflecting on significant experiences (Positive meeting! Victory! Challenge and lesson learned!) Another great way to stay updated is to like our facebook page so make sure to do that as well!

Peace,

Alex

If food systems are primarily designed to benefit whole communities rather than just large corporate interests, we have to ponder the following seemingly utopian considerations: a transparent food system in which there is no mystery regarding where food comes from or what it has been through prior to landing on our plates; a shared trust in farmers and food processors; local and healthy foods as givens rather than as more expensive exceptions; local and healthy foods as human rights rather than privileges; farmers making a living wage without having to overuse land and deplete soil nutrients for short-term profits to pay off revolving debt loads; and, a regional food system that is plentiful enough to withstand interruptions of the national food transportation system. Are these dreams realizable? In Missoula, we are fortunate enough to have organizations and people from all walks of life trying to figure out this great puzzle. I’ve come to believe that Burns Street Square could be one piece in the jig-sawed visions that make a completed picture of local and healthy food for all.

For the last 10 months, I have been working as an Americorps VISTA at the North- Missoula Community Development Corporation (NMCDC). I have been trying to weave together the many threads of a community food project intended to bring healthful food to an urban neighborhood and stimulate Montana’s agriculture at the same time. The warehouse remodel that will create the Burns Street Square Boxcar Kitchen begins this June, after over 10 years of grassroots community planning and striving.

The Kitchen will join the Missoula Community Food Co-op at 1500 Burns Street as part of a holistic approach to neighborhood revitalization and food democratization. Burns Street Square is a project of NMCDC’s Land Stewardship Program, a Community Land Trust working to keep land, housing, and healthy community resources accessible as a commonwealth for all people in perpetuity. Burns Street Square brings together 17 affordable homes for first time buyers and the long sought neighborhood food hub.

The Boxcar Kitchen will widen access to good food and strengthen local agricultural viability. The facility will house a café, a shared-use kitchen, a center for all-ages- workshops and after school programs, a training site for culinary college interns and a welcoming place for neighborhood kids to get subsidized breakfasts when school is out of session. Currently, we are planning a community gathering to collect additional ideas from the neighborhood residents. We consider them our primary consultants. From the beginning, the projects of the NMCDC have aligned themselves with a philosophy that can be explained in this traditional Chinese proverb:

Go to the people,

Live among them.

Learn from what they know.

Build on what they have.

But of the best of leaders,

When their task is accomplished,

Their work is done,

The people all remark,

“We have done it ourselves.”

The need for a healthy community food hub for Missoula’s North and Westside neighborhoods first became apparent in a 1997 comprehensive neighborhood plan survey. Since that time, at least three additional surveys and the 2004 Missoula County Community Food Assessment have indicated a consistent need for healthy food options and services. The following priorities have been repeatedly documented as the top three neighborhood and community needs: affordable home ownership, access to high quality and local foods, and further investments for neighborhood vitality.

A 2004 Missoula County food assessment demonstrated that 57 percent of respondents would prefer to buy local healthful or organic foods and that 77 percent of all respondents found the cost of these foods too high to be readily accessible. This assessment also found that 71 percent of local farmers perceive local agriculture to be struggling and would prefer to sell more goods locally. As a direct result of these findings, the North-Missoula Community Development Corporation began planning the Kitchen and the Co-op in 2000.

Designing such an ambitious community food hub requires a collection of people, ideas, information, money, and technical expertise. Steering committees and volunteer research have been integral parts of project formation, especially in the realms of fundraising, neighbor outreach and facility design. With the hope that this decade of work will lead to an end product that is truly designed by the community itself, the NMCDC and its partners have worked to get community input at every turn.

One of the biggest challenges in planning for the Boxcar Kitchen is to design in economic sustainability. No matter what our hopes are for the food projects at Burns Street Square, there is always the bottom line demanding enough revenue to stay in business. We have learned from experience and know that food prices at the Missoula Food Co-op are still too high for many of our neighborhood residents. The Co-op business model requires each member to work three hours per month to offset overhead costs and lower the mark-up price of foods. We believe that as more members join and add their labor, prices will drop. Recruiting new members while the prices are still out of some people’s reach has proven to be a challenge that can best be met with faith in the model’s future. It is after all, our Co-op. We own it and we will craft its future.

Helping to offset some of our challenges has been our continued development of relationships with other organizations. The NMCDC’s most recent steering committee consisted of 20 people from area non-profits and businesses. We met for 6 months throughout 2009-2010. From the steering committee meetings, we developed clear goals regarding self-sufficiency; partnerships and program ideas; a menu for the café; a UM student-created business plan for the café; commercial kitchen equipment choices and layout design; contact with potential users of the rental kitchen; funding application support; and strong relationship building for future programs.

The complexity of making more local foods accessible to more people demands creativity. Over the next few months, as the remodel progresses and the Boxcar Kitchen begins to show itself as a real-life physical entity, the hopes of the project will get closer to realization and both the potential and the limits of our vision will further reveal themselves. For now we are still striving for big dreams: creating a replicable approach to strengthening regional food systems through widened accessibility, transparency, education and participatory democracy. I have learned a lot so far. The most important lesson has been that there is a lot more to learn.

Hermina Harold

MTCC Americorps VISTA, Missoula, Montana

Notes from a UW farmer, Michelle Harvey:

In an age when McDonald hamburgers are $1 and kids don’t recognize common vegetables, there is something seriously wrong with our food system. It’s hard to care when you’ve grown up without any understanding of regional foods or the concept of seasonality. And it’s just so hard to put down that slice of pizza when healthy food has been branded as tasteless and boring. But we need to care. We are damaging our bodies, and dragging the earth along with us.

I’ve worked at the UW Farm for over a year now, and I have to say that it’s changed my life. The academic part of my university career has been great – but there’s nothing quite like planting a kale seed and watching it grow into a healthy plant, ready to be sauteed, marinated, or eaten raw. The farm is bustling with a vibrant group of students, all enjoying the sun and rain, creating solidarity over compost piles and carrots. This is when the gloom-and-doom of environmental problems gets pushed aside in favor of community and resilience. Sustainable agriculture is a way for people to connect with the earth, and to do so in an urban setting means that a wider array of people can experience the process of growing food together. Urban agriculture represents the unique possibility of speaking across cultures and between generations, and is as much a social force as ecological.

All I can say is – let’s rediscover food together.

Notes from a member of Hillel, Alix Goldstein:

Judaism has an interesting view on nature and the land. Many Rabbis have written about how trees and the fruit they bare have souls themselves. Jews, like all other human beings, have a duty to the land, to harvest and protect it. On Earth Day, members of Hillel worked with members of the UW Farm at a conjoined work party to learn more about urban agriculture and farming. Respecting the land, a modern Jewish value, truly came to life while we piled compost and fed chickens. As I learned more about what the UW Farm stands for, I realized I did not know where the carrots or potatoes I ate came from. I was eating food that was poisoned with pesticides and then shipped thousands of miles to arrive at my doorstep. There was no individual “soul” left in my food. I now understand the importance of urban agriculture and the agreeing opinions Judaism shares.

Notes from a member of Hillel Katie Forsythe:

Every time I head over to the IMA I walk by the UW Farm and am amazed by the work that has gone into creating it. Yet on Earth Day I didn’t just walk by, but rather I walked up the little hill to meet friends and new faces to do what we could to improve our earth and community. What amazed me the most about the Farm was the people behind all of the hard work. It’s easy to see that the individuals who volunteer at the Farm have a deep passion for that they do and are more than willing to spend their extra time moving compost, cleaning the chicken coop, and anything else! This farm is a sanctuary. It’s a sanctuary for all of the people who come to it every day for some simplicity and good, honest work, and a sanctuary for those who care about the earth and their relationship with it. I am proud to have been a part of this community for a day and know that I will come again.

UW Farm website here
Hillel website here

Student leaders ready to expand their skill base and take on a new leadership role in the growing Real Food Movement are encouraged to apply.  Through this opportunity, Field Organizers will have the chance to connect with inspiring young leaders around the country, get an inside perspective on some of the best food justice and sustainable agriculture work being done in the nation, and cultivate the energy needed to kick the student food movement into overdrive.

The Regional Field Organizers play a critical role in the Real Food Challenge campaign by providing direct support to student organizing efforts, extending the network to additional campuses, and planning regional events.

All Regional Field Organizers serve for one school year and are expected to commit an average of 10-12 hours a week.

All Field Organizers work in teams of two along with other volunteer regional leaders.

RFOs receive intensive organizing training, participate in a month-long orientation period and are invited to participate in national conferences and regional Real Food Challenge events.

What we’re looking for:
•    Passion for food systems change and the growing youth food movement
•    Commitment to anti-racism
•    Demonstrated leadership and organizing experience
•    Ability to work reliably on your own as well as in a very collaborative setting
•    Flexibility and ability to adjust to new situations
•    Creativity and initiative in problem solving
•    Willingness to learn from experts in the field, peer organizers, and grow as a leader

Nominate someone you know
Apply yourself today- deadline is extended!

Send any questions to northwest@realfoodchallenge.org.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Responsibilities:

• Serve as regional point person for extending the RFC network by supporting students leaders, providing key resources, advice, and connection to others
• Work with a select group of students and campuses to develop and execute campaign plans targeting university food dollars, in alignment with the RFC’s national goals
• Work with a student team to help plan and lead a yearly regional summit
• Assist in planning an intensive leadership bootcamp for committed student leaders
• Participate in conference calls with the national Steering Committee and with other Regional Field Organizers to coordinate activities and develop the RFC campaign
• Solicit in-kind and monetary donations to support regional events and national activities.

Qualifications:

• Current student or recent graduate
• Familiarity with campuses and non-profit efforts in your region related to food, agriculture and social justice.
• Successful prior organizing experience, particularly—but not limited to—efforts to create change in campus food systems (e.g. changing food purchasing policies, campus labor organizing, establishing college farms, fair trade organizing, working on Campus Climate Challenge, etc.)
• Demonstrated ability to lead a diverse collaborative effort and to network effectively.

from: http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/slow_food/blog_post/another_win_for_the_ciw_and_sfa/

This morning foodservice corporation Aramark signed a significant agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW).  In a joint statement, the two parties announced that Aramark has decided to “pay a 1.5-cent premium for every pound of tomatoes picked, with the premium to be distributed directly to harvesters.” In combination with other conditions of the agreement, this is a great step towards fairer wages and labor conditions on US farms.

Aramark’s pledge is the eighth agreement that has resulted from the Student Farmworker Alliance’s “Dine with Dignity” campaign.  Sodexo is the only major food service provider yet to sign.  Now that the four biggest fast-food companies and two biggest food service companies have made agreements with the CIW, supermarkets will hopefully be the next to follow suit.

The agreement comes at an exciting time for the CIW, as their Farmworker Freedom March (a 22-mile march between Tampa and Lakeland, FL from April 16-18) is quickly approaching.

Oddly enough, I think your ability to suck the marrow out of this post will depend on your ability to keep a childhood bed-time song in the back of your noggin’. Prepare yourself for a plate-full of nostalgia. It goes like this:

You’re my little potato, you’re my little potato,
You’re my little potato, they dug you up,
You come from underground!

The world is big, so big, so very big!
To you, it’s new, it’s new to you!

You’re my little potato, you’re my little potato,
You’re my little potato, they dug you up,
You come from underground!

Let’s talk about root crops (they dug you up),
And lamb chops (they chew on you),
And things to eat…like apples
and cheese and ‘nanas and cream,
Jellies and butter,
it’s late at night, I hope this little bottle helps you go to sleep…

… You smile, a smile, a little smile!
The world is small, so small, it’s very small!

You’re my little potato, you’re my little potato,
you’re my little potato, they dug you up,
You come from underground!

The Regional Real Food Conference hit a realistic high-note for me when FoodCorps Kyra Williams and Kevin Moore formed a circle of students, and recited the logistical riot-act involved in the coordination of modern Farm to School programs in Montana. They’ve helped forge a market for local farms and met some of the progressive desires of many University of Montana (UM) students. The main café seats 1,500 students for lunch and dinner meals and, as Kyra puts it, their work as Vista Volunteers has been to be a liaison—to strike a balance between farmers and students and the Dining Service staff. (Click here for an overview of the UM program). One objective has been to train farmers to be more like business people in order to meet the needs of a standardized system of processing and distribution. There’s another side to this plate, lest you interpret this as a one-way street to rigid farmer reform. They’ve also made an effort to educate the food service business in the art of reaction and the reality of a different food system. Sounds easy, right?

Maybe not so much. I’d liken their workshop—Working with Farmers: Translating Farmers—to the experience of hitting a speed-bump for the first time (I’ll explain this below). The most intriguing messages were a) the processes of creating and maintaining a farm to school program involve “behind the scenes work” and b) students should not expect to delegate research and networking roles to professionals in the future, especially if we’re concerned with our access to fresh food on campus and the potential for new, rewarding markets for local farmers. Conceptually, everyone was right there with these motivations, which I think allowed us to grow into what could have been such an overwhelmingly complex topic.

Let’s face it—this workshop was the compressed speed-bump at the conference. I had just seen a wicked presentation from Whitman College’s Organic Garden troupe about their pioneering work designing and looking after a chicken tractor. Looking back, that workshop was incredibly palatable compared to the inner-workings of an institution’s food system. Everyone had eaten it up, and we hadn’t turned down seconds—even when the Walla Wallians turned to pictures and descriptions of the great broiler hen slaughter of 2009. (Side note: it seemed like everyone was working on starting or maintaining their own groovy expression of a Whitman College Organic Garden; everyone had their own chicken tractor, if you will).

The speed-bump workshop seems like a decent metaphor for our Farm to College conversation. It works a little better than the gauntlet. I mean, like a concrete barricade, the workshop required that we slow the pace of the conference in order to follow the many layers of industrial food that these programs uncover and repackage. Were we all prepared to hit such a barrier of realistic real life, real campus food challenges like a crowded Westfallia hitting a speed-bump at 50 mph? Surely not. But I’d imagine this was the subject—the type of cascading wall—we were just salivating to engage at the conference. From the outset when each student introduced themselves and explained what drew them to the topic, several students were incredibly transparent, briefly diagnosing burgeoning or aspiring Farm to College programs at their schools. I could tell they were going to extract some magic from this workshop. My broad take on this workshop is that like progressive foodies often do, we helped adjust each other’s lenses by sharing experiences. In doing so, the challenges of revitalizing this particular form of local market didn’t actually seem uber-daunting.

Growing a Farm to School Program from Scratch

Moore and Williams broke down the barriers to upstart Farm to School programs and proposed two solutions, which I think boil down to looking inward and outward for support.

Student activists must immerse themselves in the concerns of their university’s dining service business. Meaning, when you’re making the case for a new market, you’ve got address labor and equipment costs, because infusing local food into campus kitchens generally takes time and might even require the business invest in new cooking paraphernalia. It’s also important to look into current distributing contracts. This may sound hokey and secret-agenty at once, but the best way to do this is by forming relationships with the staff and getting “a sense for the hierarchy.” Taking a glance at larger food web issues is also essential. Researching the food system involves more than addressing national trends. I mean, it probably won’t hurt to mention to your campus food service provider that the USDA’s subsidization of commodity crops for decades has, along with several other trends in public affairs, has dictated what’s cheap and available to schools.

What the Vistas meant by looking outward was extending some research tentacles out to find the price and availability of locally produced fruits and veg, any state laws regulating purchasing prices that might prevent these foods from getting into the chompers of students, and any possible coalitions with existing community organizations that could provide resources and support for your project. For example, the UM Farm to School Vistas collaborate with groups to provide legislative support as well as information on local producers and processors. Examples include: Grow Montana, AERO, and Mission Mountain Food Enterprise Center. By this time of the conversation, it became clear to me that growing a farm to school program is excellent training for a career in food systems. Not for me—I’d rather look at soil all day, but damn…this work literally lays the foundation (demand) for local production, processing and distributing upstarts (more on this later).

Out of this labyrinth of a conversation on background research, I had an epiphany. A venn diagram suddenly became clear in my mind where outward and inward inquiries came together as the Vistas explained the importance of understanding your institution’s buying volume for certain products. This knowledge can be used to inform future research of producers nearby. Following up on this research by visiting several farms, exposing yourself to their questions and concerns, about supplying an institution, and seeing what the work day looks like seems like it’d be the most rewarding part of the ground-work process. It may be hard to track down farmers in your area or it may not. One of the class assignments in Montana State University’s Sustainable Food and Bioenergy class has taught me to seek out the county extension office staff. It’s likely they have access to a farm directory for the area in question and it’s their job to facilitate these sorts of things.

One group of students grilled the speakers about how to forge a more professional relationship between their school permaculture garden and their cafeteria. Suggestions included looking up fair market prices for vegetables on the web and composing a business plan. These are avenues that can be shared with other students at your university…like business majors. (By the way, if you’re reading this, let us know if there’s been any progress!).

Assessments don’t stop when you’ve figured out what your campus’ food system looks like. When the program gets rolling, it’s just as important to propel research professors as well as graduate and undergraduate students to assess the program’s development. The University of Montana’s Neva Hassanein led such an investigation in 2006. One of the places her students visited was the Montola seed-oil crushing plant hundreds of miles away. Their goal was to peel back the program’s layers, and learn “about the social and economic connection between the two places, a bond forged by the Univer­sity of Montana’s Farm to College Program” (Read more about the study, “Tracing the Chain“).

I can’t remember whether students in attendance or the F-to-C Vistas brought up the next conversation, but whoever did fueled a lively discussion. It began as a comparison between the entities that manage cafeterias on campuses—independent food businesses like the UM Dining Services and Bon Appetit Management Company or college administrations. But this issue brought out an interesting (albeit lost to the cosmos of my mind) list of pros and cons to either management system. (Sidenote: perhaps someone will read this and refresh everyone’s minds, including my own, on the specific pros and cons). I’d never heard of Bon Appetit before, but after doing a little snooping online, I have to say they’ve kind of won me over with their commitment to connecting with farmers, even people new to producing. Check this out and tell me it doesn’t yank your umbel!

The topic also illuminated a growing theme within the workshop—every school, every state, every region has unique foodshed issues to wade through.

Finding Encouragement in Cooks, The System, the Business Community, and Fringe Outlets

Whether you’ve got to convince lawmakers or institutional administrators, diets and minds can be changed. Never underestimate the assistance one person can have in your campaign. For example, your college may have an outstandingly fresh-thinking cook. Kevin Moore’s message was to mobilize them, because ultimately they have the power to transform culture. I don’t know about you, but I dig hearing the idea that our pallets are in their hands, these people who want others to experiment. “Chefs are trying to slowly put new things into dishes,” said Moore, offering up the UM cafeteria head chef’s recent efforts to expose the unexposed or unwilling to recipes with beets! Now that I think about it, there was many a’beet in my first year spent in the dorms. I can’t imagine a better motif for freshmen year, actually…sprinkled into memorable dining hall moments are delicate rows of beets. Chioggia beets in isolation, beets in soups, beets in salad—everywhere I can recall, beets were on the beat. Is this why cooking is Pollan’s next frontier?

When one student asked Kyra whether it would make sense to renegotiate the Sysco Distributing contracts, she explained the paradox that she works within to grow the UM’s Farm to College Program. Naturally, I began to think about the sacrifices we make when we understand the complexities of a system. Do we create our own systems (food and housing co-ops, schools, tool libraries)? Or do we, as they say, inflict change from within the system. My mother has done both. She started an experimental non-profit school that operated for several years in Missoula. Now her work as a public school English teacher centers on bringing poetry festivals and a balance to the well-known tests of Leave No Child. She’s fond of saying, bewilderingly, “I can tell administrators who can read and who can’t better than a test…that’s what I’m paid to do!” Does her story—from being a counter-cultural beacon to an agent within—represent a normal progression for most things?

Viewed with an understanding of these different, but worthy, dynamic contributions, her decision strikes me as less of a compromise. And that’s how Kyra explained the tradeoff of using a BIG distributor like Sysco, getting some savings for buying in bulk, and directing those savings into food that’s real and pure. Could Dining Services afford Kyra and Farm to College without the BIG guys?

It’s an interesting thing to ponder, especially if you’re at a larger institution with large demands. I submit that by soaking up pride in the pure, and working within the system to construct a functional and expanding farm to school program is a small price to pay for the large and small shoots that’ll jut out. We may well look back and bask in this early trade-off as if it was the act that infused regional food producers, processors, and promoters with the preliminary capital they needed to flourish. That’s not to say creating institutional support for local chow is the only route to success, though. Check out this episode of Greenhorn Radio and let any watery assumptions about the business community evapo-transpire away.

With an optimistic tone, Moore suggested the possibility for students to find different campus outlets to plug in new local items, whole or processed. For example, if your Farm to School program goes bust or if it’s meager compared to the available output of local farms and processors you’ve attracted, there may be an appealing campus retail outlet (like a school market) or a catering service that may be receptive to the introduction of more progressive farm products grown or processed on smaller scales. Catering Services (CS) at the University of Montana are a great example. It makes sense, but I was initially surprised to hear caterers are the most flexible when it comes to local food. Their menus change more than restaurants and I’m guessing they serve less people than the typical cafeteria.

The head-haunchos behind UM Student For Real Food’s garden took advantage of this niche market, pouring small mountains of kale and basil into our CS last summer and fall.

Farm to Gruel: The Tragedy of Federal Support for Healthy School Lunch Programs

A few petitions are circulating online that hold our representatives responsible for their incompetent support of Farm to School Programs. Evidently U.S. lawmakers passed legislation in 2004 which promoted these programs, but they appropriated money to fund it. The Farm to School grant program authorized in the 2004 Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act could fund an upstart Farm to School Program at your institution. But in order to provide “one-time competitive grants to schools or non-profit organizations to develop purchasing relationships with local farmers, plan seasonal menus, start school gardens, develop hands-on nutrition education, and provide solutions to infrastructure problems including storage, transportation, food preparation, and technical training,” we need to pressure our representatives into co-sponsoring it and eventually voting for it. It’s about to hit the hill! (For more info, check out: http://hotugc.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/hungry-for-a-better-school-lunch/). If you attended Crissie McMullan’s food policy workshop, you know how simple and meaningful it is to contact a representative about this bill. (Sidenote: one of her interviews about these programs titled, “Local Food in School and College Cafeterias: Making it Happen in Your Community” is posted online. It’s worthy of an ear.).

An Upcoming Food Conference

And finally, if farm to school issues are really yer bag prove it at the upcoming big-whig conference devoted to this national topic. It’s called Taking Root and will take place March 17-19 in Detroit. I won’t be there—my hands are split at the seams with a new greenhouse job and the task of organizing these MT urban land-lovers. Hopefully speakers at the conference will take a tip from Kyra and Kevin’s playbook by encouraging students to leap into the kitchen, the fields, and the office with a flair for improving the lot of farmers and farmworkers and devolving the modern college food system.

And here’s the classic sentimental ending. There’s something very meaningful and true about that childhood song, “Little Potato” that plays on the Montana Public Radio every week. The Real Food Conference, the Farm to College workshop, the diverse set of projects; it really makes me feel like we’re unearthing food culture and the connections that were out to recess for so long. That our movement is a little potato, we’re digging it up, (and although we’re leveraging a little institutional support) its strength comes from underground!

Additional Resources:

Tracing the Chain: An In-Depth Look at the University of Montana’s Farm to College Program (http://www.growmontana.ncat.org/docs/tracing_the_chain_e_summary_new.pdf)

Oxfam Food and Farm Toolkit (http://es.oxfamamerica.org/files/FoodandFarmToolkit.pdf

Attra’s “Bringing Local Food to Local Institutions: A Resource Guide for Farm-to-School and Farm-to Institution Programs” (http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/PDF/farmtoschool.pdf)

Max Smith is a freshman at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. He strives to become what he called an “enlightened farmer,” identifies strongly with goats, and has a passion for kale pesto. You can reach him at greenunderbelly@gmail.com.

I noticed that this weekend I talked more about learning and thinking than about acting or doing. And. for this Convergence, I think that that is ok. This movement, this acting, doing, changing is an entirely HUGE PROCESS. In a ridiculous way. What do we want to do? Well, change the structure of our food system to be more fair, humane, community based, and ecologically sound—that is kind of a big deal. In fact, in order for this to happen, I’d argue that our entire social and cultural system needs to change! But this change is also a process; this, of course, will not happen with us, this weekend, this year. Change takes time. But it starts with us; it started this weekend. And to me, that is what was so successful: I heard so many gnarly questions being asked. Gnarly not in a accusing or argumentative way, but gnarly in that they were very deep and serious questions. PhD sort of questions. Questions that showed that a lot of these students have been pondering seriously these issues in a big way.

Now. How can we move forward? I believe that it happens with each drop in the bucket, each step taken, one at a time. We step forward with all of the work you do on your campuses. We step forward with every conversation we have with someone who may or may not agree with us. We step forward with every question we pose, with every assumption we question. I hope you’d agree that the Convergence was a big ol step for us, but of course it don’t stop there! Chrissie McMullen is a Montanan activist who spoke on the food sovereignty panel on Saturday night. She quoted Myles Horton, a heavily influential civil rights activist, by noting, “We make the road by walking.”

Each of us takes steps along a certain path. And when we discuss, when we collaborate, when we act with intention, we can take those steps together to create the path towards a just and sustainable food system.

As students passed around a student-grown onion in our closing ceremony, they shared a word that means the most to them, in moving forward:

Resilience. Growth. Patience. Lead. Solidarity. Connections. Beauty. Non-violence. Rad!

Our minds, our communities, our lands, are fertile. So what are you going to do about it?

Please arrive before: Friday, 7:10am

Time of departure: 7:30am SHARP
Food: Breakfast of donated pastries will be provided. Please bring your own lunch, as we will NOT be stopping for lunch snacks.

Note: Unfortunately: we had a strangely difficult time procuring a bus; every single chartered bus in the Pacific Northwest seems to be currently in Vancouver B.C. for the Olympics! This is why bus news has been hard to find and details so scarce until now. Fortunately: we indeed found a bus! Unfortunately: It is a school bus.  Fortunately: We have a bus, that will fit everyone and have enough room to store our bags and things!! Thank you all for being patient with the details. So, along with lunches, feel free to bring pillows and/or a blankie to make that ride more enjoyable.
If you are driving to here, there is a Smart Park right around the corner at 4th & Yamhill; please drop off your things and passengers before parking.(http://www.portlandonline.com/smartpark/index.cfm?c=35909&a=254736)

Please be on time! See you at 7:10 Friday morning!

• Take the Van Buren Street exit and travel southbound on Van Buren Street.  Merge into the right-hand lane.
• At the stoplight, turn right onto Broadway Street.
• Move into the furthest left-hand lane and turn left onto Madison at the stoplight.
• Driving over the bridge, stay in the left-hand lane and veer left at the fork in the road.  After the fork, stay to the left and turn left at the stoplight onto South 6th Street East.
• Move into the right-hand lane.  Continue on South 6th Street East until you have veered left in front of the Adams Center.
• Turn right onto campus drive and follow until you have reached the University Center on your right (about 1/2 a mile)

• US 12/93 Northbound Turns into Brooks Street through Missoula.
• Follow Brooks Street through Missoula to Higgins Avenue.  Brooks will merge with Higgins at Hellgate High School.
• Move into the right hand lane and turn right onto Sixth Street.
• Follow sixth street until you have veered left in front of the Adams Center on campus.
• Turn right onto campus drive and follow until you reach the University Center on your right (about 1/2 a mile)

On Friday, we will awake early.

On Friday, we will travel far.

On Friday, we will CONVERGE!

The Real Food Youth Convergence: Cross Pollinating Ideas & Action is coming rapidly upon us, to start this Friday at 5:30pm! Over 100 students from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and Montana will be rolling on their respective vehicles towards Missoula. They are all great achievers: great lofty ideas, working from the ground. Hands dirty from planting seedlings, facilitating strategy meetings, leading campus policy campaigns, taking it to the green, to the streets! They are all of you! Some details are below:

1. IT IS HAPPENING!

RFYC NW is this weekend! Check-in starts Friday evening at 5:30, dinner starts at 7pm, located in the University Center (UC) of the University of Montana in Missoula. You will find more detailed information about workshop content upon arriving in your program packet.

NOTE: Some of you have not yet paid the registration fee; you must pay in cash/check upon arrival, or online before Thursday at noon (register/payment links at realfoodnorthwest.wordpress.com). If you find you are unable to attend, please email Katelyn (northwest@realfoodchallenge.org) ASAP with the subject line: CANNOT ATTEND.

2. Places & spaces

When you arrive in Missoula on Friday evening, please head straight to the UC, where all of our program will take place. Our sleeping arrangements are in a very close-by church, which we will be walking to and from every day, and we will be sleeping in large rooms on the floor. Make sure to bring walking shoes and comfortable sleeping bags etc.!

3. Photography! Videography! Blogography!

Do you have a good eye, some gnarly skills with a video camera, or are a qualified wordsmith? We need people to help document this momentous occasion with great photographs, videos, and blog entries. Please bring your cameras and freshly sharpened pencils, and contact Katelyn if you want to be a designated documentor!

4. Bus situation

If you plan on riding the bus from Portland to Missoula and back, you need to reserve a seat. If you haven’t already done so, email Katelyn with the subject line “GET ON THE BUS.” There are few seats left, so hop on!

We will be leaving Portland at 8am SHARP, which means you must arrive by 7:30am at the departure point (in central Portland; still TBA. Please be patient with the details). We will be returning to Portland around 9 or 10pm on Sunday night.

Also, breakfast will be provided on Friday morning, but not lunch. We will not be stopping for food, so please come equipped with afternoon snacks!

Lastly, the bus will cost is $50 per person. Please bring cash or a check (made out to “The Food Project” with “Real Food Challenge” in the memo line) to pay before boarding. You may also pay online in the same way you did the registration fee. If you school is paying for your transportation, have the business office pay The Food Project directly; I can provide you with a tax id #. The point person for each school may contact me for more information.

5. What to bring

There is a saying in Montana that if the weather doesn’t suit you, just wait fifteen minutes and it’ll change. February marks the transition between the end of winter and the beginning of spring; because it is an uncertain time, it is important to come prepared for all kinds of weather… but mostly the cold!

Please bring:

• A warm coat, a rain jacket, and long underwear in case of rain or snow
• A warm hat, gloves, and scarf
• Pants and long sleeved shirts – you probably won’t need shorts unless there is a solar flare or volcanic eruption. Cotton isn’t the warmest of fabrics: if you have them, bring fleece, wool, etc.
• Shoes that you will be comfortable walking in for a mile
• Warm sleeping bag and pillow (plus sleeping pad; we’ll be sleeping on the floor), towel, and personal toiletry items
• a bit of spending money for the trip (always a good idea, right?!)
• Musical instruments, art, poetry to share
• flyers & literature from other awesome groups to share
• Water bottle and/or favorite mug
• Notebook/paper, pen/pencil
• Cameras, etc.!
• Your energy and your willingness to contribute, be challenged, learn, and have fun
• Your commitment to take your experience back to your college and community

6. Pre-Convergence Readings

Attached are some readings that we love: articles all about the Real Food Challenge and how to rock. Please read them (print them out and bring them to the convergence, too!)

• Real Food Principles (http://realfoodchallenge.org/about/principles)
• 3 Doors (http://realfoodchallenge.org/blog/keynote-speech-northeast-real-food-summit-2007)
• The Potential of Fun To Create Paradigm Shift
• Seven Priorities for the Food Movement

7. Getting to know you…

We have created this googledoc so that you can enter info about yourself for others to see who is coming! Go ahead and introduce yourself here: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AvqXBO9djSWsdDdGc2JDeVdVOWhONVVkZEJyanJaRUE&hl=en

Emergency emails can be sent to northwest@realfoodchallenge.org, but please make sure to be very specific in your subject line. The email traffic over here is intense! But it’s all worth it: This weekend we’ll be working together in a variety of different settings to generate ideas, get inspired, enjoy ourselves and, most importantly, seize the day!

Are you ready?

See! You! Soon!

The Convergence Planning Team

Through his different research projects, he’s come up with a fantastic way to display the info we were always searching for, but never really wanted to find.

Organic isn't necessarily community based.

“GAWD I love Dagoba chocolates! This choco bar is soooo gooood.”

“Katelyn, aren’t they owned by Hershey’s?”

“Pssh, no. They are too tastey. Plus they are organic.”
“Uhhh, I think that they are.”

“No they aren’t.”

“Yes, they are.”

“No they’re not!”

“Yes, they are!”

…That [approximate/hypothetical] conversation I had last March with a housemate, when past Northwest Organizer Shannon Kuhn (at right) sent me a HUGE box of Dagoba donations for the Northwest Real Food Summit 2009. I was so excited to try all of the different flavors but managed to fend off the rest of my housemates before the actual event started. Sad to say, DAGOBA REALLY IS OWNED BY HERSHEY’S, and as that corporation is very much not based in any sort of community, it totally doesn’t count as Real Food (for this year’s Convergence we’ve opted out of Dagoba and opted into some other gnarly awesome chocolate makers, such as Theo’s Chocolates). I found this out from Mr. Howard. Which other organic foods do you love and get the warm fuzzies from purchasing in the diagram above? And how could you not fall for many of them? They woo you in with their gourmet- or pastoral idyllic-looking packaging and advertising, but the reality is that you are still supporting some crazy huge corporation. (“But it’s cool that they offer organic,” you might say, but one could counterpoint saying that they only offer organic food things in order to not lose your business. I.e. monieeezzz.)

Well. Here’s another one of Mr. Howard’s graphs, which shows independent organic producers, not owned by a larger corporation; some of which ( the purple blobs) are cooperatively owned

"Most remaining independent organic processors have resisted substantial buyout offers (typically 2 times annual sales). "

If you are going to make a change in your purchasing practices, make a REAL change. Supporting not just organic foods, but also those that are community-based, local, fair, and humane!

Sincerely,

katelyn

(p.s. if you like rants like these, come to our convergence to hear more of em and give em yurself! hee hee. Click on the PINK Convergence Registration in the right top corner!)

Ironically, the  gardening club at Lewis and Clark has been one of the least sustainable student groups over the last several years because there was little coordination from year to year and the plot frequently became overgrown during the summer. This year, a core group of seven sophomores and their supporters, who refer to themselves as the Bucolic Garden Society, decided to change that. In addition to clearing out the garden plot located on the school’s graduate school campus and planting the plot with a winter cover crop of fava beans, this group has successfully petitioned for a student worker to maintain the gardens over the summer as well as the addition of a second plot in the residential area of campus.

The second garden plot will be located just a few feet from what will be the school’s Pioneers in Environmental Service and Action theme floor, and one resident advisor in the Forest Complex each year will have the responsibility for coordinating garden activities with campus living. In addition, members of the Bucolic Garden Society are working with one of the school’s pre-college service trips to engage incoming freshman in a day of service in the garden in order to engage new members of the community.

The Bucolic Garden Society has a lot on it’s plate for spring semester,  including planting and weeding both gardens, hiring the summer student worker, and trying to obtain enough funds for a wheelbarrow, a drip irrigation system, and a compost bin. Hopefully these efforts, along with the hard work of students and the outstanding support of LC’s Facilities Services, Sustainability Council, Campus Living, and Office of Career and Community Engagement will help both on-campus gardens prosper for many years to come.

– This update was written by Tara Brown, a Bucolic Gardener at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Do YOU have an update from YOUR school? Email katelyn at northwest@realfoodchallenge.org or visit your state page (links below, at right) and post an update!

Friends,
Now that finals are over, take a few minutes from your break to take back control of your food!

There are 2 million farmers and 300 million eaters in the United States. Standing between them is a handful of corporations who control how food gets from one side to the other.

Let’s change the equation.

For the first time ever, the Justice Department is examining how big business controls food and farming–and they want to hear from YOU by December 31!

Most of what matters to you about why food isn’t healthier, safer, tastier, or all-around better is affected by the narrow bottleneck of power between producers and consumers. And right now, the Obama Administration wants to hear stories about how that bottleneck affects regular people.

Now’s your chance: Write a short comment about how big business’ control of food affects you. We’ve made it really easy–get your ideas jumpstarted here, and then take a look at this super easy template and sample letters. Your comment can be short and informal; don’t worry about spelling out the connections too precisely. The important thing is to express from your own experience what most concerns you or how you’ve been affected by corporate consolidation in the food industry. Be honest and speak from your heart. Your voice REALLY matters.

Maybe you don’t feel like you’re qualified to write a comment, or you feel like your voice wouldn’t matter–but you are and it does. The Justice Department is specifically seeking comments and stories about how corporate control of the food system affects average citizens–this is our chance to tell them what’s wrong with the food system. DO IT NOW: comments are due by December 31!

Get started!

Keep it real,
The Real Food Challenge Team

PS Don’t forget that your contribution to the Real Food Challenge will be DOUBLED if you donate by December 31!  Visit our website to donate.

Do you want to spend a year fighting hunger and poverty with a tight-knit community of emerging leaders? Apply to become a Hunger Fellow. Emerson National Hunger Fellows shape and implement local social justice programs all over the U.S., and then research and support national policy initiative in Washington D.C. Apply by January 20th if you are interested in being part of the 17th Fellowship class. For more information visit: http://www.hungercenter.org/national/national.cfm.

If you are interested in hearing about the Hunger Fellow Experience from current fellows contact: Megan Mills-Novoa at mmills-novoa@hungercenter.org or Daniel Lau at dlau@hungercenter.org

Over the summer, Southern Oregon University signed a 2-year (renewable 3rd year) contract with Sodexo. The transition was quick and disorganized, so things got off to a rough start. Over winter break they are putting some major $$$ into renovations on campus and it sounds like they intend to invest quite a bit here. So far, the food is marginal at best (I’ve personally only purchased one meal just to investigate. Nope… I’ll be sticking to my cheaper, organic snacks, thanks.)

As put-off as we were about contracting with one of the “big three,” I’m
actually encouraged by the philosophy of our general manager. She comes from
U of AK-Fairbanks where she helped start a student garden and her 2nd-down
manager (who just arrived a couple of weeks ago) is a guy from my hometown
who is supposed to be a sustainability-guru. I haven’t had time to sit down
and chat with him, but I know that he’s going to be researching local
availability and purchasing from the Ashland Food Coop.

I was recently hired as the Sustainability Intern – I’m determined to hold
Sodexo accountable for their practices and really stir things up! I’ll
mostly be in charge of telling the marketing what to market, but I’d like to
take it one step further and be a real activist. (I’m hoping SOU can be a
pilot campus for the Real Food Calculator, though that’s only been a thought
and I haven’t figured out my approach yet…)

Projects I’ll be working on next term:
- Going trayless
- Promoting “eco-containers” (washable plastic to-go clamshells) and
eliminating bioware from the freshman dorm dining
- Composting bioware from our other dining areas (SO close on getting this
implemented)
- Recycling training for employees & students(?)
- Last, but not least: A STUDENT-RUN GARDEN

Sodexo would like to establish a student garden on campus!!! (We already
have a community garden, but it’s off-limits for Sodexo takeover.) The
initial talk just took place on Thursday 11/19, but it sounds like we have a good
spot of land and we’ll start small with an herb garden in another location
as we work everything out. I’ve offered to take on a coordinator position in
this initial phase, so I have some questions for all of you! I’d appreciate
any personal stories, struggles, ideas, and suggestions if you’ve been
through this process.

MAJOR QUESTIONS:
- Who should be in charge of the garden? (Remember that SOU will probably
not be able to hire a new person and Sodexo may not be here long unless they
rock at this.)
- Where should the labor come from? (Especially over the summer – we have a
Mediterranean climate, meaning it’s HOT and DRY.)
- What are the FIRST steps? (I think we’ve gone so far as identifying
potential areas and will be testing the soil as the next step.)

I’m really just reaching out for any help. With break and finals coming up,
I’m going to be honest and say that I just don’t have as much time as I’d
like to dedicate to researching, but I’m impatient and want to see things
proceed as fast as possible. Email me at sarah.rudeen@gmail.com or leave me
a message on the blog.

Thanks so much RFCers – this is what networking is
all about!

Exciting news on the 2010 NW Regional Real Food Summit front, we have chosen a date and location so get READY for this AWESOME opportunity!

Our location this year will be on the western edge of the Rockies in a quant town called Missoula, Montana - home to the University of Montana and some fabulous food, agriculture and sustainability action. This year’s event will be held on Presidents day weekend (February 13-15) so mark your calendars.

We want to see anyone and everyone who is interested in helping to build a Real Food Economy at their high school, college, university and in their community.

Tell us what your thoughts are on workshops, activities, or maybe just share a great pie recipe right here or email us at northwest@realfoodchallenge.org.

Stay tuned for upcoming information on registration and schedule! We can’t wait to see you there and eat pie together under the big sky.

‘Til than keep it real

Lyra & Katelyn

We are inviting any and all students, seniors, farmers & farmworkers, community activists, and elected officials to join us in a discussion about our local food system, how we contribute to it, and how we can all improve upon it! And that discussion is going to be complemented perfectly with our local, organic, and very seasonal menu. It’s going to be squashy, it’s going to be awesome!

Check out our fantastic flier: Nourishing a Local Food System

Interested in attending?

RSVP with our friend David Osborn (he was at the NW Real Food Summit last March!), who works with the Oregon Food Bank, at <DOsborn@oregonfoodbank.org> or with us, at <northwest@realfoodchallenge.org>.