Fellowship Opportunity for College Age Students in the Local Food Movement March 6, 2012

This amazing opportunity came through my email box today at UNF. I think it’s so awesome that I have to share it with you all. I know we are not all college age anymore, but maybe you know someone who might be interested. Spread the word!

 

Real Food Challenge (RFC) is looking for committed food activists to join our team as Field Organizer Fellows.  This is a 14-month, part-time, stipended fellowship opportunity.

Apply now for our 2012-2013 Field Organizer Fellowship..

Real Food Challenge

Real Food Challenge (RFC) is a national, student-driven campaign to create a more just and sustainable food system.  We harness the purchasing power of colleges and universities to support local farmers, fair trade cooperative and sustainable businesses—what we call “real food.”  Since 2008, RFC has united and trained over 5,000 of young food activists and has succeeded in shifting over $50 million of university spending to support a just and sustainable food economy.  In the 2012-2013 school year we will advance our Get Real! Campaign – an effort to win pledges of support from university presidents and dining operators around the country.

Fellowship Overview

 

The Real Food Challenge Field Organizer Fellowship Program is a unique opportunity for recent college graduates to get first hand experience as part-time organizers and food movement leaders.  Through this 14-month program, Fellows engage in intensive student organizing projects on a regional and national level while also honing their leadership skills and food systems knowledge through our participatory learning curriculum and engaged Fellow community.

 

Fellows come away with direct campaign experience, new professional and movement networks and a toolbox of relevant non-profit, food movement and grassroots organizing skills.  At the same time, they support important student-led efforts to shift millions of university dollars away from industrial agriculture and toward just, sustainable food enterprises.

 

Qualifications 

• Ability to work 15 hrs a week for Real Food Challenge
• In-depth knowledge of the politics and practice of student activism and/or student-run groups, preferred
• Commitment to economic justice, anti-racism, student power and social movements
• Experience with group facilitation, teaching, public speaking, and networking
• In-depth knowledge of university food systems, issues surrounding small farms, fair trade cooperatives, regional distributional or similar issues a plus
• Recent college graduates preferred
• Familiarity with Word, Googledocs, Facebook, and other online and social media tools, preferred

 

For a full fellowship description and to apply, visit http://realfoodchallenge.org/RFO or contact tricia@realfoodchallenge.org

 

 

 

—
Tricia Kiefer

National Programs Fellow

Real Food Challenge

…………………………..

Northeastern University

 

Needing Some Inspiration this Morning?? March 5, 2012

I think I needed some inspiration this morning for healthy living. Do you ever feel that way? I’m back from traveling this weekend, and as we all know, it’s hard to eat the way you are used to when out on the road. It seems to take just a little more effort to reengage in my love of produce once home.

Well, I have a solution for you and me this morning. This video was posted by one of the farms I follow this morning on Facebook. It’s a quick 5 minute video of an 11 year old boy telling us why we should care about the quality of our food. I find it rather inspiring. I love how he says that kids will eat and enjoy fruits and vegetables if they knew more about their food.

Take a few minutes and be inspired. Healthy living is worth it! Keep fighting the good fight. Enjoy!

11 year old challenges us to care about our food

Seasonal Growing Chart and Upcoming Classes February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine’s Day friends! I hope you take a chance to love on your body today with some exercise and/or delicious produce (and then go eat a chocolate).

I am squirming in my kitchen chair with excitement as I just discovered the Slow Food First Coast website with the date of their upcoming Farm Tour 2012. The date is for Sunday, April 22nd. They do not have the events up yet but last year’s line up looked awesome. My calendar is marked and I hope to see some of you out there visiting and supporting our local agriculture.

I also found a wonderful tool for you on their website, a seasonal growing chart.  This will help you know what to expect from your CSA or farm deliveries. Click here: Seasonal Variety of Produce

Next week I am teaching 2 cooking classes! I hope you can join in on the food fun. Tuesday, February 21st my colleague Ryder and I will be at Whole Foods Jacksonville cooking up savory chocolate dishes.  Click here to sign up.

Next Thursday, February 23rd, I’m back at A. Chef’s Cooking Studio with an exciting class: How to use your CSA box! I’m working on the recipes now but I am planning on using kale, beets, fennel, radishes, kholrabi, and maybe more. Click here for the Studio’s website and calendar. Call Chef Andrea to sign up.

Have a healthy, love-filled day!

Black Hog Farm Info January 28, 2012

For those interested in Black Hog Farms farm to door delivery (Northeast Florida only), visit there blog here.

Have a great weekend!

Eating Organic Affordably, Part 2 October 25, 2011

Just this morning, I had another friend ask me if eating organic was really that important. This reminded me that this is an important topic and I need to finish my little series on it. If you are just jumping in to this conversation on my blog, check out part 1 of the discussion and figure out where you are on this organic-eating journey.

To flat-out answer the question, “Do I think eating organic is important,” I would say yes. If you look at my own food choices, you would see many organic options. (Just a quick reminder though, that my personal way of eating is not the only way to eat ‘healthy’. Each person needs to work out their own healthy eating lifestyle.)

At my Farm to Plate dinner a couple of weeks ago, the farmer of Black Hog Farm reminded me of something that I have been saying for a long time: Local trumps organic. Yes, it’s true. Why? Because local food is the freshest, meaning the highest nutrient content. It also travels less time to your plate which means less preservatives are needed and less gas is used driving it around. You also have the opportunity to get personal with your food. You know the people that grow it or raise it. If you have a problem, you can go directly to them.

Many of the local growers don’t have the means to go through the organic certification process. So they may be following organic practices, but are not able to promote their items as such. But again, when you know your producer, you can just ask them about it.

So all this to say that you should take advantage of any and all local resources that you can. A dollar spent here goes directly back to the producer to continue making high quality food. This is money well spent.

Many of the farmers markets offer a plethora of affordable, local produce options. I would recommend starting here. Produce is probably the most important place to start buying organic. Forget the processed foods for now. Spend the money on the whole, real foods. I would even say this for your kids. To me, processed is processed, whether it’s organic or not. Save the extra dollar or two on conventional processed foods and put it toward your produce.

I am working on compiling my list of local produce distributors and farmers markets to post for you. Check out my “Favorite Things” page for some of these links already.

More to come in part 3. Please post questions that you have about this topic so that I can make sure to answer them.

It’s National Food Day! October 24, 2011

And a true holiday it is. Today is about bringing awareness to “Eating Real” as in real food and supporting sustainable food practices. Please visit this link to learn more about how to promote real food and eat real food. If you are participating in any way today, please post a comment or picture.

Here are the 6 principle of Food Day:

 

Ask Congress to Support Food Day’s Goals:

1. Reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy food
2. Support sustainable farms & limit subsidies to big agribusines
3. Expand access to food and alleviate hunge
4. Protect the environment & animals by reforming factory farms
5. Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kid
6. Support fair conditions for food and farm workers

Farm to Plate Dinner October 17, 2011

Saturday  night was truly magical. I know that may sound a little strange being that it was just dinner and a movie. But to me, it was awesome. I attended Black Hog Farm’s farm to table dinner at Pastiche. The food was amazing (go eat there). Each dish seemed to have a small story attached to it.

I had the pleasure of sitting with some of the family members of Black Hog Farm during dinner. What a treat! I learned about the individual ingredients and came away convinced that this family is deeply vested in what they do. It was very evident that a great deal of pride, and really love, goes into the care of each animal and crop they produce.

I highly recommend supporting this farm. The prices on their food items are also some of the best I’ve seen. Contact Sharon at info@blackhogfarm.com for more information.

Here are some pictures from my fantastic meal. (I am still working on my food styling skills so I hope they look appetizing.)

The Menu

 

Appetizer - Deviled Eggs

 

The best cornbread I have ever had

 

Salad

 

Main Course - greens, chicken and dumplings, sweet potatoes, amazing pork tenderloin

 

Dessert - brown butter cake and apples

 

The family of Black Hog Farm

Eating Organic Affordably Part 1 October 14, 2011

Can it be done? I’ve had a couple of friends ask me can it be done this week. This is a great question and the answer is, yes! It just takes a little research on your part (and my part) to decide what’s the best way for you. The most important thing to remember is that eating more local or organic is a process. It takes time to figure out how to do it for your family. Be patient and start small. It’s a journey.

Here are the things you need to start considering before choosing what and where you will buy your food:

• Will I eat (almost) any fruit or vegetable you put in front in me? This is a diagnostic question for whether you are a good fit for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) or home delivery service. CSA’s are a group of people that pledge to support a farm through their growing season and then receive weekly “baskets” of the harvest. Typically, you don’t get to choose what you get. So if you are going to spend the money, you want to be an adventurous cook and eater. Many home delivery services are also set packages and can’t be altered. There are some, though, that allow you to pick what you want. I have found that you have to order a certain amount to have it delivered (around $25).
• Am I willing to travel for better prices or is convenience more important? Sometimes a longer drive will give you fresher, more affordable produce. For instance, many of our local farmers markets feature excellent prices, but it may not be convenient to you. I think they are worth the drive, but you may not, and that’s ok.
• What’s my budget? Most delivery services or CSA’s are a set price and the range is across the board. If that fits in your budget, then great. If you need to be able to determine how much you spend each week, buying individually may be a better option for you.
• Am I ok with not getting what I want? By this I mean, if you like eating spinach every day, every week, are you ok if it’s not available because it’s not in season or the crop is poor? Sometimes you may choose conventional produce over local/organic simply because it’s only available this way at certain times of the year. This is ok too. (I have to make this choice regularly.)
• Compare your regular groceries to the dirty dozen. Check out this great reference article to see what are consider the most important produce to buy organic. The verdict is still out on dairy and we may never get a “science based” consensus on whether we should all switch to organic. So you get to make that choice for yourself.

Start thinking through these things and assess where you are in the organic/local journey. And you don’t need to be far into it. It will unfold for you. If all you can afford is to buy 1 or 2 items organic/local, then great. That’s a wonderful start.

More to come…

Jacksonville Food Day Events October 10, 2011

Calendar of Events.

This year there is an exciting food event for us to celebrate: National Food Day. This is a day to celebrate sustainable and real food. So exciting!

There are some fun events going on in Jacksonville to celebrate. Click the link at the top of the post to see what’s going on. There are 2 farm to plate dinners that look amazing!

Please post how you will celebrate this day with your friends and family.

A New Farm to Love October 8, 2011

Thanks to my wonderful friend Alison, I have just (as in 1 hour ago) discovered a new farm with delivery of produce and meat. I am so pumped! Nothing really gets me more excited than local, high quality food.

The farm is called Black Hog Farm and it’s located in Palatka Florida. I just signed up to be a customer so I will report how it goes as I get a feel for it. They offer small and large produce baskets, eggs, pork, chicken, and beef. I am hoping they offer an open farm day soon so I can see it for myself.

Most exciting of all is that they are having a farm to plate dinner at Pastiche on Saturday, October 15th. 1 – I am so there. 2- I’ve never been to Pastiche so I am even more “so there”. 3- They are featuring their food and local beer. Need I say more.

Find the farm on facebook  because their website is not functional yet.

I hope to see some of you at Pastiche on Saturday!