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Have you gotten your costumes yet? Are you all ready for Halloween? Here at FRESH some of our costume ideas are a lumberjack, Captain Planet Wind from the old Captain Planet cartoon series and plain old Captain Underpants (because nothing is more fun than wearing underpants on your head).
But, there is nothing spooky going on here at FRESH New London. We are just celebrating bounty! We harvested mountains of peppers and tomatoes before it got too cold. The kale and collards are still virtuous and vigorous in the ground. And a whole new round of lettuces, cilantro and hearty greens are just beginning to unfurl themselves in the still warm soil. So, despite the new chill, we are sweating as we prepare our gardens for winter, dig deeper into our community by collaborating with the City on a new community garden site (see "McDonald Garden, I'm Loving It") and build our campaign work for 2017.
Oh yeah, and we are hosting a pizza party! So, come out on Saturday, October 29th and plant garlic bulbs, clear out old tomato plants and thin perennials starting at 9am and then we'll start pulling pizzas out of the oven at 11:30 or noon!
Read on for more on all of this! |
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In this issue, we celebrate the bounty with:- Working with FRESH, by Julie Garay
- McDonald Garden: I'm Loving' It!
- FRESH Goes to Hartford
- Recipe of the Month: Squash Hummus
- Work Day and Pizza Party: October 29, 2016, at the FRESH Urban Farm and Education Center! 9am to 1pm!
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| | Our last harvest of Aji Ducle peppers from the FRESH Urban Farm and Education Center are so bright they almost make their own sunshine! |
| | REFLECTIONS ON FRESH, BY JULIE GARAY |
| Dirty Nails and Daily Education |
| | My name is Julie Rosali Garay and I have worked with FRESH for about 5 years now. My journey with FRESH has been life changing to say the least. My sophomore year of high school I began to work at FRESH New London where I started to learn about growing food and the need for food system education. I continued to work with FRESH in many different positions throughout the years; Crew Member, Assistant Farm Manager, Assistant Crew Leader, Assistant Program Director.
As the years went by I realized that dirt under my fingernails and daily education of youth is something that I was truly passionate about. Every season as I fertilized the dirt and planted seeds my love for growing and educating grew as well. In 2014, I wrote an essay for the FRESH newsletter about my love for chickens at the farm and how livestock is so important to a community like New London but it is so undermined. I used that same article for my college application and I was accepted into the associate's program of Animal science at UConn.
While learning about farming I realized that I was more interested in local, sustainable and non-industrial livestock care compared to the industrial growing that is mostly taught at UConn. I had a hard time feeling passionate about what I was learning which made me change my major to Sociology because I loved the community work that I did at FRESH. Now with an Associate's in Animal Science, I am taking classes at Three Rivers Community College while also working with FRESH as an Assistant Youth Organizer.
FRESH is moving at an amazing direction, we have been talking about school food for a very long time but now our dreams of improving it has come alive, and now the students are empowered to choose what they want to see on there plates.
I had the pleasure of giving a speech at a House Party to raise money for FRESH that moved many people in the room. Something I always talk about is that agriculture is something that means so much to me because it has been the outlet for me to express myself as a young minority women but also as a person that wants to improve my community.
The garden is much more empowering than anyone can think of! This is a place where a young person can leave their classroom and learn about the way a ladybug helps a garden by eating aphids and larvae that may damage plants. This is the open environment where I can talk about my fears of becoming an adult as I remove morning glory from a bed full of tomatoes with a Conn College student. This is the place of one of my most memorable moments was when I was transplanting different plants into a space while a 4 year old named Mabel sat next to me identifying which plants were what and how they tasted.
I plan to continue with FRESH for many more years because I can't think of anywhere else I can call my home and the FRESH staff and volunteers my family.
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| I'm Lovin' It: A New Garden in New London? |
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| | City Councilor Martha Marx (in black) talks with FRESH staff Chloe Murphy and Julie Garay (in pink and yellow), while other neighbors, city officials and FRESH staff chat before the first meeting about McDonald Park. |
| | No Golden Arches, But A Community Garden in McDonald Park |
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It does not look like much now. A few stretches of asphalt, a park bench and some struggling grass. But by Spring 2017, McDonald Park could be the home of New London's newest Community Garden. Representatives of the City of New London reached out to FRESH New London a month or so ago to invite us into partnership in developing this track of land as a community garden.
At our first meeting, on an unseasonably cold afternoon, neighbors were curious, excited and understandably aggrieved at the state of their community.
"Its like the City forgot about this part of New London," one woman said as she walked by with her daughter. Her 9-year-old was elated to hear that FRESH wanted to put a garden across the street from her house.
"Then I'd have a place to plant my plants!" she exclaimed, explaining that when they learn about seed at school she has nowhere to put them once she gets home. |
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| The City is committed to providing water, additional lights and signage to the site and will help remove any trees or limbs that need to come down. They will also help to raise funds for the Community Garden.
The FRESH Youth Program developed a survey and we are spending October going door to door to gauge community interest and solicit ideas, input and inspiration. The survey is available in Spanish and English and asks questions like: What things should be included in the park improvements? FRESH is really excited about the potential of this project to unite the community around growing food and flowers and fun for young people. We really want that 9 year old girl to have a place to plant her plants! |
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| Left: The FRESH Team of Megan, Julie and Erick get prepped to go door to door on Connecticut Ave to find out what the community thinks.... |
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| IT TAKES A REGION!
FRESH Participates in the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group's Conference! |
| | FRESH is headed to Hartford next month! We are excited about NESAWG!
The reason?
FRESH is helping to lead a workshop called Empowering Youth Leaders in the Food Justice Movement. This inter-active workshop that will open up NESAWG’s first ever "youth track" and showcase the work of youth food systems leaders from around the Northeast.
Led by youth from Buffalo, NY's Massachusetts Avenue Project and our FRESH New London youth, the session will give youth in the conference an opportunity to get to know each other, learn about a model used to develop youth leaders, and hear from youth working in different organizations how they became leaders in food justice work!
FRESH will be rolling deep to the "It Takes a Region" conference, which brings together food workers, farmers and policy advocates from 12 states. The theme of the conference is "Tackling Wicked Problems in the Food System." Check it out, and join us if you can! |
| | | | | | | | RECIPE OF THE MONTH: Butternut Squash Hummus Because I love it, by Frida |
| | I had a few volunteer squash in my plot this year. Some people say squash is so good you don't need to do anything to it... But, I am not one of those people. So, I need soup recipes and roasted vegetable recipes and pie recipes to get all those good dark yellow vitamins in my system.
I didn't know that I needed a squash hummus recipe until Alicia brought in some for lunch and a comforting, slightly exotic but totally familiar aroma filled the air. What do we do in the very small FRESH office but smell each other's lunches all day? Here is Alicia's recipe, adapted from the awesome cook book Jerusalem by British chefs Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. They both grew up in Jerusalem, but had very different experiences of that divided city-- Yotam is from the Jewish West Side and Sami grew up on the Arab East Side.
1 very large butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks 3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp brown sugar
½ tsp salt
1/4 cup tahini paste
1/2 Greek yogurt
2 small garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
Heat the oven to 350. Spread the squash out on a medium-sized baking tray, pour over the olive oil and sprinkle on the cinnamon, brown sugar and salt. Mix well, cover the tray tightly with tinfoil and roast for 70 minutes, stirring once during the cooking. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Transfer the cooled squash to the bowl of a food processor, along with the tahini, yogurt and garlic. Roughly pulse so that everything is combined into a coarse paste – you don't want it too smooth (you can also do this by hand using a fork or masher).
To serve, spread the butternut in a wavy pattern over a flat plate and finish with chopped cilantro. You can also sprinkle with sesame seeds if you have them! serve with pita and chopped veggies or use instead of your favorite sandwich spread.
Make extra so you can share at the FRESH Work and Pizza day! |
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WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT
Interested in supporting FRESH with a tax-deductible donation? Of course you are!! Donate Here or follow this link: http://www.freshnewlondon.org/donate/ |
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