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| Thousands of years ago , our ancestors lit lamps in the night, celebrating light during the darkest period of the year. This was the time to honor the land and its inexorable cycles, to be humble before winter's power and ferocity, to connect with one another and make light and warmth together.
The traditions that many of us engage in today-- evergreens bedecked with light in our homes; clusters of candles in menorahs, Kinaras or advent wreaths-- hearken back to our ancestors' needs for light in the darkness. They used this time of relative inactivity (no fields to farm, few animals to hunt) to reflect and recharge, preparing for the coming busy season of growing.
At FRESH, we just put the Urban Farm to bed for the year, disconnecting the water and the power for the season, spreading compost on our little fields, and stacking all our harvesting trays in the truck for the season. We also just mailed out our big fund appeal, asking our supporters to help us prepare for the coming year by contributing generously. We are asking here too.
In the season to reflect and recharge (notice we have said nothing about people's December predilection for unbridled consumerism), FRESH is grateful for all that you bring to the work for food justice and youth empowerment, you are lights in the darkness. |
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| Happy Holidays from Erick, Frida, Megan, Julie and Alicia (left to right)! |
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In this issue, - Give Perennially, Get FRESH
- Alicia's End of the Year Letter
- Our Youth Reflect on a Great Year
- Upgrading Our Website
- McDonald Park Progress
- Recipe of the Month: Elderberry Syrup, Good for What Ails Ya
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| | | Join the "Get FRESH" List and let everyone know that you support healthy food, youth leadership and a sustainable community!
Giving Levels: What Your Money Supports
•$50 - $250 builds a new raised garden bed for a local classroom
•$100 – $500 contributes to $500 stipends for Youth
•$250 - $1,250 sustains FRESH's Urban Farm as a site of inter-generational learning, growth and work
•$1,000 - $5,000 catalyzes youth-driven community change throughout New London
When you "Get FRESH," you make a commitment to contribute $100 or more to FRESH on an annual basis. Knowing that we can count on you and other individual donors strengthens our work on so many levels.
You become the beautiful perennials in our garden; blooms that come back stronger every year.
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| | | | REFLECTING ON A YEAR OF FRESH, Alicia McAvay |
| Dear FRESH Friend,
2016 has been full of adventure, transition, inspiration and a growing sense of urgency to build a strong, resilient community. Here at FRESH, we welcomed Erick, Frida and Megan to staff; we stepped away from our farm at the Waterford Country School to make more room to grow in New London; we watched Arthur transition into a less intensive role as a board member, while Julie, Aziza and Chloe deepened their roots and roles with FRESH. Events in the wider world remind us about the deep problems we face in society; we are grateful to know we can make a difference right here in New London.
I spent this year digging deeper into my relationship with FRESH, finding my passion and discovering the organization’s strong foundation. I had the pleasure of sitting with some of the first funders to learn what inspired their investment. I pulled vineweed with some long-time gardeners to explore the potential for education and community building. I harvested vegetables with youth leaders to understand what draws them to FRESH and how we can improve our leadership program. I learned about the social and ecological balance that comes with urban farming and community empowerment.
Moving into 2017, I am excited for FRESH to continue growing our investment in New London. We will continue to work with young people to find their power, raise their voice and make change in the local food system. FRESH support for farm to school, our work with teachers, cafeteria staff and school administrators, will continue making healthy food a normal part of students’ daily life. And most exciting for me, we will continue build leadership and collaboration with residents in the Lower Connecticut Avenue neighborhood and turn a currently blighted parcel into an edible park for all residents to enjoy.
Our vision is that together we can build and sustain a healthy and just food system; we will exercise our collective power to establish community food security in Connecticut, and take part in the global movement for food justice. Togetherness is now, more than ever, crucial in our justice work. Together with each other, with partners and fellow movements, we fight for healthy food access, to reclaim land and food sovereignty. Join us to grow more food in New London, to share food culture across age, race, gender and income and to build a community food system that works for all of us.
And of course donations are a part of this. Our 2017 fundraising goal is $50K, an ambitious but realistic objective we must meet to be sustainable. I hope that you will consider your donation to FRESH as a sound investment in a future of stewardship, health and justice (and its tax deductible)!
We are so grateful for your support and for donations of any size towards our efforts. Please make checks payable to FRESH/TSNE. Secure online donations can be made through our website: freshnewlondon.org
Sincerely,
Alicia McAvay, Director, FRESH New London
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| | | | RECHARGING: Our New Website FRESH Gets a Make-Over, Erick Carrion |
| | A FRESH Look! At FRESH we are always connecting, and we know the value of organizations like ours on the internet. I mean who doesn’t browse the internet now days? We are keeping up with the times and realized that we needed to upgrade our look and be more dynamic. So, just in time for the holidays, FRESH has a new website!!
Built with the input of our youth program, our new website went live two weeks ago. We transfer from the vintage and antique coding to the new era of HTML5, Flash & Java! Because we are cool!
We built this new website thinking about our three main chore program components, Grow Food, Connect Communities and Empower Youth. We asked: how do we show those in the virtual world? how can we provide better information on how we are working hard for a food system that is more fair, more sustainable and more beautiful.
In this new website we have a blog, so we can be your publishers. If you have any recipe, food justice art or any work you want to share, send it in! Those beautiful pictures you took at the Urban Farm? Share them with the world! Get creative. Send content to Erick at youth@freshnewlondon.org.
We are still working to improve our new internet home! It is a work in progress, so share your feedback by emailing Erick (above) or using the contact tab in our site.
www.freshnewlondon.org
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| | Big UPs to Youth Organizer Erick Carrion for his initiative, vision and skills in bringing FRESH into the world of dynamic and interactive websites. UP UP, Erick! Thanks |
| | | I'm Lovin' McDonald Park A Progress Report, Megan Griffin |
| | In photos: FRESH and community members break into small groups to brainstorm designs for McDonald Park
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This Fall, the City of New London contacted FRESH to collaborate on the creation of a community garden at McDonald Park. You know that we at FRESH love a community garden, but before getting started on the project, we knew we had to catalyze community leadership in the planning and design process.
We began by surveying 121 residents in the surrounding community on what they need and want from a local park.
Then, on December 1st, we met with members of the community at Walls Temple A.M.E. Zion Church, just a few blocks from McDonald Park. We are grateful to Reverend Clarke and the church community for hosting our first meeting and hope to call on their hospitality again for future meetings.
What a success! After breaking bread and getting to know each other, FRESH presented our survey results to the community, and as a group we discussed our reactions to the results. Then we focused on the collaborative design process; in small groups, FRESH staff and volunteers worked with community members to envision a future McDonald Park.
Now we have three creative, beautiful and functional designs to start with, and a community design committee tasked with refining these designs to bring back to the whole group. ¡Olé!
This project is already bringing together so many people: The surrounding neighborhood, the City of New London, AME Zion Church, Conn College, community organizations in New London and beyond, New London police, neighbors who have already donated to the project, and more. The project is also connecting our work; it intersects with FRESH’s imperative to create a food- and nutrition-secure New London, and to connect and co-power communities through food.
Imagine the power of this park and the collective work going into it this Spring, once fundraising, construction and infrastructural improvements are in full swing! Watch this space for more updates.
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| | RECHARGING With Elderberry Syrup
Kitchen Remedies to Heal Your Body and Protect Your Pocketbook |
| | It's that time of year again. Aches and sniffles, coughs and sneezes. Promises of relief call out from pharmacy shelves, but they are expensive, full of sugar and alcohol and who knows what's in them. Liz Spurr is a brand new FRESH Board Member, a community gardener at the FRESH Urban Farm and coordinates a series of cooking, canning and home preservation classes for Thames Valley Sustainable Connections. She just finished up a successful season of classes on making and canning apple sauce, pie making, and other home arts hosted by Saint James Church in New London. One of her most popular classes was on making home remedies like fire cider and elderberry syrup.
Elderberries are a vigorous and resilient bush that grows well in Connecticut. We are hoping to plant a few at the Urban Farm in the Spring. Their berries are tart and astringent. Here is what HerbWisdom.Com says: "Elderberry is used for its antioxidant activity, to lower cholesterol, to improve vision, to boost the immune system, to improve heart health and for coughs, colds, flu, bacterial and viral infections and tonsillitis. Bioflavonoids and other proteins in the juice destroy the ability of cold and flu viruses to infect a cell. People with the flu who took elderberry juice reported less severe symptoms and felt better much faster than those who did not."
Enough said, elderberries are what's UP.
Liz was kind enough to share her recipe for Elderberry Syrup. Liz's Magic Syrup (as we call it) a decoction of ripe, fresh or dried elderberries which is simmered down with honey added at the end. Elderberry syrup is known to have many healthy benefits, especially during cold and flu season.
Liz' recipe is adapted from Nancy and Michael Phillip's version (passed on by Rosemary Gladstar – down to earth herbalist and founder of Sage Mountain Herbs, VT).
Elderberry Syrup (dried berry version) Makes about 5 ½ cups syrup, good for sharing. If you need to make a smaller batch use a 1:2 ratio of dried berries to water. You can buy the berries in the bulk section of your local coop.
1 quart dried elderberries
2 quarts water
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1 or 2 tablespoons grated or chopped ginger
2 pinches of grated cloves
Honey to taste (about 3 cups)
A few squeezes of lemon juice
Cook berries, water, ginger and clove over low heat in a non reactive heavy bottomed pot with the lid slightly ajar to allow steam to escape (this retains the medicinal value of the berries).
When simmered down to almost half the volume, strain the berries and spices out and continue to simmer if needed until the desired volume is reached (about two or three cups). Blend with an equal amount of honey and add a squeeze of lemon juice if desired. I prefer the added acidity and believe that this helps preserve the mixture a little longer. The syrup will keep for several weeks or even months in the refrigerator. It is so tasty and useful that it may not last that long.
To use: To treat or fight off a cold or flu, take 1 to 2 tablespoons several times throughout the day. Other ways to use it: Over ice cream, added to tea, hot or sparkling water as a beverage. Add to a smoothie for sweetness, flavor and a nutritional anti viral boost.
Here is some fun pocketbook math for you. 4 ounces of Elderberry Syrup can be bought at most pharmacies for about $14. For less than that (this recipe will set you back about $10), you can make more than four times as much! Take that to the bank. |
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WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT
Interested in supporting FRESH with a tax-deductible donation? Of course you are!! http://www.freshnewlondon.org/donate/ |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Your bonus for getting all the way to the end, and our gift to you... The Funny Face Version of FRESH's Holiday Picture! |
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