WNESU Feeds Families During Thanksgiving
Farming While Black
Students Get a “Sweet” Taste Test
Bon Appetit! Cooking at Green Street School
Pandemic Silver Linings: Creative Cooking at Green Street School
Green Street School’s French teacher, Alice Charkes, fondly known as “Madame” by her students, has been integrating cooking and gardening into her curriculum for many years. This fall, her job looks a bit different. She is teaching French remotely 3 days a week, and she is one of the 4th-grade classroom teachers 2 days a week for hybrid in-person instruction.
Initially daunted by the shift from foreign language teacher to a classroom teacher, Alice seized this opportunity to make lemonade out of lemons—which she normally does with second graders each year as citron pressé—and build on some of the things she loves into the classroom, even more, this year. Smaller class sizes (Madame has 5 students in her classroom) and more time with students allows Madame to do more cooking with students than ever before. So far this year, she has made a chickpea and fresh herb salad inspired by French chef Grégory Cohen and individual pizzas. She plans to make French gingerbread and cookies later this month.
Madame found that there are some unexpected benefits to cooking with students during COVID-19. For example, in the past, she would have small groups of students prepare different aspects of the recipe but in order to keep the spread of germs to a minimum, she divides up all of the ingredients ahead of time and each student makes their own small portion of each dish, so they learn to make the recipe from start to finish and they taste the food that they created on their own, exactly the way they like it. For example, when she made pizzas with students in November, each student had their own ball of pizza dough that they formed and shaped themselves. They topped their pizzas with freshly made tomato sauce made with tomatoes and herbs from the school garden, cheese, and toppings of their choice including mushrooms, peppers, onions, and pineapple.
Naturally, Alice incorporates French into her cooking lessons. She was teaching her students pizza vocabulary (fromage, champignon, sauce tomate, poivron, etc.) for several weeks. Making pizzas together was the culminating project for that unit. Students asked for ingredients by their French names and played Hangman with French pizza vocabulary while the individual pies were baking.
Madame has taught a pizza unit to fourth graders for many years but this is the first time that she felt that she had the capacity to actually make pizza with students. Having a small group of students all day made it possible to do a creative cooking project that would have been impossible with a whole class of students during a 30-minute foreign language lesson. In addition, thanks to a mini-grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield to purchase a cooking cart for the school, Madame and her students had everything they needed on the cart to prepare food together, including cutting boards, graters, baking sheets, and a convection oven.
Madame also received help from Food Connects’ Farm to School program coordinator, Sheila Humphreys. They began by brainstorming together about the project. As plans took shape, Sheila was able to offer concrete support by helping Madame collect ingredients and joining Madame and her students in the classroom while cooking. Food Connects staff traditionally support member schools (like Green Street School) through coaching Farm to School teams and providing technical assistance to school nutrition programs and don't often work directly with students in classrooms but given the unusual circumstances of this school year and the increased challenge of cooking with students during COVID-19, we were happy to help out!
Alice is also working on a French garden sign-making project with Green Street School art teacher Rachel Mangean. In the spring, garden beds will have bilingual signage created by students identifying the crops grown by students. Encouraged by the success of this year’s pizza making, Madame is brainstorming with garden coordinator Tara Gordon about growing more potential pizza toppings in the school garden next year. Finally, she initiated the development of Vermont Harvest of the Month posters in French and Spanish and assisted with French translations for the posters. Alice Charkes, ‘Madame,’ is truly a Farm to School champion!
If you are interested in cooking with students during COVID-19 but aren’t sure where to start, please check out these cooking guidelines for ideas on how to do so safely.
Bon appetit!
"Sweet" Taste Tests at Academy School
Students at Academy School in Brattleboro enjoyed diverse taste tests of sweet potatoes, the Vermont Harvest of the Month for November, thanks to Academy’s garden coordinator, Kathy Cassin. Taste tests look different this fall because of meal program changes due to COVID-19.
Currently, Academy’s Food Service Professionals are preparing unitized meals for students at multiple schools in the district and they do not have the capacity to prepare taste tests from the cafeteria for Academy School students as they normally would. Kathy was able to find a creative solution to this problem. Meeting with small groups of students, mostly outside in the school’s gardens and outdoor classrooms, each of which has its own fire pit for cooking, Kathy made roasted sweet potatoes over the fire with several groups of students. She also baked sweet potato cookies at home and brought them in to share with students (a big hit!), and she made sweet potato hummus which she served to students with sweet potato crackers and chips purchased at the Brattleboro Food Coop.
Later this month, she will support the kindergarten class with their annual stone soup celebration, and they plan to add sweet potatoes to the soup. Kathy is spreading the word about sweet potatoes to families via recipes and fun facts in the school newsletter, and sharing photos of her cooking and taste tests with students on the school garden Facebook page.
WNESU Feeds Families During Thanksgiving
A week off from school didn’t stop the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union (WNESU) Farm to School Cafe team from feeding their community local, delicious food.
On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Food Service Director, Harley Sterling and his team distributed 523 food boxes filled with local ingredients like Grafton Village Cheese, The Bread Shed bread, Plainville Farm squash, and organic Mi Tierra tortillas. Each family also received an activity about the origin of tortillas and the ingredients to make a quesadilla as a family.
There will be a second holiday food box distribution in December on the 23rd and 30th. Follow the WNESU Farm to School website for updates on sign-ups and pick-up times.
Book Review: Farming While Black by Leah Penniman
Farmer, author, educator, and activist Leah Penniman’s 2018 book is an essential addition to the bookshelves of educators, farmers, food and racial justice activists, and anyone interested in the history of food and farming in the US. With chapters on topics ranging from Planning Your Farm Business and Feeding the Soil to Honoring the Spirits of the Land, Healing From Trauma, and Movement Building, Farming While Black provides practical farming education, spiritual nourishment, an honest reckoning with the painful history of generations of BIPOC people in the food system, and plenty of inspiration and resources. As a progressive, educated white woman with a keen interest in food systems reading this book, I was humbled by how many of the details of this history were unknown to me and I am inspired by the work of Penniman and other BIPOC people working towards liberation through food sovereignty. I also learned tips on practical skills like seed saving and sheet composting that I can use in my own garden.
In the words of Karen Washington in the book’s foreword, “Confronting everything from the destruction of the continent’s original populace to the tyranny of colonialism, this masterpiece of indigenous sovereignty sheds light on the richness of Black culture permeating throughout agriculture.”
In this book, the reader learns how many of the practices currently in use by organic and sustainable farmers in the U.S. have their roots in African and Indigenous farming techniques. Starting with a grounded historical account of the systemic political and economic racism that resulted in 90% of Black-owned farmland being lost in the past 100 years in our country, Penniman’s well-researched work provides a strong foundation for any food justice curriculum. Specific examples illustrate the many acts of resistance undertaken to preserve African food sovereignty, like the African women who, after being kidnapped in West Africa, braided rice and other seeds into their hair and brought them to the Americas. Each chapter also contains several “Uplift” sections that share inspiring and hopeful success stories from African Diasporic farmers to illustrate the concepts presented in the chapter.
This book would make a wonderful gift for any educators, farmers, or activists in your life, and all profits from book sales are donated to Black farmers. Pick up a copy today as a holiday gift or for yourself.
For more information about Penniman and her inspiring work connecting food sovereignty and racial justice, check out this recent article in Vogue Magazine. Leah Penniman is the Co-Director and Farm Manager of Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, NY.
November 2020 Farm To School Connection
Compost is Brewing at Riverside Middle School
Everyone Eats! Springfield Highlights
Movie Review: Gather
Who Feeds Our Kids?
Who Grows Our Food?
Resource Roundup
Everyone Eats! Springfield Highlights
At the beginning of the pandemic, local leaders in Springfield and Chester stepped up to organize new and familiar resources to feed their communities.
Trish Paradis, executive director of The Springfield Family Center (SCF), an institution that has been serving the community for almost 50 years, adapted services to support the increased nutrition need due to COVID-19. At the same time, Christopher Meyer, a Chester native, and Jason Tostrup, owner of The Free Range, began serving restaurant meals and meal kits for community members through their new non-profit, Chester Helping Hands (CHH).
“We were collaborating, sharing resources and supporting each other,” said Paradis. “When we heard about the potential for Everyone Eats! funding, we decided we could partner as a hub and better serve our region.”
SFC and CHH were awarded CARES Act funding to serve as the regional hub for Everyone Eats! (EE!), a restaurant stimulus and community food program, which has distributed over 17,000 meals since the summer.
EE! is not only feeding the community, it is also benefiting local restaurants. As the regional hub, The Springfield Family Center and Chester Helping Hands collaborate with 11 restaurants to distribute food at 10 different distribution sites in Springfield, Chester, Ludlow, Rockingham, Bellows Falls, Cavendish, and Londonderry.
This unique community food program creates opportunities for hard-working organizations, chefs, and individuals to do meaningful work in their own communities.
“We are really grateful to be a part of this program,” shared Nick Matush, head chef and co-owner of The Copper Fox in Springfield. “In these next few weeks, with tourism especially low, Everyone Eats! will really help keep us afloat. It puts money in our pockets when we’re typically closed and that has been a big help for us.”
What’s On the Menu?
Everyone Eats! is not only meant to support local restaurants but also local farmers. 10% of the food served must be purchased locally, which has connected local farms with local chefs. At the Copper Fox, Everyone Eats! meals are a way to utilize the local ingredients they already purchase.
“The Everyone Eats! menu changes depending on what we have but because our restaurant has a local focus, we are typically above the 10% requirement. We’ve made some vegetarian options like quinoa veggie bowls and rice and beans plus we’ve made beef stew, shepherds pie, BBQ chicken, and more. Any time we serve beef it is from our locally raised, grass-fed cows. We’re proud to be serving our community high-quality food through this program.”
Everyone Eats! Springfield will continue feeding the community, putting local chefs to work, buying from local farmers, and strengthening local networks until the end of December.
Everyone Eats! meals can be picked up at The Springfield Family Center Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday between 11:30 am to 12:30 pm and in the Springfield Plaza on November 18 from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm.
Chester Helping Hands distributes meals, first come, first served on Wednesdays from 3:30 to 5:00 pm in front of Southern Pie Cafe on the Green in Chester. Registration required for delivery.
Want to support the continued efforts of these local organizations?
Follow The Springfield Family Center and Chester Helping Hands to learn about opportunities to donate and volunteer.
Looking for a locally made meal? Check out www.vteveryoneats.org for more information on finding a distribution site near you.
The Community Finds a Way...Supporting Our Community this Thanksgiving
Giving and receiving in our local community has supported and carried us throughout this pandemic. The upcoming holiday season invites us to further this circle of resiliency. While your traditions may look different this year, the community spirit will be present this holiday season!
What will your celebration be on Thanksgiving? In August, it was announced that the longstanding Brattleboro Community Thanksgiving wouldn’t happen this year due to safety concerns around COVID-19. Since 1972, this special dinner served over 500 people at its in-person gathering and made deliveries to numerous homebound residents. The Community Thanksgiving also provided a welcoming and inclusive experience “for the community to feed their stomachs and fill their souls.” This year, arguably more than any other year since 1972, more of us need nourishment for our stomachs and souls, so the community has come together to create an alternative.
Members of the Windham Region Hunger Council met with the Everyone Eats! Brattleboro coalition to come up with a plan. EE!B secured enough funding to provide 1,000 meals for a special holiday distribution. Thanks to additional help from Brattleboro Savings & Loan and donations from local community partners, these meals will be twice the size of a typical EE!B meal and contain a classic Thanksgiving dessert. During these times when gathering to cook an abundant meal might feel overwhelming or not financially feasible, this distribution will help facilitate a memorable and nourishing holiday for everyone in the community.
The special Thanksgiving meal distribution will take place in parallel with the Wednesday, November 25 Everyone Eats! meal distribution from 4 to 6 pm at 80 Flat Street, ensuring that those who need dinner on Wednesday won’t go without. No registration is required; simply stop by in your vehicle or on foot and pick up the number of meals you will need for your family and/or any neighbors who cannot make it.
We are also able to make a very limited number of deliveries for families who have no one to pick up a meal on their behalf. If you need a meal delivered to your home, please visit our order form and request a meal by Friday, November 20th, at the Brattleboro Everyone Eats! website.
If you are unable to access the order form or would like help with the registration process for a meal delivery, you may call 817-888-5125.
While Thanksgiving is centered around food, it is also the start of the holiday spirit of giving and receiving. During this moment in time when community connection is needed more than ever, we offer a menu of options to celebrate and help nourish our community. Everyone has a role to play in that nourishment.
Community Engagement Menu:
Receive a meal Monday through Thursday 4 to 6 pm at Everyone Eats! through December 31, just recently extended.
Donate to Project Feed the Thousands.
Volunteer with one of the many local organizations helping to make our community run during this holiday season and beyond. Use the United Way of Windham County’s Get Connected Volunteer Portal or call 802-257-4011.
Sign up for 3SquaresVT, a monthly benefit that helps you buy food. Text VFBSNAP to 85511 or call 1-855-855-6181 to find out more!
Everyone Eats! Brattleboro (EE!B)
EE!B is a project of Vermont Everyone Eats (VEE), a statewide program funded by the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund and made possible through a grant provided by the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) to Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA). This program purchases to-go meals from local restaurants for anyone in Brattleboro, Guilford, Vernon, Dummerston, or Putney who has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Over 26,000 meals have been distributed since August 3rd; our impact is currently 850 meals per day, 4 days per week. The Brattleboro coalition consists of representatives from the Downtown Brattleboro Alliance, Vermont Foodbank, Foodworks, Food Connects, the Putney Foodshelf, Putney Mutual Aid, and the State of Vermont.
Movie Review: Gather
On a warm evening earlier this fall, several Food Connects employees came together for an outdoor movie night to watch the film Gather as part of the Center for Biological Diversity's Food Justice Film Festival. This inspiring documentary, released in June 2020, follows the personal stories of several Indigenous main characters as they focus on healing themselves and their communities through reconnecting to their Indigenous food traditions.
We were moved and inspired by this film, which tells the honest and painful story of the impact of colonization on Native Americans and also provides inspiration and hope for healing from this generational trauma. If you are looking for ways to reimagine Thanksgiving this year and honor the original people of this land, we recommend that you include a screening of Gather in your holiday plans.
Gather
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 24 minutes. Rent or buy on iTunes or Amazon.
Compost is Brewing at Riverside Middle School
Vermonters welcomed a new Food Scraps Ban on July 1st of this year requiring that all peels, apple cores and plate scraps be composted instead of thrown into the trash.
Led by STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) teacher Becca Osborne, the Riverside Middle School Farm to School team has been planning their compost system since before the pandemic. Despite the challenges of this school year, the Riverside community came together to team up and get composting underway.
Students of the Community Engineering Class, taught by Cliff Weyer, worked diligently to construct these insulated tumblers. The two JORA brand tumblers are insulated with thick foam so that even in a cold Vermont winter, they can maintain the temperatures needed to break down food scraps and brown material.
Throughout the winter, 6th graders in the STEAM class will bring food scraps and wood pellets to compost a few times a week. The two tumblers now live in Greenie’s Garden and will be brewing compost for the spring planting season.