A Higher Education: Learning to Cook

a pot of beans

by Vera Fabian

I recently finished my 2^nd year as a Garden Teacher at The Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, CA.  I was preparing for a big move across country and a big goodbye to hundreds of students I had come to know and love while working alongside them in the garden and the kitchen classroom.  Many of them were preparing themselves for the move to high school and the goodbye to 3 years at King Middle School.  During our last class with the graduating 8^th graders, we asked them to share one thing they had learned in their time at The Edible Schoolyard that they would continue to do in life beyond middle school.

Contrary to what you might expect from typical 13 and 14 year olds, these students replied with astonishing maturity and vision: “I will continue to cook delicious food.”  “I will keep eating fruits and vegetables.” “I will teach my family how to grow real food.” “When I get to college and don’t have much money I will make sushi for myself and my friends.”

Really?  Yes, really.  Here’s a kid, with his voice cracking and his hat on backwards who, in the 8^th grade, is declaring that he will not be like other college students who don’t know how to fend for themselves.  He will make do with what he has and cook up some rice and chop up some vegetables and roll up some sushi. And he says it with confidence and pride as if he knows what a valuable skill he has under his belt.  He knows that he will not only be able to feed himself on a budget, but he will be the cool kid who can make sushi.  He will feed people and those people will then be his friends.

Right here we have proof that every child in this country should have a chance to learn how to grow, cook, and share real food together around a table.  An Edible Education like this teaches the next generation to make the critical connection between the food they eat and the health of themselves, their community, and the land.  Being healthy suddenly becomes something fun and cool, something you want to share with your family and friends.

But what about all of us who weren’t so lucky to receive an Edible Education?  Those of us who belong to the generation that is supposed to make it through college on late night bowls of cereal or freshly microwaved Cup O’Noodles.   While we spend four years and thousands of dollars enriching our minds, we all too often forget to nourish our bodies.  You walk the halls of American dormitories, and I’m certain you’ll find plenty of televisions blaring with the glint and gleam of The Food Network and plenty of students discussing what they’d like to eat for dinner, but few who will brave the shared kitchen to cook.

This is no big surprise.  There are papers to write, classes to attend, and parties to throw.  You’re tired and overbooked and so are all your friends.  And maybe, you never really learned how to cook.  Regardless, there’s just no time for it.

a simple but percect meal, loved by me and my students

Here, on campuses around America, we must begin to make the time for learning the everyday life lessons of the kitchen.  There is time for cooking when it is recognized as a common-sense course in economics, geography, ethics, and sociology.  There is time for cooking when it forces you to get up from the laptop and use your hands and stretch your ability to create.  And there is time for cooking when it brings old friends together and sparks new friendships.

Children make excellent students of Edible Education because they are hungry and courageous and willing to admit ignorance.  When let loose in the kitchen, they readily own up to not knowing how to do something and bravely get busy figuring out how to do it.  They happily teach others what they have learned because they know that shared work is light work and in no time, there will be delicious food on the table to eat.

College students should likewise make excellent students in the kitchen because there is no one hungrier.  Nothing burns calories like hours studying in the library.  But our challenge is to be both brave and humble.  We cannot be intimidated by the televised food world of fancy ingredients, expensive gadgets, and glossy presentation.  Nor can we be unwilling to recognize that we have all grown up without a basic understanding of what it means to really cook. Instead we must empower eachother in our edible education.  Ask questions and offer advice. Tell your best tricks and confess your most ridiculous mistakes.  And in the end, confidently share the fruits of your labor amongst friends.  Take comfort in knowing they’re hungry. So take up your spoon, turn up the flame, and by the time you graduate, you’ll have yourself some good friends and a solid education.

The Gill Tract – Urban farm sanctuary, or just another lot slated for development?

by Anya Kamenskaya

It is undeniable that in the last year or so, the media’s discourse surrounding Food has escalated into one that titillates, frustrates, and invigorates people of many professions and inclinations. The very word has taken on many meanings and subtexts: everything from farmworker’s rights to international trade relations to the growing population of young farmers. Popular newspapers and magazines have circulated the words “locavore,” “sustainable,” and “green” to the point where you can’t read a foodsystems-related article without tripping over one of them. Movies with budgets large (Food Inc) and smaller (King Corn) are ostensibly opening more and more American eyes to the devastation that the current industrial food system wreaks on our children, our soils, and our minds.

Of course, I do not presume that this wave of awareness and interest has reached its climax, or that every American has the opportunity to choose between factory-raised or pastured pork. Indeed, those who labor for food justice have a long way yet to go. However, there are institutions that are increasingly opening their dialogue (and sometimes even infrastructures and budgets) to include food. And thanks to students nationwide (like many of those who write for this blog), universities are on the forefront of creating equitable food policy, research, and participation.

During my four years at UC Berkeley, countless food-focused student groups have emerged or have seen rapid growth in membership: The Sustainability Team, the Student Organic Gardening Association, the Society for Agriculture and Food Ecology, Cal Cooking Club, Sprouts, OBUGS, and just within the last year, the Cal Victory Garden and the Berkeley Student Food Collective. Many of these organizations have made lasting partnerships with staff and faculty, worked to source local produce in our dining halls, and have received grants that allow them to occupy permanent spaces on campus. Still, there is a crucial piece missing in the foundation that we have been building; a space where the energy and innovation we have put into on-campus ethical and sustainable food availability can intersect with the needs of the greater Bay Area community. In order words, what we need is a university-run urban farm. And the crucial link is already there. We already have the land and the tools in place to make it a reality.

The land I refer to is the Gill Tract, located on San Pablo and Marin, at the intersection of Berkeley, Albany, and the Marina. Purchased in 1928 from the Gill Family, this 104-acre plot of land has gone through several uses, and has seen considerable downsizing since its purchase. Before its acquisition by the university, the land was part of a massive nursery run by renowned horticulturalist Edward Gill. During the course of the next 65 years, the land was split up, with some plots sold, and others developed by the University to accommodate housing needs. Currently there are 14 remaining acres, 9.7 of which are arable land. Alarmingly, these acres are under threat of development: valuable infrastructure such as green houses are all but destroyed,  and plans for a new structures such as a Whole Foods are in the pipes.

courtesy Berkeley Daily Planet

To date, one of the most well known occupants of the space was the UC Division/International Center of Biological Control, which operated between 1945 and 1996. During this time the land was used to develop ecological pest control methods, with both local and international academics running experiments. The last 20 years of research also resulted in the land being cultivated using organic methods. Sadly, in 1996 funding for Biological Control was cut, and most of the experiments were moved to the Oxford Tract, closer to the university. At present, UCB professor Miguel Altieri conducts agroecological research on about a third of the land. He is the last standing testament to the ecological legacy of the Gill Tract.

courtesy orphanjones

Although we lost a valuable resource when the Center was closed, there is still opportunity to reinvent the Gill Tract into an interdisciplinary research facility that benefits the University, the students, and the public. Many schools nationwide have farm programs, such as UC Santa Cruz,  Dartmouth and Cornell. Berkeley could not only bolster their research, but also stand out as the only University to conduct agricultural research in an urban setting.

Given that the Bay Area is home to countless urban farms – City Slickers, People’s Grocery, Sunnyside Organic, just to name a few – and backyard gardeners, thousands of people stand to benefit from local urban agriculture research. In addition, students in the departments of Natural Resources, Geography, Biology, City and Regional Planning, and the many student groups on campus would have a conveniently-located experiential learning facility. The campus dining commons, which are already taking steps to source local and organic food, could have an extremely local source of fresh vegetables. Finally, the many middle schools in the Albany, Berkeley, and Oakland Unified School Districts would have a place where they could experience a larger, integrated version of their own school gardens. In short, there are many opportunities that the Gill Tract can afford us. If we are to join the rising tide of foodsystems awareness, we cannot afford to let them slip away.

My colleague Justin Wiley and I started working on reviving the Gill Tract movement last year during an Environmental Education class. Although we have since graduated, we are still committed to seeing this land become a productive part of the community. We are now in the second year of rallying community groups such as the Albany Teen center and Architects, Designers, and Planners for Social Responsibility around the resurrection of the Gill Tract as a research and teaching facility. We are currently focusing on a nascent urban farm-to-school program with participants from the Albany teen center. This fall we are planting an organic fall garden with the students, exploring relationships with university professors, staff, and student groups, and raising money and awareness of the project. In the spring we hope to increase class size and cement partnerships with more local non-profits such as Food First, California Food and Justice Coalition, and People’s Grocery.

We are encouraged by the steps that UC Berkeley has already taken to support local, sustainable agriculture. Our wish is that our school will support a long-term vision that can only bring much-needed resources to the Bay Area, and that will increase our public wealth of knowledge.

If you are interested in learning more about our project, or want to get involved, please email us at: gilltract@gmail.com

Website coming soon; meanwhile check out our Facebook page. These old links to past projects at the Gill Tract are also informative: Village Creek Farm and Garden, Bay Area Coalition for Urban Agriculture

Doom is Done

“The shorthand ‘ag’ is taking over the agricultural lexicon. The press and the experts love to write and talk about ‘ag industries’, ‘ag products’, ‘ag exports’, ‘ag markets’, ‘ag statistics’ ‘ag engineers’, ‘ag equipment’, or to use parallel locutions like ‘agribusiness’, ‘agri-economics’, and Conagra, the name of an ‘ag’ corporate giant. Lasley’s point is that this shortening of the word is an unfortunately apt reflection of the state of agricultural affairs. The culture part of agriculture is going, going, and, say many, perhaps soon gone entirely.

Perhaps we should see these changes as just that: changes, not losses. Perhaps it is just romanticism to see them otherwise, for it is just as cultural to enjoy the Big Machine way of agriculture as it is to enjoy styles of farming that bring the farmer close to ‘nature’. There is a culture of machinery too. Perhaps we are just seeing a new rural culture developing, and there is no ground independent of culture from which to weigh one against the other.”
-Michael Mayerfeld Bell from Farming for Us All

Yesterday night I went to talk to a group of students about a gleaning organization that I’m working with to see if they were interested in participating. I was there to represent, and hopefully recruit, student interested in changing the food system for the better. Our group has taken it upon ourselves to positively affect our food system. Doing this requires an understanding of the shortcomings of our food system, as well as visionary solutions. Most importantly, it requires action. I was going to make my announcement after the meal. While standing in line for dinner I met a professor who had also been invited to speak. She asked me what I had come to speak about.

“I work with an organization where we go harvest excess fruits and vegetables from peoples’ yards and give it to food banks and local shelters”, I said.

From there we conversed about agriculture, ethical eating, farmworkers, ecological degradation, human rights abuses and various other parts and consequences of the food system. She was upset about the state of things.

“It’s just awful what we are doing, and you know I just don’t think we can solve it. At least not until people start dying from the water and the air and all the pesticides we put out there. It’s terrible! I’m actually glad that I’ll be dying soon but your generation is going to have to deal with it all! And my generation has really left you a bad deal. Oh it’s just terrible!”

I don’t necessarily disagree with her but my response was horribly inappropriate I’m sure; I couldn’t help it but I laughed.

“Isn’t it awful?” she said.

“Ummmm, yeah,” I said smiling.

Then dinner activities whisked us away from each other.

This apocalyptic prophesying is somewhat common within the green movement. There are different versions, like the tag-on of a weak quote of hope following the dire predictions. Or, as this woman illustrated the highlighting of the generational difference of who caused it and who has to fix it.

Either way, I’m sort of over it.

Framing our world as some huge intractable state of gloom and doom is not useful for me right now. There are sad things and bad things in the world, I’m well aware. People already are dying from the water, the air, and the pesticides but translating that awareness into debilitating fear runs the great risk of informing people that there is no reason to get off their ass.

I spoke to the group about the gleaning organization. I told them about the fruit trees dripping with food that literally falls on the ground to rot in the backyards of our well-off residents while other residents are hungry in an economic collapse.

“Our goal is to connect excess with scarcity” I said. “This work is good work for those reasons… and it’s also fun. You go out, you sit in trees, you eat fruit, you hang out with other people. For extra fruit that has holes or if there is too much to donate we have started processing it so we can cook together and you can learn about canning and baking and eating well”.

Messages of utter despair are not motivating for me. Let me be clear, that at one time they were somewhat helpful. Though I still credit a couple farmers, some deep soil and a cherry orchard with what has become my life today, expanding my knowledge about the atrocities of the world has been critically important in guiding my activities and prioritizing where I want to spend my political energy. However, a life spent dwelling in the realization that the world is unfair and is going to end because of human greed and ignorance ignores the small wonders and miracles of being alive at all.

For some there is the option of shrinking from the truths of human suffering and environmental degradation to live in a plush and privileged world dependent on the processes that create suffering and degradation but this does not feel right either. I do not believe in insulating myself from the world at hand so that I don’t have to deal with the problems that the professor alluded to.

For this moment, instead, I want to focus on culture creation. We are embedded in our social world that has built the structures and systems we supposedly abhor. If we want to change those structures and systems we will have to simultaneously create new culture; think Mahatma Gandhi’s quote “Be the change you wish to see in the world”.

Doom and gloom contributes to an apathy where older folks can tiredly gesture at our generation and say, “It’s up to you now” and our generation can find enthusiasm in a host of televised vices since genuine excitement is lacking in the front lines of doom-fighting. Just because someone gets senior discounts doesn’t mean they get a free pass for complacency in the creation of a new culture. Since culture creation necessitates fun, the same impulse to party that gets a couch potato up, might be used for food-centric work like gleaning and gardening. I don’t want a thumbs up for the tomato soup I canned from gleaned tomatoes, I want you to come can it with me and then let’s go drink a beer and dance.

I think getting off one’s own ass and just doing what feels good is vitally important. Bliss out and help others do the same. And not just other people like you. By not focusing on fighting there becomes a lot less enemies and the “food movement” no longer has to be some insular community separate (and dare I say better?) from the rest. We’re not better because we eat organic food and our separateness is at best mildly exclusionary and at worst condescending.

Instigate pleasure and invite people who are not like you to participate. Go have ice cream with a conservative if you’re liberal. Go garden with someone who has a different native language. Invite macho boys to a drag party and feed them home made food. Don’t be afraid to disagree, just make sure to keep communicating. And RSVP to the invitations of others. Eat pizza and fried food in exchange for friendship and trust.

Expect the end of the world. Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts
-Wendell Berry

Bon Appétit Management Company Supports Student Gardens

By Nina Merrill

This summer, I had the privilege of interning at Bon Appétit Management Company, a sustainable food service company that I’m sure many of you have heard about because of its innovative programs and sustainable purchasing policies. On the first day of my internship, I went out to lunch with Katherine Kwon, Bon Appétit’s Communications Project Manager to discuss the projects I would be taking on over the summer. While we were chowing down on salads at a local restaurant in Palo Alto, CA, she explained a recent trend Bon Appétit has been seeing a lot of: students approach their food service provider wanting advice about how to start student-run farms and gardens. With the understanding that Bon Appétit buys a significant percentage of its produce from local and organic producers due to its company-wide Farm to Fork initiative, many of these students contact Bon Appétit with the hopes that it will purchase some or all of the produce grown on their student garden plots. In the past few years, Bon Appétit has developed absolutely incredible (and very unique) relationships with many student gardens, prompting Katherine and Maisie, Bon Appétit’s Vice President, to give me the opportunity to write a guide for student gardeners. This guide was released last week, in conjunction with Bon Appétit’s Eat Local Challenge. I think it is a resource that many of you will be interested in, and so I thought I’d take this opportunity to give a brief overview of its contents.

This guide focuses primarily on how students can develop a successful relationship between their school’s food service company and their student garden. It offers suggestions and stories from student gardeners and Bon Appétit staff and is broken up chronologically into five sections: Plan It; Grow It; Promote It; Bond Over It; and Improve It. Bon Appétit hopes that students will be able to pick up this guide at whatever stage of the garden game they may be in, and feel support in growing a portion of the organic food eaten on their campus with their own two hands.

According to recent statistics, only 8% of today’s farmers are under the age of 35 and only 1% of the US population is involved in agriculture. Through learning to sustainably cultivate even a half an acre, students are showing the world that they choose to take on the challenge of becoming part of the next generation of sustainable agrarians. The fact that students actually want to grow their own food is something that should be supported with every available resource; I hope this guide provides the first official step in that direction! I’m so anxious to hear what you all think of this guide and to hear what is happening on your campus in terms of student farms and gardens. Let’s hear it!

School Food Project

By Nicole Wires

Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) is in the process of becoming the second school district in the nation to fully revamp its school food program. No longer will the food served in Boulder Valley school cafeterias acquire intimidating nicknames like “Mystery Meatloaf.” The mission of the new School Food Project, where I interned this summer, is to source all food locally and regionally when possible, and to prepare all food fresh every day. In the long term, Boulder Valley schools hope to build school gardens and incorporate garden curriculum into science and health classes. This exciting new episode in food system reform attempts to address many problems in our current food system at their roots: by teaching young kids healthy behaviors and giving them reasons to care about the provenance and biography of their foods, BVSD hopes to grow a generation of conscientious eaters.

Food system reform that begins in school cafeterias exists at the intersection of a growing number of interrelated problems and, if successful, has the potential to kill many metaphorical birds with one stone. Healthful food in school cafeterias might just be the long-sought response to growing obesity and diabetes epidemics. School districts represent vast purchasing power, enough to keep struggling sustainable farmers afloat and to support local economies, simultaneously minimizing the environmental degradation resulting from industrial agriculture. And school food reform might be an answer to the contemporary criticism of the “sustainable food movement”: that it is elitist and out of reach for low-income consumers. The school cafeteria can function as a great equalizer: with federal support for the Free and Reduced School Meal Program, low-income students receive federal subsidies to buy cafeteria meals, making healthy, environmentally sustainable food within reach of all students in the school system.

But the transition to a new school food system, as I learned at BVSD this summer, is not so easy. Cafeteria assistants need to be re-trained to cook and not just reheat school lunches. School kitchens, most of which have no production capacity, need to be remodeled. Sanitation standards are strict (for good reason) making this restructuring even more challenging. But the biggest problem is that the system must pay for itself. Boulder Valley hopes to absorb some of the increased costs with increased sales and economies of scale—with good, healthful food served in school cafeterias the program administrators anticipate that more parents will opt in to the school cafeteria program as opposed to preparing their own lunches for their children.

But the biggest compromise the program has to make in order to balance the budget is to accept some USDA commodity foods. “Commodity”, as it is called, is excess food the USDA purchases from farmers as a form of support. In a convenient transaction for the government, Commodity is purchased from the farmers and delivered to public schools at no expense to the school. Sounds great, except that most of the food is highly processed, transported thousands of miles, and sacrifices nutritional value for a large environmental footprint. In order to incorporate the expense of more healthy, seasonal and local produce, BVSD often fills in its menus with Commodity foods at the “center of the plate”: the ground beef in the tacos, the pepperonis on the pizza, the turkey in the deli sandwiches. This unfortunate but necessary trade off limits the success of the School Food Project in implementing its goals and accomplishing its mission.

It is easy to argue that BVSD school meals are healthier and more environmentally sound under the new School Food Project scheme, but when the USDA Commodity program makes public schools the garbage disposal of an unsustainable federal subsidy program for unsustainable farmers, the hopeful silver bullet of school food reform is derailed, and public school students take the brunt of the loss.

Running to be Sustainable

The list of things I do everyday to lead a more sustainable life is long one and what most of the conscience world does: I shop at the local farmer’s market, I compost and recycle, I take public transportation to and from work, I have the reusable shopping bags, coffee mug and lunch containers, I even have special bags that decompose faster for pooch poop clean up; however, I am an addicted and loyal runner who drives to practice everyday, where I use a reusable water bottle, as well as to races, where I throw my paper water cup on the ground (don’t worry they get cleaned up after).

Post college I wanted to continue with competitive running so I joined a club- I had coaches and regular practice- what I needed to do though was drive to get to practice, 13 gallons of gas a week worth of driving. One morning on the way to my run I realized the irony- one reason why I started running was because of the low carbon footprint of the sport: pull on shoes and run out your door.

‘Runner’s World’ ran a special issue in November 2008 about green running, they detailed a shoes journey from factory to foot, green running technical gear, green races and how to green your running routine. I read it with moderate interest but to be honest I wrote it off as preaching to the choir, and while some people are snobby about imported food and wine, I am snobby about my running gear- why am I willing to make so many compromises in all other aspects of my life, except for my running?

Organic coffee is hot on college campuses

I just received the following press release and thought you would all be thrilled to hear that organic coffee use on campus is continuing to gain momentum…Comments?

GREENFIELD, Mass. Whether a result of bottom-up pressure from students or top-down decision-making from proactive faculty and food service administrators, organic coffee is more available than ever on college campuses these days, according to the Organic Coffee Collaboration, a project of the Organic Trade Association (OTA) (www.ota.com/organic_and_you/coffee_collaboration.html).

For example, Caffe Ibis (Logan, UT) has seen sales of its triple-certified (organic, Fair Trade Certified™, and Bird Friendly®) coffees increase dramatically over last year at the University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT), and Utah State University (Logan, UT), the result of both expanded availability and, in the case of the University of Utah, benefactors, faculty and students alike urging the food service to “green” its offerings.

Equator Estate Coffees & Teas (San Rafael, CA) has provided organic coffees to the City College of San Francisco since 2007 and is expanding into college food services nationwide by providing organic coffee to Feel Good World (www.FeelGoodWorld.org), a student-run social venture to raise money and consciousness about world hunger and sustainability at campuses across the country. Working hand-in-hand with the organization, Equator is developing a coffee service program at ten college locations, including the University of California-Berkeley, Columbia University (New York City, NY), and the University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ).

Selling its Fair Trade organic coffee to over 175 colleges and universities nationwide, Green Mountain Coffee (Waterbury, VT) has seen these sales triple over the past two years. Key locations include Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT), Indiana University (Bloomington, IN), the University of Massachusetts (Boston, MA), and, of course, the University of Vermont (Burlington, VT).

Through several brand initiatives, S&D Coffee (Concord, NC) currently supplies organic, Fair Trade, and Rain Forest Alliance certified coffees to over 400 colleges and universities.

Decaffeinated coffee is also popular among college students and administrators who enjoy a good cup of coffee but need to reduce their caffeine intake. Much of the decaf on campus has been decaffeinated using Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company’s (Vancouver, Canada) process, as it uses only water to extract caffeine from the coffee beans. A new company using carbon dioxide (CO2) for the decaffeination process, Maximus Coffee Group (Houston, TX), just got certified to the federal organic standards, and its products will hit the college market soon.

“The switch to organic coffee on campus is happening despite the current state of the economy,” said Christine Bushway, OTA Executive Director.

The North American organic coffee market reached 1.3 billion dollars in 2008, according to Daniele Giovannucci, author of the recent North American Organic Coffee Industry Survey: 2009. The amount of organic coffee imported into the United States and Canada increased 12 percent during 2008, rising from approximately 81 million pounds to approximately 89 million pounds with most of the sales taking place in the United States. The 29 percent annual average growth rate for the organic category documented by Giovannucci between 2000 and 2008 dwarfs the estimated 1.5 percent projected annual growth rate of the conventional coffee industry. The survey is available from the Organic Trade Association.

Organic coffee is grown using methods and materials that have a low impact on the environment. Organic production systems replenish and maintain soil fertility, avoid the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers, and build biologically diverse agriculture. Third-party certification organizations verify that organic farmers use only methods and materials allowed in organic production.

Other roasters in the Collaboration include Chiapas Farms, Crimson Cup, and True Origin Organics.

Creating an Edible Landscape

By Kate Turcotte

For this next blog post, I wanted to go back to the basics. There are so many themes to discuss when it comes to creating a more sustainability food system on our college campuses, but lately I have been thinking about the typical college landscape and how that fits into what we are doing in this “delicious food revolution”. The title of this blog makes me think of the green space on our college campuses, the perfectly groomed lawns, the hedges that are trimmed to spell the initials of the university, and horticultural plants to create a picturesque landscape. We can all remember college visits in order to assess many different parts of the campus, one of which includes the overall appearance. While most students probably do not make their higher education decision merely based on the look of the university, it could be the tipping point to attend on school instead of a similar one.

So why do we need lawns on our college campus? Back in the day the rich and royalty maintained groomed lawns to show everyone that they did not need to use their land to graze animals or cultivate crops, and it was a sign of privilege and power. The lawn today, while is much more common, is a still a symbol of the middle to upper class in America and other parts of the world. We buy powerful lawn mowers, maintain a golf course grass length, and purchase fertilizers, weed control, and other implements to uphold society’s expectation of our green space. There is a lot of time, energy (human and oil), and money put into maintaining the greens on our college campuses, which is something to think about when we are low on just about all three of those inputs.

I connect this back to the food movement because most of us look past the borders of our campuses to supply the real food in our dining halls. Some land grant and other colleges have the opportunity to grow food on student run and educational farms, but the majority of students do not see active agriculture in their surrounding landscape. Think for a minute what it would be like to have fruit, berry, and nut trees planted all over campus, to have mobile chicken coops and small ruminants grazing on the green, and a collection of garden plots dedicated to growing food for the dining halls. Our universities have three rich resources to create an agricultural revolution, which are open land, the educational environment, and many willing and able workers. I see this underutilized land as an opportunity for higher education to decrease our carbon footprint, provide students on-campus education and service, and to eat organic food in our dining halls.

Transitioning land include agriculture use is not an easy task anywhere, but especially on a college campus. There is a history that goes with the architecture, layout, and horticulture of each individual college, and it would take a lot to change the space that has been maintained the same way for many years. The administration and friends would be concerned about the appearance of a proposed edible landscape, especially if the students tend to leave during the summer months and the height of the growing season. There is usually not a large budget for this kind of undertaking, especially with the recession and budget cuts. Last of all, the natural four year cycle of students creates a sense of inconsistency that is difficult to overcome without staff and faculty support. From my own experience this is also the reason why we do not see a lot of garden plots of campuses, because these projects take time and students do not have a lot of that.

While it is easy to get discouraged, I have to remember that one of the most high profiled and important yards in our country was converted into a garden… the White House lawn! By growing their own food and concerting grass into healthy vegetables, the Obamas have sent a message to this country that understanding where your food comes from and how it is grown is so important that even the President of the United States has to do it. Take a minute and check out the Eat the View (http://www.eattheview.org) website for videos on the history of the White House and agriculture, an interview with Michelle Obama, and one Americans own experience with urban agriculture, and so much more. Also, did you hear about the race for the White House farmer? If not, check this out (http://whitehousefarmer.com/). Also read chapter two again of The Omnivores Dilemma, it will remind you why we have grass and how we can be better “sun farmers”.

I hope you all are enjoying the fall harvest and first few weeks of classes. While you are picking apples or figuring out which classes to take, take some time to look around your campus through an agricultural lens. Do a little research about what it would take to start a compost pile on campus or to keep a flock of chickens. If you are even more ambitious, think about starting a national campaign to convert the energy intensive lawns into food producing and agricultural education centers in universities all across the country. Think about it, we could eat organic on the green, literally.

“The Delicious Revolution”

It is the height of the growing season: tomatoes are finally red, cucumber vines attach to all their surroundings, and summer squash decide to take over the world.   Just as the garden is at the peak of  its bounty, with more to promise in the wings (winter squash, dry beans, and ground cherries, oh my!), the sustainable foods movement is also promising to conquer the world.   In the Twin Cities, where I currently live, there are ten farmers markets and dozens of CSAs. We are also a hotbed of community gardens and a believer in the co-op model.   And every time I mention my school’s community garden MULCH, I have another friend exclaim, “Oh, I want to help!”

Even though I recognize that being in a liberal region of the Midwest (and before that claiming my roots in New York), I probably live in a surreal world; many people make their own jams and everyone enjoys a good potluck.    But I can see in the years that I have dedicated to my love of yummy, sustainable food, more people are joining me in my endeavors.

One network that I particularly love is the Real Food Challenge. A network, campaign, and a movement in and of itself, the Real Food Challenge is way for students to tackle something that matters- Real Food. We define Real food as an all encompassing term that can be considered a number of things; local, organic, fair trade, i.e. food that is more sustainable and just for all those involved at every stage of production.  Our goal is shift 20% of college and university food budgets toward purchasing real food by the year 2020. While only 20% might seem like insignificant, when put into dollars ($4 billion) this is HUGE.   Imagine a dining hall where you could eat identifiable produce and local dairy. Perhaps I am bias because I just signed on as the Midwest Regional Field Organizer, but the Real Food Challenge is already doing great things, and there is potential for more.

We are not solving all the world’s problems. We are simply making our corner of the world more delicious, especially the school cafeterias.

check it out: realfoodchallenge.org and my blog : intoblossom.blogspot.com

Vegan Dinners at UCM

It’s Tuesday night and time for dinner. What are my options? Let’s see…..I could go to Nelson dining hall, but since the only recognizable food is on the salad bar, I think I’ll decline. I could dash over to the Grab n’ Go and snatch a greasy pizza that I will finish in four bites within the solitude of my room, or I can walk up town to UCM (University Campus Ministry) and get an all you can eat buffet of food my hands helped make. I will consume food that didn’t harm another creature, and I will eat with the most munificent community of people I’ve ever met. When I can buy all that food and love for three dollars, it’s without a doubt the best deal in town.

Every Tuesday a group of about 50 people (mostly students) get together and cook a vegan dinner at UCM. Cooking starts around seven p.m. where everyone lends a helping hand making salad, drinks, dressing, dessert, and anything else we are going to eat that night. For me cooking is the best part because it gives me a chance to slow down from the stress of classes and life and talk with some open-minded people. The first time I showed up with my friend Morgan, we were a little nervous because everyone was busy working and we didn’t want to interrupt. Soon after entering Boaz Ramos, the head chef, greeted and welcomed us to help out. We went over to a table and started cutting carrots. Everyone at the table introduced themselves and struck up conversation with us like we’d just returned from the other room. The rest is a rich and smile inducing history, but I’ve been coming ever since and look forward to it every week.

“The meals are vegan so that everyone can eat,” says Boaz. Whenever I tell my friends I’m going to vegan dinner they raise an eyebrow or make a joke about eating meat, but if you ask around at dinner a lot of the people will tell you that they aren’t even vegetarian. My roommate was once such skeptic until I dragged him to one of the lunches. To his surprise the food was good. I try and bring back a little bit of food every time I go, to show my skeptical friends it isn’t all plants. In the months that I’ve been attending vegan cooking I’ve had cinnamon rolls, donuts, brownies, smoothies, and more.

It’s not just the food people come for either. Most everyone comes for the community. When asked what he loves most about vegan dinner, Eddie Barnes, a sophomore at OU said, “That’s a hard question. I love everything! The people are great and the food is always dank (spectacular).” Kait Leugers said she loves “the awesome food and awesome people.” As I asked for opinions, I thought I’d be getting different answers in this diverse group, but everyone I asked mentioned their love for the great community above everything else.

Vegan cooking workshop is hosted by Conscious Ohio, an organization of students, professors, and community members trying to serve others in the most effective way possible. In the fall and early winter a lot of the food comes from local farmers around Athens. They also order bulk from Frankferd Farms in Pennsylvania. Food also makes its way to us from the Kroger nearby, the Farmacy (a health food store) around the corner, a Co-op in Columbus, and an international market in town. About $200-300 dollars are spent on every meal.

At Vegan Cooking Workshop, the focus isn’t about promoting veganism or animal rights, like it may sound, but it’s about fostering a great community. Everyone learns a little bit about how to prepare some simple meals, cultivates consciousness about food, and nourishes a communion of positive spirits. Currently there is a Real Food Challenge arising at Ohio University through Vegan Cooking Workshop. Food is about relationships, whether it be between the soils and the plants, the plants and the farmers, the farmers and the people, or the people who share the food. We only need to better these relationships to heal ourselves and this planet.