A New Start

This morning I spent a good chunk of time driving around on a bumpy gravel road in outer Portland trying to find the Errol Heights Community Garden. When I finally stumbled upon it, I filled the trunk of my car with forty-seven pounds of fading collard greens, tomatoes from every stage of life and several monster zucchinis. I can’t help but laugh about the fact that although I no longer serve with FoodCorps, my new job description remains surprisingly similar.

Last week, I started my new job as a Food Pantry Assistant Coordinator for Metropolitan Family Service and the Portland SUN program (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods). I am now responsible for coordinating three food pantries based at SUN schools and the weekly distribution of food to families in need. Because I am still trying to figure out how to best protect the privacy of our clients in this blog, for now I am going t refrain from naming what schools I work at. I will say that they are two elementary schools and one high school all located on the east side of the river.

My day starts at MFS, where I pick up the van and head to the Oregon Food Bank with one other MFS employee where an order has been placed for the school that has a distribution that afternoon. At very low cost, the SUN program buys canned and non-perishable foods, frozen meats, and eggs from the Food Bank for each of its sites. Then we “shop the dock,” which entails looking through the perishable foods that have been donated and selecting what we believe our clientele needs or would enjoy. Last week it included green tomatoes, sweet potatoes, pre-packaged salads, carrots and blue berries. Scrounging in the refrigerator also produced a variety of yogurts. As we select food, we check the expiration date. For dairy, it’s considered safe if we distribute it within five days of the expiration date; for canned food it’s five years. One the van is loaded, we head to the school site. This trip may also include a stop at a community garden or private residence to pick up a donation of produce (which right now are almost entirely made up of enormous zucchini and green tomatoes.)

Each one of my schools distributes on a different day, so the afternoon is spent unloading the van and organizing the food for distribution. Because of space and funding limitations, all of my schools are unable to store food in the same space that it will be distributed, so volunteers assist in sorting and carrying food out to the tables where families will get to browse the selection.

Two of my food pantries are open to the community and one is technically open only to the families of students, although no one is ever turned away. Families converge as much as an hour before the pantry opens, to get in line or to collect their shopping number to determine the order of go. Volunteers, called “shopping assistants,” guide our clients down the tables and help carry bags, select produce and keep things moving. Volunteers may be community members who, by volunteering, get to shop first, students, or members of a church group.  

Each one of my schools serves thirty to forty families, and it is my job to make sure that everyone leaves with an equivalent amount of food. This involves keeping careful track of how much food we have, how many families have turned up, what they’re taking, and being ready to make substitutions. True to my FoodCorps roots; I spend a great deal of time trying to get families to try foods they may not be familiar with, such as kohlrabi or lentils. The extra challenge is that I often have to do all of this in Spanish. Culture plays a role in the foods we seek out- I know that one of my sites serves mainly Hispanic families, who are more likely to want lots of peppers and beans. Another site has a large Asian population, who knows what to do with bok choy and doesn’t want peanut butter.

Each one of my sites is lucky enough to have an AmeriCorps volunteer, who does much of the necessary paperwork and is my main recruiter and organizer of volunteers. I have been enjoying getting to know them, and was thrilled to crash the MFS AmeriCorps orientation last week and meet the approximately 15 service members scattered at schools around the city.

Because this is a part-time job (incredibly enough), I have also secured a job teaching weekly cooking and gardening classes to middle school students at another SUN school. I have yet to get started- I won’t have a curriculum or students for some time, but I am incredibly excited to continue working with kids.

I am not sure how this blog is going to evolve to follow my new path working on urban food access, but I do promise to continue sharing my thoughts and experiences as I learn.

Harvest Time

Every morning when I first arrive at the garden, I walk down the rows to see what has changed from the day before. A tomato cage may have collapsed under the weight of the ripening fruits that adorn it. A dark green zucchini has grown grotesque by doubling in size overnight. Delicately purple potato blossoms keep bees and pollinators hovering over the garden. Tendrils from the pumpkin patch have crept across the pathway and threaten to take over the neighboring beds. During the many hours I’ve spent here, I’ve observed the little quirks and habits that make this garden, and this community, special,

 Just like in an Indiana Jones movie, I’ve learned where to dodge a mud puddle, skip over the prickly leaves of a squash plant, and take shelter on a hot day next to the bed of herbs where the smell of dill makes the heat a little more tolerable. I’ve seen the excitement of summer-school students when I bring broccoli for their snack and noticed how the town goes quiet when I wander the streets to find someone to relieve me of an armful of zucchini.

           Over the past year I’ve gotten to know the town of North Powder pretty well, and what I’ve gained from this community is as ample a harvest as the one I’ve gathered from the school garden. The enthusiasm and passion that North Powder School met me with a year ago have made the past twelve months as their FoodCorps Service Member an incredible adventure. Serving with FoodCorps is as much about working with people as it is with food, and here I have had the opportunity to collaborate with the broadest spectrum of people I could have imagined. I’ve learned something from every person that I’ve worked with, and I do not have adequate words for expressing my gratitude to the people who have helped me develop my skills and pilot this new adventure successfully.

 

In what I believed was going to be an isolated and lonely town, I found a community that has whole-heartedly embraced me. Although it is true that this part of the state has limited access to the resources available in the Willamette Valley and that can be frustrating, there is just as much enthusiasm, excitement and willingness to learn about food. I've attended weekly dinner parties where I learned to cook Lebanese and Greek foods, parents proudly and randomly tell me what they cooked, and what their child ate, for dinner the night before, and I've had discussions in the classroom and in late-night bars about the details of raising chickens. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from my service is that every community chooses its own pace and direction when it comes to food, and it has been a delight for me to follow along as North Powder School helps define this path for the region.

 

This week concludes my two years of serving with FoodCorps. When I first started my career with food in Montana I did not anticipate how much I would learn, the skills I would gain and the friends I would make. I am saddened to think about no longer being an active member of the FoodCorps family, but I know that the connections I’ve made will endure and support me as I continue along this career path. This week when I pack up my car, I will be heading back to Portland to be closer to my family and to look for a job addressing sustainable agriculture and food justice.

The FoodCorps family

In late August, North Powder will welcome their new FoodCorps Service member, and I hope that the garden and the Farm to School Program continue to flourish as she contributes her own skills and strengths. I wish all the friends that I have made in Montana, eastern Oregon and in FoodCorps across the country all the best as you continue to change the world, one lentil burger at a time, and I look forward to watching the world harvest what we have sown.

Hopefully you are not like me and don’t have dozens of zucchini plants growing in your garden, but in case you suffer from an excess of squash here is one of the recipes I’ve employed recently with delightful results.

Zucchini Pancakes

1 lb zucchini (approximately 2 medium sized)

1 tsp salt

2 green onions, thinly sliced

1 egg

¼ tsp black pepper, more to taste

½ cup flour

½ tsp baking powder

Olive oil, for frying

Grate the zucchini, toss with salt and set aside for 10 minutes. Drain zucchini by wringing it out in cheesecloth or pressing against the edge of a colander. Mix in green onions, egg and black pepper.

In separate bowl mix flour and baking powder, and then add to wet mixture. 

In a cast-iron skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat and drop batter into pancakes, and flatten with spoon or spatula until about ½ inch thick. These will take longer to cook than regular pancakes. Flip when the bottom turns golden-brown, after about 4 minutes.

Topping:

1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt

1-2 Tbs lemon juice

1 minced clove of garlic

Mix ingredients together and serve a dollop on each pancake. The pancakes were good before, but the topping definitely kept me eating more!

The Elkhorn Mountains

Summer Gardening and flash mobs

It is hard to believe that the school year is over! I had thought that summer would finally allow me some free time for relaxation, but of course with the late arrival of eastern Oregon’s growing season, it is all I can do to keep up with the garden. Rows of cabbage and broccoli expand outward, potatoes leaves creep up through the mulch, and squash plants emerge from the edge of every garden bed, pathway and unused corner. Weeds spring up everywhere. During free moments I munch on green beans from the greenhouse and I have even tasted the first of our (glorious) broccoli crop. I’ve found a nearly full-grown kohlrabi among the cabbage, although I could have sworn we didn’t have any seeds until recently. Unsuspecting students walking by the garden are sent away with bags of enormous spicy radishes and instructions to return for more tomorrow. Thanks to a happy accident, the compost pile is growing literally hundreds of pumpkin sprouts. Kindergarten help in the garden earlier in the year now surprises me daily with sunflowers popping up in unexpected places, and thanks to first grade nasturtiums and marigolds attract pollinators with their blooms. Today it is only a heavy, ceaseless rain that keeps my hands from the soil.

Although I was not sure I would enjoy working long hours in the garden without students, I have found it to be a wonderful opportunity for thought. Weeding offers endless hours for reflecting, planning, and maintaining my farmer’s tan.

Because things have been so busy, I have not had time to share much about one of my favorite activities to take place at this school this past year. 

In December, I helped North Powder’s 5^th grade class write and perform a flash mob in the cafeteria during lunch time for Dole Fruit’s annual Flash Mob contest. These students took this project very seriously, and spent hours writing lyrics, rewriting lyrics, and coordinating the performance. On a regular Wednesday when the elementary students sat down with their lunches, 5^th grade spontaneously stood up and sang about healthy fruits to the tune of Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” The video we made does not adequately capture our students’ surprise as their peers interrupted a normally quiet meal with clapping, stomping and singing. 

Watch our flash mob video!

5th grade, flaunting their money and fruit cups!

We submitted the video to Dole Fruit, and this spring learned that North Powder won First Prize! Thanks to 5^th grade, we added $500 to the Farm to School bank account and 10 cases of fruit cups to the lunch line! See the Grand Prize winner’s video on Dole’s website (I do have to point out that it is not a real “flash mob”): Dole Fruit Flash Mob Contest winners. 

This project was so much fun I have recommended that it become part of the 5^th grade curriculum, facilitated by the FoodCorps service member (and of course their phenomenal teacher!) 

Cooking with Kids

Cooking for and with elementary students is hard work. Organizing a class of twenty in making something palatable can quickly devolve into chaos, and you always run the risk that they won’t like whatever you’re serving. Figuring out how to handle that is a lesson in itself.

Earlier in the year, 3^rd and 4^th grade helped cut and clean hundreds of pounds of the pumpkins they grew, 1^st grade learned how to make Baba Ganoush, multiple classes harvested over 150 pounds of beets, and recently 5^th grade ground their own cornmeal for colonial-style pancakes. Some of these activities have been more fun than others (the pumpkin cleaning marathon was definitely a mistake), but overall they've taught these students so much about the fun and challenges that come with working with food.

This week, 3^rd grade looked on as I made asparagus soup in my Vitamix blender with fresh, local asparagus. Students excitedly helped me pass out cups of the hot soup and waited expectantly to try it, but when they finally tried the soup there was silence. Several students quietly stood up and walked to the water fountain.

“Well, what do you think?” I asked

them.

“It’s really good, Ms. Estrem, but I just don’t care for it today,” one student said.

“I like it but my body isn't ready for it,” another told me.

Almost the entire class gave me a similar response. This might sound like a failure, until you recognize that not one single “eww,” “gross!” or dramatic face made an appearance in that 3^rd grade classroom. Although ideally my students would enjoy every food we try, their response to the asparagus soup was as satisfying as our most successful taste test. Their verbalization that they didn't like the soup today showed me how far they have come this year, by not rejecting it outright. I know I could go into that classroom tomorrow and make the same recipe, and they would try it just as willingly.

As the end of the school year approaches and I look back on all the activities we've done, I can see that it’s not any formal teaching methods or specific information that has brought this success.  Our lessons are often goofy, informal and messy.  We've sung songs, played games and colored in the classroom. My students’ willingness to try new foods comes from the fact that food has become an engaging and fun aspect of their education, and something that every one of them is capable of participating in. 

Asparagus Soup 

(I will attribute the lack of success with this recipe in the classroom to the fact that we had to make a dairy-free version. I like asparagus soup made with plain yogurt or a little bit of cream.)

1 onion

2 tablespoons butter

1 pound fresh asparagus

1 cup vegetable broth

1 dash garlic powder

1 dash pepper

1 cup milk

Saute vegetables, spices and butter and then add to blender with milk until creamy. Heat or serve cold.

Learning in Detroit

This past week, I was incredibly lucky to get to travel to Detroit to attend FoodCorps’ mid-year gathering. Although it seems like a strange place for one-hundred foodies from around the country to flock, I was surprised to find that we could not have picked a more appropriate location.

Detroit immediately reminded me of Gotham City. Steam gushed from manholes, and gorgeous Gothic buildings towered over our hotel in downtown. At the same time, Detroit’s wide streets were largely empty of cars and pedestrians, and in residential areas it was clear that more houses than not were empty and abandoned. Because of the power of the auto-industry, Detroit’s public transportation system is virtually useless, and as many as four out of five families do not have a car. There are no large-chain grocery stores in the entire city, essentially making it a food desert. Instead there is an ample supply of fast food and convenience stores. Detroit is simply a large-scale example of the problems that most FoodCorps members face every day- how do we make fresh food accessible to a population that lacks access, transportation and resources?  

Various field trips showed us that despite the depressing first-impression, there are many organizations already doing phenomenal things to bring food to Detroit. I went on the trip to Earthworks Urban Farm and Capuchin Soup Kitchen in West Detroit. This is an ever-evolving organization which serves breakfast and lunch at the soup kitchen, grows multiple gardens which provide food for the kitchen and to sell at farmers’ markets, and offers various volunteer and job training opportunities. We had an incredibly enlightening discussion about race and privilege, and the relationship those often have with non-profits, and had the chance to get our hands dirty planting in one of their gardens. Because of poor soil, we also got to see their fantastic and enormous composting operation that keeps their gardens healthy.

Discussions about race and privilege continued throughout the gathering as we explored the challenges of a non-profit organization with a majority of service members being young, white, college-educated women in their mid-twenties. Our keynote speaker was Malik Yakini, and here is a link to his latest article: http://foodandcommunityfellows.org/blog/2013/building-a-racially-just-food-movement

The most powerful part of this gathering for me was simply getting to sit down and get to know better the FoodCorps service members from across the country. It’s reassuring to hear that volunteers are having the same challenges at their sites in New Mexico or Connecticut as I am in North Powder, and to be reminded that despite my geographic isolation I do have an enormous crew of like-minded people supporting me. Although I still don’t know what I’m going to be doing in August, I came away from our trip to Detroit feeling rejuvenated and better able to take on the last three months of my term and beyond.

Oregon and New Mexico service members, at Eastern Market

February Trials

I hate February. It’s dark, it’s muddy, it’s depressing, and that is my excuse for not blogging during that time. But now March is here, the sun is out, and I’m spending a good chunk of my weekend playing in the greenhouse, so I feel capable of sitting down and recapping what’s been going on in North Powder.

Since the mud and ice maintain a strong grip on my little town, the past several weeks we’ve have to employ all our creativity to develop activities connecting students with their food without wading through snow. First grade pioneered painting with food dyes, and their fantastic paintings now adorn our new cafeteria. We used three different crock pots and filled them with onion skins, beets and spinach. Despite the resulting foul stench from cooking them overnight, we made some passable paints (amber, red and green, respectively) and painted our favorite vegetables. Can you spot the kohlrabi?

This semester I have started working regularly with the third grade class, and in the month of February they blew me away with their enthusiasm. We made hummus, and practically licked the plate clean. The next week we learned about where our food travels before it gets to our plate. We sourced some pears served on the salad bar from their farm in Wenatchee, WA, to the processing plant and then distribution center in Boise before coming to North Powder. These pears traveled a total of 560 miles to get to us, even though they grew on a farm only 273 miles from us. I was thrilled to learn students went home and shared the minute details of food processing, distribution and transport with their families.

Pears were the Harvest of the Month for February according to the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and I struggled to incorporate it into creative recipes in the cafeteria. My main attempt was a pear, arugula and bleu cheese salad that I knew the staff would appreciate but students would be skeptical of. Introducing new foods to students is all about presentation, and a funny hat and fancy-restaurant attitude was all it took to get students to taste, and in some cases, gobble it down.

This time of year it is hard to get much fresh produce in our area, and we have to take advantage of what is available. Egg plant was on sale from our food supplier, and so a case sat in our fridge for a week until I realized I couldn’t procrastinate any longer. This past week I mastered the art of making baba ganoush (an eggplant spread similar to hummus.) Third grade learned how people used to believe that eating eggplant made you go crazy, and that it was occasionally called the “apple of madness.” I suggested that perhaps this was because eggplant makes you feel so healthy and energetic. We made a batch of baba ganoush in my new blender, and students happily dunked carrots and crackers in the warm dip. As I was leaving the classroom, one student came up to me and said, “I can feel my legs getting stronger already!”

The final February trial I faced was continuing electrical problems in my house. After going a week with barely functioning lights and no stove, I had someone come take a look, and our house was essentially declared an electrical death trap that would require extensive repair (that it was unlikely to receive). Rather that deal with that, I have moved to an adorable little trailer about three blocks away, and revel in the glory of well-insulated walls, a hot stove and a view of the Elkhorn Mountains.

Baba Ganoush

Roast 2-3 medium sized eggplants until skin is charred and insides are soft.

Allow to cool and then scrape flesh into a blender.

Mix with:

1/3 cup tahini

1 clove garlic

2 tablespoons lemon juice

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

Blend until creamy and serve garnished with paprika and minced parsley on crackers or vegetables.