[ShareTompkins] Wood's Earth Newsletter, February 2014 - Fresh carrots in our schools & much more!

Fri Feb 21 00:41:13 UTC 2014

Growing Power, Fresh carrots in our schools, Youth Perspective & More! Also - Job opening with Wood's Earth &  Community Garden plots available!
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** A project of the Center for Transformative Action (http://woodsearth.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32e109ba1caab34201757c79&id=e21a490aaa&e=caf1159c2a) :

Wood's Earth Living Classroom
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Our Mission: Engaging youth and commnuity to grow and source fresh, local produce for school food.

Our four programs include School Food production, Community Gardens, the Living Classroom, and the farm to School Program.

We grow organic crops throughout the growing season for district-wide school lunches, fresh elementary school snacks, and other school food programs. Field trip groups, interns, teen workers and volunteers make up our crew.

** Community Gardens:
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We offer garden plots (http://woodsearth.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32e109ba1caab34201757c79&id=5b61552a26&e=caf1159c2a) of varying sizes! Several things included in the price of the plot are drip irrigation, usage of available tools, and various composts and mulches. You have have the choice to decide how big you plot is! Plots sizes come in 250 square foot increments.

Discounts!
There is a 20% discount of plots of over 1,000 square feet in size, which is great for groups! Also, if you reserve a plot before March 1st, there is an additional 10% discount!

** Job Opening - Farm Manager, School Food Production
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Part-time, Seasonal

Application Deadline: Monday, March 3, 2014

Position Summary:

WE are looking for an outgoing person with a strong background in farm management and a commitment to community-based food systems to manage our 1.5 acre school food production farm in Ithaca, NY. The Farm Manager will manage production and distribution of specific crops to be sold to the Ithaca City School District’s central kitchen. The bulk of the job will be seeding, soil preparation, planting, cultivation, harvest, processing, delivery, ordering supplies, and coordination and management of crews made up of teens and volunteers. The Farm Manager will also help lead hands-on farm field trips for a range of youth age groups.

Mid-March through October, approximately 15-20 hours per week.

Visit our website (http://woodsearth.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32e109ba1caab34201757c79&id=778a3937dd&e=caf1159c2a) to download the job description.

Application Process:
Interested candidates should submit a cover letter, résumé or CV, and a list of 3 professional references to: woodsearthclass at gmail.com.
The Center for Transformative Action is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages applicants from all backgrounds.

** Sponsors and Funders:
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Major Funders:
Park Foundation (http://woodsearth.us3.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b32e109ba1caab34201757c79&id=f60b9a6254&e=caf1159c2a)
Community Foundation of Tompkins County (http://woodsearth.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32e109ba1caab34201757c79&id=16bce7f0a4&e=caf1159c2a)
Tompkins Charitable Gift Fund (http://woodsearth.us3.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b32e109ba1caab34201757c79&id=ca1b8ed666&e=caf1159c2a)
Sustainable Tompkins (http://woodsearth.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32e109ba1caab34201757c79&id=c0fe51a45a&e=caf1159c2a)
Business Sponsors:
Mama Goose (http://woodsearth.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32e109ba1caab34201757c79&id=db5a16347d&e=caf1159c2a)
Red Feet Wine Market (http://woodsearth.us3.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b32e109ba1caab34201757c79&id=41b7044f15&e=caf1159c2a)
Nutritional Wellness Center (http://woodsearth.us3.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b32e109ba1caab34201757c79&id=7f60eec3c9&e=caf1159c2a)
The Drain Brain (http://woodsearth.us3.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=b32e109ba1caab34201757c79&id=e3d0d534c8&e=caf1159c2a)

** Black History Month Feature: Will Allen
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February is Black History Month! In honor of that, we'd like to feature a very important African American person in the farming community. His name is Will Allen. Will has made a huge difference in the agricultural community with his company Growing Power, Inc.Growing Power's focuses on helping communities grow food using simple farming techniques, and they're based in Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

This guy has some seriously amazing accomplishments: In 2008, Will was named a fellow of the John D. and Katherine T. McArthur foundation, and he was awarded a "genius grant". He's only the second farmer to do that! In February of 2010, he was invited to the White House to help First Lady Michelle Obama launch her signature leadership program "Let's Move!", and in May of the same year, Time magazine named him on their list of the 100 Most Influential People. How cool is that!? The website for his company is pretty cool and if you want more information on what they're doing, the link for that is here (http://woodsearth.us3.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b32e109ba1caab34201757c79&id=f6987aea54&e=caf1159c2a) .

Here's something else that really awesome about this guy. Growing Power has organized one of the largest Farm to School sales in the United States, according to the USDA. 30,000 pounds of local, organic carrots grown by the company have been sent to schools in Chicago, and another 10,000 pounds were sent to schools in Milwaukee. The grand total? 40,000 pounds of carrots! That's a lot of carrots. If you're looking for a little more information on this, the link here (http://woodsearth.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32e109ba1caab34201757c79&id=910ce0ca69&e=caf1159c2a) should be pretty helpful.

Youth Perspective: The Benefits of Farm to School
By: Rhiannon, Wood's Earth Intern & LACS student. [Rhiannon writes and designs the bulk of our newsletters!]

Hi! I’m a high school student in the Ithaca City School District and a communications intern for Wood’s Earth Living Classroom, where I’m getting the chance to learn about our local school food system.
So, as you probably already know, we here at Wood’s Earth coordinate with farmers to get local, fresh, and quite often organic produce into the school lunches in the Ithaca City School District.  In my opinion, it’s a great idea. Local, fresh food being eaten by students is not only beneficial and healthy for the kids, but it’s good for the farmers growing the food as well. When the District buys food from local farms at fair prices, as Wood’s Earth works to ensure, the money provides resources for the farmers to keep growing food, which cycles back into the community.
Something that surprised me when I learned it is that there is a national Farm to School organization. In my mind, this is really cool! If there’s a nationwide effort, then that means there is a nationwide awareness too.  According to the National Farm to School website www.farmtoschool.org (http://woodsearth.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32e109ba1caab34201757c79&id=f2fd5e70a8&e=caf1159c2a)  , there’s at least one Farm to School organization in each and every of the 50 states! If you’re interested in what’s going on in other places, I’d suggest giving their website a look.

I think my favorite thing about Farm to School here in Ithaca is that both our farm and another in the area have teen involvement. The Youth Farm Project in particular focuses on teens—they have at least two acres of land that’s worked mainly by teens from around the county! It’s so amazing that students and youth from all over Tompkins County have the opportunity to be involved in farming and food.

Wood’s Earth is doing something that’s really similar but different, with the idea of getting younger kids, as well as teens and college students involved in food. We’re working on a field trip “menu” to get students of all ages, especially elementary school students, from around the school district interested in how they get the food they eat. The food we grow is meant specifically for the schools, and it complements the food we help to get from other local farms.

An awareness of where food comes that starts from a young age can encourage people to buy more local, organic food, instead of food that’s likely been shipped in by some big company. Not only does this lower the carbon footprint created by bringing food from across the country, it supports the local farmers and can encourage people to grow their own, providing more healthy snack options to the kids (and adults) in our area. If that isn’t awesome, I don’t know what is!

** Welcome New Advisory Board Members
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This month we are happy to welcome eleven new volunteers to the Wood's Earth Advisory Board! They come from around the community, and we are really excited to have them. They're already hard at work with their committees! These fantastic new additions to our team are Vicki Brew, Jessie Johnson, Leslie Lewis, Marissa Richards, Theresa Joseph, Courtney Mayszack, Courtney Underwood, Erin Green, Rose Zonetti, and Kara West, and Simon Breen. They join our current members Denise Agati, Amie Hamlin, and Kara Cusolito.

Vicki has experience with finance and bookkeeping for home and business, and she is stepping in as our Treasurer. Jessie has a background in business and non profit development, as well as financial management, accounting, fund raising and community organizing. Leslie is a dean at Ithaca College has experience with organic agriculture, education, monitoring and evaluation, and food justice. Marissa brings her skills with grant writing, business and nonprofit development, education, and school district politics to the Advisory Board table, while Theresa brings wisdom from her 25 years of experience with running an organic farm.

Courtney M. has worked with Woods' Earth this past summer as a part-time farm management intern, and she also brings her experience with farm-to-school and being a member of GreenStar's co-op council to us here on our Advisory Board. Courtney U. has worked on farms, as a landscaper, and with a local nursery that specializes in living roofs. Erin has a background in nutritional education, and brings her skills in public relations, education, and community organizing with her as well. Rose is a massage therapist, a local foodie, and the Farm to School Coordinator for the Food and Health Network of South Central NY.

Kara served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nicaragua, focusing on agricultural development and food security, and brings that experience with her, along with her experience with non profit development and organic agriculture. Simon also volunteered in Nicaragua through the Peace Corps with Kara, where he had the opportunity to help establish school and family gardens. Alongside this, her brings his skills in non profit development, education, and community organizing to his place at the Advisory Board table. We are really excited to have these eleven fantastic people as members of our Advisory Board, and we look forward to working with them!

** Volunteer Spotlight
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This month's volunteer spotlight highlights an Advisory Board Member who's been with us since 2012. Meet Kara Cusolito. She is an awesome community food activist, farmer, educator and journalist. Kara and her partner Aaron own Plowbreak Farm (http://woodsearth.us3.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=b32e109ba1caab34201757c79&id=ebab1ceb18&e=caf1159c2a) , a small sustainable, organic vegetable farm with 50 CSA members. (Psst- they're accepting new members for 2014!) Kara is also the Garden Manager at the Ithaca Children's Garden. On top of it all, she is a freelance journalist and an avid homesteader/

Kara has blessed us with her savvy farmer skills this year and led the way in developing our first production plan for the farm. Due to her guidance, we will be focusing on a handful of specific crops based on their use for school food programs, ease of maintenance on the farm, and potential for revenue. Oh an she's a sweetheart, too!

** Farm to School Spotlight
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This month's Farm to School spotlight shines on Remembrance Farm (http://woodsearth.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b32e109ba1caab34201757c79&id=1816b5f5eb&e=caf1159c2a) . They are a member of the Full Plate Collective (along with Stick and Stone, another farm to school player in town), and they operate a CSA (or Community Supported Agriculture). Farmers Nathaniel and Emily Thompson have been selling organic carrots to the ICSD school lunch program regularly since December! Wood's Earth facilitates regular sales from Remembrance Farm to the ICSD school lunch program, or about 125 pounds every two or three weeks... about the amount of carrots the district uses in meals! According to School Food Director Denise Agati, the district uses approx 75 lbs of carrots each week.

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