My compost bin and kitchen scraps bin. This is where the fun happens.

Although I’ve been enthusiastically  composting here at the Rubin Rodeo for over a year, I’m about to start something even bigger. Last night, I began my  journey to become a Master Composter. The  Master Composter course provides training in the art and science of composting and how to teach it to others. How cool is that?

Why compost?  Good question! There are a number of reasons.  When organic materials are separated from trash and allowed to decompose with an adequate supply of air, they can be turned into a valuable addition to  soil  that can be used for all sorts of things–plant and vegetable gardens, landscaping projects and much more.
Composting also provides a partial solution to our overloaded wastestream:  our landfills are filling up, garbage incineration is bad news, and towns are cutting  back on municipal waste hauling as budget money becomes harder to find.  Composting provides a way of not only reducing the amount of waste that needs to be disposed of, but also of converting it into a product that is useful.

Over the next 6 weeks, I’ll be learning more than I could ever imagine about recycling, composting and will even get to have some fun with worm composting.  My goal: to inspire you to start doing some composting and to find ways to get school systems involved with composting as part of food based education in their curriculum. It’s a great opportunity for applied science and can save a school system money to boot!

For a nice overview, check out this composting video by Kitchen Gardeners International

I was fortunate to have a bright sunny week at the beach last week. I unplugged as best as I could and caught up on some reading. Thanks to a speed reading course I took freshman year in college, I’m a voracious reader. After spending much of my summer in a camp garden, my reading list these days are focused more on growing food. Here are two of my favorites.

My Empire of Dirt by Manny Howard was a rollicking adventure story about a backyard garden that went a little too far. Based on the NY Magazine article from 2007, this book will have you wincing and chuckling about homegrown food.

This book, along with Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Vegetable Miracle and Novella Carpenter’s Farm City is another example of how the food movement is morphing from farmer’s markets and backyard veggie gardens into something more substantial.

I would love to get some bees and chicken going in my backyard. Fresh eggs and local honey would be great.  With the latest egg recall of a half a billion eggs, I have to believe more people are going to re-think their supermarket egg habit. 95% of eggs in the US come from industrial egg operations of 75,000 or more hens. Talk about too big to fail, or just plain too big! Smaller and closer to home is definitely better when it comes to food. A couple of hens would easily keep my family in enough eggs for most of the year.

Next read on the beach was a book about school gardens. I thought it might be dry reading but I was pleasantly surprised.How to Grow A School Garden: A Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers was the kind of book that really got me jazzed. If you are one of those parents who are trying to make a positive impact in your child’s school, this is the book you want to read. Its also the book you want to buy for your child’s teacher. This book demonstrates all the good reasons why every school should have a garden and walks you through the steps to get one going.

As Josh Viertel, President of Slow Food USA says,

I want to live in a world where there are more school gardens than McDonalds has franchises.

This book will help you to shift that ratio of fast food to slow food in your school district.

As with every garden, there is always lots of weeding to do. The Ballibay garden is no exception. My father always told me a weed is nothing but a plant growing in the wrong place. They are not inherently bad, they are merely in need of re-location. Today we moved some mint that had sprouted all over the beds into one location in the “George” garden where most of our herbs are located. One weed that is thriving in the garden beds of Ballibay is lambs quarters.

Lambs quarter can frequently be found growing  on disturbed soil, and along the fringes of fields and banks. Left undisturbed, they can grow  four feet in height with multiple branches. I know lambs quarters well, I spent my childhood pulling this pesky weed out of my mom’s garden never knowing that it had other qualities.

Nowadays, farmer’s markets across the country sell lambs quarters. The foodies will tell you that lambs quarters are absolutely delicious, with a flavor that can be compared to spinach or chard with an earthy, mineral rich taste. If you enjoy leafy greens such as kale, collards, and spinach you’ll love lambs quarters.

Today in the Balli-garden as Erica harvested some fresh spinach for salad, I realized that lambs quarters could easily find a good use in the kitchen. Chef Holly added them into a veggie soup, it was delicious. Truly a win win situation: we cleared part of a bed for more spinach, carrots and radishes, the kitchen got some yummy greens for lunch.

Weeds become much less of a nuisance when you can eat them.

So long for the summer!

As much as I loved Jamie Oliver’s TV show, Food Revolution, it is now over for the season. Hopefully, we will see him back in action in the fall. That is, as long as ABC got enough viewers and enough advertisers to keep it going.

Now that the weather is getting warmer and kids at school are getting spring fever, its time to look ahead: SUMMER!

Even though school will be letting out soon, the toxic food environment continues at summer camp.  Whether your kid is attending  a local day camp that insists on offering Gatorade because the well meaning but uninformed camp nurse thinks Gatorade has essential electrolytes (not!) or a sleepaway camp for the summer,  chances are there will be plenty of sugar, poor quality foodlike substances and other assorted junk to go around.

One camp is doing things differently. Camp Ballibay, an arts camp located in Northeastern Pennsylvania has got a food revolution going on that would impress the socks off of Mr. Oliver.

Camp Owner John Jannone has put his money where his mouth is when it comes to food.  Last summer he gave the green light to a major transformation in Ballibay food. Instead of pre-packaged processed “sysco” type food, all food was made from scratch,  with 30% of it from local farmers and producers.

Chefs Ellen Thomas and Alison Wiener created an amazing health supportive menu that included funky items like Korean bi bim bap with brown rice and comfortable favorites like build your own pizza. Hummus,  grass fed burgers, grilled fresh corn and more were huge hits with the campers. I was there too, making sure breakfast was fun and delicious with things like homemade granola, porridge and yogurt made fresh daily.

Campers got directly involved with making and growing the food and had a blast.

Last summer Camp Ballibay had no soda, no candy, no junk, no one missed it! Instead, campers enjoyed smoothies with fresh fruit and coconut milk, fresh spritzers, home made desserts and lots of seasonal melons and watermelon.

The  infamous Ballibay Hummus music video offers a a sneak peak into the kitchen and dining hall of the camp. Check out all the veggies!

This summer, Camp Ballibay’s food will be even better as they expand the garden and camper involvement in the kitchen. Chef Holly Mendenhall will be heading up the Ballibay food team  this summer.If you’re looking for a great summer camp with extraordinary food that will nourish your child’s body and spirit, this is the place to go!  I’ll be there again this summer having more fun in the kitchen and the garden. Stay tuned for more updates!

PS: If your child might be interested in attending Ballibay this summer, there may still be some open spots! I’m happy to speak with you personally if you have any questions.

Looking for a great summer job? This opportunity can’t be beat. Camp Ballibay is a magical place and the food is part of that magic. I had the honor of working in the camp kitchen last summer and I’ll be returning this summer to work in the garden and the kitchen. If you’re passionate about  food, the environment or farming/gardening, this is the place for you!

Click here to see a video of  last year’s  campers talking about the food.  Click here to see the hummus music video that was created last summer. Who knows what cool things we’ll come up with this year?

Here’s the job description. Please pass it on!

Camp Ballibay (http://www.ballibay.com) and The Farm Arts Camp (http://www.FarmArtsCamp.com) seek kitchen staff to help run a high-quality camp foodservice operation for the months of July and August. Our kitchen will serve a community of approximately 200 kids and adults.  The two camps share a beautiful campus in NE Pennsylvania, about 3 hours from Manhattan. After many years of working with a large foodservice company, and 46 years of total operation, the camps’ new administration has moved strongly towards scratch cooking with locally produced ingredients. Our kitchen places an emphasis on healthful kid-friendly foods, a diverse international menu, vegetarian and vegan options, and – when possible – local specialty products. For the 2010 season we are doubling the size of our kitchen, increasing staffing, and adding a strong food education component to the camps’ curriculum.

Many Thanks,
John Jannone & Kristin Fieseler, Directors
The Ballibay Camps

re·sil·ience
Pronunciation: \ri-ˈzil-yən(t)s\
Function: noun

1 : the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress
2 : an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change

Resilience. The word keeps surfacing for me lately, it’s become a mantra to help keep me balanced through a bumpy few weeks. A heavy duty snow storm downed trees and power lines just two weeks ago. Everyone’s yard is littered with branches and debris.  This past weekend another freak storm with high winds and heavy rains uprooted trees all over the tri-state area. Half of our county didn’t have school today due to power outages and obstructed roads. It takes an attitude of resilience to deal with these inconveniences.

What the heck is going on with the weather? Donald Trump suggested that Al Gore to return his Nobel Peace prize because of all the snow this winter.  I’m starting to believe like Thomas Friedman, that Al Gore underestimated the impact of climate change. Bill McKibben and his new book, Eaarth suggests that we’ve already managed to change the planet in such fundamental ways that it’s not really the planet we thought we knew.

When I think about changes in climate, first thing that comes to my mind is food. We need to create some resilience in our food system to withstand whatever shocks that climate change and fossil fuel depletion are causing. We don’t have to wait for governments or giant corporations to wake up and figure out that we need to make big changes. We can make meaningful changes  from the bottom up by getting our hands dirty and growing some of our food. Creating a small, diverse local/ regional food supply is the first step in creating resilience.

Climate change and peak oil is pretty scary stuff to contemplate. Many of my friends don’t want to acknowledge these changes are close at hand, its so much easier to remain blissfully ignorant and continue on with business as usual. But once you’ve had the wake up call, it’s impossible to go back to sleep.  This is where Transition comes in.  Transition US is part of a worldwide movement  that provides inspiration, encouragement, support, networking, and training for Transition Initiatives across the United States.

Transition Initiatives are part of a vibrant, international grassroots movement that builds community resilience in response to the challenges of peak oil, climate change and the economic crisis. What’s great about Transition is that it seeks promising ways of engaging people in strengthening their communities against the effects of these challenges, resulting in a life that is more abundant, fulfilling, equitable and socially connected. I’m now working with others in my community to form Transition Westchester.

To learn more about Transition and to find a group near you, visit the Transition US website. Or check out the Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins.  You’ll find that resilience is a comforting concept.

Things are looking up when it comes to the health of our kids. Two days ago, Michelle Obama announced a comprehensive initiative to end childhood obesity in a generation. The program, Let’s Move includes a broad base of smart ideas, like eliminating food deserts, giving parents better information about food, improving the school lunch program and increasing physical activity. Michelle’s words brought be to tears because she spoke from the heart with her experience as a busy mom in a way that transcends the intellectual discussion.  I hope to find a way to work with her to help build the nation’s Food IQ

Last night was equally inspiring, Chef Jamie Oliver accepted the TED Award. Here’s his “wish”

“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”

How perfect is this? He’s in direct alignment with the First Lady’s plan. We need likable chefs like Jamie to help bring this issue into the living rooms of all Americans. His ABC show, Jamie’s Food Revolution will do just that in mid March.

There’s one point that both Michelle and Jamie need to include which I don’t yet see. It’s not a fun thing to talk about but it’s as big and important as childhood obesity. It’s our oil problem. It seems the world is running low on cheap fossil fuel. That impacts everything we do, especially eating!  We need to include Peak Oil in the planning of this undertaking. That means more local foods, more gardens in schools and communities, less packaging (note: plastic is made from petroleum!), more drinking fountains.  I hope we include this in the discussion.  Jamie and Michelle, call me! I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work!

I’m not talking about the kind of cheap oil that goes into Girl Scout Cookies and other forms of industrialized junk food. Its the oil that comes out of the ground that I’m thinking about! Created tens of thousands of years ago from prehistoric animals, not cottonseeds or soybeans.

After spending the day meeting with Transition Westchester and talking about creating a positive response to crazy scary things  like peak oil, climate change and economic instability, I spent the evening at home watching There Will be Blood.

Oil was first discovered in western Pennsylvania in the mid 1850′s. Once found, oil was pretty easy to get. Dig a hole, watch the stuff fly on out! Oil was easy, cheap and plentiful. For many decades, our country was basically the “Saudi Arabia” of oil. It fueled our economic expansion.  The US reached “peak oil” back in 1970 as was predicted by  Dr. M. King Hubbert a geophysicist back in 1956. After our domestic oil production peaked, we started to import oil from other countries. Now, decades later, it looks like oil production world wide may be at its peak. This peak moment has real economic and every day impact for all of us.

Let me be clear on one thing, we’re not talking about running completely out of oil, that is still many years away. Transition groups like the one now forming in Westchester is considering what life will be like when fossil fuels become significantly more expensive. We’ll be re-thinking what we eat, what we do for fun, how we’ll live. Right now, our food, our livelihoods and our fun are directly a result of cheap oil. How will that change when gas hits $50 or $100 a gallon? It could happen as we deplete the world’s remaining oil. At $100 a gallon, there is no question that 99% of us would have to make some serious changes. Food from far away would become super-expensive. Local food will be more than just a “foodie” trend, it will become a necessary way of life.

“Dig the well before you are thirsty” Chinese Proverb

The time is now to re-think what we eat and how we live in the face of more expensive energy sources. There is no better time than right now to get involved in a community garden or to transform your lawn into an edible garden. Check out this great site on how to become a hyperlocavore and get your hands dirty!

Tell me and I will forget.

Show me and I may remember.

Involve me and I will understand.

~Chinese proverb

The latest research shows that nutrition education is not working! It is ineffective in creating behavior change in getting our kids to eat more veggies. So much time, money and energy has been spent in our schools to teach kids nutrition and we’ve gotten nowhere.

The pyramid is part of the problem. Why are we wasting time teaching our kids a government sanctioned official word on nutrition that just doesn’t stick?

Besides being uninspiring, the USDA food pyramid is full of conflicts of interest with the food industry, meat and dairy lobbies. If we want our kids to really learn something beyond being able to regurgitate facts and figures for a test, we need them involved on a deeper level.

Much of what we’ve been told about nutrition has been misleading and has done more harm than good. This has led well meaning nutrition committees to focus on the details rather than looking at the big picture.

• Counting calories results in many people obsessing over calories, some to the extreme of eating disorders and yo-yo dieting. This faulty over-emphasis on energy balance has led the food industry to create “100 calorie” products. After all, 100 calories of junk is still junk! It reminds me of the “light” cigarettes my mom smoked in the early 70′s instead of quitting tobacco altogether. Focusing on calories takes us away from quality, all calories are not equal.

• Believing that fat makes you fat has spurned many low-fat food products that are higher in sugar and chemicals. Good quality fat is essential for brain and nervous system development. Many foods need fat present for optimal nutrient absorption. That’s why salad dressing needs to have fat in it. Once again, we must consider what good quality fat and oils are and work to stay away from poor quality fats.

• A misguided emphasis on nutrients has resulted in useless products like granola bars and hyped up cereals which are nothing but refined grains sprayed down with synthetic vitamins.

Loading up our school cafeterias with 100 calorie packs, baked chips, granola bars, baked chicken fingers and oven roasted tater tots which many consider to be “healthier” fare does not create a higher Food IQ for our kids nor does it make them healthier.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”~ Albert Einstein

Clearly when it comes to nutrition education and to our children’s health, we need a new approach. I suggest that we shift the emphasis away from nutrition and instead towards the four letter word that begins with F: Food! To build our Food IQ the right way, we must get our hands dirty and experience all that food has to offer.

We need to plant gardens everywhere; in schools, in childcare centers, summer camps, senior centers and in our communities. I’m thrilled that many grass roots school advocates have followed First Lady Michelle Obama’s lead planting a veggie garden at the White House and sharing it with students from a nearby school. Gardens involve and teach us about food and the world on many levels. Here’s how:

• When kids grow food, kids eat food! Gardens are a great solution to the epidemic of picky eating behaviors. Research shows that children who have been involved with growing food eat more veggies than young children who attend other schools and child care centers without garden programs.

• You can’t grow junk food! There are no artificial ingredients or significant allergens (gluten, dairy, soy) in a garden. You simply cannot become ill or obese from eating what grows in a garden.

• Growing food cultivates an environmental awareness helping our children to become stewards of the land. As concerns about climate change and peak oil continues grow, we may all need to become more involved with growing food.

• Gardens are the cure for nature deficit disorder. Keeping our kids away from screens and high tech for a while is useful. The garden helps us slow down; you can’t force a green bean to grow fast, you have to wait! This is an important antidote to our fast paced lives.

• With gas prices soaring and food costs following skyward, growing food makes more sense than ever for our wallets as well as our waistlines.Food security and food safety is more important than ever. Small, local, resilient sources of food are the way of the future.

I am now hopeful that gardens will be the start of a positive shift in a school district’s food culture. By cultivating garden projects which build Food IQ and ecoliteracy, perhaps cafeterias will shift further towards health supportive food that is better for our kids and for the environment. For instance, once everyone understands the environmental impact of New York school students eating apples coming all the way from Washington state( or further) vs. apples coming from farms in upstate NY, perhaps students will demand local sourcing of food. This roundabout way of impacting the cafeteria will help create a demand for fresh, local, real food, instead of low calorie fat free questionable food products.

It’s great to get your hands dirty and get growing. Our children’s children will be happy we did, Mother Earth will be thankful as well.