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As many of you heard during my poster presentation I was unable to get a garden started at my targeted school. I explained that the reason for this was that this particular school is dealing with budget cuts, like all over public schools in the state, and they are trying to consolidate with another school in the area. For these reasons the topic of a school garden was not something they were ready to discuss this year at least. Hopefully with the few people I have discussed this idea with, they can reintroduce the school garden ideas in the years to come.
I have learned a lot during this semester about the way we look at food as a nation. We are successfully eating ourselves to death by eating this cheap food that comes from our overproduction of crops. If we take away some of the corn fields and replace them with vegetable fields or fruit orchards we would eat better food and not be so dependent on other nations for our fruits and vegetables. I feel if more people knew the facts about our food system and how little our government is doing to help they would be willing to start a true food revolution.
With all this information I have learned I the need to share it with my family and friends. Also I would like to continue researching and working towards getting more edible schoolyards in our state. If we can teach student to do geometry and chemistry we can teach them how to grow, cook, and eat healthy safe food. As Joel Salatin said in Food, Inc., imagine if we measured success by having less people going to the hospital this year than the year before, that is a noble goal. Shouldn’t that be our goal?
Here is all the information from my poster if anyone is interested:
The Problem:
The US Food System:
The way we eat food in this country has changed drastically in the last 50 years. We can now grow 200 bushel per acre when we could only grow 20 a hundred years ago. This is due to genetically modifying seeds as well as pesticides and herbicides.
We can now also “grow” chickens twice as fast as 50 years ago. And since white meat is what is in demand chickens now grow with larger breasts, so large in fact they can’t take more than 2 or 3 steps with out plopping down. With pork and ground beef we can feed them subsides corn very cheap which makes them fat and the meat prices go down. The average American eats 200lbs of meat a year. And a few companies control the beef, pork, and poultry industries. Four companies control 80% of the beef market. Tyson is the largest meat company in the world.
As a result of feeding cows corn a harmful strain of E coli has developed. Studies show that if a corn fed cow is allowed to eat grass for 5 days they can lose 80% of the E coli in their stomachs. But this is not done, they find new ways to “wash” the meat with chlorine to kill the E coli. So we get cheap beef from corn fed cows. Now the more than 12,000 McDonald’s and 7,500 Burger Kings can sell food extremely cheap which then leads to health problems.
The biggest predictor of obesity is income level. Today, 10% of income spent of food in the US, half the amount that was spent 50 years ago. More than sixty-six percent of all Americans are considered overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Body Mass Index over 25 = obese). One in three children born in the 2000s will have early onset diabetes, 1 out of 2 in minority children. Twenty-five years ago, the average American consumed about 1,850 calories each day, now over 2,150.
What is the government doing?
Between 1995 and 2004 the US government paid $144 billion in agriculture subsidies. So they are spending money on agriculture practices that produce surplus grain that we feed to cows that could make us sick. If a plant is sending out contaminated products whether it is E coli or salmonella, the FDA does not have the right to shut them down, even if they repeatedly make people sick.
The government also gave companies the right to patent seeds, which is essentially patenting life. Over 90% of the soybeans grown in the US are Monsanto soybeans, which contain a patented gene. In 1996, it was only 2%. Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas, was a Monsanto attorney. He also helped with the passing of the bill that said a company could patent a seed. Now if a farmer plants his own, non-Monsanto seeds, and those crops become pollinated by his neighbors Monsanto seeds, Monsanto can sure him for seed stealing. And Monsanto has millions of dollars and powerful attorney’s and more often than not win these battles or force the farmers to settle out of court. They then can blacklist the farm from using their products, which are basically the only products left to buy in the market. So they take his money in court then his livelihood by not allowing him to purchase seeds needed to farm.
Both the Bush and Clinton administrations had close ties to Monsanto, whether it was donations or former high up employees. Our government is filled with those who used to work for companies which they now should be regulating.
The Solution:
Edible Schoolyards
In 1995 chef Alice Walker had the same idea and applied it in Berkley, California. As she walked past the same school everyday she began to think it was abandoned, the principle of this school then asked her to come and try a garden there. Two years later most of the asphalt was gone and in it’s place there was green. It was at King Middle School in Berkeley that the first Edible Schoolyard (ESY) was started, on one acre or land. Middle school students were not only taught about gardening but about history behind gardening and the science of cooking food. In the early years of this project there were after school cooking classes as well as cooking meals twice a month for their class. A summer class was offered in the Edible Schoolyard. From interviews you will find that the kids in this school want to take this class. They also find they like the food that is being made with fresh, organic produce that they themselves labored for.
ESY NOLA
Edible Schoolyard New Orleans, was created using the original schoolyard in Berkely, CA. ESY NOLA came about after Hurricane Katrina. The students at two public schools, Kindergarten – 8th grade, learn cooking and gardening by hands on weekly classes. The foods cooked there are specifically meant to teach the traditional style of New Orleans.
REAL School Gardens
REAL School Gardens based in Fort Worth, Texas, serves more than 40,000 children and 2,300 educators in 66 North Texas schools and 15,000 more teachers and students in the San Francisco area. REAL stands for The Rainwater Environmental Alliance for Learning. Their website states “Our goals are to create safe outdoor spaces to engage young children, to use nature to enhance student learning, encourage family and community involvement in schools, and to create vibrant, sharing networks of educators and partners who commit to putting school gardens at the heart of urban neighborhoods.” Founded in 1996 REAL gardens not only teach students how to grow and eat healthy foods, it helps build a since of community with the families of the students as well as the community.
Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution:
Jamie Oliver is a well known British chef who, at age 34, has done some pretty remarkable things. Jamie was born in England and started working with food at a young age at his father’s pub. At age 16 went to Westminster Catering College and spent time in Frances honing his culinary skills. After working under many chefs his first big brake was a TV series where he was known as The Naked Chef. Oliver then channeled his fame and cooking skills into working for the greater good. In 2005 Jamie made a four part documentary called Jamie’s School Dinner’s where he worked to improve the quality of Britain’s school lunches. This was part of a larger program in the UK called Feed Me Better. This program was successful in getting government money to improve school kitchens, more culinary lessons for cooks, and overall better school lunches. Oliver is very passionate about food and about teaching kids where it comes from and getting them to cook and love fresh nutritious food.
Now he is taking on America. His television show Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution takes him to Huntington, West Virginia to try and change with way this town eats and he focuses on school meals. The series is over now but he had some success in changing the way that community looks at food.
The Project:
Bern, KS
This small community would be ideal for a edible schoolyard project. It is a small farming community and there is no shortage of land for this project. I have spoke with some members of the community who show interest in this project. Since the other schoolyards I have researched are in warmer climates there would need to be activities to fill up the fall and winter that would have to do with the garden. Students could then learn about preserving food and cooking with the preserved food. Also they could research fruits and vegetables they are interested in growing and then be able to plant them in the spring. This is a basic outline of what this project would entail.
The cons to this project is that it is a farming community and they could show resistance to organic farming practices. Budgets are another con, this school is in the process of consolidating with another school in the area. This is because of state budget cuts and that takes up the majority of there meetings. They do not have a lot of time to think about projects like this. The seed has been planted in the minds of the community now, hopefully in the next year this idea will build steam and hopefully we will see a garden in the Bern, KS school in the next few years.
Now unfortunately Food, Inc. did not win the Oscar for best documentary but it was nominated this past year. In this film you get a look into the beef, pork, and chicken industry. Also it informs about government policies that regulate what is and isn’t safe for us. They also talk some about Monsanto and how they have patented seeds and are going after anyone who saves their own seeds.
The documentary also follows the story of a mother who lost her two year old son to E coli after eating contaminated ground beef. The documentary tells us that some strains of E coli are a product of the beef industry, packing animals close together and feeding them corn. The company responsible for the beef did not recall the meet until 16 days after the son had passed away and it took the family three years to find out that they matched the recall from that company. Her son died in August of 2001 and she is still continuing to fight for plants to be held accountable for contaminated products. The law states that the FDA cannot shut down a plant even if they are continually sending out contaminated products. Does that seem right to anyone??
Joel Salatin who we read about in The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved makes many appearances throughout the film. You get to see how he ruins his farm and how his animals live. They also show how they butcher their chickens out in the open air which we are told is not sanitary. He says he had is chickens tested at a microbiology lab and they came back 133 cfu while those that had gone through chlorine baths averaged 3600cfu.
You can actually intern at his farm which is something I would love to be able to do. You can find out more at his farm’s website: http://www.polyfacefarms.com/
I don’t want to tell you too much about the film because I cannot do it justice in this review but I do encourage you all to see it, it has great information about the US food system. Some of these things we touched on in class and some we did not but it never hurts to hear things more than once, I’ve seen Food, Inc. three times and still find it informative. It just blows my mind to see how companies are more protected in this country than the people.
WATCH FOOD, INC I think it is a documentary that everyone should see and I recommend it to all
Hello Folks. It’s been a crazy ride since I’ve posted last and I have a feeling that my Carbon Footprint has been varying in size. The first week on my journey asked me to give up meat. That was no problem whatsoever. I absolutely love my vegetarian years; i’ve grown as a human and also a little more away from the picky eater I once was.
Perhaps a little bit of background will be helpful. My family is an average, working, middle class family. My mother is a single parent and my grandmother was the other half of the two-person parenting duo. Dinner was not really an event. It was a large portion of meat (somtimes grilled, sometimes baked, sometimes fried) veggies (my favorites were corn and green beans) and a starch (pasta, bread, potatoes, etc.) It was pretty basic. But I can still remember my family making one of my its favorites: chicken fried steak. Hand-battered, double dipped in flour and egg. My mom and my grandmother LOVED it. I hated it. Vehemently. With a passion. But, since a parent’s job is to ensure that their child eats, my grandmother (acting as parent in charge) gave me a plate with the CFSteak, mashed potatoes and corn and suggested (very persuasively) that either I ate it or I wouldn’t be able to play outside for the rest of the day. I devoured the mashed potatoes and corn, but could NOT deal with the meat. I remember taking it outside and throwing it into the neighbor’s yard. I was maybe 11. After getting rid of the evidence, I went to play on my swingset.
Fast forward a few more years. We are driving to Walt Disney World for a family vacay. We were about to stop for lunch at a fast food place, when I saw a semi drive by. The truck was carrying not a large square box filled with who-knows-what, but was carrying hundreds of chickens. HUNDREDS. packed maybe 15 layers high and 30 layers lengthwise. several to a cage. All except the lucky few on top were covered in feces. It looked like a miserable existence. I asked my mother why they were held, transported that way. She shrugged, and we stopped to eat. I couldn’t. I vowed to be vegetarian.
That, of course, did not last. When your family loves meat and dictates how, where, and when you eat (to a large extent,) vegetarianism is difficult. Not to mention the fact that the only vegetarian options at my high school were on Fridays during Lent, when the kitchen catered to the large amounts of Catholic school children. Not to mention that eating meat was natural, dammit, and American; my house in the country was surrounded by cattle farmers. If you didn’t have cattle, your land was either a) wheat or barley or b) cattle-feed. Vegetarianism was NOT an option.
College came. The dorms fed me. There were a few more vegetarian options, but I didn’t know how to pair the different veggie options to make a healthful meal. It wasn’t until I joined the K-State Debate Team that I felt comfortable really making the jump. There were atleast 6 vegetarians and two vegans (!!!!) on the team. When we went on debate trips, we would eat at healthy places where vegetarian and vegan options were abundant. I tried my first veggieburger. Hated it. So for a while I tried to eat the same meals that my mother would cook for me, but minus the meat. Mashed potatoes and corn, beans, green beans. My friends (from the debate team) slowly taught me how to eat MEALS not just sides.
One more fast forward. I LOVE veggie burgers. I love morning-star’s maple-flavored faux-sausages. I learned to love bell peppers, broccoli, celery, carrots, tofu. To this day, I still stir-fry tofu with veggies over noodles. Eating chicken pad-thai seems odd.
Here is why all of this is relevant to my project. Originally, I had two weeks that were dedicated t a) removing dairy and then b) eating completely vegan. I did both of them together. Two weeks of veganism.
One week was at my parent’s house. I love my family. When they learned I was vegetarian, they tried to accommodate me as much as possible (after poking a bit of fun, of course.) But veganism? I just didn’t want to be a burden on my parents; they shouldn’t have to do any extra work for me. And since my parents cooked me food for that week, I ate it. I tried to be as vegan as possible; it just didn’t work.
I was vegan successfully for about a week. I was hungry. Vegetarianism is awesome because you have vegetarian products that replace that protein, right next to that veggie and starch. I am not as good with the vegan options. This is because of all the skills I have attempted to hone in college, cooking is not one of them. I can write a bibliography in less than five minutes. I know how to change a tire. I know how to dress and act for an interview. But do I know how to shop for and prepare a dish from scratch? Probably not. I can boil water like a boss. I can heat up re-fried beans and Morning-Star soy crumbles to make vegetarian tacos/tostadas. But cooking? Nope. Not really. And why would I have to? My parents fed me, the dorms fed me, then the Union and/or pre-prepared/processed fed me. I know it’s not as healthy as preparing local, organic vegetables into a pasta primavera, but you win some and you lose some. I had other priorities, ones that forced me to either eat on campus or not really eat at all. So eat on campus I did.
So I was hungry for veganism. And when I was vegan, I was hungry. I also got sick during my vegan weeks. So did my debate coach, the only other vegan in my life. He, after over 10 years of being vegan, was told by his doctor that his illness was caused, in part, by poor nutrition as a vegan. I reasoned that if the vegan who has had over 10 years practice couldn’t pull this off, perhaps I couldn’t. Then I sneezed, coughed and warmed up some chicken noodle soup.
Until next time, my friends, peace.
My garden is slowly beginning to look worse and worse, I know that it isn’t getting enough light. I think now that the weather is getting better, I am going to start putting all of my plants outside during the day so they can get light until I find an affordable way to get light to them while they’re inside. I feel like they not only are they not growing as fast as they should, but they are just very long and weak. One thing that is a positive side of that they aren’t doing well is that they are still alive and green. That is one thing I love about nature and plants, when you mess up they give you a little leeway and let you have the option to keep them going and make them healthy again. I find plants very comforting, they allow you to screw up and redeem yourself constantly. You can let them get a little too big for their pots or you can forget to water them right when they need it sometimes, but once you give them what they need, they spring right back to life. This project has really reminded me of how much I love growing things, something I’d sort of forgotten. So the more I thought about how much I was enjoying myself, something I’d been wanting to do for about a year now kept popping in to my head and finally I made the decision that had already been in the back of my mind for a while now, I changed my major to horticulture. I had been scared to do it for the normal reasons. I’ve already switched three times and I am only a sophomore and when it comes to science, not a fan. But the more this semester goes on and the more I look at my garden in my window and think of when the time comes when I don’t live in Manhattan when I have classes, southeast Kansas about one weekend a month, and Florida for Christmas Break, Spring Break and Summer, and I actually have somewhere where I could start a huge garden, the more I want that to be my way of life, not just a hobby. So, I finally did it.
If you remember my first blog at all, I wrote a little bit about how I really like that community feel of farming communities and that is something that I feel a commune provides. Well, I got reminded the other day of how gardening can bring people together. This little old lady lives across the alley from me and prior to Thursday, we’d never spoken before. I was out transplanting my garlic on Thursday and planting some flowers for my mom’s garden that I could give her on Mother’s Day in May and I saw my neighbor come outside to take her trash can. She literally stopped at her tracks and stared at me. I waved and said “Hello” and she half heartidly waved back and continued to stare at me. Then she began to walk my way, when she got in to my yard she began to ask all about what I was planting. We had a nice talk and I told her if she needed any help starting her garden in the spring, I’d be more than happy to help and she told me to stop by anytime. Needless to say, I was smiling ear to ear the rest of the time I was transplanting.
For the rest of this blog, I thought it would be really informative to take you through a hypothetical day on a commune from information I’ve gathered from various websites. On my last blog someone commented they had rather negative thoughts about communes and I definitely want that to change! There are communes and ecovillages that are bad and there are ones that are good, just like everything else.
Dancing Rabbit EcoVillage – this is a link to Dancing Rabbit’s newspaper which keeps everyone updated on daily happenings. Online Tour of Dancing Rabbit
In this blog I will be examining just one of the many economic effects caused by the excessive pumping of the Ogallala aquifer. As I stated before, the water from Ogallala aquifer is being withdrawn faster than it can replenish itself naturally, and therefore the amount of water is greatly declining. I would like to focus on the Ogallala from a local level, so you can see the economic effects more clearly. A region I found that had a dramatic response to the decline in the aquifer was one small region in the Southern Plains.
This particular land expands across 19 counties in Texas, and contains approximately 2.5 million acres of irrigated crop land. Their economy (along with much of the Southern Plains) is very dependent upon their agriculture businesses. Many of the components within the agriculture business here include grain elevators, cattle feed, cotton production, meat packing plants, production suppliers, plants and textile mills. This region heavily relies on the Ogallala aquifer, producing nearly 72% of the four major field crops grown in that region which are cotton, wheat, corn and grain year-round. Because the amount of irrigation has grown, the amount of water that is used has dramatically increased. In 1949 the approximate use of water for this region was 4 Million acres/feet each year and in 1980, the amount had leaped to an astonishing 18 million acres/feet. Because of this heavy discharge of the aquifer, the amount of water has dramatically declined, especially in irrigated areas which have left the farmers with declining water reserves and reduced yields in irrigation wells.
Given these declines, some farmers have had to adopt more efficient irrigation methods such as dryland farming. Many farmers started to shift their focus to the crops that they know would utilize less water during their particular “growing season”. However budget constraints and a loss of revenue were inevitable. This led to a huge decline in crop production for this region, totaling the economic loss to over $190 million. Because these farmers had carelessly overused the water from the aquifer, they were eventually forced to cut back their production. Clearly the amount of water a farmer is allowed to use can have a dramatic impact on how much is yielded from their production. The Ogallala aquifer greatly effects the amount of revenue and production one land can yield.
In the following video, they vaguely describe the financial(as well as personal) side effects the decrease of the Ogallala has had on the state of Nebraska, and asks what can be done to stop the decline in water.
On a more positive note, there are many researchers and research programs dedicated to the preservation of the Ogallala, one of the world’s largest aquifers. New technology is being invented to measure input and output, and to design the most efficient ways to farm and irrigate large-scale. I will be researching and reporting all of this in a later blog.
