Waste Not Want Not: Update

A FRUITFUL ENDEAVOR NEEDS ASSISTANCE
Maui Weekly, July 14, 2009, by Debra Lordan

You may remember me referring to my black thumb and my little greenhouse, aka my plant mortuary. On the other side of the spectrum, we have green-thumbed gardeners who can grow a veritable Garden of Eaten—those with orchards of oranges, acres of avocados, a bounty of bananas… well, you get it. Fruit trees often produce an abundance of food, and it may be difficult for those with fruit and nut trees to keep up with harvesting, which takes time and labor. The fruit might end up going to waste on the ground or end up in the trash.

A group called Waste Not Want Not, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization comprised of community volunteer harvesters, have collected and distributed six tons of Maui-grown fruit, nuts and veggies since they began last December. Instead of becoming mulch or fruit fly food, WNWN collects edible fruit and produce from businesses and residents, which is then donated to the Maui Food Bank (MFB). MFB distributes the fresh food to Hale Makua and about 75 other organizations that provide services for keiki, the elderly and the homeless.

After you schedule an appointment with Waste Not Want Not, part of their crew of 35 volunteer harvesters come to your property to harvest your surplus. WNWN doesn’t charge for collection or delivery, and in exchange for their work, volunteers may receive a bit of the harvest.

But nonprofits can’t run on fruit alone. It takes money to run any organization. WNWN needs money for gas, administration fees, and software for taxes, scheduling and a donor database. They need equipment such as orchard ladders as well.

WNWN is currently using personal trucks, borrowed ladders and other equipment with the hope they can expand the operation and increase their harvesting ability to meet an increasing need.

The organization also requires money to hire a mechanic to either fix the old van donated by the MFB, or to buy another vehicle. Because the van is broken, they use a pickup truck, which limits what the group can harvest. They take the pickup out twice a week, but one pickup of food is gone after four or five deliveries to MFB recipient agencies. They could easily go out every day—there is that much food available—but they don’t have the financial support.

As we all know, times are hard and receiving this fresh produce means a lot to those in need—now more than ever. WNWN Co-founder and Director James Mylenek Sr. told me about a senior citizen who tearfully accepted a few tangerines, fresh fruit that she hadn’t been able to afford to buy for four years.

Don’t let these treasures go to waste.

To learn more about Waste Not, Want Not, to become a volunteer, donate fruit or make a contribution to support the program, visit waste-not-want-not.org or call 874-8038.

To find an organization near you that receives WNWN fruit through the Maui Food Bank, call 244-9500.

Food Inc.— Where our food comes from. How much it really costs.

David Brancaccio, PBS host for “NOW”, talks with filmmaker Robert Kenner, the director of “Food, Inc.,” which takes a hard look at the secretive and surprising journey food takes on the way from processing plants to our dinner tables. The two discuss why contemporary food processing secrets are so closely guarded, their impact on our health, and another surprising fact: how consumers are actually empowered to make a difference.

Watch the trailer for Food, Inc.

Related links:
Associated Press: Nebraska cattle herd tests positive for bovine TB

BBC: Chicken into Nuggets

Boston Globe: Demand and prices rise for organic food, but supply falls

Forbes: Wal-Mart milk to be hormone-free

The News Leader: Sustainable farmer featured in 2 new films

The New York Times: Second Company Is Implicated in Outbreak Linked to Spinach

NPR: Beef Recall Follows Animal-Abuse Scandal

Reuters: Starbucks revamps bakery food ingredients

Ecology Action

Ecology Action is a Santa Cruz, CA nonprofit environmental consultancy delivering cutting edge education services, technical assistance, and program implementation for initiatives that assist individuals, business and government to maximize environmental quality and community well being.

Since 1970 Ecology Action has combined municipal, foundation, and private funding to establish cutting-edge conservation programs, prove their effectiveness financially and operationally, and establish each program as a permanent community resource.

They seek innovative ways to instill environmental awareness, promote pragmatic change, and create opportunities for individuals, businesses, and community agencies to save money, create jobs, and contribute to a sustainable local economy.

Browse some of their current programs:

Bike Smart! Promotes safe bicycling through fun, hands-on education programs at Santa Cruz County schools.   Bike to Work Provides incentives, free breakfast, and support to get you hooked on bicycling as transportation.

Business Waste Assessment Waste assessment software to help government and businesses reduce waste, save money, and promote resource conservation.   Clean Beaches Coalition Ongoing beach cleanups including the Annual Coastal Cleanup

Climate Solutions Program A leadership initiative to mobilize the entire Monterey Bay Area to radically reduce our carbon footprint.   Electric Bike Information Providing reduced prices, safety and skill training, and increased service for Santa Cruz County residents.

Folding Bikes in Buses Providing reduced prices on folding bikes and bus passes to promote bike with bus transportation for Santa Cruz County residents.

Cabrillo College Go Green Choose an alternative to driving alone and you can make a difference in reducing traffic congestion and greenhouse gases. For Cabrillo College students, staff and faculty members.

Green Building Information about the design and construction of healthy, sustainable places to live and work.

Green Business Program Offers free technical and promotional assistance to help you become a certified green business.

Green Gardener Program Provides professional training and certification in ecological landscaping and helps customers find certified Green Gardeners.

Home Composting Program Offers a wealth of home composting resources and opportunities for the residents of Santa Cruz County.

Household Hazardous Waste Provides information about local and regional drop-off facilities and alternatives to traditionally used chemicals.

Integrated Pest Managment Provides information and technical assistance about less-toxic alternatives to traditional pest management.

Livestock and Land Provides technical assistance and cost share dollars for manure and land management approaches that protect water quality.

LodgingSavers Program Delivers a comprehensive suite of rebated energy efficiency retrofits to Lodging Properties in PG&E service territory.

Model Schools Program Reduces pest problems, flooding and erosion, and the use of toxic chemicals in schools.

Multifamily Recycling A partnership with twelve local agencies and haulers, implementing comprehensive recycling and waste reduction programs at low income multifamily housing complexes.

Oil Recycling Provides information about local and regional used oil and filter drop-off facilities for cars, boats, and farm equipment.

Our Water Our World Raises public awareness about alternatives to using hazardous pesticide and fertilizer products in and around the home.

Santa Cruz County Recycles Provides information that enables people and businesses to reuse, recycle, and buy recycled in Santa Cruz County.

Special Event Recycling Offers recycling and waste reduction programs at events through technical assistance, outreach and education.

RightLights Program Provides subsidized lighting upgrades and free professional assistance to help businesses lower energy bills and boost cash flow.

Tourism Recycling Offers recycling and waste reduction programs at events through technical assistance, outreach and education.

Transportation Membership Services Encourages member employees to use other ways than driving alone to commute to and from work.

Waste Free Schools Program Assists Santa Cruz County schools in institutionalizing campus recycling, composting and reduce / reuse programs.

Watch out Hawaii: Veggies may harbor rare parasite

Three people in Hawaii have come down with what appears to be a rare parasitic disease called rat lungworm disease in recent weeks. Two of the victims (friends who had a meal together) told the Honolulu Star Bulletin that they experienced “agonizing pain” after eating raw vegetables – and physicians fear they may have accidentally swallowed slug larvae hidden inside folds of raw peppers.

Physicians at Hilo Medical Center on the Big Island of Hawaii reportedly discharged the patients several times before finally admitting them in mid-December, because they could not find anything wrong with them; one of the pals is now in a coma, the newspaper reports.

Rat lungworm is a tropical disease found in warm, moist climes that is caused by Angiostrongylus cantonensis, a parasitic worm carried by rats (the parasites live in the pulmonary arteries of rats, hence the name “rat lungworm”). The rats excrete worm larvae in their feces, which are sometimes eaten by small snails and slugs that often nestle in the folds of lettuce, peppers and other produce.

“Many different species of slugs and snails are known to be carriers of this particular nematode [rat lungworm parasite],” Robert Hollingsworth, an entomologist at the U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hilo told ScientificAmerican.com. When people ingest the worm, it travels from the gastrointestinal tract to the central nervous system. Most people experience no symptoms or only mild ones such as muscle aches and sensitivity to light and recover without treatment, in most cases without ever suspecting a parasite (which typically dies off in a few weeks).

In rare instances, the worm causes potentially deadly meningitis, an infection of the fluid that bathes the spinal cord and brain. Symptoms include severe headache, stiff neck, tingling or painful feelings in the skin, low-grade fever, nausea, and vomiting, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “There have been documented deaths but they are very rare,” says Sarah Park, the state epidemiologist for Hawaii. The severity of the illness seems to depend on how many worms are ingested, how strong a person’s immune system happens to be, and how long the worm stays in the central nervous system, she notes, adding that it in some cases worms have survived for up to several months.

“We don’t know about all the cases out there,” because there is no diagnostic test for the disease, Park told ScientificAmerican.com, saying that diagnoses are made based on clinical observations, suspicion of exposure to the parasite, and the presence of elevated levels of eosinophils, white blood cells in the cerebrospinal fluid that might indicate a parasitic infection.

A 2007 study published in the journal Pacific Science suggests that the prevalence of rat lungworm disease may be on the rise. According to the paper (co-authored by Hollingsworth), an invasive slug species from Southeast Asia, Parmarion martensi, arrived in Hawaii in 2004 and began out-competing the Cuban slug, Veronicella cubensis, one of the most common large slug species in Hawaii. Researchers found that 77.5 percent of the invasive species were carrying the rat lungworm parasite compared to 24.3 percent of the Cuban slugs.

“The transmission potential of this species may be higher than that of other slugs and snails in Hawaii,” the researchers wrote.

The best way to avoid rat lungworm disease? Don’t eat raw snails or slugs and wash your vegetables and fruit very well, Park advises, noting that they are small [as short as 2 mm in length] and can easily escape notice if hiding in creases of produce.

Image credit ©iStockphoto.com/Effinity Stock Photography

Article from Scientific American Blog.

First Family To Plant White House Veggie Garden

March 18, 2009 11:57 AM

ABC News’ Brian Hartman Reports: President Obama’s latest shovel-ready project is close to home — in fact, right in his own yard. In an effort to promote healthy eating, the first family will be planting a vegetable garden right on the White House grounds.

ABC News’ Ann Compton and Sunlen Miller report that the new White House vegetable garden will be dug up and planted on the South grounds of the White House — near the fountain but out of view of the main house.

Though the 16-acre complex is maintained by the National Park Service, one worker who preferred to remain anonymous assured ABC News that National Park Service staff won’t do the sowing and planting. The White House residence staff will handle that.

As first reported online by food writer Eddie Gehman Kohan, who reports on food issues related to the Obamas, First Lady Michelle Obama told Oprah Winfrey’s “O” magazine, “We’re … working on a wonderful new garden project.”

In the April issue of the magazine, Mrs. Obama tells Winfrey, “We want to use it as a point of education, to talk about health and how delicious it is to eat fresh food, and how you can take that food and make it part of a healthy diet.”

A variety of organic food and sustainable agriculture advocates have been pressing the Obamas to plant such a garden.

Click to see ABC web post..

Even "Organically Raised" Cows Are a "Climate Bomb"

With global warming, here’s the inconvenient truth about meat and dairy products: Like all ruminants, cows are constantly emitting methane — a greenhouse gas that is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide — from both ends. . . . If you eat them or drink their milk, regardless of their origin and how they were produced, you significantly contribute to climate change. Period. If your cow is from New Zealand or your own backyard, if your lamb is organic free-range or factory farmed, it still has a negative impact on global warming.

For more interesting deails… Change.org.

Simple elixir called a 'miracle liquid'

The Electroyzer uses salt, water and low-p0wer electrolysis  to produce a natural degreaser and sanitizing solution that successfully competes with other products.

Sodium ions are converted into sodium hydroxide, an alkaline liquid that cleans and degreases like detergent, but without the scrubbing bubbles. Chloride ions become hypochlorous acid, a potent disinfectant known as acid water.

“It’s 10 times more effective than bleach in killing bacteria,” said Yen-Con Hung, a professor of food science at the University of Georgia-Griffin, who has been researching electrolyzed water for more than a decade. “And it’s safe.”

Used as a sanitizer for decades in Russia and Japan, it’s slowly winning acceptance in the United States. A New York poultry processor uses it to kill salmonella on chicken carcasses. Minnesota grocery clerks spray sticky conveyors in the checkout lanes. Michigan jailers mop with electrolyzed water to keep potentially lethal cleaners out of the hands of inmates.

See full article in the Los Angeles Times.

Food Fight – Wednesday Film at the MACC

The proverb ‘We Are What We Eat’ is made brilliantly entertaining in this 2008 International Documentary Association’s Audience Award that also provides a fascinating look at how a small group of counter-culture California-based chefs gave birth to the local-sustainable-organic food movement that so many of us enjoy today.

Wednesday, February 4
Maui Film Festival
Castle Theater, MACC, Kahului
Shows are at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Click here for details and trailer.

The Edible Schoolyard

How to create and sustain an organic garden and landscape that is wholly integrated into the school’s curriculum and lunch program. It involves the students in all aspects of farming the garden – along with preparing, serving and eating the food – as a means of awakening their senses and encouraging awareness and appreciation of the transformative values of nourishment, community, and stewardship of the land.

Garden classes teach the Principles of Ecology, the origins of food, and respect for all living systems. Students work together to shape and plant beds, amend soil, turn compost, and harvest flowers, fruits, and vegetables.

In the kitchen classroom, students prepare and eat delicious seasonal dishes from produce they have grown in the garden. Students and teachers gather at the table to share food and conversation during each class. The cycle of food production is completed in the kitchen, as students eat fruits, vegetables, and grains grown in soil rich with the compost of last season’s produce.

FROM SEED TO TABLE

Student participation in all aspects of the Seed to Table experience occurs as they prepare beds, plant seeds and seedlings, tend crops, and harvest produce. Through these engaging activities, students begin to understand the cycle of food production. Vegetables, grains, and fruits, grown in soil rich with the compost of last year’s harvest, are elements of seasonal recipes prepared by students in the kitchen. Students and teachers sit together to eat at tables set with flowers from the garden, adults facilitate conversation, and cleanup is a collective responsibility. They complete the Seed to Table cycle by taking vegetable scraps back to the garden at the end of each kitchen class. The Seed to Table experience exposes children to food production, ecology, and nutrition, and fosters an appreciation of meaningful work, and of fresh and natural food.

The Edible Schoolyard website
Site resources:
The site has pages on: A day in the garden , A day in the kitchen, How it works, Lessons, The garden manager, Kitchen lessons & recipes, The chef teacher, Classroom lessons, educational resources, ecoliteracy, teacher liason.

How to start a school garden and kitchen
Includes list of 20 good reasons to have a garden and a kitchen at your school.

The Edible Schoolyard Academy
Creating Garden and Kitchen Classrooms in Every Community

Garden of Eating: Middle School Students Grow Their Own Lunch An Edutopia article.

The Edible Schoolyard: Seed-to-Table Learning
Video presentation of the Edible Schoolyard.

WEB SITES Programs Evergreen. www.evergreen.ca Gardens for Growing People. www.svn.net/growpepl San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance. www.sfgreenschools.org Eco-Schools. www.eco-schools.org Kidsgardening. www.kidsgardening.com Aquatic Outreach Institute. www.aoinstitute.org Two Angry Moms www.angrymoms.org Feed Me Better www.feedmebetter.com Chef Ann Cooper www.chefann.com The Food Project www.thefoodproject.org People’s Grocery www.peoplesgrocery.org GRUB www.eatgrub.org Slow Food USA Education www.slowfoodusa.org/education Yale Sustainable Food Project www.yale.edu/sustainablefood Food Change www.foodchange.org Project Food, Land and People www.foodlandpeople.org Community Alliance with Family Farmers www.caff.org Life Lab www.lifelab.org Rooted in Community www.earthisland.org/ric Environment and Sustainability Center For Ecoliteracy. www.ecoliteracy.org The Food Systems Project. www.foodsystems.org Berkeley Horticultural Nursery. www.berkeleyhort.com Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. www.oaec.org Community Food Security Coalition. www.foodsecurity.org The Ecology Center. www.ecologycenter.org The Garden Project. www.gardenproject.org Sustainable Agriculture Education. www.sagecenter.org Funding Kidsgardening   • School Garden Grants. www.kidsgardening.com/teachers2.asp   • Youth Garden Grant. www.kidsgardening.com/grants.asp   • Resource Directory for Grants. www.kidsgardening.com/resources/resource.asp Environmental Protection Agency. www.epa.gov/teachers/grants.htm National Wildlife Foundation. www.nwf.org/schoolyardhabitats National Environmental Education and Training Foundation. www.neetf.org School Grants. www.schoolgrants.org The Foundation Center. www.fdncenter.org These sites all contain additional resources and links that should prove helpful. Resourcefulness and networks within your own local community will also lead to supportive individuals, groups and organizations.

BOOKS
(a partial list)

The New Oxford Book Of Food Plants. J.G. Vaughan.. Oxford University Press.

Rice: From Risotto to Sushi. Claire Ferguson. Rizzoli.

The Cook’s Journal. Christopher Warmell. Running Press.

Africa, Europe, and Asia: Ready to Use Interdisciplinary Lessons and activities for Grades 5-12. D. Bloom. The Center for Applied Research in Education.

Food is Elementary: A Hands-On Curricula for Young Students. Antonia Demas. Food Studies Institute.

Potatoes from Pancakes to Pommes Frites. Annie Nichols. Rizzoli.

Chez Panisse Vegetables. Alice Waters. Harper-Collins.

Chez Panisse Fruit. Alice Waters. Harper-Collins.

Bread. Beth Hensperger. Chronicle Books.

Food In History. Reay Tannahill. Stern and Day.

Slumps, Grunts, and Snickerdoodles: What Colonial America Ate and Why. Lila Perl. Clarion Books.

The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. Marion Cunningham. Alfred A. Knopf.

You Eat What You Are: People, Culture, and Food Traditions. Thelma Barer-Stern. Firefly Books.

The Greatest Table: A Banquet to Fight Against Hunger. Michal J. Rosen. Harcourt Brace and Co.

Play With Your Food. Joost Elffers. Stewart, Tabori, and Chang.

The Food Chronology. James Trager. Henry Holt and Co.

Through the Kitchen Window: Women Explore the Intimate Meanings of Food and Cooking. Beacon Press.

Material World. Peter Menzel. Sierra Club Books.

Recipes From A Kitchen Garden Volume 2. Renee Shepherd and Fran Raboff. Shepherd’s Garden Publishing.

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. Harold McGee. Simon and Schuster.

Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Photo Cards. CA Nutrition Education and Training Program. Ca Dept. of Ed.

A Taste of Heritage. The New African–American Cuisine. Joe Randall and Toni Tipton-Martin. Macmillan.

Soul Food: Recipes and Reflections From African-American Churches. Joyce White. Harper Collins.

Everything You Pretend to Know About Food And Are Afraid Someone Will Ask. Nancy Rommelmann. Penguin Books.

How Are You Peeling? Foods With Moods. Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers. Scholastic Press.

Women In the Material World. Faith D’Aluisio and Peter Menzel. Sierra Cliub Books.

The New Guide to Fruit. Kate Whiteman. Lorenz Books.

Food. Weverley Root. Smithmark.

The Gourmet Alter: The History, Origin and Migration of Food of the World. Susie Ward. Macmillan.

Fast Food Nation. Eric Schlosser. Houghton Mifflin.

The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture. Wendell Berry. Sierra Club Books.

From the Good Earth. Michael Ableman

The Green Machine. Polly Cameron

Kids Cook Farm Fresh Food, Sibella Kraus. CA Dept. of Education

Kids in Gardens: Student Education Program, Aquatic Outreach Institute

Teaching Organic Farming and Gardening, Albie Miles and Martha Brown, eds. University of Santa Cruz

Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture

Food Declaration.org is based on a belief that the food system must be reorganized on a foundation of health: for our communities, for people, for animals, and for the natural world. The quality of food, and not just its quantity, ought to guide our agriculture. The ways we grow, distribute, and prepare food should celebrate our various cultures and our shared humanity, providing not only sustenance, but justice, beauty and pleasure.

Governments have a duty to protect people from malnutrition, unsafe food, and exploitation, and to protect the land and water on which we depend from degradation. Individuals, producers, and organizations have a duty to create regional systems that can provide healthy food for their communities. We all have a duty to respect and honor the laborers of the land without whom we could not survive. The changes we call for here have begun, but the time has come to accelerate the transformation of our food and agriculture and make its benefits available to all.

The site presents a declaration with twelve principles to frame food and agriculture policy, to ensure that it will contribute to the health and wealth of the nation and the world.

Click here to visit the site.