Food Share Mapping

Food Share Mapping: Growing Community Through the Food Share Program at Poughkeepsie Farm Project

If you’ve tasted the produce we grow at PFP, you know it’s delicious - but have you ever wondered where the rest of our harvest goes? This summer we had Vassar Community Fellow Ben Bachman working with our team to create a StoryMap that explores how our Food Share Program makes PFP produce available in Poughkeepsie and all throughout the Hudson Valley. Our Food Share program is one part of our commitment to food justice and addressing food insecurity in Poughkeepsie - with 40,000 pounds of produce donated in 2019 alone.

Scroll through to discover interactive maps and other content that illustrates our effort to grow community by sharing our harvest.

Click on the image below to go to the story map:

October Harvest of the Month - Beets!

By: Ben Bachman, Vassar Community Fellow

Behold the bright red beet! The summer harvest season may be winding down, but beets are one colorful vegetable that you can harvest long into the fall. That’s why, at PFP, beets are our October Harvest of the Month.

Cooking Ideas

Greens or roots, you can eat both parts of the beet! With so many delicious ways to prepare beets, there are plenty of ways for everyone to find something they enjoy.

Rinse your beets and a whole world of possibilities open up. Young beet greens and roots are good eaten raw. Chop them up and toss them in a salad to try their cool, rich flavor. No need to peel the roots - healthy vitamins and minerals are hidden in the skin. Cook beet greens as you would spinach or chard by steaming or sauteing. For beet roots, steam or boil until you can poke them with a fork. Drain and rinse with cool water and your beets are ready to eat however you want them! Here’s a tip: Beets are super easy to peel after you boil and rinse them - just make sure you let them cool first. You may want to peel off the skin, especially when you have bigger, older beets. Another cooking option, one that really brings out beets’ unique flavor, is roasting them in the oven. 

Even now we’ve only scratched the surface of what beets can do. At PFP, our favorite beet-based recipes range from soups to smoothies! Take that for food power!

• Beet and Potato Soup

• Beet Slaw

• Beet Crackers

• Beet Fries

• Beet Smoothie

Nutrition

If we’re talking food power, beets pack a major punch. Beet roots get their striking color from a nutrient called betaine, which is a known antioxidant with anti-inflammatory and detoxifying properties.

What about the rich, earthy flavor of beet roots? That comes from trace amounts of a substance called geosmin. This is the very same substance that causes the fresh smell of soil after rainfall.

What’s more - beet roots are unusual among vegetables for their high concentration of sugar. While you won’t find them in the grocery store, some types of beets are used for commercial sugar production: as much as 20 percent of the world’s sugar comes from beets!

This of course brings up another important point about beets - not all beets look alike! You might be familiar with the red “table beet”, but beets can also be white, like sugar beets, or purple, pink - even golden yellow.  Beets are the perfect vegetable to help you eat the R A I N B O W!

One of our favorite colorful beets, the golden beet! Image from Baker Creek Seeds.

Now you know all about beet roots, but WAIT - there’s more! Remember how I said beets pack a major food power punch? Don’t pass up the beet greens! The greens contain even more nutrients than beet roots!!

Beets come from the same plant family as spinach and chard. All of these foods are known for being dense in nutrients, but beet greens are especially rich. They have twice the amount of iron as spinach! Beets are packed with other nutrients too, including vitamin C, fiber, magnesium, and potassium.

All these nutrients help keep your heart ‘beeting’ by building healthy blood and improving nerve and muscle function.

Kreiger School Cooking Pre-Covid-19

Storage

To store beets, cut the greens from the root a few inches above the stem. In a perforated bag or wrapped in damp paper towel fresh beet greens will last 3 to 5 days in the refrigerator. Beet roots keep for 2 to 4 weeks in the refrigerator. In a dark cellar they last even longer - up to 3 months.

Beet Dye and Coloring Page

As you’re cooking beets, you might notice that beet roots leave red marks on the cutting board and turn cooking water red. They might even stain your fingers! Doesn’t it seem like that color might be put to good use?

Of course it can - beets can be used to make paint! To make your own beet-based paint, just cook then blend some beet roots. Add water to finish the paint and you’re ready to create a beety masterpiece with a paintbrush and some paper. Practice shading by changing the amount of water you mix with your paint.

Beet stains easily, so you may want to wear a smock while you’re painting. Salt can help remove beet stains from fingers after painting or cooking.

Below you’ll find a coloring page where you can use your beet paint to make your own rainbow beets (crayons, markers, or colored pencils work fine too). 

Coloring Page - Beets

PFP’s Education Gardens Shift Focus to Producing Fresh Food for the Community

by Kathyrn B.

Warring school garden produce

When they aren’t making PFP@H videos or distributing activity kits, our education team has also been working hard to keep school and on-site educational gardens growing food and herbs that we can share with the students and their families! 

At Warring, our team members harvested kale, spinach, parsley, and chives! Chris and Sonya Joy distributed the beautiful produce at the free meal sites across the city.

At Krieger,  Sonya Joy has been caring for the garlic, kale, and spinach that are almost ready to harvest. Sonya planted peas, radish, and carrot seedlings that are all peaking up out of the soil!

At the Middle School, Lala is practicing companion planting by interplanting different vegetables that grow well together. She planted tomatoes with celery and carrots, and then a bed with beets, cabbage and kohlrabi.  The garden also got a haircut!

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Chris and Sonya bag produce for distribution

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Garlic and greens growing at Krieger

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Beets and Cabbage

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Tomatoes, celery and carrots!

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Beets, kohlrabi, and cabbage!

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Larissa watering her calendula plants

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Stinging nettle plants

At Clinton the beets, kohlrabi, and cabbage seedlings were planted by wonderful volunteers at the school! Check out the beautiful trellises with peas!In our Meditation garden, Larissa put the calendula plants in that will grow beautiful flowers we use for our herbal salves. Larissa has been trimming the tops of the stinging nettle, a nutritious herb that can be used in tea, or cooked like spinach! Make sure to use gloves while harvesting to avoid being stung.

Lastly, in our Discovery Garden, PFP  educators have been planting and seeding parsley, Asian greens, spinach, and radishes that will be used in our PFP@Home program or distributed at meal sites. We are also planting new perennials like Filbert and Nannyberry that will produce nuts and fruits for years to come!

Check back for more updates in upcoming blogs and check out our videos to see what else we are up to!

PFP Provides Recipe and Activity Kits for 100 City of Poughkeepsie Families

By: Kathryn B.

We have had an exciting few weeks sharing our newest program, Poughkeepsie Food Power @ Home, and freshly grown produce with Poughkeepsie families!

Since we started distributing food with Poughkeepsie City School District, our education team has been hearing that people are ready to grow their own food, make fewer trips to the store, and find a fun way to do it with the whole family! So on May 6th, we launched Poughkeepsie Food Power @ Home, an online version of Poughkeepsie Farm Project’s kid-friendly family cooking and gardening classes. The first round will last for 7 weeks, and we are thrilled to have filled all 100 spots with City of Poughkeepsie families!

Each week, we are creating online tutorials in English and Spanish for cooking and container gardening activities as well as distributing the gardening supplies or ingredients needed to do these activities at home. We are hoping that by providing families with recipe kits and established plants, they can enjoy family projects while gaining skills and comfort with gardening and cooking with children.

Sonya Joy cooking Locro de Papa for PFP@H

The menu features delicious dishes with cultural roots that contain only 5 simple ingredients, so families can prepare satisfying meals with less time, effort, and resources.The first recipe is a delicious Andean potato soup called Locro de Papa! We’ve included recipes that kids can do safely with their own kid-friendly kitchen tools, and some that adults will do with help from the whole family.

A student with their microgreens container

Two student ready to harvest their microgreens

The gardening component includes an online tutorial on how to care for and harvest edible garden plants and is focused on quick-growing options. We had such a fun time talking about microgreens kits the first week with families! We heard from many people that it was their first time growing their own food. We’ll be offering tips on other small container options like baby greens and herbs, and large containers for those with more space!

After this initial round, we plan to use feedback from families to enhance the program moving forward. If you did not sign up before the program was full, you can join the wait list and follow along with your own supplies.  Make sure to subscribe to our Youtube channel so you don’t miss any of the new content!

See all the PFP@H content on the web page.

Week 1: Learn to Plant Microgreens at Home with Lala M:

We're Thinking of You!

To our PFP community, 

We hope you are well in these challenging times and we want our students, families, and community partners to know that we are thinking of you.  Even though our team can’t carry out our regular educational programs as planned, we are still working hard to support healthy eating, food access, and remote learning in the City of Poughkeepsie.  Right this very minute, our educators are:

• Partnering with the Poughkeepsie School District to distribute PFP produce and recipe ideas to children and families in our community

• Gathering and developing video and print learning resources so students can connect to our curriculum remotely

Ms. Laura Reads Right this Very Minute

Ms. Sonya Reads Charlotte and the Quiet Place

• Planning and tending to educational gardens at Poughkeepsie schools and on the farm to ensure accessible sources of fresh and healthy food for our students

• Continuing to develop fall programming and curriculum for the new school year

As we engage in this important work you can be sure that our staff is practicing social distancing and thorough hand-washing, and we recommend that you do the same.  We know it can be a struggle to stay positive right now, but we can take strength from each other and come together to support everyone in our community in these unprecedented times. 

Be well and take care of each other, 

The Poughkeepsie Farm Project Education Team  

Victory Gardens: Then and Now

By Kathryn B. and Caitlin, PFP intern

What are Victory Gardens? 

The simple definition would be the planting of gardens by citizens to grow fruits, vegetables and herbs for their own sustenance in order to ration the canned food for the soldiers at war. This movement began during World War I and was soon practiced by many Americans as a way to survive, by using any available space to grow food. More than just that, these gardens were seen as a symbol of patriotism and safeguard during the war, boosting the morale of both troops and citizens as they contributed their labor to the cause and had the reward of fresh produce for their families.  With almost 20 million gardens planted around the country, these gardens became a normal, everyday activity performed by many Americans during both World Wars.

Victory gardens were also a way for communities to work together to keep everyone fed as they tried to make ends meet on their canned rations. You may have heard of the idea of “Grow a Row”, or growing an extra row of food to donate to a food bank, or to a neighbor that may be overworked, out of work, or without the time or space to grow their own food.

Why grow one now? 

The reasons may be different today, but we think we should all bring back the idea of Victory Gardens for a number of important reasons. 

With the necessity of social distancing, growing your own food results in less need to leave your home and risk your health. Having your own garden means an economical grocery list and the ability to offer different and nutritious fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs for your family. A home-grown garden also requires a fair amount of time and effort, giving the feeling of doing something helpful and positive and some much needed physical activity. Growing your own food and becoming self-sufficient during a pandemic, such as COVID-19 can be very valuable. No matter how small the space, whether you live in an apartment or on a farm, gardening is for everyone.

Gardening not only provides fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs, but it is an activity that the entire family can participate in together. Victory gardens can promote sustainability, self-sufficiency, healthy eating, and community building. Much like the school gardens that have been created in the Poughkeepsie area, they can transform an empty space into something new that can help promote food sovereignty and food justice for everyone in your community.  Additionally, gardening promotes sustainability because you have access to fresh food right in your own yard, and can conserve the many resources used to truck food across the country. 

Victory gardens, school gardens, and home gardens all are easy to set up with a few tools and materials. People are buying seeds more now than ever to start up their own home garden.  If seeds are planted now, there will be enough surplus to preserve food for the Winter months ahead and ensure your supply of healthy vegetables year round!

Now, some gardening Q & A :

What do you need to get started? 

Most fruits and vegetables require an area that gets 8 hours or more of sun. Find the sunniest spot in your yard or balcony, and determine what kind of container you can fit there. Many plants can be grown in a pot, or even recycled buckets and other containers. You may be able to do some form of vertical gardening, or hanging planters, too! If you need to garden on a windowsill, you can still do many herbs, miniature varieties of vegetables, and a PFP favorite, microgreens!

f you have a lot of space but aren’t sure about your soil, you may want to build raised beds. Common sizes are 4x4 feet or 4x8 feet, or a narrower 3 foot width if kids will be helping you harvest. The basic form would require lumber, or another material as the frame, and soil to fill them, and some tools to put it together.

Lastly, you’ll need seeds or seedlings to plant!

Where to get seeds and plants:

Well, you’re in luck! PFP has a yearly plant sale coming up, and we also have a seed bank that we sell seeds from. There are many other reputable seed companies out there, and you can find varieties that do well in the Hudson Valley from regional companies like Hudson Valley Seed Co., Turtle Tree Seeds, Fruition Seeds, or TrueLove Seeds!. If you are buying a seedling to transplant, make sure to inspect it for any signs of stress or disease like wilting, brown leaves, or signs of fungus or pests. You don’t want to introduce diseases into your garden!

What to grow? 

Grow what you will eat! Fruits, vegetables, or even grains if you have the space. There is a huge variety of options for the Hudson Valley. A few of my favorite container options are peppers, greens, beans, tomatoes, eggplant, herbs, strawberries, and carrots. I’ve also done things as large as squash or potatoes in pots successfully!

What to keep in mind? 

Growing something new is an adventure and an experiment! We learn new things all the time as gardeners - it’s part of the reason I love it. Sometimes your plants may not all make it, and that’s normal, don’t be discouraged. However, many issues can be fixed if you pay close attention to what the plants are telling you, so make sure to check on your plant “babies” every day if you can - besides, it’s something to do! That first taste of home grown produce will be worth it.

Earth Day in the Garden

By Kathryn B. and Sonya Joy

April is National Garden Month and we have lots of fun family-friendly ways to celebrate Earth Day and Garden Month while staying safe at home! One thing we can all do is start getting our gardens ready, so we’ve also got a few tips to reuse things to grow your own food from seed and ways to make your garden more Earth-Friendly.

Morse Worm Garden

If you’re looking for a reading suggestion to cure your boredom, Acadia Tucker’s newest book “Growing Good Food: A Citizen’s Guide to Backyard Carbon Farming,” tackles sustainable gardening practices to help do your part for the planet. The book is inspired by the idea of Climate Victory Gardens, pulling from the war-time Victory Gardens, a term coined by George Washington Carver, for gardens used to support self-sufficiency during periods of food rationing. It’s a great read to learn the basics of cultivating healthy soil and “farming” carbon, whether you want to start incorporating regenerative methods or dig into permaculture design.

Don’t forget about last month’s Ag Literacy book recommendations, which will soon be posted in video form on our social media accounts!

Need a fun project? We’ve got you covered:

Grow a Vegetable Garden:

Planting a diverse selection of fruits and vegetables helps build healthy soil, minimize pest and disease issues, and gives you a consistent bounty of fresh produce!

• Plant nitrogen-fixing vegetables like beans and peas to decrease your fertilizer needs.

• Perennials like Asparagus, Rhubarb, Strawberries and Raspberries all build healthier soil. There are many perennial herbs like chives, lavender, mint and rosemary to add diversity.

• Root vegetables like carrots, radishes and turnips aerate the soil. Plus, the whole plant is edible, not just the root!

• Add organic matter and compost regularly, and mulch to decrease watering in hot summers!

• Interplant quick growers like lettuce and beans with your cucumbers, tomatoes or corn to save space and keep the soil shaded. The 3 sisters, corn, bean and squash are a great example.

• Farm carbon and make new healthy soil with sheet mulching or Hugelkultur mounds:

Plant a Pollinator Garden:

Beyond growing your own food, you can also help the bees out by planting a pollinator garden with colorful flowers! Native plants and perennials should be your focus to be the most earth friendly and to provide lots of food sources for bees, butterflies, birds and other pollinators that we all need to grow our favorite foods.

• Attract all types of pollinators with colorful perennials like Bee Balm, Swamp Milkweed, and Butterfly Weed! 

• Herbs like Lavender, Chamomile and Anise Hyssop have multiple uses - as herbal teas and fragrant pollinator attractors!

Celebrate Spring with Natural Dyed Eggs

Looking for a way to celebrate Spring with things you already have at home? Use your beets and turmeric powder to dye eggs! For this fun activity, you’ll just need your plant-based dyes and some household items to share this special tradition with the whole family! Follow directions and get more ideas from Sonya Joy on this handout.

Download Instructions

Make Recycled Newspaper Planters

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle in the garden! April is when many seeds will get started here in New York. Why not start seeds with reused materials? Making seed pots out of old newspapers is not only a thrifty use of old newspapers, but also good for the planet: newspaper is biodegradable, and provides a mulch and fertilizer for young plants as it breaks down.

Download Instructions

Build a Worm Bin

Recycle your food scraps into dirt! You can opt to build your own worm bin or purchase one to start Vermicomposting (that’s composting with worms!). The “worm castings” left by the worms will make free, rich fertilizer for plants in your garden!

Download Instructions

 WORM BIN TIPS:

• To use a plastic storage bin or recycled plastic container, drill holes in the top for ventilation. You may want to cover the holes with some screening to prevent the worms from escaping

• Drainage is key: drill a hole toward the bottom of the bin to drain liquid out of the composter. Worm bins need to stay damp, but not wet. 

• Use shredded recycled paper / newspaper for worm bedding.

• Feed your worms fruit and vegetable scraps, shredded paper, coffee grounds, eggshells, plain rice, pasta or bread. Avoid food scraps that have oils or dressings as well as animal products like dairy, meat or bones.

• Not all worms are suited for recycling waste / living in this situation; consider using Red Wigglers, who live in decaying organic matter instead of soil. Earthworms do not do well in the worm bin! 

Agricultural Literacy Month at PFP: Staff Book Picks

In honor of New York’s Agricultural Literacy week, PFP is once again doing a whole month of Ag Literacy visits to elementary school classes to read a book and prepare a Rainbow Potato Salad together! The program is a celebration of New York agriculture, with the 2020 selection, Right This Very Minute by Lisl H. Detlefsen, students will explore the journey food takes from the farmers working to harvest it, all the way to their plates. They see apple trees, a cranberry bog, a sugarbush, vegetable farms with potatoes and lettuce, and more as they trace each meal featured in the story.

Thousands of books will be donated across the state as volunteers visit classrooms and talk with students about where their food comes from and how farming is important to their community and state. Check out the full lesson info and other resources from New York Ag in the Classroom.

In the spirit of agriculture literacy, here are our staff picks for our favorite Ag themed books this year, with everything from children’s books to an adult cookbook! Tell us about your recommendations for adding to our collection.

Kathryn, Farm to School Manager

The Thing About Bees by Shabazz Larkin

“I love The Thing About Beesbecause not only are the illustrations beautiful and colorful, but the story is both spirited in it’s rhymes and all about the connection between foods we love and bees that children often fear! The author writes a sweet love letter to bees and the audience that has a potent and timely message about these important pollinators.”

Sonya Joy, Garden Educator and Community Engagement Manager

My Hair is a Garden by Cozbi A Cabrera

“This book is soul food for young black femmes! The language and vibrant illustrations enliven and gently encourage the reader to cultivate a healthy relationship to human body and earth body. I identify with both of the main characters. Mack, a child internalizing racism and craving self-love; and Miss Tillie, who shelters Mack with nurturing force, shares wisdom and creates beautiful green spaces for reflection and resilience. 'I weed out all the opinions that have no place in my garden. It's too curly. Pull it back. Straighten it. Cut it off. My hair is a garden, and I give it love.”

Laura, Teen and Young Adult Program Coordinator

¿De Dónde Eres? By Yamile Saied Méndez

“The book ¿De Donde Eres? or Where are you from? is a favorite of those we have at PFP. We have students from so many different places and often one parent is from one place, another is from a different one, and then they were born somewhere and moved elsewhere! I really love how the book is not about finding a particular place for an answer but the answer is we are from 'Al amor, Y del amor de todes los que existieron antes de nosotros' 'you are from love, and the love of those that existed before us' I also really enjoy the beauty and diversity of the places in Latin America that are featured in the book and can show kids the beauty and magic of South America.”

Kitana, Assistant Garden Educator

The Bad Seed by Jory John

“The Bad Seed relates to all ages, and everyone's life. When the seed realizes that his actions make him unwanted and unfavored by others, he begins to morph into a good seed. I love the message that it's okay to make mistakes while you're growing because that is exactly what a kid needs to hear!”

Chris, After School Program Coordinator

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

“I didn't read The Lorax as a child and the first time I really became aware of the book was when I heard a fellow educator read it aloud to a group of students. I was immediately taken aback by the seriousness of the story - the pictures look bright and childlike but the story itself is about big concepts like corporate greed and environmental degradation and the importance of biodiversity. Kids want to be taken seriously and they can handle learning about more mature content than adults often give them credit for. The Lorax is a book that always reminds me of that fact.”

Larissa, Garden Educator

Farmer Will Allen and The Growing Table by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

“I really liked this book from the moment I read the first page. It reminded me of my own family in regards to not having much. But we always made room for food and people from all over. I loved how he was a professional basketball player and then came back to growing things. The illustrations are wonderful too. The different expressions and faces of the people illustrated in the book have so much diversity. I loved the growth Will Allen made and the brainstorming he did in order to make a difference in his community. There's so much to learn from this book.”

Jamie, Education Director

Pies from Nowhere: How Georgia Gilmore Sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Dee Romito

“This biography shares an important example of both the role of food and ordinary people in the civil rights movement. Students get to see the impact of a group of women doing what they could behind the scenes to support the movement.”

Kate, Office Manager

Bounty From The Box - The CSA Farm Cookbook by Mi Ae Lipe

“I love the information and format of this cookbook because it breaks down the vegetables in simple paragraphs, from history, to trimming and cleaning, to a variety of cooking methods that are easy to follow - especially when it is a NEW vegetable to me. I feel empowered to break out of my routine recipes that I have been cooking for years and venturing out into new territory of delicious and nutritious foods. We at PFP are fortunate to have such wonderful choices of freshly grown vegetables as our starting place when making a meal or eating a snack!”

Kira, Education Intern

Rainbow Stew by Cathryn Falwell

“Rainbow Stew is always really fun to read with kids, especially right after a farm tour. They notice the same vegetables in the story that they just saw in real life on the farm, and they get so excited at the end when we tell them that they're about to help make their own rainbow stew.”

Lauren, Assistant Farm Manager

A Weed is a Flower: The Life of George Washington Carver by Aliki

“I am so inspired by the work of George Washington Carver, who shows that a weed can be so much more than a weed, and that we are all capable of blooming. I love how this book by Aliki brings the spirit of this prominent scientist, environmentalist, and humanist to young readers.”

PFP Project Focuses on Environmental Justice Issues in Poughkeepsie

By Sonya Joy Key, Garden Educator

Chef Key leads a cooking workshop at the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory.

“So creative, I never thought of putting apples and sweet potatoes in the same dish!” An inspired smile spreads across the face of the woman taste testing. I can feel the excitement too, it bubbles up as I stir a pot full of finely chopped roots and fruit, seasoned with cinnamon and sea salt. There is definitely a warm, loving family energy happening on the black top of the basketball court at Malcolm X Park today. Children are dancing to the DJ’s kid-friendly hip hop, and adults from Scenic Hudson and a local mosque are leading a group on a exploration at the banks of the Fallkill Creek that flows alongside a shaded, grassy hill. MASS Design Group is also present, collecting community input about plans for accessible creekside parks.

That was the scene from last fall’s “Fall in the Park” where I offered a community cooking demonstration that was funded through NYS Department of Environmental Conservations’ Office of Environmental Justice Community Impact Grant. At the heart of environmental justice is the difficult work of ensuring that all voices are included in the making of policies for a healthier environment, particularly those from the most vulnerable communities, low income and people of color, who are disproportionately burdened with the impacts of industrial pollution and contamination. Our goals for the Community Impact Grant are to encourage city residents’ connection to nature, support existing community gardens and school gardens in ecological growing practices and cooking of local produce, as well as to increase the organic matter found in Poughkeepsie’s gardens.

The pursuit of meeting these goals has been such an incredible learning and relationship-building process. We began with Advanced Composting Workshops offered in partnership with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Dutchess County and Nubian Directions II, Inc. Local youth, PFP education staff and interns, as well as a handful of community gardeners took part. We came together before the 2018 growing season to learn the science of soil, and to do real-time soil testing. The workshops were several hours in length, and very intensive. We found that it was not the right fit for the young people taking part. Another moment of learning occurred when I tried to lead a cooking class at the Community Family Development Center on Mill St for families of the children who go there for childcare, and no one showed up. Several CFD staff members, the custodian and I chatted while gnawing on some carrots. Had they encountered this issue before, I asked. Yes was the resounding answer, and as we talked much of our conversation reminded me of the similar struggles I have listened to Poughkeepsie public school teachers name about parent engagement. It was clear: in order to do a better job of connecting city residents to the opportunities that the Community Impact Grant was supporting us to offer, we needed to be much more flexible and responsive. So I, along with Jamie Levato, the Educator Direction, began to brainstorm. How could we reach people with already limited time and energy resources where they already are rather than asking them to stretch to make additional commitments?

Farm-fresh ingredients

Chef Key offers tastes of healthy dishes prepared with produce available at the Free Farm Stand.

Chef Key leads teens in preparing some zucchini fritters.

So we shifted focus off hours of content and focused on getting connected to folks where they are living, playing, or already have to go to get basic needs met. Cooking classes at Interfaith Towers senior housing were an absolute hit! Following the popular “Week in Meals” workshop which focused on making fresh foods last and making a delicious Thai Noodle Bowl, I returned in November for “Healthy Holidays” where 26 seniors enjoyed company and conversation while chopping and braising brussel sprouts, parsnip, and carrots to serve with Maple Soy Glazed Turkey Breast. We also started to do cooking demonstrations at events at local parks, housing projects, and schools. This partnership model of community engagement has led to successes like the Malcolm X Park day I described earlier, as well as our attendance at the Boys and Girls Club of Poughkeepsie Day for Kids, a playful outdoor event focusing on health and wellness which reached over 60 children living in the adjacent public housing on Smith Street. At the Morse School’s Thanksgiving celebration, where the entire community of teachers, firefighters, police officers and community leaders come together to feed hundreds of students and their families, I was invited into the school’s cafeteria to prepare fresh Kale and Apple Salad to pass from table to table.

Finally, an ongoing relationship has also evolved with the Dutchess Outreach Free Farm Stand. This free distribution of fresh produce takes place the 3rd Friday of every month. I began tabling each event during the early summer last year and have become a regular fixture at almost every distribution since. Nyhisha Gibbs, Dutchess Outreach Volunteer Administrator always manages to welcome me with a quick hug before she returns to directing the group of about 20 or more volunteers who help create the no-cost pop-up market. Long lines of more than a hundred people form well before the 2:30pm start time. Parents with strollers, seniors with rolling metal carts, and young siblings giggling together all wind their way along the parking lot at North Hamilton and Mill St, adjacent to the Family Partnership Center or, in cool weather months, stretch down the block from the Poughkeepsie Trolley Barn. There’s different produce each Free Farm Stand, so each session I create a new, creative dish to offer based on the available veggies. Greek Cucumber and Tomato Salad; Stir Fry of Snow Peas, Broccoli and Carrots; and Spinach Pasta Primavera were some of the dishes sampled by people while they waited in line for food. The Free Farm Stand radically transforms the experience of visiting a food pantry into a bustling, warm neighborhood gathering, and PFP fits right in. What a joy to fill the air with the smell of sauteing onions and chat about experimenting with familiar foods in new ways!

Teen interns get their peers excited about kale salad at Dutchess Outreach's Mobile Fresh Market.

Bintou Hinds, Jamie Levato, and Ozie Williams distribute produce at Dutchess Outreach's Free Farm Stand. Photo credit: Sean Hemmerle

PFP interns, Alyssa, Kitana, Zoe and Olivia offer tastes of fresh curdito at the Poughkeepsie Healthy Black and Latinx Coalition's Hispanic Heritage Festival.

With the weather warming up, I’m packing up more PFP produce for spring cooking workshops being held at Adriance Library, Family Services, Early Learning Center and Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory. Along with the team of educators staffing our afterschool programs in all 4 elementary schools, plus the middle and high schools, the DEC EJ grant will allow us to make permanent material updates to school gardens, improving their capacity as educational spaces. While environmental justice issues are a part of the many challenges Poughkeepsie residents face along with economic injustice and complex systemic social problems, these experiences have taught me that it can be a powerful and fun experience to cooperatively create a healthier, more just Poughkeepsie.

Chef Key and Chef Dave lead cooking workshops for teens at Poughkeepsie High School.

“Wait… learning can be FUN?”

“Wait… learning can be FUN?”
The benefits of garden-based education
By Chris Gavin, Garden Educator

One of the perks of being an educator with Poughkeepsie Farm Project is that the job turns you into a bit of a local celebrity, especially among the 5-10 year old crowd. I cannot walk into an elementary school in Poughkeepsie without being swarmed by excited kids who want to know what we’re cooking today, what’s growing in the garden, or looking for a bite of whichever fresh veggies I brought from the farm that day. It doesn’t matter if it’s a student I work with every week or simply met once on a field trip to the farm, the experience makes such an impact that they remember the lesson long after it’s over. Just today a kid stopped me in the hallway to say “thanks for making popcorn with us; it was delicious!” - and I made popcorn with his class nearly six months ago! Students from last year’s after school program still regularly ask me about the red wiggler worms in our vermicomposting bin (How’s Henry? Tell him I say hi!”) and want assurances that I’m taking good care of them. And believe me, every student remembers EXACTLY where in the garden they planted their carrot seed and wants regular updates on its progress.

When a parent finds out that their child is now in love with kale salad or has a sudden interest in helping out around the kitchen, they want to know how we did it. But there’s no magic alchemy to our work, the key is facilitating joyful educational experiences. There’s a common misconception that “real” education can only happen sitting at a desk while passively listening to a teacher dole out information. And if kids are having fun they must not really be learning, right? Our education team loves our reputation as the fun vegetable people, but that’s an oversimplification of what we do. Well-intentioned teachers and parents often think that our programs are something EXTRA that kids can enjoy once they’re done with their ACTUAL education. But I’m going to let you in on a little secret, we are doing something revolutionary. We are helping youth recognize that not only can education occur outside of a traditional classroom setting but it can also be a joyful experience that sparks a life-long love of learning.

But don’t think that just because the kids are having fun that our programs are light on content. Our work supports classroom learning by providing hands-on and student-centered lessons that reinforce academic concepts. We make what kids are learning in school more relevant to their lives by connecting it to real-world applications. Connecting food and farming to classroom content is something we do every day with students. To highlight this, here are a few of the topics we recently covered in our elementary after school programs.

• Students learn to be scientists as we plant seeds in the classroom, making predictions about when germination will occur and observing our seedlings with hand lenses.

• Students study history and social justice as we learn about the contributions of people of color in farming like inventor/educator George Washington Carver and farm workers’ rights activists Dolores Huerta and Caesar Chavez.

• We reinforce math skills as students learn to properly use measuring tools as we follow a recipe or when we estimate plant spacing in a garden bed.

• We support literacy through our love of children’s literature and by writing letters to pen pals in other garden programs in our region.

• Students build leadership skills as they practice teamwork, communication, and learn strategies for mindfulness and self-management.

For a student participating in the Poughkeepsie Food Power after-school programs, it may seem like all they are doing is preparing a healthy snack or carefully tending to a young plant in the school garden. But through our work we are helping to lay a foundation of joy, curiosity, and a life-long love of learning. We hope that our small acts will inspire the next generation of eaters to be more caring and empathetic to themselves, their community, and the world around them. I will leave you with a quote that regularly comes to mind as I’m leading youth in our programming. Paul Cezanne said “the day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.” And I hope our work is helping us all along the path towards that day.