Are You Ready for Soup-A-Bowl?!!

Learn how to make bowls for this year’s Soup-A-Bowl!

Register for a special 7-week PFP Soup-A-Bowl class at Art Centro where you can learn hand-building and throwing techniques for making beautiful bowls!

Classes are 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. Monday nights beginning July 6th through August 1st (minimum 6 registered participants). Register by calling 845-454-4525 or by email at ceramics.artcentro@gmail.com with “PFP Soup-A-Bowl” in the subject.

Cost for course for the 7-week course is $140 (normally $175); firing fees for Soup-A-Bowl bowls are covered by the PFP.

Art Centro is located at 485 Main Street in Poughkeepsie. Every Fall, the Poughkeepsie Farm Project and friends celebrate food and art in Poughkeepsie at the Alumnae
House at Vassar College. This fundraiser features soups, pottery, a raffle, silent auction, and live music. Proceeds benefit the charitable and educational programs of the PFP.
See farmproject.org for more information.

For experienced potters we are having a series of Soup-A-Bowl Bowl Making Parties!
Sundays from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m. May 10th and 17; June 21st and 28th; July 12th and 19th; August 23rd and 30th; September 13th and 20th. Also, for those potters with prior experience, Art Centro is graciously providing open studio time to make bowls
at your convenience. Please check-in with the studio assistant upon arrival. For open studio times, please check the ArtCentro website at artcentro.org or call 845-454-4525.

For more information about making or donating bowls for the Poughkeepsie Farm Project Soup-A-Bowl, contact Karl Kruszynski at 845-486-4048.

For more information about Soup-A-Bowl 2016 event click here. 

Herbs for Health and Healing

On Tuesday March 10th, Beatrix Clarke, a Poughkeepsie school nurse and herbalist by calling, lead the first of two workshops at the Poughkeepsie Public Library on the benefits of Herbs for Health and Healing. Beatrix has been a member of Poughkeepsie Farm Project’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program since 2000. She has been a huge contributor to maintaining PFP’s meditation garden, which is a plot on the farm used for the growth of medicinal herbs. In this first session, Beatrix spoke to a room of about 20 community members about the beauty of medicinal herbs. Clarke believes that, “Herbs work best as a holistic approach.” They are not a quick fix for a poor lifestyle. However when taken in conjunction with healthy choices, herbal remedies can have amazing benefits from aiding in the healing process to even possibly improving the state of chronic and metabolic disorders! It is widely know that culinary plants are especially good for aiding digestion, but Beatrix had some uncommon and unexpected benefits to share, like parsley being good for the urinary tract, cinnamon for blood sugar, and that cloves could feasibly be used for toothaches. Beatrix even reaffirmed the old superstition of garlic warding off vampires (or maybe it was just mosquitoes…). 

To conclude the evening, Beatrix had two herbal activities set up for the participants. Everyone came away from the evening with an increased appreciation for medicinal herbs as well as their own personally made tea bags with combinations of dried chamomile, valerian root, peppermint and sage. The participants also made small herbal pillows. Part two of the Herbs for Health and Healing workshops, Beatrix led participants in how to make their own herbal tinctures. Herbs for Health and Healing was a truly enlightening and fun event for anyone interested in learning how to more simply and naturally improve their lives.

By: Elana (Ellie) Marble, 2015 Education Intern

Youth Grow During Summer Farm Visits

The month of July brought youth from several different summer camps and youth programs to the Poughkeepsie Farm Project for educational farm visits. The majority of the youth came from the City of Poughkeepsie and it was clear that the farm experience was having an influential impact.  The Summer Education Intern and I thoroughly enjoyed watching students’ uncertainty about nature transform into wonder as they interacted with the farm and its food bounty. The sessions included cooking workshops with farm-fresh vegetables; smelling and tasting herbs in the Meditation Garden; participating in the work that goes into producing a harvest; and teaching youth about the science behind growing food. 

Again, many of the youth arrived to the farm with skepticism about gardening and farming. But throughout each visit, we saw and heard their rising excitement and appreciation. We have some favorite memorable moments.   While showing one group the Snapdragon flowers, the youth exclaimed in unison, “oooooOOOooooh” at its variety of vibrant colors. One said that we “make the best strawberries I’ve ever tasted!” While smelling fennel, another expressed, “I could sit here and smell this all day.” On the same visit, one student began the farm tour expressing distaste for most vegetables. But, one taste of the sugar snap peas changed that. She loved the peas, and from then on, the student eagerly tasted the plants we offered.

These are only some of the examples of the transformation that occurs when youth visit the Poughkeepsie Farm Project.   July also included off-site lessons at one of the local community gardens, the Fall Kill Partnership Gardens (FKPG) on North Hamilton Street. The Poughkeepsie Farm Project's education staff led garden tours and cooking workshops for youth participating in the REAL Skills program at the Family Partnership Center. The students from the REAL Skills program learned about community gardening and enjoyed tasting garden fresh produce.

As we worked with these groups, we also brainstormed ideas and reflected on how to best make use of the garden space as an educational tool.  It is our goal to develop the youth garden plot at FKPG as an educational space for teachers and community educators. This goal is part of our Growing City Seeds project, which aims to connect residents, youth and youth educators with community gardening, which will lay the necessary foundation for developing other community gardens in the City of Poughkeepsie. It is important to have these garden-based educational spaces in central locations, where educators can teach youth about biodiversity, plant ecology, nutrition, math and other academic subjects, especially for groups who are not able to make it out to the farm. 

Those who did have the opportunity to visit the farm gave us very positive feedback. Some students wished they could spend the entire day at the Poughkeepsie Farm Project, or never leave it at all. At the end of one of our sessions, we thanked the group for coming and for their help during a work project. In response, they said, “I think you gave more to us than we gave to you.” Many also expressed hopes to work at the farm in the future. We hope that they do!

By Julie DeLuca

Featured Veggie: Tomatoes!

Summer's delight: the tomato

This year at PFP we're growing fifteen varieties of tomatoes. FIFTEEN! But why so many? Well, considering there's thousands of varieties to choose from, I'd say we're being pretty conservative! When summer approaches and your mind turns to picnics and barbecues, turn to this post to grab some great links to recipes, storage tips and a little bit of history to share around the picnic table.

 Recipes for all types:

Slicing tomatoes: Big juicy fruits, perfect for a sandwich.
Paste tomatoes: Less juicy, more meaty, eat fresh or cooked.
Heirloom tomatoes: Lots of variety and very complex, like people.
Cherry tomatoes: One bite, two bites, all gone.

Source: X

How to treat a tomato:

Counter top? Refrigerator? Serious Eats takes on the debate with some surprising results.

Tomato history and tall tales:

From Love Apple to Poison Apple and everything in between, Smithsonian dives into the history of tomato-culture. 

Source: X

7 Ways Poughkeepsie Farm Project is Better Than Ever!

1) We're here to stay

PFP signed a 25 year lease with Vassar

2) We've had a makeover

Come check out our updated offices, greenhouse, storage facilitates, and wash stations

3) We're expanding

We now officially manage the community gardens

4) We're getting an early start

 May share is open for business

5)We're increasing our impact

In 2014, our yield increased by 24%, which means that our donations  increased too! Donations grew by nearly 50% from 2013. We also reached nearly double the number of education program participants!

6) New faces galore

We welcome to the board team John (Jack) Farrell, Alicia Robinson-Welsh, Zinnia A. Gutowski, Byron Hildenbrand

7) We're improving our member experience.

We redid our website. Isn't it beautiful?!

Join us at an event to learn more about the farm or sign up now to become a member!

Resources for Educators

*PLEASE NOTE*: We have updated our resources for educators! Our new resources blog post is located here. Some of the links below are broken, and we have located new and helpful resources.

Are you using gardens to teach?

During our Summer Institute: Using Gardens to Teach workshop we often refer to different resources to help teachers and other educators incorporate garden learning into their curriculum. Below are some of our favorite resources.

Resources for Using Gardens to Teach Math:

Project Food, Land and People
UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley
Columbia University Center for Food and Environment
Planning Your Community Garden Plot
Math in the Garden

Resources for Using Gardens to Teach Biodiversity:

Outdoor Biology Instructional Strategies
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Ingredients Film

Resources for Using Gardens to Teach Nutrition:

Food Day School Curriculum
Got Veggies? A Youth Garden-Based Nutrition Education Curriculum
Fresh for Kids
Yes, It's Got No Strawberries Lesson
Yes, It's Got No Strawberries Worksheet
Got Veggies Curriculum
Cooking Matters
 

Resources for Using Gardens to Teach Plant Ecology:

Garden Habitats
Eco-Inquiry

Resources for School Gardening:

California School Garden Network
A Guide for Creating School Gardens as Outdoor Classrooms
Creating Gardens of Goodness
Gardens for Learning

Do you have a favorite resource that isn't listed? Contact us and let us know!

How did you get interested in farming?

Newsletter Archive Highlight - By Angela DeFelice

How did you get interested in farming?  is one of the most frequent questions I hear from members as we weed carrots or harvest beets. The easy answer – it started with my interest in learning how to grow my own food. Which I still believe it is a critical skill that we are losing as a country. In addition, it began while living abroad, where I learned first hand how unjust the global food system is and that many of the injustices are rooted in U.S. foreign and agriculture policy.  I wanted to change the food system.

The harder answer to explain to members is -- community. While living in Nicaragua I was witness to and felt part of a very strong community, something that I hadn’t experienced since I left the tight knit neighborhood that I grew up in. The more people that I spoke to and the more I read I became aware of how critical the issue of community – or lack thereof – is in the U.S.  I also came to realize that agriculture can be a key element in building positive and healthy communities. So that was it, my tipping point. By being a farmer I could grow food to feed people, change the food system, and rebuild community here in the U.S.

In my second year at the PFP it has become even more clear that small scale sustainable agriculture can build a sense of community.  Healthy and delicious food inspires us to cook together and to share meals together. Although obvious, this is not to be taken lightly! It is relationship building time, story time, and learning time -- connection time. Parents and children, couples, neighbors, sisters, teachers and students, friends – can come together to cook, share, and feast.

There is also an intergenerational community of farmers that the farm managers and apprentices at the PFP are part of. We observe, we learn, we share, we support each other. Personally, the farming community has allowed me to move from coast to coast and still find people that I know and connect with. They are folks that understand the rhythm of the season and the effect that is has on one’s body, life and livelihood.  Farmers also share equipment, offer unused seedlings to each other and to local gardeners, and lend a hand on each others farms when large projects arise.  This is community. Farming is not just a job, but for most, it is a way of life.

The PFP and its members have a particular and maybe more intentional role in building community.  The PFP promotes member and community involvement in the fields where strangers or families transplant lettuce side by side. The Pick-Your-Own fields are where members of all ages harvest, taste fruit right off the plant, watch dragonflies, and enjoy being in a shared space together.  There are member potlucks, gardens to volunteer in, and committees and events where people get involved. Every year members of the farm open their homes to apprentices who need a place to live for the season. Local farmers, shoppers and previous CSA members come together every week at the PFP managed farmer’s market, sharing recipes, stories about the recent storms, and what their plans are for the weekend– in short, building relationships. Through the Food Share Program hundreds of people in Poughkeepsie have access to fresh, healthy vegetables that they otherwise would not. Countless groups of youth come to the PFP to experience the farm, learn, and even volunteer in the fields.

The farm has become the physical location where we gather as well as the reason we come together. It has become a place and a way to acknowledge and build on shared values.  When I started farming I envisioned my own farm being just that… and I still do.

This article first appeared in Harvest Line September 2011. Visit our Newsletter Archive for more great articles.