GP Spring 2013 Fresh Perspectives Newsletter

www.greenerpartners.org Fresh Perspectives April 2013 - June 2013

student crouches down, digging into the soil. She tugs at some frilly greens and pulls up a bright orange carrot. Students one row over sample chard. “It’s so sweet,” one exclaims. “Looks like a rainbow,” says the other, pointing to the yellow, pink, and green stems.

Another student surveys the scene: sun shining over rows of food growing in the fields, his classmates tasting, touching, digging, looking, sniffing. “I never knew this was how beans

grow,” he says. “They taste better than I thought they would!”

The experience of coming to one of our farms is magical for young people. It’s a way to connect with nature, learn how food grows and sample our local bounty.

But many students and families will never wander our farms’ expansive fields because they lack the transportation to get there. Additionally, many lack the resources to grow food in their own schools and

communities. The greatest challenge is often the hard work of maintaining a garden over time: over 50% of school gardens fail after the first three years.

In 2011, Greener Partners’ Executive Director, Jason Ingle, began dreaming of a way to bring the farm experience to those with little access to our farms or to a garden of their own. He wanted to give youth the opportunity to dig in soil, water strawberries and pull a tomato off a vine - as these simple yet powerful interactions with plants affect life-long healthy eating habits.

This April, Greener Partners’ is thrilled to roll out the Farm Explorer™, a living, hands-on mobile farm that lets youth and families dig-in and connect with food from seed to plate. A 24-foot, custom-built trailer pulled by a Ford F350 biodiesel truck, the Farm Explorer™ is equipped with three garden beds and a simple mobile kitchen.

Carrots, radish, sorrel, arugula, herbs, and nasturtium are sprouting in the greenhouse; soon we will plant kale, collards, leeks, scallion, and lettuce. Our garden beds move from field to trailer whenever we have programming at a school or other community site.

All of this growing food ties in to lessons about gardening and ecology, seasonal eating, and cooking. Imagine young people digging in sandy soil, clay soil, and compost while farm educators share the importance of soil for plant growth and human health.

FreshPerspectives

April 2013 - June 2013

News, programs and events from Greener Partners Connecting communities through food, farms and education.

InThis IssuePage 2A Letter from Our Executive Director

Page 3 Farm Explorer™ Watermelon Magic Page 4 Notes from the Field Page 5 Events Calendar Page 6A Hands on Approach to Learning About Food Systems and Agriculture

Page 7Thank you to our Donors

Page 8 Harvest Dinners Give 20 Dinner

Greener Partners is a registered

501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

GreenerPartners

Above: Image of the Farm Explorer™

Below: Students working with seedlings

Meg MacCurtin, Director of Education & Helen Nadel, Education Specialist

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Fresh Perspectives . April 2013 - June 2013 www.greenerpartners.org

It’s not too often that I venture into talking politics, but even with the tenuous political climate where Republicans and Democrats haven’t found much common ground, thankfully one area received bi-partisan attention: the need to address the poor health of our youth. With the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids School Food Act passed in 2010, and enacted in early 2012, as the first school food reform in 20 years, political leaders from both sides of the aisle are facing the facts that our children’s generation is projected to be the first to live a shorter lifespan than their parents. This bill was introduced with great fanfare, and who wouldn’t vote for giving our children better food that fuels their classroom performance and good health. Unfortunately, as the first year anniversary of the initiative passed, there has been much public outcry about the new school meal plans, from student petitions in Connecticut about the smaller portion sizes, to students in Wisconsin boycotting lunches that were too bland and not “what they wanted.” While nobody should doubt the good motives of this new policy reform on school lunches, it comes across as too similar to perhaps a parent telling their kids “you must eat those vegetables, because I said so!”

A few members of our team attended the recent Partnership for a Healthier America Summit in D.C. The conference included a who’s who of policy leaders, who made a very clear point: “we, the policy makers

can improve access to healthier food, and its affordability through policy change, but we must also increase demand for this healthy food, or these policy changes will not be effective.” A simple example was noted: just because healthy food goes on a child’s plate doesn’t mean the solution has been attained, if that healthy food ultimately ends up in the wastebasket. This very clear example confirmed the importance of continuing to not only educate children about food choices, but more importantly, to inspire them to make healthy food choices for themselves.

At Greener Partners, we are in the business of making the eating of fresh, healthy, nutritious food fun and exciting for kids. Through our Seed to Snack® program we have enlightened thousands of students right in their classrooms about where food comes from, and how easy it is to make a quick nutritionally-rich snack, so that when they arrive in the cafeteria for lunch they are more open-minded and inclined to accept these new menu

options instead of rejecting them. Through Seed to Snack® we have taken freshly harvested fruits and vegetables from the farm and engaged students in schools throughout Greater Philadelphia about how to take a few ingredients to cook then eat a delicious, flavorful snack that’s good for them too.

This spring, we will take the next step in building a model that inspires these students to develop life-long healthy eating habits by launching the Farm Explorer™. A 24-foot long enclosed trailer with 3 slide-out raised garden beds and a mobile kitchen, the Farm Explorer™ will allow our educators to share the delights of growing on the farm for kids at any school. They will have the chance to pull fresh food from the soil, rinse and prepare a healthy snack, and sit with their classmates to enjoy their delicious creation…all within 1 hour. With these powerful, hands-on experiences, we are doing our part to build the “demand for healthy food” that policy makers talked about, so that when these healthier food options become available, our students will be receptive and excited to fuel their bodies with these farm-fresh foods! As spring arrives, and our farms regain their vibrant landscapes full of hundreds of varieties of fruits and vegetables, keep an eye out for the Farm Explorer™, which will bring that same experience to thousands of children and families in every community throughout the Greater Philadelphia region.

From our Executive Director

Printed on recycled paper

Greener Partners260 Spring Road, Malvern PA 19355Office: 610.584.6580Connect: facebook.com/greenerpartnerstwitter.com/greenerpartners

Visit: www.greenerpartners.orgStay in the loop— join our mailing list! Visit greenerpartners.org/about/signup

Greener Partners Board of Directors

Jason Ingle, Founder and Executive Director Banny Ackerman Stephen J. Bowen Elisabeth Carrillo Cooke Joanne CrozierJay DevinePatrick Feury Cristina Hug Paul HummerColleen Philbin Eilise Rouse Nancy SpearsMichael Tierney Mark Ward

Farm Hubs:

Hillside Farm at ElwynDelaware County 111 Elwyn Road Media, PA 19063 484.442.8381

The Longview Center for AgricultureMontgomery County 3215 Stump Hall Rd Collegeville, PA 19426 610.584.8204 SOL Food ProjectPhiladelphia County Girard College 2101 S. College Ave Philadelphia, PA 19121

For media inquiries please contact:[email protected]

Jason Ingle


Imagine young people harvesting and tasting fresh carrots and radishes while educators lead a discussion about all the reasons roots are important. And imagine students and educators in our kitchen area, preparing and eating simple recipes made with fresh, healthy, culturally relevant ingredients.

As with all of our education programming, GP’s goals are to connect people to the source of their food, help them understand how it grows, and provide skills to promote healthy eating. The Farm Explorer™ provides us with a fun, hands-on way to do just that.

The Farm Explorer™ will travel throughout greater Philadelphia, and our schedule is already filling up! In addition to visiting elementary, middle and high schools, we are available to visit camps during the summers, and will also be able to host unique birthday party experiences. We will also be featured at Villanova’s Earth Day celebration on April 22nd, at the Philadelphia Union’s soccer game on May 4th, and at joint event with the Junior League of Philadelphia at Smith Playground on July 20th. And of course, the Farm Explorer™ will be at Longview Farm and Market every weekend in June, during the u-pick strawberry season.

Greener Partners is excited about its partnership with Independence Blue Cross Foundation and their Healthy Futures initiative. We are also thrilled to be partnering with the Junior League of Philadelphia. Support from both organizations has helped to make the dream of the Farm Explorer™ a reality.

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Spring Garden Pictures, a Philadelphia based non-profit children’s film organization, is proud to announce that our film Watermelon Magic is going big - REALLY BIG! Think IMAX®! Shot on the beautiful acres of Hillside and Longview Farms by CSA-member Richard Hoffmann, this stunning film is now represented by Big and Digital, a distribution company that specializes in family-friendly educational films and documentaries for the museum market. Watermelon Magic will be kicking off the Giant Screen Cinema Association’s annual symposium this spring in Texas where big screen and IMAX® operators all over the world will see the film for the first time.

Weaving together documentary and fictional elements, Watermelon Magic chronicles a season on the family farm as young Sylvie grows a patch of watermelons from seed to sprout to flower to fruit. We witness the intimate and astonishing scientific concepts of the life cycle of plants, observing their journey as they transform and develop. Sylvie grows too, as the story progresses, and when harvest time arrives, she must decide if she will share her precious watermelon babies with the world.

Constructed entirely from high-resolution still photos, this film employs a dynamic style of varying shutter-burst frame rates with stunning time-lapse sequences, to captivate young and old audiences alike. You may have seen the same technique at work in Richard’s previous documentary film, Fridays at the Farm, which enjoyed world-wide critical acclaim. It is hard to believe, but the IMAX® arena has never featured a film about gardening, agricultural sustainability, food production, or healthy food choices. Watermelon Magic addresses all these powerful topics by bringing the science of gardening into the real-world lives of kids, and using the power of storytelling to keep them on the edge of their seats. Check out www.watermelonmagic.com

Rich Hoffman, Spring Garden PicturesWatermelon Magic

Planting seedlings

To learn more about the Farm Explorer™visit our website www.greenerpartners.org/farmexplorer

Greener Partners was incredibly honored to be invited to the Office of the First Lady in March. Our Executive Director Jason Ingle, Development Director, Joanne McGeoch, and Education Director, Meg MacCurtin met with the First Lady’s staff to share information about our programs that connect children and families to our farms, inspire healthy eating, as well as newest education initiative, the Farm Explorer™. We plan to take

another trip down to Washington D.C. later this year, as part of a ‘Road Show’ tour of the Mid-Atlantic states with the Farm Explorer™. Stay tuned!


Longview Farm, Montgomery CountySarah Groat, Education & Outreach Manager, Longview FarmLivestock is on our minds at the Longview Education Garden. We are thrilled to be adding some larger animals than our chatty chickens and furry rabbits to the farm, keep a lookout for these four-legged friends in early summer. Not only are we excited about the new animal faces around the Education Garden, but we are also planning a more interactive and engaging pick-your-own garden. We will be showcasing both traditional as well as some nontraditional raised beds in the garden this season that will give everyone some growing ideas for their own backyards. The pick-your-own garden will be open to the public from spring through fall with all of your favorites including herbs, cherry tomatoes, peas, carrots, kale, flowers, peppers, swiss chard and some more unusual veggie varieties for the whole family to try! Kids will have some great nooks in the garden to explore how to make living compost, how to grow a pizza, and just how tasty fresh vegetables can be. Adults will appreciate all of the same learning components as the kids, plus a few quiet spaces in the garden to enjoy their freshly-picked produce.

Don’t forget about Summer Farm Camp at Longview! Each week explores a different food culture, harvesting ripe crops to create scrumptious snacks together. 9am-12pm, Incoming 1st through 5th grade.

Longview also welcomes field trips and farm tours for students of all ages! This spring we will be adding new stops to all of our tours and field trips at the farm to include more tasting, touching, and fresh scents.

For more information on farm camp and field trips, please check out our website or email Sarah at [email protected].

Our S.O.L. (Sustainable, Organic, Local) Food Project is training the next generation of good food movement leaders by offering experiential programming in organic gardening, seasonal cooking, and leadership development to high school students.

Since 2010, Greener Partners has offered S.O.L. Food programming at Girard College as a summer internship and afterschool program. Students explore organic gardening, seasonal eating, and food justice by working and learning in Girard’s garden and at Guild House West, a nearby senior housing facility. Students and residents save seeds, work in the Guild House gardens and food pantry, and make salt-free seasonings for residents and students, all of whom who seek more flavor in the low-salt diets recommended by doctors and school lunch guidelines.

Girard College S.O.L. Food expanded the internship program through the school year and began working with new cafeteria management to serve more campus-grown produce. Another afterschool

section has been added in which students explore issues of food and community sovereignty in the Francisville Neighborhood Development Corporation (FNDC) garden. FNDC is working to develop the neighborhood according to the vision of its residents.

Greener Partners now offers an afterschool club at S.T.E.M. High School in Chester, building teamwork and leadership skills through cooking and gardening projects. Students taste ingredients from Hillside Farm in recipes of their choosing while exploring the food system, nutrition, and growing and cooking techniques. This spring, students are building a school garden along the cafeteria’s outside wall.

The S.O.L. Food Project continues to grow. It is inspiring to work with new and returning students to explore, develop, and deepen our collective commitment to building sustainable food systems for us, our communities, and the planet.

Hillside Farm, Delaware CountyRania Campbell-Cobb, Education Specialist, Hillside Farm

Notes from the field....


Events&ProgramsApril 2013- June 2013

Greener Partners Connecting communities through food, farms & education

CALENDAR AT A GLANCEApril EventsThursday, April 4 •Tiny Tillers Story Time, LongviewThursday, April 6 •Get Started Backyard Beekeeping, LongviewThursday, April 11 •Tiny Tillers Story Time, LongviewSaturday, April 13 •Garden Workshop Series- Propogation, HillsideTuesday April 16 •Juicing for Healthy Living, SAAC-Norristown Thursday, April 18 •Tiny Tillers Story Time, LongviewSaturday, April 20 •Earth Day Celebration, Longview •Backyard Chickens, LongviewWednesday, April 24 •Farm Sprouts, LongviewThursday, April 25 •Tiny Tillers Story Time, LongviewSaturday, April 27 •Backyard Fruit Tree Series, Longview

May EventsThursday, May 2 •Tiny Tillers Story Time, LongviewSaturday, May 4 •Barbecuing with Big Dutt, Longview •Garden Workshop Series- Soil Health, HillsideThursday, May 9 •Tiny Tillers Story Time, LongviewSaturday, May 11 •Eating Seasonally with Sarah, LongviewThursday, May 16 •Tiny Tillers Story Time, LongviewSaturday, May 18 • Home Composting, Longview •Eating for Health with Dr. Martin Mulders, LongviewTuesday, May 21 •Healthy Eating on a Budget, SAAC-NorristownThursday, May 23 •Tiny Tillers Story Time, LongviewWednesday, May 29 •Farm Sprouts, LongviewThursday, May 30 •Tiny Tillers Story Time, Longview

June EventsSaturday, June 1 •Geocaching, Longview Thursday, June 6 •Tiny Tillers Story Time, LongviewSaturday, June 8 •Garden Workshop Series- Food Justice/ Community Advocacy, HillsideThursday, June 13 •Tiny Tillers Story Time, LongviewSaturday, June 15 • Feathered & Furry Farm Friends, LongviewThursday, June 20 •Tiny Tillers Story Time, LongviewSaturday, June 22 •Kids Can Cook! with Aunt Hildy, LongviewWednesday, June 26 •Farm Sprouts, LongviewThursday, June 27 •Tiny Tillers Story Time, Longview Please visit our website www.greenerpartners.org for detailed descriptions and registration.

Follow the Farm Explorer™!Sunday, April 7, 2013, 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.Nectar Restaurant, Berwyn, PA With Chef Patrick FueryFARM EXPLORER™ Public Launch Celebration Event

Saturday, April, 20th 2013, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.The Longview Farm & Market (Earth Day Celebration)Kids activites, Little Lost Creek Alpacas, Felting Demos, Angora Rabbits from 4H & Backyard Chicken Workshop with Amy Johnson

Saturday, May 4th 2013, 4:00 p.m.Philadelphia Union Game

Sunday, May 5th, 2013, 8:30 a.m.Blue Cross Broad Street Run, Philadelphia, PA

Strawberry Days at Longview Farm!Every Saturday & Sunday in June

All-you-can eat Strawberry Pancakes $5, 10a-12p

Bring the whole family out for a day on the farm. Enjoy pick-your-own strawberries and

veggies, visit our furry friends, Hops & Barley.

*Pick-your-own is weather dependent.


rsinus College environmental studies professor Rich Wallace has joined with the Longview Center for Agriculture in a partnership to benefit Longview’s operations and the students in his Food, Society & the Environment class. The class focuses on the theory and practice of food systems and agriculture, and students enhance their classroom learning with a semester-long experience at Longview.

Wallace introduced the course in 2003 to help students understand their place in and interactions with food systems and agriculture. Students in the class are challenged to think critically about food systems, using readings such as Wendell Berry’s The Unsettling of America and Thomas Lyson’s Civic Agriculture, in concert with their experiences off campus.

The partnership began last fall. Once a week, Wallace and the students worked at Longview in capacities that supported Longview’s mission and the class objectives, including hands-on farming, processing food, and managing commerce by representing Longview to the customers of its market and CSA. The students also developed and ran educational programming at the Farmers Showdown – including cooking and handing out veggie pancakes (flavors included carrot cake, black bean, and pumpkin) designed to raise awareness about how healthful “guilty” foods like pancakes can be. The response of both parents and kids was ravenous!

The work at Longview is carefully integrated into Wallace’s course syllabus. Before each visit, the class discussed the week’s work, how it supported Longview’s operations, and how it connected to the food systems theory they had read and discussed. The connections were often direct: Longview’s operations are designed to address some of the same concerns that are illuminated by studies of food and agricultural theory, especially when they are tied to community development.

“We not only learned about civic agriculture, but we also became a part of it,” says Sarah Huang, an Environmental Studies and Sociology double major. “Even if it was hard labor, we were working towards a bigger part of something that is civic agriculture and the future of the food system.” Added Rebecca Fong, an East Asian Studies and Media and Communications double major, “Hands-on learning trumps any indoor class. It’s one thing to talk about harvesting, gardening, and farming, and it’s another to do it. It is rewarding to harvest the food knowing that your work produced something profound, [and] it also makes [me] appreciate it a whole lot more knowing how hard I had to work for it.”

While the students’ volunteer efforts were appreciated on the farm, the partnership also fits well with Longview’s education efforts. “We hope that the students will gain a better understanding of how a small-scale organic farm and a non-profit operate,” says Education Garden Manager Sarah Groat. “Understanding the manual labor as well as the problem-solving that goes into farming is valuable for students…to better inform them about their future careers and consumer habits. We think it’s also valuable for the students to see the impacts and benefits of growing local, organic fruits and vegetables.”

A Hands-on Approach to Learning About Food Systems and Agriculture

Jennifer Wolfe and Richard Wallace, Ursinus College

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Thank You to our Donors Greener Partners Gratefully Acknowledges the Following

Special Gifts and GrantsGifts received December 1, 2012- March 31, 2013

Junior League of Philadelphia, Inc. ~ $10,000/yr for 3 yearsFarm Explorer™ ~ Patron

Junior League of Philadelphia (JLP) is the leading women’s non-profit volunteer training and community service organization serving the greater Philadelphia region. JLP has

generously donated $10,000 a year for 3 years towards our Farm Explorer™ program.

Hands Creating Change ~ $300Hands Creating Change consists of women throughout the greater Philadelphia region that

are committed to assisting community and global non-profits reach their potential. Hands Creating Change donated $300 towards our youth education

programs and food access initiatives.

SEED Cultivators Leadership CircleSEED Cultivators Leadership Circle is a select group of committed supporters whose unre-

stricted annual support sustains Greener Partners’ mission to inspire, teach and connect with thousands of individuals and families both on our farms and in the classroom, and make a

tangible impact in the local food economy, our communities and our environment.

~ Berry Level ~Banny Ackerman

Cristina & Blake HugRobert Killen

Colleen Philbin & Philip BarnettEilise & Bill Rouse William K. Curtis

~ Van En Level ~John & Eleanor Sullivan

~ Carver Level ~Josephine & John Ingle

Jason & Sarah Ingle

CSA Super Share MembersCSA Super Share Members are CSA Members who donate additional funding towards Green-er Partners Farm Share Program (formerly CSS), our subsidized share program that provides

CSA shares to low-income families.

Carl & Allison AdamsMarylou McKee

Linda & Brian O’HaraLi-Teck & Shawna Ong

Ellen PanofskyDebby Peikes

Jennifer Pfluger & Nick Kaplinsky

Greener Partners gratefully acknowledges all donations made on behalf of our non-profit mission of connecting communities through food, farms and education. A full honor roll list of donors will be published in Greener Partners

2012 Annual Report. For additional information, please contact Joanne McGeoch, Director of Development, [email protected], 610-584-6580. Thank you!

photo credit: BCM Notes


NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE

P A I D WILMINGTON, DE PERMIT NO. XXXX

Greener Partners260 Spring Road Malvern, PA 19355

Forwarding address and correction requested

On Tuesday, May 7th, Iron Hill (Media, PA ONLY) will donate back 20% of the food sales for every table that presents your organization’s coupon (excluding alcohol, tax and gratuity) All guests must submit the GIVE 20 partner coupon when paying the check in order to be counted toward the fundraiser

Iron Hill Brewery

The Community Food Project (CFP) is a food justice community initiative of Greener Partners at Hillside Farm that brings food education and fresh, local, and organic produce to low-income communities in Delaware County. One major initiative of CFP is our Farm Share Program for families and organizations who cannot afford the cost of a full share. We offer subsidies for these shares through generous donations from CSA members and the community. A great way to contribute to this program and build community is to host a Harvest Dinner! Whether a casual potluck or a formal multi-course meal, your event will bring friends and family together in sharing our community’s harvest. As a host you are already a supporter of Greener Partner’s mission to make fresh, local food available to all. Please host a Harvest Dinner to raise awareness & funds for this program, and have fun showing off your creative inner chef! To find out more details or if you are interested in hosting a dinner, please contact [email protected]

Host a Harvest Dinner

GP Spring 2013 Fresh Perspectives Newsletter

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