This week marks 5 months since we came together on our first Zoom call for a Community Check-In. We held space for your concerns, and celebrated the exciting ways you were confronting challenges posed by the new, physically-distant environment.
Since March, we've welcomed over 600 attendees to virtual conversations. Our work is deeply grounded in relationship, and we quickly learned that it was possible to find connection with one another virtually. If you are one of the many people who have shared on calls, thank you!
What can you expect from FBEN for the rest of 2020? More virtual programs including field trips, activity-shares, workshops on systemic racism in the food system, and more.
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August 20 | 1-2:15 ET
A space to share your questions, challenges, and learning with other farm camp operators.
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August 28 | 1-2:00 ET
Handing an egg to a child is a recipe for curiosity and wonder!! Join Ellen Koehler of Tollgate Farm and Education Center to dissect a chicken egg! We'll look at different kinds of eggs, their amazing anatomy, and the parts of an embryo. We'll gather your ideas about how to respectfully use this activity in your settings.
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Reparative Justice by Supporting Black Farmers and Gardeners: A Virtual Field Trip to Washington, D.C.
August 31 | 3-4:00 ET
Many Black gardeners and farmers are actively working against food apartheid, reclaiming ancestral foodways and reconnecting Black people to land. Although they are doing the work themselves, systemic racism prevents Black farmers and Black communities from having everything they need to be self-determining. What Black communities need from white people are resources and access. Want to learn how to participate in reparative justice? Join this Virtual Field Trip with Soilful, a collaborative organization that partners with local Black gardeners and farmers to generate social, political, and economic capital.
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Virtual Tour of Tollgate Farm and Education Center: Novi, MI
September 17 | 1-2:15 ET
Tollgate Farm is a 160-acre historic farmstead owned by the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University and the Americana Foundation. The MSU Tollgate site represents a working farm with animals, community gardens, and sustainable agriculture demonstrations. Join Program Instructor and Education Coordinator, Ellen Koehler, for a virtual tour! Ellen will discuss current farm activities that are happening now, and the ways in which farm staff has adjusted farm-based education during a pandemic. She'll focus successful adaptations from this spring that may now endure.
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You probably know someone whose career (and life) has been transformed by The Food Project's Institute. Over the past thirty years, The Food Project has operated at the intersection of farming, youth development, and community-building. This fall, they will share their methods and models, history, and the learning they've done to create their nationally recognized youth development and farming programs during a virtual, four-part, online Institute. The institute will run Thursdays, September 17th & September 24th, October 1st & October 8th, Times: 12:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. EST. The registration deadline is Thursday, September 10!
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As we all transition "back to school" the status and purpose of school gardens take on new meaning. The School Garden Support Organization Network has a series of upcoming peer-to-peer webinars on COVID-friendly outdoor classroom infrastructure and design, supporting food pantries, addressing equity in school garden programs, and more. View webinars and register.
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This spring we assembled a resource review committee, who's putting out a bulletin each month. We'd love your help making this resource as useful as possible! Email us to share a question or something specific you're looking for support on. View past bulletins here.
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The FBEN website is undergoing more changes. We're motivated to make the site as user-friendly as possible! To this end, we worked with Ted Heck of Heck Productions this month, who facilitated a focus group on the site. Thank you Ted, and the focus group participants! And thank you for your ongoing patience as we learn, edit, and adapt. As always, email suggestions our way!
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This recipe comes from a happy customer from MA'O Organic Farm, a Hawaiian social enterprise growing organic food and young leaders working for a sustainable Hawai'i. View their video.
"Stir-fry daikon/turnip greens: Minced purplette onions sautéed in oil at high heat (I treated them like I would shallots) with some of my homemade sambal belacan, then I threw in the greens from daikon and radish, and let the leaves wilt. The sweet of the onions countered the bitter of the greens, though like many tough greens dishes in Southeast Asia, some of the bitterness remains, and this is actually a sought out flavor.
Roasted fennel bulb and kohlrabi: Slice, coat in olive oil, a bit of salt, and black pepper, roast for 20-25 at 405 degrees Fahrenheit, until soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside, and sweet.
The protein is garlic butter shrimp, and I dusted in some of the fennel fronds. This subtle but discernible herb steps up the shrimp’s game. I can’t get over it." -@neziaazmi
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School Garden Support Organization Workshops |
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INFO@FARMBASEDEDUCATION.ORG
FARMBASEDEDUCATION.ORG
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