Community Garden Build

 

The dust has settled after Saturday's hugely successful garden build and we are still overwhelmed by the amount of community support for this project. Thank you to everyone who gave part of their weekend to make this garden a reality. Gardeners will be getting calls in the next few days with bed assignments -- soon we'll start seeing green, growing life in all these beds!

Volunteers worked hard to assemble beds, cover them with gopher wire, put them in place, and fill them with soil. Complex logistics were key to the success of the day and Connor Caldwell, a VISTA member with the First 5 Service Corps, did a great job keeping everyone busy and on-task.

And what soil it was! Eco Nutrients delivered 60 yards of high-quality enhanced dirty fines and volunteers brought enough wheel barrows to deal with that mountain, one shovel-full at a time. The Wellness Center Garden will provide space to grow, play, and exercise for years to come. Thank you to everyone who provided time, labor, materials, food, and expertise to making this a reality.

The Weather Is Sweet

While early reports showed that we would be expecting rain on Saturday, it's looking like we're going to luck out and the sunshine will continue through the weekend!  Check back here Saturday morning for a further update, but I think it's safe to uncross our fingers.

Community Garden Build -- Bring Your Work Gloves!

People who leave Crescent City on Friday afternoons and stay out of town until returning to work on Monday will have a big surprise next week. Where there is just a vacant lot this week, there will be a new community garden come Monday. If you haven't already heard the news, there is a huge community volunteer day happening this Saturday, May 21st, at the Wellness Center campus on Northcrest and Washington.

Fifty raised beds are going to be assembled, put in place, and filled with the lucious enhanced dirty fines produced by Del Norte's own Eco-Nutrients. We're expecting a big turnout, but we'll still take volunteers, especially those who come bearing shovels, rakes, wheelbarrows, staple guns, tin snips or metal shears, and power screwdrivers. In a few hours, bare, compacted dirt will be covered by fertile soil in raised beds. 

The fun begins at 10am and we'll have coffee in the morning and lunch around noon. Under-18 volunteers are welcome, but will need a parent's signature on a release form in order to work. The event is weather-dependent -- if it's raining lightly or misting off and on, check back here to see if it's still on. We want our gardeners to be able to start growing, so we won't be easily scared by a little rain! If you have questions before the event, you can call Connor at 464-9190 ext. 119 for more information.

What Can YOU Do?

Hunger is a persistent problem across the United States and especially here in Del Norte County. Hunger is not always visible and you may never know that a person you encounter during the day has trouble getting sufficient calories for their health and well-being.

If you have never thought about hunger in our county, consider this: the California Center for Rural Policy (CCRP) conducted a health survey for the North Coast in 2006. One question asked was, "In the past twelve months were you or people living in your household ever hungry because you couldn't afford enough food?" One in ten respondents answered, "Yes." This was before the current economic downturn.

So what can we do as a community to help alleviate hunger? What can we do as individuals? There are many things. One is to acknowledge that hunger exists in our community, but there are many others.

Tomorrow, May 14th, for instance, you could put a bag of non-perishable foods near your mail box. It's the 19th Annual Help Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, put on by the National Association of Letter Carriers. Your carrier will pick up food left at your mailbox and take it back to the post office. The food collected locally stays right here in our community -- CAN and Rural Human Services both receive the donations for their food banks. This is late notice, I know, but every little bit helps!

If you've ever wondered what food banks need most, think about non-perishables that are very nutrient-dense. Peanut butter, canned or dried beans, vegetable-rich soups, canned tuna or salmon, canned fruit (in its own juice), 100% juice, and shelf-stable milk are always welcome in a food box.

If you're a gardener, you can help, too! Plant a Row for the Hungry is a project of the Garden Writers Association. When you plan your garden, plant one extra row of veggies to give to your local food bank. CAN distributes food boxes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and we always need more fresh produce! If you would like to give back to the community by growing food for your neighbors who need a little extra help, please call Angela or Connor at 464-9190.

Many of our neighbors worry about where their next meal will come from. If we work together, we can help erase those worries.

Art Walk: Friday 4 to 7 pm

We are very excited to offer a preview of this Friday's Art Walk. CAN's office at 343 G Street will be a participating venue for the first time and we have a great show lined up for your enjoyment. The theme of the show is Food and Farms and we will have both visual and functional art related to the theme.

E. Chris Wisner, as you can see from these samples, takes stunning pictures of produce that can elevate our view of these "humble" foods. We will also have a collection of photographs of bees and beekeepers by Miranda Forni and some functional art in the form of mixed-wood cutting boards made by fine woodworker Mike Olmstead.

We're looking forward to seeing you all during the Art Walk. Food and beverages will be served -- and we are most likely going to have live music, too!

CAN's downtown office building is located just off the corner of G Street and 3rd Street, near Glenn's Bakery and the Triplicate offices.

The Healthy Monday Campaigns: Del Norte Style

It's been a busy couple weeks around the CAN offices -- busy, but good -- and the Growing Tables blog has been neglected. But today is Monday! It's the start of a new work week! A day to resolve to do better in so many ways (like updating the blog). And as I just read this morning, Mondays are "the January of the week". For me, that's definitely true. Mondays always feel like a fresh slate: no matter how hectic the previous week was, I can always do better on Monday.
So I was very pleased to find the Healthy Monday Campaigns this morning. Healthy Mondays was started by two schools of public health based, in part, on research showing that most Americans view Mondays as a day "for a fresh start" or a day "to get my act together". Because creating new, healthier habits often takes several attempts, choosing Mondays as your starting point makes sense: you get 52 chances every year to make that new habit stick. If you choose to make health resolutions only on January 1st each year, you only get one shot.

We already covered one of the Healthy Monday Campaigns in the first month of Growing Tables. The Del Norte school district's efforts to do Meatless Mondays is part of the overall Healthy Mondays concept. Some of the other Healthy Monday Campaigns include MoveIt Monday (full disclosure: when I read that, I got up and walked downstairs and back up before continuing to read the website) and Quit and Stay Quit, a smoking cessation program.

As it happens, next Monday offers a local opportunity to get a fresh start on your snack habits! Almost everyone snacks, so it's important to learn to snack on healthy, fun foods. Champions for Change, our school-based nutrition program that is part of the Network for a Healthy California, is holding a Fruit and Veggie Fest at the ShopSmart Food Warehouse on Northcrest Drive on Monday, May 2nd, from 1 to 4 pm. Champions for Change nutrition educators will present healthy snack ideas, give away recipes and other freebies, and show parents how to get their kids to grow up with healthy snacking habits. If you need more information, you can call Michelle Postman at 707 441-5567.

As a fun extra, they'll be showing off their new Smoothie Bike! Hop on this bike and instead of taking a ride, you'll blend up a fresh fruit smoothie. It's a fun way to get your exercise AND a healthy snack. Stop by to learn to "Snack Every Day the Healthy Way!"

Let this be the first Monday of your personal Healthy Monday campaign. Move more, eat better, and generally pay attention to your health habits. With all the recent news about how bad sitting still is for our bodies, I think I'll go run up and down the stairs again now...

Eating and Living Healthy with FIRST 5 Del Norte

We'd like to welcome First 5 Del Norte to our blog! First 5 will be a regular monthly contributor to Growing Tables, providing food and nutrition information for the 0 to 5 year old set. Their first post, as you will see, contains valuable information for us all:

A key to eating right is knowing how much food you and your children should eat at mealtimes. That's why we've included a picture of an ideal plate to help you determine healthy portion sizes, which can be very simple.  When sitting down to a meal, divide your plate into three sections. Fill half of your plate with fruits and/or vegetables. Then fill a quarter of your plate with healthy protein, and the last quarter of your plate with healthy carbohydrates. If you're still hungry, eat more fruits and vegetables. Daily physical activity is an important part of a child's healthy lifestyle. When parents exercise with their children, they become role models for them and get healthier, too! 

 

Always consult your primary care provider for your child's individual dietary needs, including feeding charts and allergies.

 

First 5 has partnered with respected certified nutritionist, mother and TV personality, Chef LaLa, in addressing a leading health problem in our state – childhood obesity. Currently 1 in 3 children in California is overweight or at risk of becoming overweight.  First 5 Del Norte has posted its Recipe of the Week in the kitchen of the Family Resource Center.  The recipes featured will empower families to make better food choices for their children, cook together as a family and develop healthy habits that will last a lifetime. Stop by the Del Norte Family Resource Center and get a free recipe card featuring a healthy meal that you and your family will have fun making!