The Collective Roots non-profit has two key initiatives: Garden Based Learning & Food System Change.  These missions enable them to educate and engage youth and communities through sustainable programs that impact health, education, and the environment. Since 2000 they have been working to provide these programs and curricula with a hands-on approach for kids from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Garden Based Learning

Collective Roots works with children, youth and adults to design and sustain organic gardens on school and community sites.  These sites are linked with kindergarten through twelfth grade curriculum that meets California state science standards as well as health and nutrition curriculum that promotes school, community and state health/nutrition goals.

• Creating and managing the one-acre flagship garden at East Palo Alto Charter School, including integrated garden-based education for students in grades kindergarten through eighth;
• Running afterschool garden programming at Girls 2 Women in East Palo Alto;
• Conducting in-school and afterschool garden-based programming at Clifford Elementary School in Redwood City; and
• Developing a garden and garden-based curriculum for in-school and afterschool programs at the 49ers Academy in East Palo Alto.

Food System Change

Collective Roots engages residents and stakeholders in a full-scale initiative to increase access to fresh, local, healthy and affordable produce. Some of their accomplishments include:

• Operating the East Palo Alto Community Farmers’ Market for two successful seasons;
• Creating EPA Fresh Checks, an innovative coupon incentive program that makes fresh fruits and vegetables affordable to low-income families; 
• Sponsoring the EPA Regional Backyard Gardener Network, a group that supports the capacity of local residents to grow their own food;
• Implementing the Fresh Fest (Festival Fresco), a traveling suite of educational activities around fitness and nutrition; and
• Offering free cooking and nutrition classes for adults and children in partnership with Operation Frontline.

Wolfram Anderson, Executive Director of Collective Roots, states that “the city of East Palo Alto has not had a Supermarket or Farmers Market for nearly 20 years.  This has forced the community to rely on small neighborhood markets, liquor stores, or to leave the community for their food”. The direct result of this more consumption of processed, ‘fast’ food.

The city of East Palo Alto has not had a Supermarket or Farmers Market for nearly 20 years.  This has forced the community to rely on small neighborhood markets, liquor stores, or to leave the community for their food.

A food desert in East Palo Alto?  I may be too far away to frequent the EPAC Farmers Market, but I am encouraged to stop by to see for myself how this community has embraced change, and to find a way to help in some small way.

For more information about Collective Roots, the East Palo Alto Community Farmers Market, or to make a donation, visit http://www.collectiveroots.org

Caryn received her My First Organics Classroom Bundle free as part of our recent launch of www.RealFoodAction.org and the Real Food Action Campaign. Real Food Action is a culmination of years of research that we did on the topics of nutrition, earth science education, school food, childhood obesity, local food systems and much more.  We found that they are all tied together, and that U.S. children are having a disconnect from the concept of where their food comes from.  Real Food Action is a resource derived from this extensive research, a resource for anyone seeking guidance on how to get involved, get educated, and get going!  It’s a wonderful springboard that points you in the direction of numerous other organizations and individuals that can help you make lasting healthy changes for our nation and our planet.

Jamie Oliver

Our recent post on Jamie Oliver covered his acceptance speech for the prestigious TED prize.  The speech says volumes about Mr. Oliver and his dream.  Today we cover just a few of his achievements to date.  Let’s take a look at what motivates this young chef to help so many people.

James Trevor Oliver, born May 27 1975, was born into kitchen life.  His parents Essex pub (which you can visit today) was his playground and at age 16 he left school to attend Westminster Catering College.  After working several outstanding restaurants in England and the rest of Europe he was discovered by TV producer Pat Llewellyn and “The Naked Chef” was born.  The show was a hit.

Now a celebrity, he was asked by Tony Blair to become Britain’s ‘Food Tsar’, and approached by Nestle and Coca-Cola to endorse their products -- all declined in favor of loftier ambitions.  But he wasn’t waiting for a bigger deal.  He wanted to cook up his own destiny.  Jamie decided to instead create a new TV show and a charity.  The show, Jamie’s Kitchen, opened a new restaurant called Fifteen and a new commercial business with a purpose.  The shows premise was to follow the training of 15 disadvantaged youth in the field of catering.  The show was another hit, and there are now 4 Fifteen location: Amsterdam, Cornwall, London, and Melbourne.  The work continues to aid the youth in the employ of these restaurants under the arm of the Jamie Oliver Foundation, and profits feed their apprenticeships.

From here Jamie Oliver moved into a more public arena, launching into a new endeavor.  Creating a new show, Jamie’s School Dinners takes a step into the schoolyards of Greenwich Village to address childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes.  He simply showed how easily we could get the processed junk food out of schools and feed kids REAL food again.  The success of this show led to the acquisition of a 300,000 signature petition, numerous headlines and the eventual agreement of Tony Blair to allocated $1 Billon in government cash to equip and train Britain’s schools to wean themselves off of junk food.

Which brings us to the here and now.  www.jamieoliver.com averages about 70k hits per day from U.S. traffic alone. Americans have been watching his shows, reading his books and downloading recipes for years.  But what prompts this high profile Chef to care about us yanks?

Simple really.  Americans are sick.  And getting worse by the day.  ABC television has teamed up with Jamie and will be airing a show that they filmed in Huntington, WV.  At the time of shooting, Huntington was named “the unhealthiest city in America”.  Premiering Friday, March 29th at 8/9pm CST we’ll see first hand how this man is on a quest to eradicate obesity and help humanity reclaim it’s dignity and health.  I’ll be taking notes to see how he does it.  The resistance to change is powerful and everyone here in California has a tendency to announce our common defense:  It’s too expensive and too difficult to change.  Often we agree that something should be done.   But our fiscal crisis seems to always paralyze us.  So, how do we do it?

Community.  Local family support.  Parent volunteers.  Donations.  These are OUR kids.  Not the Federal Governments, or the States, or the School Districts.  We need to realize just how much power we have to change the system.  Once we get this epiphany, we need to ACT, and follow through.  We cannot rely on support from government.  There is just too much at stake.

Linda and I struggle with this every day.  Just like everyone else, todays food system has fueled a lifestyle on the run -- we are just as trapped by the simplicity of it, blinded by it.  We grew up straddling 2 worlds.  One foot in childhood memory of home-cooked meals and lunchboxes and cafeteria’s that had real kitchens, and the other foot in today’s food system:  One of fast, corporate junk food, extraneous packaging, and failed labeling.  And my opinion is that our generation, Jamie’s generation, is the only one that can stop it before the art of growing, cooking and eating whole food is a lost art.

I believe that food education, as Jamie puts it, does need to be brought back into the school system.  I also believe that growing food is an integral part of food education.  Creating a sustainable, local food system so that we feel empowered when it comes to nutrition, not shackled by cheap (or rather, expensive…) ‘food’.

Our 1st grader eats government issue twice a week.  He likes it.  Then again, it’s engineered to taste good.  So it’s not a shock.  For weeks we have been on a quest to bring a true, healthy lunch into his school.  It’s hard work.  But we have angels coming out of the woodwork, joining us along our journey.  We are gathering strength, ideas, and momentum!  And you realize you are on the right track when someone sends you the news that Jamie Oliver wins the TED prize -- and it’s right in line with our quest.

Just a few days ago, USDA agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack announced several new initiatives to assure the safety and quality of food purchased by USDA for the National School Lunch Program, stating, “Nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our Nation’s school children”.   Glad to hear it. This announcement came just two months after a scathing USA Today article declaring that fast food standards for meat are far superior to those the USDA has for meat in your children’s school lunch.  The USDA was sending chicken slated as compost or pet food to our school cafeterias!  Alarming to say the least.

President Barack Obama signs a memorandum on childhood obesity in the Oval Office. From left are, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar February 9, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

One of Michelle Obama’s biggest supporters is her husband and President, Barack Obama.  President Obama signed a memorandum February 9, 2010 that establishes a task force on childhood obesity to address this growing health epidemic. The new task force is charged with developing an inter-agency action plan to solve the problem of obesity among our Nation’s children.  Within 90 days, the task force is to develop and submit to the President a comprehensive inter-agency plan that details a coordinated strategy, identifies key benchmarks, and outlines an action plan. Members of the task force include: the Secretary of the Interior; the Secretary of Agriculture; Secretary of Health and Human Services; Secretary of Education; Director of the Office of Management and Budget; Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the First Lady; Assistant to the President for Economic Policy; and heads of other executive departments, agencies, or offices as the Chair may designate.

I’ll be sure to keep you updated on our First Lady’s work.  We’ve been tickled from the beginning that she was carrying a torch for ‘growing your own’.  This kind of campaign is exactly in line with our own efforts here at Surf City Growers and our new organic curriculum for preK-3rd graders.  The direct link between growing wholesome food, education, exercise and nutrition for children in order to create lifelong habits of health for our nation is at stake.  Some of us argue that it’s a national health crisis of proportions we cannot fathom.

Let’s join together to stop it in its tracks.

Visit Michelle Obama’s website at LETSMOVE.GOV

A Green Thumb for Everyone!

We’re so excited!  Linda and I have worked so hard on our children’s book, and after months of hard work we just received our first copy.  And, despite sounding vainglorious, it is really beautiful! The book was something we decided to write to supplement the Classroom Bundle and Homeschool Bundle that we have just launched.  But it soon took on a life all it’s own.  We imagined My First Organics seed starting kits to be a great way to educate kids and families about gardening.  As our experience grew, we saw an even better way:  Get the kits into the classroom and design a whole curriculum around organic, sustainable gardening.  And what better way to kick off a lesson than with a beautiful storybook designed to engage and inspire children to grow food.  As we did more research into the different messages about gardening, we realized that the story needed to include facts about the environment, nutrition, and community as well.

“How a Garden Saves the Earth“  is a bold endeavor, designed to encourage kids to ask “Why do we do it that way?”.  Written by my wife, Linda McNair and Myself, illustrated by Jeff Petersen (The Whitby Witches, Waves), and colored by yours truly (Yes, I am an artist as well.  Go figure).

Great for children up to third grade, it is dedicated to helping parents, teachers and homeschoolers educate kids about the importance of locally grown, sustainable food and how it is connected to their health and that of the planet. This 26-page book introduces fun facts to children on every page!

By the end of the book, our two main characters meet and learn the importance of sharing

We self-published out book through Lulu.com, and although you can purchase it through them,  and soon, Amazon, we are offering the book at the lowest price at this time – and until December 31st, you can purchase it here for 10% off using promo code ECOFARE

Alice Waters shows us what a tomato should look like

If you didn’t watch 60 minutes last week, we beg you to take 15 minutes to watch this captivating story on Alice Waters. Excuse us, but we must pause in reverence to our organic goddess…

Now, we simply can’t say enough about her, what she’s done, and what she’s trying to do. A self-confessed dreamer, she acknowledges that the way she cooks is a luxury (she doesn’t own a microwave and cooks eggs over an open fire in her kitchen!). But poison-free food should be accessible to everyone.

“I feel that good food should be a right and not a privilege and it needs to be without pesticides and herbicides. And everybody deserves this food. And that’s not elitist,” Waters argued.

Her overall message is that we cannot afford to eat poorly. The processed, pesticide-sprayed, hormone-injected food that we eat is making us sick. Okay, but how do we change that? Through education.

Her Edible Schoolyard has been our inspiration for My First Organics, and our quest is to make this a reality in every school and home in America. It’s our way of making organic produce accessible to everyone!

She closes the interview with her desire to see the White House plant a sustainable, organic garden.

“I have been talking nonstop about the symbolism of an edible landscape at the White House. I think it says everything about stewardship of the land and about the nourishment of a nation,” Waters said.

The woman gets what she wants (a woman after my own heart). Check my previous post…

Enjoy watching Alice Waters on 60 minutes or check out the article and transcript.