Blog Posts - ChicopeeFRESH

New Grow Racks at Stefanik and Bowe!

9/12/2018

Students at Bowe and Stefanik Elementary Schools now have the unique opportunity of growing fresh greens and herbs year-round right inside their cafeterias thanks to EvanLee Organics and 24:45 Organics patented growing technology. The grow racks use a terraponic system with nutrient-rich soil supplied from the company, which is composted in a large bin between plantings. An automated light system supplies plants with the ideal amount of light each day, helping the system remain highly productive year-round. Each rack can produce 15 - 30 lbs of produce per month, and most greens and herbs provide multiple harvests. The system is sustainable, easy to operate, and will allow students to garden year-round. The racks will also supply hyper local produce for school salad bars for both students and staff. So far, we have grown kale, sage, basil, spinach, chives, and several varieties of lettuce. Moving forward, we will work closely with cafeteria staff to customize the crops for school meals. Our two FoodCorps service members, Anna and Kelly, will oversee the grow racks and use them in hands-on lessons with students. We are very excited to use these new systems to supplement our existing farm to school programs. Be sure to follow us @chicopeefresh for the latest updates about this project!

Yogurt Parfaits at the Downtown GetDown

9/12/2018

The Chicopee Downtown Get Down is an annual block party showcasing local businesses and organizations and featuring live entertainment and delicious eats. This was our third year taking part in the festivities, and it's an event we look forward to all year long!

In order to promote our Farm to School programs, we served local yogurt parfaits featuring local fruit, local yogurt, and even local granola! A big thanks to Local Maple Granola in Holyoke, MA for donating a delicious lemon granola that was a smash hit with parfait customers. We also gave students the opportunity to take a spin on our Blender Bike and mix up their own healthy fruit smoothies. Even May Kos gave it a go!

Thanks to everyone who came out to enjoy the Get Down and support Chicopee businesses and organizations. We hope to see you next year! Comment below with ideas for what we should serve at the Get Down next year :)

New Garden at Lambert-Lavoie!

9/12/2018

Introducing Chicopee's newest school garden! We're thrilled to have a new raised bed garden right outside Lambert-Lavoie Elementary School. So far, we've got a variety of crops planted for students to harvest this fall, such as radishes, beets, carrots, and lettuce. We've also planted herbs for a fun sensory experience. Come spring, students will participate in Salad Days programming. They will also have the opportunity to take part in a garden club led by FoodCorps Service Member, Kelly Zimmerhanzel. If you are a Lambert parent or a resident of the neighborhood and are interested in getting involved, please reach out to either Kelly or Greta. Thank you!

1st School Garden Training A Success!

7/16/2018

On June 25th, we hosted our first ever School Garden Training as a voluntary professional development opportunity for Chicopee K-5 educators. We were thrilled to have a group of 10 teachers and paraprofessionals from six schools join us at the Stefanik Garden for a day of hands-on learning focused on building, maintaining, and utilizing school gardens.

Thanks to Panera, Starbucks, Stop & Shop, and Bernat's, we were able to provide participants with breakfast and lunch to fuel a fun day of learning. We started off with a tour of the garden, led by FoodCorps service member, Molly Burke (pictured below). Molly has been busy working in the garden with Stefanik students this year!

FoodCorps member, Molly Burke, shows off students' handmade inspirational garden signs in different languages.

After discussing ways to engage students in the garden and connect gardening to the curriculum, participants got to work building two 4x4 ft raised garden beds, which will become a part of the new Lambert Lavoie School Garden. Teams raced against each other (unofficially) to see who could put together their raised bed the fastest. Below is one of the teams with their beautiful finished bed!

The winning team!

After our garden building session, participants continued to get hands-on by harvesting food for their lunch. We harvested kale for a big kale salad, and garlic scapes and basil for a delicious garlic scape pesto. Find the pesto recipe here. This was a great example of how easy it can be to cook with kids in the garden!

We loved this fresh garlic scape pesto! So easy to make and paired perfectly with sandwiches from Bernat's.

In the afternoon, we wrapped up the training with sessions on fundraising and starting a garden club, led by Bowe teacher and Farm to School Planning Team member, Harry Brandt. Mr. Brandt, a former journalist, walked participants through the process of creating a media packet to highlight their school garden program. He also shared his tips and tricks for creating a successful after-school garden club like the one at Bowe Elementary. Additionally, we discussed ways to save money by using recycled materials such as cardboard, milk cartons, pallets, milk jugs, etc. The possibilities are endless if you get creative!

A big thanks to all of the incredible educators who came out to our training! We hope to be able to host more workshops in the future and continue to grow a network of school garden champions across the district.

sneaky delicious

7/3/2018

By Molly Burke, FoodCorps Service Member

Looking for a healthy twist on the desserts your kids love? Here are two, tested and approved by Stefanik Stars! We experimented with healthy substitutions in this delicious brownie batter recipe, which, with a few ingredient omissions, doubles as a vegan ice cream topping or dipping sauce for fruit. These brownies are made with black beans instead of flour for a fudgy texture and a big dose of healthy fiber and plant protein. You can also substitute fiber-and-vitamin-rich dates for half of the sugar without sacrificing sweetness. The best part is that you can’t taste the black beans--even in the raw chocolate sauce! It’s almost too good to be true.

Ingredients
For brownies:

The same amounts as above of beans, cocoa powder, sugar/dates, and oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt
2 flax eggs OR for non-vegan, 3 eggs (for flax eggs, mix 2 tbs flaxseed meal with ¼ cup hot water and mix well. Let sit for 5 minutes or until thickened)
1 tsp baking powder
Optional: 1 tsp coffee grounds
If needed to blend: milk of choice or water
Optional: ½ cup chocolate chips or walnuts

For sauce:

1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ cup packed brown sugar and ½ cup pitted dates, OR ½ cup packed brown sugar
3 tbs vegetable oil
½ cup water

Procedures
For brownies: Preheat oven to 350F. Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add all ingredients except chocolate chips or walnuts to a blender and blend until smooth. Add milk or water a few tablespoons at a time if mixture is too thick to blend. Fold in desired toppings and stir with a spoon to combine. Pour batter into a greased baking dish and bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean (if you added liquid, cook time may be longer). Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then serve. Makes about 16 brownies.

For sauce:
Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth, adding more water if too thick. Can also use a bowl and hand mixer or potato masher. Serve over ice cream or as a dipping sauce for your favorite fruit. We tried it with strawberries and bananas!

Salad Days Harvest

6/28/2018

by Kelly Zimmerhanzel, FoodCorps Service Member

Remember that lettuce we planted back in April? Well, it grew! In June, we had the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders at Litwin, Streiber, Stefanik, and Bowe come out into the garden to harvest their lettuce and plant fall crops including carrots, beets, and potatoes as part of our Salad Days and Harvest Days program. The program, created by Backyard Growers in Gloucester, gives every student involved a total of three garden visits and two seed-to-fork experiences over the course of the year. In April, each class comes out to the garden to plant lettuce seeds. The lettuce grows until June, when each class returns to harvest what they planted and sow the fall crops: potatoes, beets, and carrots. The next day, we all enjoy a student-grown salad taste test in the cafeteria. Each class returns to the garden in the September to harvest the fall crops, which are then roasted and taste-tested in the cafeteria.

Lettuce at the Bowe School Garden

Each class comes out to the garden for just 30 minutes to harvest and plant. First, they have to wash their hands. Then, we take them to the half of the bed that they planted and give each student a pair of scissors and assign them a square. Molly, Greta, or I will then demonstrate how to grab the top of the lettuce and snip it off with the scissors just above the soil, so our lettuce stays clean. We also show them how to snip off the roots of the lettuce if they accidentally pull them out and explain that is not the right way to do it because it gets dirt everywhere.

A student at Bowe cutting their lettuce

The kids put the harvested leaves in one of our harvest bins and keep harvesting until their square is completely denuded. When everyone is done harvesting, we move over to our washing station, where each student grabs a handful of lettuce, swishes it around in a bin full of water, and then moves it to a bin with holes to let it dry.

Students at Litwin washing their lettuce

Once all the lettuce is washed, we add it to the basket of our giant salad spinner. Molly, Greta, or I will put the top on the salad spinner and show the kids how to crank it. Each student gets to crank the salad spinner five times and then moves to the end of the line and we keep spinning it until the salad is dry. I like to ask the students or teachers if they know how to count in any languages other than English or Spanish, because those are the only two I know. Some of the kids immediately requested, “Spanish!” and a few even requested, “Spanglish!” so I counted one number in English and the next in Spanish! Many of the students and teachers shared their languages with me, including one student who counted in Khmer and a teacher who counted for us in Greek!

Greta helping students at Stefanik spin their lettuce

Students at Litwin admiring their dry lettuce

Once the lettuce is dried, we put it in a big bag so that we can put it in the refrigerator and serve it in the cafeteria the next day! Then, we head back to the bed and each student has to remove the lettuce roots and any weeds from their square, otherwise the lettuce will keep growing and choke out our fall crops! When the square is completely clear, we ask the students who are planting potatoes to dig a hole in the middle of their square. We give each student a potato and remind them to plant it with the eye (the sprouting part) up, so that the plant can grow. Finally, they gently sweep the soil over the potato.

Students at Streiber digging holes for their potatoes

For the students planting beets and carrots, the process is a little different. When the square is completely clear, we ask each student to make a 4x4 array of holes in their square by digging in their pointer finger to the first joint. Once each student has 16 evenly spaced holes in their square, we give them a pinch of beet or carrot seeds and instruct them to place one seed in each hole and return any extra seeds to us or ask us for extra seeds if they do not have enough. When all the seeds are in the holes, they gently sweep the soil over them to cover them up. At this point, the class is all done and can return inside!

A student at Streiber planting carrot or beet seeds

A student at Streiber planting carrots

A student at Stefanik planting beets

At Stefanik, we were lucky enough to have Hannah and Dana, two representatives from 88 Acres, one of our local vendors, come out to play a telephone with the kids and give them a sample of their Pumpkin Seed Butter.

88 Acres representative Hannah giving the kids samples of Pumpkin Seed Butter

Altogether, we harvested about 143 pounds of lettuce - 7 pounds from Litwin, 22 pounds from Streiber, 21 pounds from Stefanik, and a whopping 93 pounds from Bowe! The harvest at Bowe was on Monday, June 18th, the hottest day of the year so far. Despite more than half of the students being absent that day, and having to harvest in about half the time to avoid the heat of the afternoon, we managed to harvest all 93 pounds of lettuce!

The students were able to taste their lettuce in the cafeteria the day after we harvested. At Litwin and Streiber, we made a balsamic vinaigrette dressing with olive oil, dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, and a little honey. During every Taste Test, we allow the students to vote whether they disliked the dish, liked it, or loved it by dropping the backs of their stickers into the voting buckets. At Litwin, 30 percent of students disliked the salad, while 70 percent of students liked it or loved it! At Streiber, the results were even more positive; 27 percent of students disliked it and 73 percent of students liked it or loved it!

Molly and I showing off the lettuce before the Litwin Taste Test

At Stefanik and Bowe, we tried 88 Acres’ recipe for ranch using their Pumpkin Seed Butter. I’ll admit, I was skeptical of ranch made out of seed butter, but once I tried it, I was hooked. The kids seemed to like it too! At Stefanik, 33 percent of students disliked the salad, while 67 percent liked it or loved it! At Bowe, the results were even better; only 18 percent of students disliked it, while 82 percent of students liked it or loved it!

Although we didn’t manage to use all the lettuce in our taste tests, we made sure it didn’t go to waste. The extra lettuce from Litwin and Streiber was donated to Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen and at Stefanik and Bowe, Molly and I put the lettuce in individual produce bags, and during dismissal we handed it out to parents and students, who were excited to take home a little piece of their garden!

Year in review

6/28/2018

By Molly Burke, FoodCorps service member

Much has happened over the past academic year with FoodCorps! Here is a look back on some of the fun that happened at Stefanik, Litwin, Lambert-Lavoie, and Bowe with Molly and Kelly.

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Thank You, Sunshine Village!

6/15/2018

We're so thankful to Sunshine Village for donating these beautiful handmade signs to our school gardens! Since the fall, we've been collaborating with Sunshine Village to offer monthly taste tests and cooking experiences to their participants. For instance, in December, we practiced chopping carrots, made honey glazed carrot coins, and played pin the nose on the snowman! We're so thankful for this partnership and so in awe of these gorgeous signs! Click here for more information about Sunshine Village.

Built on the belief that adults with disabilities can lead rich, meaningful lives, Sunshine Village is a thriving, vibrant community where more than 450 adults and their families come to connect, learn, contribute—and shine.

May Taste Test: Salafel With Pita & Tzatziki

6/10/2018

To celebrate seafood as the Harvest of the Month, we tried out a new product from our friends at North Coast Seafoods, a cross between salmon and falafel known as "Salafel." We paired small Salafel sliders we tzatziki sauce and pita for a delicious and balanced bite! There isn't an official recipe for this taste test, but we encourage everyone to enjoy local seafood at home!

May festivities

5/27/2018

By Molly Burke, FoodCorps service member

Tuesday morning, Mrs. Gelonese’s class of first graders and I set out from Litwin for Luther Belden Farm, in Hatfield, to enjoy a dairy farm field trip donated to us by the New England Dairy and Food Council. Darryl and Lucinda Williams, the farm’s owners, introduced us to their many adorable calves and surprisingly large dairy cows, showed us how their cows are milked by a very precise robot, and made sure we left with a healthy appreciation for local food systems and goodies like stickers and Cabot cheese.

When I returned to Litwin, some 5th graders helped me put together tomato planters made from Home Depot buckets. McKinstry Farms and Harry Brandt from Bowe School generously donated the plants. Thanks, Harry and McKinstry!

Wednesday was one long exercise in self restraint as I prepared four dozen whole grain, lactose-free cupcakes and frosting for two end-of-year class parties for Litwin fifth graders. When people think of plant-based foods, what often comes to mind is savory recipes, like tofu stir fries and veggie burgers. I wanted to show students that they can incorporate vegetables into sweet dishes, too. A few years ago when I was interning at Whole Foods Market, I learned that the in-house bakeries use only natural food dye in their desserts; their vivid green, purple, and pink frostings had been achieved using things like spinach, blueberries, and beets. So I did some research and found natural food dye tutorials online to use with my students. In February, Mrs. Gelonese’s class made pink heart pancakes with beet-derived dye. It had worked pretty well, so I decided to do more colors for the parties. On Tuesday night, I made a fresh batch of the beet dye, plus green, purple, and yellow dyes, made from boiled spinach, blueberries, and turmeric powder, respectively. I had the fifth graders mix frosting with a few drops of dye in snack-size ziploc bags, then squeeze the colorful concoctions into the cupcakes. The dye made the frosting a little runny at times, but the end result was a rainbow of beautiful, naturally colorful cupcakes!

On Thursday, the Stefanik cooking club made whole-wheat pizza from scratch, topped with herbs from the school garden. I’ve been using this dough recipe (which I wrote about in the previous blog post) both at home and in cooking club meetings, and it’s a crowd-pleaser. It’s made with rapid acting yeast and doesn’t need rising time, so it takes only about 10 minutes to prepare, and when rolled thin, only about 12-15 minutes to bake in the oven, depending on how crispy you want it. While the yeast activated, we went outside to the garden to harvest some fresh basil, chives, and oregano from the herb beds. We experimented with both the sweet Genovese and the purple varieties of basil. The kids each got their own dough ball, rolled it out, and topped it with sauce, cheese, turkey pepperoni (lower in saturated fat than traditional pork), and herbs. I forgot to steal a bite, but the kids said it turned out delicious and it smelled heavenly!

On Friday, the Litwin 5th graders planted more buckets, this time with bell peppers and strawberries. Some of the strawberry transplants already had pale green berries growing. We’re all excited for a great June harvest.Back at Stefanik, I put up the garden signs the students painted earlier this month. Some of them are crop markers, and some of them display the many garden mottos I asked students to think up in class. To represent the many cultures that make up Chicopee today, these mottos were written in different languages. Here are some of my favorites.

"Healthy and strong" in Polish.

In the Salad Days bed.

The dirt is what binds us.