George McGovern's Anti-Hunger Legacy - from Food Research and Action Center

I wanted to share this this message from FRAC honoring the life and work of George McGovern, especially his tremendous anti-hunger work. 



George McGovern’s Legacy
George McGovern’s death is a cause of great sadness, but his life and accomplishments are a cause for celebration as well as a reminder of much that is great about America.

Among his greatest accomplishments were his Herculean efforts to end hunger in the U.S. and around the world. Today’s food stamp, WIC, school lunch and breakfast programs, McGovern-Dole International School Nutrition Program, and others owe their reach, strength, and integrity to George McGovern’s vision, dedication, political skill and perseverance.

As George McGovern knew and taught us, the fight against hunger was not just about eradicating the moral blight of unnecessary suffering. It was also about helping people to fulfill their potential – to learn, to grow, to be healthy. Tens of millions of children and adults in the U.S. and around the world live much better lives today because they have benefitted over the years from the efforts that George McGovern championed beginning nearly 50 years ago. His impact on the world has been and will continue to be profound.

As Tomato Season Winds Down

Last week the temperatures have been hovering and  dipping around freezing point.  I was confident that my winter crops of kale, collards and Swiss chard could sustain the cold, but I was worried about my tomatoes and the last of my peppers, squash, cucumber and bean plants.  I was debating about creating a make-shift cold frame or draping plastic or blanket over the plants, but the tomato season was winding down.  The  days were getting shorter and the temperatures were dancing around freezing, but the tomato plants were still swollen and heavy with fruit.

I asked my guests Manny, Oswaldo, and Brandeis students to pick all the tomatoes, peppers, squash and beans. We had four large bowls of cherry tomato, jubilee, heirlooms and beefsteaks and a few peppers, cucumbers and beans. Those tomatoes that were in the verge of turning red or orange depending on the variety, I placed them in a brown paper bag to ripen them. Most of the tomatoes, however, will stay green.  What do I do now?

One of my staff, Karen is an avid gardener and a foody.  She asked me for some green tomatoes to take home to make green tomato relish, pickle tomatoes and her favorite, fried green tomatoes.  She shared her recipe for fried green tomatoes and we made some for the guests for lunch the next day.

Here are some recipes that I found online for green tomatoes.  Enjoy!

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/fried_green_tomatoes/
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/green_tomato_chutney/
http://www.recipe.com/pickled-green-tomatoes/?rbl=true&ordersrc=googledsa1
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/canning/

Food Memories : Gayle C.

We have a guest collaborator, Michelle Yi  a junior from Brandeis University studying International & Global Studies and Sociology .  Do you remember your favorite treat as a child? Michelle will be documenting the food memories from the guests at the Community Day Center.  Please enjoy hearing from Gayle.

September 19^th, 2012 - Gayle

On my first day volunteering at the Day Center, I met Gayle. She was wearing a black leather jacket and light-blue jeans. She had light blue-colored eyes. Her frame was quite slender, and had difficulty walking over to where Jackie and I were sitting. It seems like Gail and Jackie go way back.

“Stroganoff.” This is Gail’s favorite food. “Make sure to add a bit of sugar in it.” I wondered when she was last able to eat stroganoff, but I did not ask. It was difficult for her to even decide whether her stomach could handle a sandwich at the Day Center, but her hunger gave in. She ate the sandwich slowly as our conversation progressed.

I asked if she makes her own food. Unfortunately, she is living in a shelter, which does not provide a kitchen. She is currently trying to move apartments. Perhaps then, she can begin to cook for herself again and take control of her own diet.

After she served in the army, she attended a culinary school in Massachusetts. I asked her what the army food was like, and she looked at me with disgust. I assumed that she would rather forget what army food tasted like. Gayle was in the army for about 13 months, until her grandmother pulled her away. Gayle’s mother had signed her up to serve in the army and Gayle did not have a choice but to serve, since she was still underage and in the care of her parents.

Gayle’s grandfather used to call her “Little Ma” since the age of 2, since she took care of her thirteen siblings. At a young age, Gayle particularly loved food, cooking, and feeding those she loves. Although, many of the things she learned were not taught at school, but through her own experimentation with ingredients at home. For example: she enjoys eating Morel mushrooms as well, which are grown on dead elm trees. She explained that they could only be found for two days in 80-degree weather in May. Morel is very expensive and rare to find. They are delicious when eaten with a filet mignon and wild rice. She also recommends Ginseng, a nutritious root that is found mostly in Asia.

I asked her if she could recommend a particular recipe that can keep one healthy—particularly with vegetables. With a twinkle in her eye, she says, “I know the secret to getting kids to eat spinach.” I leaned in closer to listen. “First, get leaves and cauliflower…and roll it altogether into a string. Slice it, sauté it. Cut some garlic and make sure to take the stem out! Add a pinch of salt.” It was a great recipe both for her and her kids because it was “nice, easy, and not bitter.” She recommends that this dish should be eaten with black beans or white rice.

Gayle’s health has been deteriorating significantly in the last few years. She limps as she walks because of her foot problem. Fortunately, her foot is healing, but “in the wrong way,” which makes her son Michael concerned. She recalls the doctor telling her and her son that “she shouldn’t be alive,” given all the health problems that she is experiencing. They left enraged by the doctor’s insensitivity and saddened by the reality.

It was then that Jackie and Gayle had to leave. Before she left, she put her hand on my shoulder and said, “Maybe you can help someone someday,” and left me with my thoughts.

Maximizing Yield and Stretching Out Our Growing Season

“In the end, there is really nothing more important than taking care of the earth and letting it take care of you.” 

Charles Scott

Getting the highest yield from the garden was one of our many goals when we started the garden project at the Community Day Center of Waltham.  At the Center, approximately 40 guests come daily for lunch throughout the afternoon. Our aim was to provide at least two healthy meals per week from the garden during the summer, when the students and parishioners who help bring meals were away.  This way, our guests can eat more and healthier, even as I stretch our limited budget.   To accomplish this, we started our garden early and used strategies like interplanting, succession planting, companion planting and lateral planting to get the most out of the garden.   To stretch production into late fall, we plan to protect the vegetables from frost with a layer of straw and later with a cold frame.

5 raised beds

With the help of volunteers from WalthamWorks and cheered on by our Mayor, we inaugurated our garden early on April 1^st when the ground was still bare and thawing – but nothing could dampened the spirits of over a dozen able bodies .  Making sure that our seeds would be planted in fertile land, we purchased and shared with Healthy Waltham 5 cu. yards of “super soil”.  We built five raised beds that had south facing sunlight. Raised beds were easier to maintain and had better air circulation because the soil was not compacted.  We spread straw over the beds to warm up the soil, conserve water and inhibit weeds.  Heating the soil in early spring and late fall will extend our growing season. The Boston area is in USDA Hardiness Zone 6, so we could have two growing seasons for leafy greens and salad greens.  Because of the warmer soil temperature, seeds can germinate earlier in the spring and extends planting of cool season crops to late fall.

the five beds today

beets growing on slope

Our plans for the garden grew “organically” from there.  At the farthest of the five beds, the land was sloped.  We used large stones to buttress the soil, and there we planted beets. Judy Fallows had raspberry plants which we planted on the north side as a natural barrier from our neighbor’s land.  In front of the raspberry patch we had another bed of tomatoes, and beyond that we had our herb spiral.  Parsley, chives, lemon balm, oregano, thyme, and basil grew like children on a school outing, walking single file up to the top of a hill.   On the west side, we had edible flowers of nasturtiums, pansies, borage and marigolds.

carrots interplanted with radishes

To get the most out of our garden, we tried different techniques like interplanting faster growing seeds, like radishes, with slower growing seeds, like carrots, to make the space more productive.   The thinking was when the radishes are harvested that the slower growing carrots will then have room to grow.  We tried two methods in planting seeds.  One way was to mix the radish and carrot seeds with potting soil in a Tupperware and then spreading the mixture in rows in the bed.  The second way was to plant the seeds according to the instructions on the seed package.  In Row 1, we planted the radishes in the first method resulting in overcrowding plants.  (This method was very successful with salad greens.) Periodically, we thinned down the radish plants, but I think we should have been more aggressive in thinning because only one in ten plants had radishes, and the radishes we did have were stringy.  Because the plants were not productive, we pulled them all out, leaving plenty of room for the carrots.   By way of consolation, we told ourselves that we are now practiced at “cost-benefit analysis.”  

red leaf lettuce

replaced by peppers and kohlrabi

Another strategy we used to maximizing production was succession planting.  In Row 3, we grew tomato seedlings and in back of them were 7 red leaf lettuce plants.  These “seven sisters” were enough to provide many crunchy salads late spring and summer.  Towards the middle of summer, the leaves of the red lettuce started to turn bitter so we pulled them out and planted peppers and kohlrabi in their place. We also recently pulled out the squash and zucchini plants.  Their productivity was cut short, even with intervention (see July post: Remedy for Squash Vine Borers), because of infestation of squash vine borers.  We planted cool season plants like kale and Chinese vegetables.

A third strategy was to place two complementary plants together to enhance growth, pest control or flavor.   We placed marigolds in each corner of the beds.  They are known to ward off bugs that may attack tomato and pepper plants.  Also, in our Organic Pest Control post we advised the spacing out of different plants in the same family and separate them with other types of plants.  That way, if you get pests on your squash plants on one side of the garden, they may not get to the plants on the other side of the garden because there are other, unappealing plants in the way.

growing peas and beans laterally

To take advantage of pre-existing fences on the eastern border of the garden, we trained plants to grow laterally.  All along the fences we had beans, sweet peas, cucumbers and tomato plants. Once you trained the earlier tendrils to climb, they did the rest. There was no need to stake the plants.  But, the best gift of all was that this method saved us from having to bend over to pick the produce.  We are able to show our friends and guests our nimble fingers hard at work, and not the suffering of our stiff backs and slow knees. 

early tomato plants are past peak

squash borers wiped out many plants

kale, cool plant for fall 

collads

As an update on the garden, we are witnessing the changing of the guards:  the early tomato plants, basil are looking tired and so are the climbing plants, but the kale, Swiss chard and collards, the late tomatoes, peppers, beets and carrots will hopefully provide more meals through October.  To protect the new cool vegetables I planted a few weeks ago, I plan to replace the straw in the beds and plan to build cold frames to protect the plants from frost. We will write more about cold frames in our next post.

I’ll leave you with the words of H. Fred Dale, gardening editor, “My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view. “  Happy gardening.