We hope that you are all having a great winter and New Year!

Despite the snowy, cool weather outside, the farm has already sown the first seeds of 2012! In early January, we direct-seeded spinach in one of our small field greenhouses, and chard, kale, lettuce, bok choi, and Napa cabbage were started in our starter (plug) greenhouse to be planted in the large field high tunnel in February. The farm is now growing every month of the year and selling in 11 months this season. We had a great turnout (thank you to those who attended!) for our Kalamazoo Foods Markets in December and early January. We plan to return on Saturday, March 3.

The 2012 CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Program at Green Gardens doesn’t start until June, but we encourage those interested to sign-up now since a limited number of spots are available. Click here for more information on the CSA. Or, if you’re ready to eat fresh, local, natural, and healthy food, sign-up up here!

We are excited about some new crops and investments for 2012. New additions to the crop menu include shallots, baby ginger (can you believe it?), sweet potatoes, and pineapple tomatillos. The farm will continue to heavily invest in infrastructure to extend the growing season and increase yields on its small space. Some of the bigger projects we plan to tackle include constructing one (and possibly two) new greenhouses, installing a well to improve irrigation, protecting crops with an 8-ft woven-wire deer fence around entire growing area, and building a much larger chicken tractor (moveable chicken coop) to accommodate over 100 laying hens.

You already are changing the food system by supporting the farm, but if you are interested in becoming actively involved locally and putting pressure on our representatives in Congress, there is a Fair Farm Bill Campaign Kickoff Meeting on Thursday, January 19, at First United Methodist Church (111 E. Michigan Ave) in Battle Creek from 7-8PM. RSVP here.

We look forward to seeing you in the spring! Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Trent & Ruthie Thompson
Farmers, Green Gardens Community Farm

Green Gardens Farm on Facebook

Photo below of last year’s chicks. Seventy-five, one-day old chicks will join the farm in three weeks! Peep, peep, peep!

The 2012 Community Supported Agriculture [CSA] program here at Green Gardens is now open to the public for sign-up.

We have 3 share types available for pick-up on Wednesdays and Fridays in Battle Creek at 5 locations throughout town plus at the farm, and at the Kalamazoo Bank Street Market on Saturdays. Egg shares from our free-range chickens are also available.

For further details about the CSA program, click here. Boxes from past years can be seen here.

CSA members have a voice in how the CSA runs and what goes into the boxes. As the farmers, we try to be as responsive as possible to the needs of our members. We want to make them happy!

Here are the results from the end-of-season (weeks 12-21) survey from 2011.

Are you interested in the 2012 CSA? We can't guarantee you a spot, but there's a chance you might get in. The sooner you contact us, the better. If you don't make this year's list, you'll at least be at the top of next year's.

Sign-up here to get your name on the waiting list.

Happy New Year, folks!

Greetings, folks:

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

We thought we'd send another quick reminder that we still have lots of delicious produce from our unheated hoophouses and the field. Junk food manufacturers beware! Our candy carrots our the tastiest treat we've ever snacked on. A woman on our Facebook page this week said, "We bought two bunches of these today at People's (Food Co-Op) and they are SO GOOD. My 2-year-old has eaten four of them already and is munching on one as I type." Need I say more? Purchase them at the Food Co-Op in Kzoo or on our online farm stand along with other delicious delights until 9 AM tomorrow (MONDAY).

Also, need a gift certficate for the Holiday season? Purchase a gift of good eating and health for your friends or family from Green Gardens with a gift certificate. They are redeemable at the farm through the online farm stand or at the Kalamazoo Bank Street market in 2012.

We will be at the Kzoo Foods Market again this upcoming Saturday from 9-1 PM at the corner of Crosstown and Burdick.

The chickens are really enjoying this weekend. The warmer weather has meant that they can pick through the grass again for worms and bugs. The snow (see photo below from last week) gave many of them some puzzled looks last week!

Have a wonderful week, Trent and Ruthie

Find the farm on Facebook!

Written by Jill Ettinger

Like the saying goes, the only constant is change. We may resist it all we want, but Time and its inevitable evolution of everything in its path is unaffected by our attempts to stop it. The resulting trajectory of humanity's nascent ascent appears to be positioning itself to sweep us into progressive new times, especially where our food choices are concerned, as nearly 7 billion people are now standing on the little scraps of land that we share with some 55 billion rather large animals raised for food each year. (As another famous saying goes: This town ain't big enough for the both of us.) So, beef (and all factory-farmed meat) may be going from rib-eye to relic as we transition to a greener world... literally -- as in leafy, green vegetables.

Environmentalists cite meat production as one of the biggest contributors to global warming, and the USDA's new food pyramid (MyPlate) suggests the healthiest choice is making vegetables and fruit the biggest part of every meal by reducing consumption of animal proteins. Kale is far more nutritious than other leafy greens, but these seven reasons why it is such an important futurefood may just surprise you.

1. Anti-inflammatory: Inflammation is the number one cause of arthritis, heart disease and a number of autoimmune diseases, and is triggered by the consumption of animal products. Kale is an incredibly effective anti-inflammatory food, potentially preventing and even reversing these illnesses.

2. Iron: Despite the myth that vegetarians are anemic, the number of non-vegetarians with iron-deficiencies is on the rise. Per calorie, kale has more iron than beef.

3. Calcium: Dairy and beef both contain calcium, but the U.S. still has some of the highest rates of bone loss and osteoporosis in the world. Kale contains more calcium per calorie than milk (90 grams per serving) and is also better absorbed by the body than dairy.

4. Fiber: Like protein, fiber is a macronutrient, which means we need it every day. But many Americans don't eat nearly enough and the deficiency is linked to heart disease, digestive disorders and cancer. Protein-rich foods, like meat, contain little to no fiber. One serving of kale not only contains 5 percent of the recommended daily intake of fiber, but it also provides 2 grams of protein.

5. Omega fatty acids: Healthy fats play an important role in our health, unlike the saturated fats in meat. A serving of kale contains 121 mg of omega-3 fatty acids and 92.4 mg of omega-6 fatty acids.

6. Immunity: Superbugs and bacteria are a serious risk to our health. Many of these come as a result of factory farm meat, eggs and dairy products. Kale is an incredibly rich source of immune-boosting carotenoid and flavanoid antioxidants, as well as vitamins A and C.

7. Sustainable: Kale grows to maturity in 55 to 60 days versus a cow raised for beef for an average of 18-24 months. Kale can grow in most climates and is relatively easy to grow at home or on a farm. To raise one pound of beef requires 16 pounds of grain, 11 times as much fossil fuel and more than 2,400 gallons of water.

The author forgot to point out it tastes really f'ing good, too!

Greetings, folks;

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! If you'd like to recover from your holiday indulgence on Thursday, we have some healthy selections to get you back on track!

Vegetables are available to order on the Online Farm Stand. Order now until Monday at 10 AM and pick-up Monday night (4-7 PM) at the farm. It's almost December, but we still have cabbage, candy carrots, salad mix, spinach, three kinds of kale, swiss chard, Japanese spinach, leeks, salad turnips, and the Thanksgiving Recovery Box which includes many of the previously listed crops, as well as storage onions and the amazing German Butterball potatoes.

We want to thank all those who attended the Kalamazoo Foods Market Saturday in Kalamazoo. We had a great turnout and will be back Saturday, December 10 (9 AM - 1 PM). Thanks to the People's Food Co-Op in Kalamazoo, too, for putting our delicious carrots in their produce department. You can find our salad mix there also.

In other farm news, we are busy doing a lot of planning for next season already. In fact, we've even made a few seed purchases to secure varieties that we love for the 2012 season. There are some exciting new crops that we are looking forward to having: baby ginger, pineapple tomatillos, shallots, sweet potatoes, and some different herbs.

CSA folks: We are in need of a site host near Columbia Ave in Battle Ceek Lakeview. Let us know if you're interested. 2011 CSA Survey is going out within the next couple days. We are shooting to open the 2012 sign-up for existing members within 10 days! An e-mail will be send out with "2012 CSA Sign-Up" in the subject line.

For all you Facebook folks, find us there. Now that our ourdoor workload has greatly dimished, we will have time to upload photos from this season for your viewing pleasure, as well as posting more food-related articles and links. We also post what we will have at market, big farm happenings, reminders that the Online Farm Stand is open, so 'like' us to stay up-to-date with Green Gardens happenings.

As always, thanks again for all of your support this season. We are grateful to be your farmers.

Trent & Ruthie

Dino Kale after our brief snowstorm a couple weeks back:

Looks like more snow is in the forecast next week. Get ready for it!

Definitely not tomato season anymore, but I got the biggest kick out of this farmer's tomato hornworm killing! Enjoy!

Zoom

This child enjoys a bar-b-que rib dinner at God's Kitchen - Battle Creek. The little tyke was one of 25 children served at the Cereal City's new soup kitchen. / Photo by James Williamson

Written by

Pastor William Stein

Talk about starting a business with a bang! God's Kitchen - Battle Creek, the new nonprofit soup kitchen located at First Baptist Church in downtown Battle Creek, has served 4137 meals in its first month of operation.

"We attribute the number to need and good food," said Pastor William Stein, Chairman of the soup kitchen.

Since it opened on October 11, God's Kitchen - Battle Creek has served catfish, beef brisket, pork loin, meatloaf, teriyaki chicken and bar-b-que beef and pork spare ribs.

"That is just the beginning," Stein said. "With the support of our community partners, we intend to serve more gourmet dinners to the needy."

Stein is referring to the Food Bank of South Central Michigan, where 90 percent of God's Kitchen's food is purchased and donated. Food is prepared at First Congregational Church and Arcadia Brewing Company before it is served at First Baptist Church for anyone who is hungry!

"Jesus said to 'Prepare a Feast for the Poor,'" Stein said. "We shall endeavor to fulfill that edict for as long as this program exists."

God's Kitchen - Battle Creek is funded by donations and sponsorship. To make a tax-deductible contribution, send your check to: God's Kitchen - Battle Creek, P.O. Box 4127, Battle Creek, Michigan 49016. Or make a donation online at www.godskitchenbattlecreek.org.

New York (CNN) -- Students gathered as the chef sliced tomatoes with a plastic knife in a Brooklyn public school cafeteria. Their eyes followed as she held up a slender green cylinder before the crowd of parents and kids in plastic aprons and hairnets.

"What's that?" kids shouted.

"It's a scallion. But don't eat it now," warned Leigh Armstrong, a culinary student and volunteer chef. "It doesn't taste like celery."

Armstrong was helping at Cooking Matters, a free, six-week class that teaches parents and kids how to shop for and prepare healthy, inexpensive meals. The program launched 20 years ago through the nonprofit Share our Strength, and it now serves more than 11,000 families across the country.

Most participants use or have used food stamps, free or reduced-price school lunches or food pantries to cover their nutritional needs, and almost all are still looking for ways to stretch a few ingredients into meals.

The number of families that struggle to get enough food has increased in recent years.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that in 2010, 14.5% of households in the United States -- about 17.2 million -- lacked the resources to provide enough food for everybody. Among those, about 6.4 million households saw normal eating patterns disrupted or reduced because there wasn't enough food.

Food insecurity -- uncertainty about where the next meal will come from -- is particularly hard on one group: children.

The nonprofit Feeding America, a network of more than 200 food banks around the United States, reports one in five children are at risk of hunger. For children in African-American or Latino households, it's closer to one in three.

They're likely to have trouble focusing in school. They might experience illness or poor health as a result. They're also likely to struggle with stress at home or in class. While many are eligible for free or reduced-price food at school, those programs don't provide food at night, on weekends or during breaks from school.

Hunger is still a more frequent problem for homes headed by single parents and for homes below the federal poverty line, the USDA reports, but it has also crept into homes that have never experienced it before.

"It's invasive and real," said Paula Thornton-Greear, a Feeding America spokeswoman. "It's a time of record need, a time when you're seeing people from all walks of life needing to turn to assistance to meet their food needs."

For adults, the most important step might be talking about it, Thornton-Greear said -- reaching out to friends and family who can help and learning what government and nonprofit food programs are available.

"At some point, we're all in need of something," she said. "It's reflective of a society experiencing a huge downturn. It's not reflective on one individual."

For kids, it might mean getting adults more engaged in teaching nutrition and stopping hunger before it starts.

On TV, a new "Sesame Street" puppet, Lily, is talking about food insecurity from the perspective of a 7-year-old who doesn't always have enough to eat.

In Orange County, California, chef and restaurateur Bruno Serato feeds pasta to about 300 children every night.

Serato, one of the Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2011, began cooking for kids when his mother visited from Italy and saw a child eating potato chips for dinner. The boy, like dozens of others near his restaurant in Anaheim, lived in a motel, where his family had limited access to food and cooking space.

"'Bruno, you must feed them pasta,'" he recalled her saying. Serato continued the nightly pasta feast throughout the recession, even as his restaurant struggled.

"They're customers," he told CNN earlier this year. "My favorite customers."

And back in Brooklyn, it means teaching parents to shop and cook with kids in tow. The Cooking Matters curriculum includes taking families to grocery stores and then getting them into kitchens at schools, community centers or even housing units.

Today's menu: breakfast burritos with eggs, cheese and homemade salsa. The cost: less than $2 a serving.

At Saprina Gressman's first Cooking Matters class this month, the 25-year-old mother of three said her kids first told her about the class.

"I'm hoping to learn a lot," she said, as she helped her 4-year-old daughter, Kiara, cut a tomato to make salsa. "I'm hoping to learn to cook with my children, because you need patience."

While parents will usually be the ones to budget, buy and cook food, getting kids excited about preparing and eating homemade meals can keep everyone engaged in healthier choices and smart shopping.

Aliyah Rowe, the Cooking Matters program coordinator for City Harvest in New York, said some members of the class rely on food stamps, but it's designed for anyone with food insecurity -- people who recently lost jobs and have to rethink their food budgets, or families that occasionally seek assistance from food banks.

It also gets parents and kids spending time together and talking about the food the fuels them.

"I remember baking with my grandmother, but that doesn't happen anymore," Rowe said. "The reality is parents are busy; you have some that work two jobs. But the kids come here and they are so excited, and they go home excited. And that inspires parents to cook with their children."

November 19, 2011, 5:23 pm

By MARK BITTMAN



There are days when it seems ­ both in and out of the food world ­ that Everything Is Going Wrong. That makes it easy enough to complain, and I’m not alone in doing so routinely. Nothing tastes the way it used to. Even pricey restaurants have lost their glow. Quality is shot. People die from eating melons. The dominance of hyper-processed, industrialized food (and, more to the point, food-like products) is spreading globally, and we’re all gaining weight faster than ever, while wrecking the planet.
Sarah Williamson

Nevertheless, it’s nearly as easy to find signs of hope ­ lots of them ­ as well as people and organizations who’ve been prodding American food back on a natural, sustainable, beautiful track.

Then, of course, there are the things that just plain make you glad to be alive. Aside from the smell of garlic simmering in olive oil, what and whom am I thankful for? In no particular order:

1. Start ­ as many of those involved in the food movement did ­ with Marion Nestle, the nutrition and policy guru and an all-around heroine. (Her daily blog, Food Politics, is always worth a look.) Put simply: eat per Marion’s advice and you’ll be eating better. (You’ll probably live longer, too, but as Marion might say, “the studies are incomplete.”)

2. For low-income people, better eating often starts with WIC and SNAP. It’s a shame we need these food assistance programs, but it’s great that we have them, and we must fight to preserve and improve them.

3. There are more than half as many farmers’ markets as there are McDonald’s. The markets are gaining ground, and fantastic groups like Wholesome Wave are making them more affordable.

Sarah Williamson

4. You gotta love food markets like Oakland’s People’s Grocery and the Park Slope Food Co-op, for their daily demonstration that corporate supermarkets aren’t the only way to shop.

5. Hooray for the Environmental Working Group, our best watchdog on misallocated subsidies, ethanol policies and a variety of conservation issues.

6. Let’s thank Europe. I agree, Europe is wholly un-American. But food-wise, we have more to learn from them than the other way around. Examples of how to move forward on food policy and agriculture while clinging (if by a carrot paring) to worthwhile traditional ways abound.

7. While we’re over there, let’s thank H.R.H. Prince Charles, who’s smart and outspoken enough to make you reconsider the notion of royalty. A couple of other admirable non-Americans are the United Nations’ Olivier De Schutter, a key figure in recognizing and promoting agro-ecological agriculture, and Vandana Shiva, who fights for food as nourishment, not commodity.

8. Back home: Will Allen and the Milwaukee-based Growing Power, Malik Yakini and the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, and Nevin Cohen of the Five Borough Farm are, along with the other pioneers of the urban food movement, making a difference.

9. Journalists. Especially Barry Estabrook (of the blog Politics of the Plate), Tom Philpott (Mother Jones) and Tom Laskawy (Grist), old-school guys who dig up the food stories you need to read. In her blog and her book (both called “Superbug”), Maryn McKenna routinely scares me half to death. Then there’s Raj Patel, a social justice writer who focuses on food; his “Stuffed and Starved” is a classic critique of the world food “system.” (Raj is also, by some accounts, the Messiah. But I know him and he’s not that great.)

10. Can’t mention Estabrook (or his book “ Tomatoland”) without a shout out to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, who showed that farmworkers could fight for and win better working conditions.

11. Speaking of fighting, Just Label It and others are involved in the much-needed struggle for better food labeling.

12. If Michael Pollan had done nothing other than say, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants,” we’d still owe him a great debt. But his new edition of rules (“An Eater’s Manual”) features the typically gorgeous art of the great Maira Kalman.

13. We also owe the Humane Society of the United States, Mercy for Animals and PETA (they can be extreme and, I think, even silly, but still…). All decry animal abuse on a daily basis, sometimes at physical risk to their employees. It’s tough work; it isn’t pretty; but as awareness increases so will the cry for change.

14. For his long-range view and persistence, you have to love Wes Jackson, whose Land Institute is advancing perennial agriculture as an alternative to input-heavy annual monoculture.

15. Few views are as long-range as those of Wendell Berry, who’s pushing 80. The farmer, poet, novelist and essayist is a leading voice for sustainability and common sense, and perhaps the first scribe of the food movement.

16. Serious thanks to Bill McKibben, who’s trying to keep the earth in good enough shape to grow things on it, and Tim DeChristopher, who put his freedom on the line (and lost it) protesting oil and gas leases on public land.

17. And to Bill Marler, who, as the leading food safety attorney in the country, is trying to keep the things we grow from killing us. Check out Michele Simon on Marler’s Food Safety News, too.

18. The Rudd Center has spearheaded the movement for a much-needed soda tax. When that happens … well, woo-hoo: we’ll know that serious and lasting change has come.

19. For better and still improving school lunches, let’s thank Ann Cooper (the Renegade Lunch Lady), Kate Adamick, the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act and (why not? it’s Thanksgiving) Michelle Obama. (At this point, a nod to the world’s most famous walking advertisement for a plant-based diet: Bill “Mr. Slim” Clinton.)

20. With Washington on the agenda, a shout out to Ezra Klein, the hardworking economics and politics writer whose daily WonkBlog is indispensable. (The food link: I met Ezra when he criticized my mah-po tofu. No one’s perfect.)

21. Four D.C. lawmakers with the guts to fight Big Ag: Senators Bernie Sanders (a national treasure), Jon Tester, an organic farmer, and Representatives Rosa DeLauro and Chellie Pingree. There are others, but not enough; next year there should be more.
Sarah Williamson

22. Let’s acknowledge all real farmers, stewards of the earth, as well as those fishers and ranchers who get it: there are plenty, and their numbers are increasing.

23. Much movement in the right direction is thanks to groups like Food and Water Watch and American Farmland Trust (“No Farms, No Food”).

24. But you don’t need to be a farmer to grow food: check out Roger Doiron and his plan for “subversive plots” that will not only lead to greater individual self-sufficiency but will also point to a better way of growing and eating.

25. Finally: Thanks to anyone who’s started a small farm in the last five years, and anyone who’s supported one; anyone who cooks, and especially anyone who teaches others to cook. In these realms, let’s thank FoodCorps, SlowFood USA and Cooking Matters, all doing great work. As are millions of individuals. Bless you.

A version of this article appeared in print on Nov. 20, 2011.