Teacher / Staff Garden Tasting

Wednesday, August 24, the Fernbank Farm to School PTA provided a lunch-time  tasting for the teachers and staff at Fernbank Elementary.  We served pasta with pesto sauce and a tomato-basil salad.  The basil and tomatoes were provided by the school garden beds.   One of the pastas we served was a gluten-free product made from quinoa.

Try it at home!

Pesto (From Ina Garte, Barefoot Contessa)

¼ cup walnuts

¼ cup pignolis

3 tbsp garlic, diced (9 cloves)

5 cups basil leaves, packed

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground

1 ½ cup olive oil

1 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Place the walnuts, pignolis and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade.  Process for 30 seconds.  Add the basil, salt and pepper.  With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube and process until the pesto is finely pureed.  Add the parmesan cheese and puree for a minute.  Serve on warm pasta or store the pesto in the refrigerator or freezer with a thin film of olive oil on top.

 

Let's Move and Fernbank School Garden

Fernbank’s School Garden will be spotlighted in a pep rally for Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative on September 2 at McNair high school.  Sponsored by the Georgia School Nutrition Association, this event makes up one of ten stops throughout Georgia as part of a Fun and Fit Tour.  Participants will learn about Fernbank’s farm to school efforts as well as taste produce grown by students in our school garden. 

Thank you to Georgia Nutrition Association for this opportunity and for taking on the Let’s Move challenge.

  http://gsfsa.com/default.aspx?id=1795

The Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15: When to buy organic and when not to bother.

Not sure when to spend the extra money on organic produce?  The good news is that not all produce absorb chemicals in the same way so not everything you buy needs to be organic.  All you need are two helpful lists to guide you at the grocery store.  The Dirty Dozen is a list of produce that when conventionally grown, tested positive for at least 47 different chemicals.  If you are looking at produce on this list, buy organic! The Clean 15 is a list of produce that bore little or no traces of pesticides so it is safe to consume in non-organic form. 

The Dirty Dozen:

Celery, peaches, strawberries, apples, domestic blueberries, nectarines, sweet bell peppers, spinach/kale/collard greens, cherries, potatoes, imported grapes, lettuce

The Clean 15

Onions, avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, mango, sweet peas, asparagus, kiwi fruit, cabbage, eggplant, cantaloupe, watermelon, grapefruit, sweet potatoes, sweet onions

For more information visit http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/health/the-dirty-dozen-and-clean-15-of-produce/616/

DeKalb County School Nutrition Farm to School Initiative

We are very excited to announce that DeKalb County has started a new Farm to School program for the new school year, 2011-2012!  The DeKalb County School Nutrition Program is working with Dexter’s Farm to bring Georgia grown fruits and vegetables to the students of DeKalb.  This is a national initiative that provides students fresh fruits and vegetables through the connection of in-state farmers.  Each month, the DeKalb School Nutrition program will highlight at least one Georgia grown fresh fruit or vegetable in the cafeteria along with nutrition education regarding its origin.  This program supports the department’s mission to promote lifetime wellness to DeKalb County students and staff by serving meals that are high quality, nutritious, enjoyable and economical.

Be sure to check your school lunch menu for the locally farmed, produce of the month. 

Promoting the local produce of the month is not just up to the county.  Parents, teachers and school administrators can work together to get students excited about local produce.  Contact us for more ideas!

Friday, August 26^th is Watermelon Day!