Food Policy Council of San Antonio

SNAP Benefits Local Agriculture--Farming magazine

We can all use a refresher course now and then on how some important federal programs started out. When "government" (which, the last time we checked, is of us, by us, and for us) is reviled by so many, it can be very surprising to learn that some programs getting a bad rap today arose from national security and economic development concerns. For example, the National School Lunch Program resulted from the realization during World War II that military readiness was being impacted by malnutrition.

Similarly, in Farming Magazine (the Journal of Northeast Agriculture), we learn from this article on how SNAP helps local farmers that the Food Stamp program (now called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) had its origins even earlier in the 1930s, in an effort to connect hungry city folks, who could not afford to buy food, with farmers with good food to sell. The article not only highlights that historic beginning, but also addresses ways of overcoming barriers to accepting SNAP benefits for some modern-day farmers markets.

Stamps or coupons are no longer used. The benefits are delivered on an electronic card (the Lone Star card, in Texas), which many FM vendors are not equipped to handle. That's one barrier. Another can be the price of the food. Read the article to find out some of the solutions that are available.

Public radio's On Point nails it on fighting obesity

The second hour of today's On Point on KSTX (FM 89.1) has a good conversation about measures taken to combat the obesity epidemic. It features Oklahoma City, but touches on many of the initiatives that San Antonio adopted with the same CPPW grant that started the Food Policy Council.

Apart from the noise about whether the government should or shouldn't tell people what to eat/drink (NYC ban on large sugary drinks for example), Tom's guest made the very good points that (1) processed food has drastically changed in the last several years, in ways that our bodies are not equipped to metabolize, and (2) changing the food environment assists people in "making the healthy choice the easy choice" as we say.

Be honest-doesn't your own consumption often depend on what someone puts in front of you?

Interim website for FPCSA

Until the Food Policy Council of San Antonio can commission its own website, this blog will be the place for posting news and events, and collecting comments.

If you don't see a Comments box, look for a tiny Comments link just below...pretty subtle...

Please promote and use the site! Thanks.

Moving Day

More than three years ago, I started this blog (originally called "San Antonio Food Policy Initiative") to share information with my city about the powerful food movement I was discovering at conferences, and to advocate for a food policy council here. Food policy councils are a way for ordinary citizens to come together to address problems in the way our food is grown, distributed and so forth. Food democracy, food citizenship, food sovereignty are all terms associated with this momentum toward a more just and sustainable food system.

Since then, the Food Policy Council of San Antonio has formed, done some great work, and held a two-day conference. I didn't start it myself, but I've gotten to be part of it. Soon we will be a 501c3 with our own website, and that name would have been confused with the real organization that we now have.

I have opened another site that is just me, and it might talk about policy if that's what is on my mind. Or it might just talk about the great taste of kale chips from my garden, or how gorgeous my three red hens look against the green grass.

So that's why I'm moving. If you like, follow me on over to BlacklandFoodie.net. 

If I post anything else here, it will be on behalf of FPCSA, until our own site is up. Ciao!

E-N article on Herff Farm garden, Will Allen on "The Splendid Table"

While waiting for the food policy conference coming up next Thursday and Friday, here are some links to read and listen to, to get you into the mood.

The Express-News SA Life section today features an article on Herff Farm's sustainable "inspiration" garden next to the Cibolo Nature Center in Boerne. Tracy Hobson Lehmann writes about the Nature Center's project to demonstrate a variety of sustainable practices for our climate. These include organic soil-building, growing with compost and mulch, keyhole gardens, drip irrigation, and nontoxic pest control methods.

Also on Saturday, "The Splendid Table," airing on Texas Public Radio, featured an interview with Will Allen about the founding of Growing Power, and his book The Good Food Revolution. Find it here.

And while I'm at it, I'll repeat the Living on Earth link from last weekend that features Mark Winne, keynote speaker for the food conference, commenting on food deserts.

Food Desert commentator speaking in SA May 9 to 11

Noted food activist Mark Winne was interviewed for this week's environmental program "Living On Earth," for an update on food deserts. Recent reports in the New York Times have questioned accepted knowledge about areas lacking access to healthy, affordable food, and how large a role this plays in personal behavior and health outcomes. LOE had treated this topic before and interviewed Winne, and for this week's show he gives an update on the issue and puts the current controversy into perspective. It's 10 minutes of very worthwhile listening, or you can read the transcript.

Winne will be in San Antonio week after next, as keynote speaker at the Food Policy Council of San Antonio's conference May 10-11. Registration closes soon, if you want to attend. Follow the link.

For the community at large, he is also speaking at St. Mark's Episcopal Church Wednesday evening May 9 at 7 p.m. RSVP to the church office, 210 226-2426 for that. St. Mark's is at 315 East Pecan downtown, and has free parking in the church lot across Jefferson.

Both of Mark Winne's books (Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners and Smart-Cookin' Mamas, and Closing the Food Gap) will be available starting this week at The Twig Book Shop and the St. Mark's Bookstore. He will be signing them at the St. Mark's talk and at the conference.

Mark Winne spent much of his career in Hartford, Connecticut, first working for an anti-hunger agency, and then founding an organization to work on fixing the system that was producing so much inequity in access to healthy, affordable food. From that start, he has become one of our nation's leading voices on the causes of food inequity and the policies that are needed to correct it. His analysis and advocacy have influenced federal policy, and have led to the formation of food policy councils in many communities (including San Antonio). He continues his work these days from New Mexico, writing and traveling frequently for conferences, consulting, and speaking engagements.

Food Policy Council of San Antonio hosting conference

The Food Policy Council of San Antonio is hosting a conference next month.

The $60 registration fee is underwritten for the first 200 participants by the Communities Putting Prevention to Work Grant at Metropolitan Health District.
 
The conference will consist of three tracks, focusing on Producers and Markets, Community Food Systems, and Policy. Presentations will include Community Garden Initiatives, Food Waste Recovery, Federal and State Food Policies, and Food Justice.

Sustaining Our Food,
Sustaining Our Future
Thursday and Friday, May 10-11
Madison High School's Agriscience Magnet Program
5005 Stahl Road

See the full program and register through this website, either online or by paper form.

Mark Winne (pronounced "Winnie") will keynote the conference with a presentation on May 10. He is the author of Food Rebels, Guerilla Gardeners, and Smart Cookin’ Mamas: Fighting Back in an Age of Industrial Agriculture and Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty. Winne is co-founder of a number of food and agriculture policy groups including the City of Hartford Food Policy Commission, the Connecticut Food Policy Council, End Hunger Connecticut, and the national Community Food Security Coalition.

Talk and Book Signing
If you can't attend the conference but would still like to hear keynote speaker Mark Winne, he will also be speaking at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 315 E. Pecan, at 7 p.m. Wednesday May 9. Call the church office, 210 226-2426 to RSVP.

Both of Mark Winne's books will be available soon at The Twig and the St. Mark's Bookstore, and will be sold at the conference.

Courses and certificates in Urban Agriculture

Palo Alto College has a certificate in Organic Agriculture that has a focus on urban agriculture. It is great to have this resource so close to home. We have a strong community and yard gardening culture here, but there is untapped potential for commercial growing inside the city.

A faraway option for such study is see Ryerson University's (Toronto, Ontario). James Kuhns, Instructor in the program (and past president of the American Community Gardening Association), writes:

If you are particularly interested in urban food and agriculture issues, the following two courses are available:

Urban Food Security (CFNY408) – this important course has recently been completely revamped. It explores the factors that currently affect urban food security and how to work towards creating socially-just, sustainable, urban food systems. (Note: the prerequisite for this course has been waived)

Urban Agriculture Types (CVFN412) – this course explores the wide diversity of approaches one can take to developing urban agriculture systems. The course forms part of an Urban Agriculture course series of four courses.
 
If a student completes the four courses, they will receive a formal document of completion from the university. The courses also count towards attaining a certificate in food security should students wish to pursue the certificate as well.

Download an application form and FAX it to distance education at (+1)-416-979-5196. Alternatively, you can scan the application form and send it by email to distance@ryerson.ca. DO NOT MAIL THE REGISTRATION FORM.

If you have any problems over registration, please contact Reg Noble, the Academic Coordinator at food@ryerson.ca.

Free Greens

If you made New Year's resolutions about eating lighter and healthier (and who didn't?), here is some free help for your menu: edible weeds.You don't have to buy them; you don't even have to grow them. And you will no longer want to fight them after you pick and eat them. You will want to leave a few in spots where they can look intentional, or blend in with your veggies and ornamentals.

There are many edible weeds that grow in just about any yard or neighborhood, and you can look them up: dandelion, sowthistle, wild lettuce, henbit, chickweed, lambs quarters, and the list goes on. This photo contains the first three from that list, picked from my yard, rinsed, chopped a bit, and sauteed with olive oil. Delicious!

Most, including dandelion, can be eaten raw in a salad (even the flowers are edible). For the prickly ones like sowthistle and wild lettuce, you would want to cook them until they are softened. You can steam or saute, or choose any other cooking method that you like.

Even if you have mowed them down after the recent rains, these plants will be back up, since they grow faster than your lawn grass. Pick, rinse, cook or not, and enjoy.

If you are unsure of identifying a plant, look at Google images of the above names, for starters. When trying a new plant, be on the safe side and nibble a tiny bit without swallowing. If it tastes bitter or unpleasant, leave it alone. If it tastes good, you can try eating a small amount and see how that goes. You will come to know several common plants that are good to eat and highly nutritious. Look for further resources if you want to advance your foraging skills. Foraging Texas one such blog dedicated to that purpose. 

 

Food Hubs and Yard Garden Networks at Southern SAWG

Friday I went to four sessions and a screening of the film "The Greenhorns." On Saturday, I went to sessions on policy and activism, especially around the 2012 Farm Bill. I still had a chance to catch a fascinating presentation by a Harlingen farmer who is transforming her area, one season at a time.

Two presentations from Friday were about rebuilding community around food. One was titled, "Food Hubs: Moving Higher Volumes of Good Food to Local Markets." A food hub, in this case, is a business that buys local farm products and distributes to groceries and supermarkets. The presenters were very forthcoming about the nuts and bolts, and the challenges, of putting together this kind of distribution network. I have notes and contact information to share with anyone who is interested in trying this.

The other was by Paige Hill of Urban Patchwork Neighborhood Farms, an Austin nonprofit that helps neighborhoods put together cooperative yard gardens for the residents' use, for sale, and for donation. Rather than finding one big plot for a neighborhood or community garden, she says, you can create small plots throughout the neighborhood, with all the functions served somewhere. They work with each group's unique circumstances--some people have space for a garden but no time, and others want to garden but might have too much shade for some of the crops they would like to grow. Some want food for their own households and to share with neighbors, and some want to sell at a farmers market. Most also donate some to nearby food pantries. She told a story about a backyard tilapia pond that one neighbor wanted to build, to supply fish for the neighborhood. What seemed like a daunting task was done in an afternoon by a group of teenage boys who needed a service project.

These gardens reduce the cost of living for everyone involved, and also increase the quality of life and quality of food. We can do it here, too.