More great stuff at Marion-Polk Food Share: Food Preservation and Community Cooking Classes

Upcoming Food Preservation Classes from OSU Extension Services 

2012 FOOD PRESERVATION CLASSES
in the Mid-Willamette Valley 

All classes begin at 6:00 PM. Pre-registration is required; space is limited. 

Cost: $10.00 per session. Pre-registration and pre-payment required. Contact debra.driscoll@oregonstate.edu or tonya.johnson@oregonstate.edu





Salem: Marion-Polk Food Share

• Tuesday, July 24 - Preserving Fruits 
• Tuesday, August 14 - Preserving Tomatoes and Salsa 
• Tuesday, September 18 - Pressure Canning

 Community Kitchen Classes

 

Magic Marinara – Tuesday, July 10, 5:30-7:00 p.m., $10

Instructor Dawn Manke has a magnificent recipe that she describes as “so simple and versatile it’s genius!”  Roasting seasonal vegetables right out of the garden, she will teach you to create some frugal and healthy variations on a basic marinara that is equally at home as a sauce for pasta or as a basis for chili or a yummy salsa verde. Class will include a light supper. 

Register through Friday, July 6 by calling Kat Daniel at Marion-Polk Food Share, 503-581-3855 extension 322.  Class limit: 10.

 Kids in the Kitchen – Hooray for the Red, White, and Blue, 
Tuesday, July 17, 4:30-5:30 p.m., FREE

Join OSU Extension Summer Intern Amy Comer to learn to make some red, white, and blue food that is both fun and good for you!  Bring your mom or dad to the Community Kitchen to help you create a fruit flag, Patriotic Parfait, and Cranberry/Blueberry muffins.  Class size is limited to 10 children plus their parent helpers.

Register by calling Kat Daniel at Marion-Polk Food Share, 503-581-3855 extension 322, no later than Friday, July 13.

Waste Not, Want Not
Wednesday, July 25, 5:30-7:00 p.m., $10

Tim Branaman presents a healthy way to stretch vegetable “scraps” into a delicious Portuguese vegetable (vegan) soup that you can stretch even further with the addition of staples from your kitchen. Join Tim for a step-by-step demo and then a light supper of soup and quinoa salad:  a nice boost of protein after your busy day.
 
Register by calling Kat Daniel at Marion-Polk Food Share, 503-581-3855 extension 322, no later than Friday, July 20.  Class limit: 10

For those with more gardening urge than space

From the good folks in Marion-Polk Food Share's Community Gardens program:

Hello folks.

A few gardens in the area still have available plots. See below for gardens with availability. Contact the listed coordinator to rent a plot. Plot sizes and prices vary.

For gardens outside Salem/Keizer, scroll down.

Salem & Keizer

Northeast Salem

Fuente de Vida
3295 Ladd Ave. NE
Coordinator: Pamela Lyons-Nelson
plnelson@teleport.com

Hammond Community Garden
4900 Bayne St. NE
Coordinator: Michelle Bertholf
hammondptc@yahoo.com
503-463-5975

Highland Neighborhood Garden
Corner of Hazel and Columbia NE
Coordinator: Cassy Hedberg & Karen Hill
chadcassy@comcast.net


South Salem

Julie's Garden
590 Elma St. SE
Coordinator: Cindy Kimball
whiteoakridge@juno.com
503-385-1876

Southeast Salem Neighborhood Garden
410 19th St. NE
Coordinators: Marcia Hoak & Nicole McDavid
marcia25@comcast.net
971-208-5402


West Salem

West Salem Boys & Girls Club Community Garden
925 Gerth St. NW
Coordinator: Erin Boers
boers.erin@gmail.com
503-779-5912


Keizer

John Knox Community Garden
452 Cummings Lane N
Coordinator: Mary Jo Emmett
mj.emmett@comcast.net
503-393-9447

Whittam Community Garden
5205 Ridge Drive NE
Coordinator: Kathy Whittam
kwhittam@comcast.net
503-510-9926


Marion County

Silverton
Silverton Grange Community Garden
601 Division St.
Coordinator: Leonide Martin
lenniem07@yahoo.com

Woodburn
Planting Communities Gardens
950 N. Boones Ferry Rd., other locations
Coordinator: Ian Niktab
considrpeas@gmail.com

Mt. Angel
St. Joseph’s Community Garden
925 S. Main St.
Coordinator: Sister Marcella
503-845-6147

Mill City
Mill City Community Garden
Kimmel Park, Mill City
Coordinator: Susan Chamberlin
503-949-5965


Polk County

Dallas
Common Grounds Community Garden
775 E. Ellendale Ave.
Coordinator: Landon Pegg
503-999-1339
garden@dallasalliance.org

Grande Ronde
Grande Ronde Community Garden
825 Grande Ronde Rd.
Coordinator: Angella McCallister
971-241-1719
grcrcfoodbank@yahoo.com


Ian Dixon-McDonald
Community Gardens
Marion-Polk Food Share

T: 503-581-3855 x329
C: 503-798-0339
F: 503-581-3862
E: imcdonald@marionpolkfoodshare.org
1660 Salem Industrial Drive NE
Salem OR 97301-0374
www.marionpolkfoodshare.org/

Question: Since When Is It a Crime to Be Poor?

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/08/nickel-and-dimed-afterword

. . . How have the already-poor attempted to cope with their worsening economic situation? One obvious way is to cut back on health care. The New York Times reported in 2009 that one-third of Americans could no longer afford to comply with their prescriptions and that there had been a sizable drop in the use of medical care. Others, including members of my extended family, have given up their health insurance.

Food is another expenditure that has proved vulnerable to hard times, with the rural poor turning increasingly to "food auctions," which offer items that may be past their sell-by dates. And for those who like their meat fresh, there's the option of urban hunting. In Racine, Wisconsin, a 51-year-old laid-off mechanic told me he was supplementing his diet by "shooting squirrels and rabbits and eating them stewed, baked, and grilled." In Detroit, where the wildlife population has mounted as the human population ebbs, a retired truck driver was doing a brisk business in raccoon carcasses, which he recommends marinating with vinegar and spices.

The most common coping strategy, though, is simply to increase the number of paying people per square foot of dwelling space—by doubling up or renting to couch-surfers.
It's hard to get firm numbers on overcrowding, because no one likes to acknowledge it to census-takers, journalists, or anyone else who might be remotely connected to the authorities.

In Los Angeles, housing expert Peter Dreier says that "people who've lost their jobs, or at least their second jobs, cope by doubling or tripling up in overcrowded apartments, or by paying 50 or 60 or even 70 percent of their incomes in rent." According to a community organizer in Alexandria, Virginia, the standard apartment in a complex occupied largely by day laborers has two bedrooms, each containing an entire family of up to five people, plus an additional person laying claim to the couch.

No one could call suicide a "coping strategy," but it is one way some people have responded to job loss and debt. There are no national statistics linking suicide to economic hard times, but the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline reported more than a four-fold increase in call volume between 2007 and 2009, and regions with particularly high unemployment, like Elkhart, Indiana, have seen troubling spikes in their suicide rates. Foreclosure is often the trigger for suicide—or, worse, murder-suicides that destroy entire families. . . .

Be there Wednesday evening

A very powerful demonstration and special feature for this upcoming First Wednesday -- a valuable reminder that those of us who struggle with keeping our weight down are not the only or most important people who struggle with food issues.

Drunk on Ethanol

Image by Sam Beebe / Ecotrust via FlickrScientific American piece summarizing the awful truth: ethanol is an ineffective way to use land. Oregon is continuing to prop up this immoral, inefficient, counter-productive scheme, lavishing money on ethanol boondoggles in Eastern Oregon year after year. They're now pretending that they're going to turn the stands of cottonwood trees along I-84 into ethanol, but that will stop the instant the subsidies run out. Funny how folks like Congressman Walden in Oregon's 2d Congressional District hate taxes and pork, except for all the taxes wasted on pork in their district.

Related articles

• Biofuel demand in US driving higher food prices, says report (guardian.co.uk)
• Port of Morrow aims to recruit $100 million plant (oregonlive.com)
• Burning ethanol eats up energy (timesunion.com)
• Hooray! Congress Is Finally Scaling Back Ethanol Subsidies! Except for Not (reason.com)
• Right On! Senate Votes To Kill Ethanol Subsidies!!! (angrydd.wordpress.com)

"Food for Fines" is a fine idea

Do "penne"ance for your overdue-book sins by bringing pasta and other sturdy, long-keeping comestibles to the Salem Public Library between April 10 and 17, and help respond to hunger in Salem!

It’s a once-in-every-52-weeks opportunity to clear your library card and help a worthy cause, all in one stroke. During the week of April 10-17 only, both Salem Public Library locations will forgive fines for customers who bring in donations of non-perishable food items and other household necessities for donati on to Marion-Polk Food Share.

This does not apply to lost book charges, rental fees, video/DVD fees, collection fees, or fee cards.

A $1 credit will be applied for canned items 12 ounces or larger. Donors are particularly encouraged to consider these high-need items:

• Soup (canned or dry)
• Canned fruit
• Chili
  
• Canned vegetables
• Cereal
  
• Pasta sauce
• Tuna
  
• Pasta products (20+ ounces)
• Beans (canned or dry) • Rice (20+ ounces)
• Juice (canned or bottled)

A greater credit of $3-5 will be given for these larger high-need items:

• Laundry detergent; • Laundry softener; • Cooking oil; Peanut butter (8+ ounces)

To be used, items must be factory-sealed, commercially processed, dent and rust free, and bear a future expiration date. Top Ramen products cannot be accepted. More information is available from Circulation at 503-588-6090

Local Heroes: Salem's coolest new nonprofit's cool new newsletter

Local Harvest, which is about a year old right about now, having just gotten started last year, is still in the lead for Salem's coolest nonprofit for 2010. Now they've gone and got a newsletter even (pdf), so you can see some of what you missed if you didn't sign up to help out.

Thanks so much for your support of Neighborhood Harvest. Almost 800 community volunteers picked more than 50,000 pounds of fruit and vegetables this season, with half donated to the Marion-Polk Food Share. We wanted to send a link to our first newsletter, and invite you to join us again next year.

Best wishes!

Steering Committee Members
Neighborhood Harvest of Salem

And don't forget to thank these local heroes for supporting Local Harvest:
Thanks to our supporters!

OVER THE TOP
$1,000 or above

Shannon Blake
Renato and Maria Labate
Lake Labish Farms
The Marble Center
Molly Pearmine McCargar
Norman and Kay McDonald of McDonald Family Farms
Karen and Steve Weiss
Dick Yates and Nadene LeCheminant
Mike and Lisa Zwart

TOP OF THE TREE
$500−999
Nathan and Alicia Bay

BRIMMING BARREL
$250−499
John Savage

BOUNTIFUL BUSHEL
$100−249
Matthew and Kimberly Boles
Lisa Clark-Burnell and Kelly Burnell
Jeffrey Egan, in memory of Diana Egan
Roz Shirack

NEIGHBORHOOD HARVEST OF SALEM was established in January 2010. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization is a project of Friends of Salem Saturday Market and supports Marion-Polk Food Share through donations of produce. Our mission is to build community, alleviate hunger, preserve our heritage and promote simple, sustainable lifestyles.

Using land to feed cars -- like burning down the house to get some light

Image via WikipediaFrom the ASPO-USA Peak Oil Review weekly newsletter:

Last week the USDA released a revised estimate for US grain production this year that shocked observers. The new report cut US harvest projections from corn, soybeans and wheat. The reduction in terms of bushels was the largest in nearly 40 years. Although the harvest is expected to be the third largest ever – 12.7 million bushels – the increasing call on US agriculture to make up for shortfalls around the world should lead to much higher prices as more nations move to restrict exports.
As we saw two years ago, the imposition of food export bans by governments fearful of the domestic unrest that could result from grain shortages led to higher food prices around the world.

The conversion of corn into ethanol for motor fuel is using up US corn reserves which are expected to fall to the lowest level in 15 years. In the past four years, the US has had its four largest corn crops ever and supplies are still tight. Due to the rapid expansion of the corn to biofuels program that began in earnest five years ago, there is little spare farm land that can be brought into production. This suggests that high corn prices could lead to shortages of other crops as farmers react to high corn prices. Given the bad economic conditions, US food companies say they are reluctant to pass on price increases to retail consumers.

Ironically, the price surge comes just as the government is expected to approve the marketing of 15 percent (E15) ethanol blend for use as a motor fuel. This move could, in theory, increase the demand for corn-based ethanol from its current 12-13 billion gallons every year by 50 percent. There is, however, a possibility that the government could restrict its use to vehicles built in the 2007 model year and later. This would greatly complicate the marketing of the product as retailers would have to install new tanks for the E15 and might have to eliminate self-service pumps to ensure that the right blends get into the right vintage cars. All this suggests that it may be some time, if ever, before E15 comes into widespread use.

Food for Thought: Stand Against Hunger, 9/1, 5 p.m. downtown

Image by ★keaggy.com via Flickr

UPDATE: Instructions for tonight:

Please ask people to join our line on the West side of Liberty Street between Court and Chemeketa by 5:00 p.m. We are asking our volunteers to wear red or orange if possible, not only for Women Ending Hunger, but to make the line as visible as possible. They may bring their own empty plates (paper is fine) or our block captain will have some extra to share.

The plan is to stand for 20 minutes, then people can either go home to supper or head on downtown for all of the First Wednesday festivities. As part of FOOD FOR THOUGHT, Women Ending Hunger will also be hosting a reception and silent auction from 6:00-7:30 p.m. in a temporary gallery space on the lower level of Salem Center mall near Nordstrom’s. Several area artists have donated beautiful art plates that we will auction to benefit Marion-Polk Food Share. Come and enjoy some light refreshments and the art if you have the time.

Thanks again. I’ll be looking forward to seeing you there!

Kat Daniel
Community Partnerships, Women Ending Hunger
503.581.3855 x322
http://www.marionpolkfoodshare.org/
1660 Salem Industrial Drive NE, Salem OR 97301
===================================

Dear Friends and Neighbors in Salem,

My name is Kat Daniel and my job is ending hunger as one of the two Community Partnerships/Volunteer Program managers at Marion-Polk Food Share. It is also my privilege to be the “champion” for the Food Share’s auxiliary program, WOMEN ENDING HUNGER. For those of you who may not be familiar with that organization, we are a grassroots movement of women—and men—committed to “serving as catalysts of social change, working together with all to end hunger by engaging, educating, and empowering our community.”

Nothing is more deserving of our attention than the fact that we have 37,000 children in Marion and Polk counties who may be relying on their free or reduced-price lunches at school as their only full, healthy meal of the day. When we relate that fact as we are talking with family, friends, and neighbors, we find that most of them can’t believe that hungry is as rampant as that, right here where we live. We are not talking about Africa or Indonesia. We are talking about Salem, Keizer, Stayton, Jefferson, Scotts Mills, Detroit, Idana, Gervais, St. Paul, Woodburn, and every other community in our two-county footprint. And I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what childhood hunger means in terms of a child’s ability to succeed in his or her life. Doesn’t every child deserve the best chance at life that we can give them?

We feel like this is a message that we need to shout from the rooftops: 37,000 hungry children is 37,000 too many. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

You’ll see from the reverse side of this message, that we are determined to do ONE thing to get the message across: on Wednesday, September 1, from 5:00-5:20 p.m. we propose to create a line of empty plates from the State Capitol through six blocks of downtown Salem to show Salem, at least, what 37,000 children look like. Okay, we won’t exactly have 37,000 people standing in a line, but can you imagine what 3,700 people holding empty plates would look like? We think that image could have significant impact.

Can you help? Please come downtown on September 1 and stand with us for twenty minutes on behalf of our hungry kids! Families and children are welcome; our route is all on the sidewalks and kid-safe. At 5:20 everyone can go home to supper or go on to enjoy lots of special back-to-school festivities as part of Go Downtown Salem’s FIRST WEDNESDAY monthly event. We understand there will be lots of sidewalk sales, high school marching bands/cheerleaders/sports teams at a big pep rally, and Reading for All is even raffling off a car! As part of our FOOD FOR THOUGHT project, we will be hosting a small reception and silent auction of some beautiful art plates being created by local artists to benefit Marion-Polk Food Share in the lower level of Salem Center mall near Nordstrom’s. We’d love to see you there.

Anyone who can come to join our line can contact me at Marion-Polk Food Share at 503-581-3855 ext 322 or via e-mail at kdaniel@marionpolkfoodshare.org. I will send you instructions about where to go to join the line and what you should bring with you.
If you have anywhere to post the flier on the reverse, or can hand out copies to help spread the word, I would greatly appreciate it. 3,700 volunteers are a lot to recruit. I could really use your help. Thanks in advance for your support!

Kat Daniel, Marion-Polk Food Share and Women Ending Hunger

Be there, aloha.

Local Harvest deserves all the attention it gets and lots more

Image via Wikipedia

What a nice idea.

. . . The group is affiliated with Friends of Salem Saturday Market. Its goal is to alleviate hunger.

The group is seeking volunteers to help gather unused fruit from Salem backyards to share with needy families.

To volunteer, contact Katherine at kdaniels@salemharvest.org.

Individuals who would like to have unused fruits collected from trees, vines or berry bushes, can register to do that using the group's online form, or by contacting Dick at dyates@salemharvest.org.

To learn more, go to www.salemharvest.org.

Garden Champions Unite!

This is so important. If you want to attend, you'll be re-energized. If not, at least contact Marion-Polk Food Share and ask them about how you can contribute to their matching gift campaign, where their board members have pledged to match up to $24,000 in contributions, and these will also be matched in part by a national challenge campaign. (Click for full size image.)

The challenge

Don't fret, little guy. If the biofuels boys don't starve you to death, they might make you into a slave on a biofuels plantation in Africa. Image by Zoriah via Flickr

This particular piece is from the UK but every word applies even more so to the US:

The problem is summed up by Professor Janet Allen, director of research at the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). "We will have to grow more food on less land using less water and less fertiliser while producing fewer greenhouse gas emissions," she said.

No one said science was easy, of course. Nevertheless, the scale of the problem is striking. It is also unprecedented, says Professor Mike Bevan, acting director of the John Innes Centre in Norfolk. "We are going to have to produce as much food in the next 50 years as was produced over the past 5,000 years. Nothing less will do."

It is a staggering goal that highlights the depth of the food security crisis that Britain and the world face. Over the next 40 years Britain's population will rise from 60 to 75 million while the world's will leap from 6.8 to 9 billion. Feeding all these people will stretch human ingenuity to its limit. Crop yields will have to jump, a goal that will have to be achieved in the middle of global climatic disruption. At the same time, farmers will find many aids – in particular, chemical fertilisers – that they have come to rely on will no longer be available .

"People do not quite realise the scale of the issue," added Bevan. "This is one of the most serious problems that science has ever faced." In Britain the lives of hundreds of thousands of people will be threatened by food shortages. Across the globe, tens of millions – if not hundreds of millions – will be affected. . . .

Meanwhile, in the US, the discussion is about increasing the mandatory cut of ethanol in gasoline from 10 to 15%. Because there's no better use of land than to apply tons of fertilizers derived from fossil fuels in order to make liquid fuels for essentially no energy gain, right?