Sprout
Good Food Project Garden Newsletter
 May 2016 Sprout  
 
Community Gardening at its Best - North Alexandria Community Garden
Scenes from May 5, 2016 - North Alexandria Community Garden - Red Potato Harvest and Second Spring Celebration
North Alexandria Community Garden celebrated its second spring of producing fresh, local food for people who live in what is known as the old "Oil Mill Quarters" on the corner of North 15th and Ashley. NACG's lead volunteer, Don Bullock, and GFP came up with a plan to sponsor a red potato "dig" and a fish fry for other GFP partners and local residents. A fun morning of digging and fellowship with this diverse group of people produced around 200 pounds of potatoes that were distributed to neighbors. City of Alexandria Councilman, Ed Larvadain III, City of Alexandria Director of Community Services, Daniel Williams, Kinsie Rayburn, Farm to Table Coordinator of Central Louisiana Economic Development Alliance and countless community residents came by to lend support and to see what all the excitement was about.  
Good Food Project attributes much of the success of this garden to the dedicated commitment of Bullock and volunteer, Charles Cheatham, who have given unselfishly of their time and efforts to maintain the garden on a seasonal basis. The lot was donated to The Food Bank of Central Louisiana and soon after, a focused conversation with community members led to the birth of the garden in early summer 2014. Donated services from the community helped make NACG a productive community garden by fall that first year.
To date, the garden has produced over 825 pounds of   produce that has been shared within the community. Considering that the closest grocer is over a mile a way from the neighborhood; it is encouraging to neighborhood advocates like Don Bullock, to see a sustainable site for fresh, locally grown food in their own backyard. North Alexandria Community Garden serves as a model that Good Food Project will use to replicate at other community sites.
For information about partnering with the Good Food Project, or for other GFP program opportunities, contact the Good Food Project staff at 318.445.2773 or via email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],  and on the web: www.goodfoodprojectcenla.org    
Recipe of the Month

Parsley Potatoes

 

Did you know?

  • Red potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates and vitamins-good fuel for your body that keeps you feeling full longer
  • Red potatoes are fat free (it's what you put on them that might not be)
  • Red potatoes are sodium free and high in potassium (good for blood pressure)
  • Red potatoes are gluten free
  • The thin skins of red potatoes are filled with fiber, nutrients, vitamins, iron, and potassium

Ingredients:

5 Lbs. fresh red Irish potatoes washed and quartered

Water to cover potatoes

2 Tbs. Dry or liquid crab boil (or to taste)

3-4 Stems fresh parsley chopped

1/4 Cup dehydrated onion

1 1/2 Sticks Unsalted butter, clarified

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees - Heat butter in a small sauce pan on low - once heated, skim fat solids from top, leaving clarified butter

2. In a large pot, place potatoes and enough water to cover, add crab boil to water

3. Boil potatoes just until fork tender

4. Drain potatoes and place in a shallow baking dish, salt and pepper to taste. Top with chopped parsley and dehydrated onion. Pour clarified butter over potatoes.

4. Bake in preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes. Serve immediately, serves about 8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In May plant:

  • Beans, Snap, Bush, Pole
  • Cantaloupes
  • Chard, Swiss
  • Collards
  • Corn, Sweet
  • Cucumbers
  • Eggplant (Seed)
  • Eggplant (Plants)
  • Okra
  • Peanuts
  • Peas, Southern
  • Pepper, Hot (Seed)
  • Pepper, Hot (Plants)
  • Pepper, Bell (Plants)
  • Potatoes, Sweet
  • Pumpkin
  • Summer Squash
  • Tomatoes (Seed)
  • Tomatoes (Plant)
  • Watermelons

                        

 

 

In June plant:

  • Cantaloupes
  • Collards
  • Cucumbers
  • Eggplant (Seed)
  • Okra
  • Peanuts
  • Peas, Southern
  • Pepper, Hot (Plants)
  • Pepper, Bell (Plants)
  • Potatoes, Sweet
  • Pumpkin
  • Summer Squash
  • Tomatoes (Plant)
  • Watermelons

  

 

 

 Partners working together on the newly installed Pineville Farmers Market garden at the Louisiana College entrance: Janet Austin, Administrative Assistant of Communications and Marketing at LC, Ryan Garrett, Alexandria and Pineville Farmers Market Manager, and Frances Boudreaux and Dellen Ross of Good Food Project 
Garden News
On Tuesday, May 3, 2016, Good Food Project and the Nutrition on Wheels (NOW) Truck of the Food Bank of Central Louisiana held a "Healthy Eats" food demonstration at L. S. Rugg Elementary. This was the result  of a great partnership that GFP has with Rugg. Last fall, we joined forces on a Farm-to-School mini grant that promoted growing fresh, healthy, local food in the school garden. Samples of a  "Cool Pizza" featuring whole grain tortillas with cream cheese and finely chopped veggies were given to all 380 students and faculty. A copy of the recipe and a bag with some of the ingredients was given to each student to try at  home with their family. We thank Principal, Tracy Siebeneicher and Assistant Principal, Homer Williams for their enthusiasm and support throughout the school year. Looking forward to more years of growing together!
 
 

For more information about how you can make a tax deductible donation to Good Food Project, contact us at  [email protected] or call 318-445-2773 

Workday Wednesday

Gardening can really bring out the kid in all of us! Join us to play in the dirt on Workday Wednesdays in the garden! The demonstration garden is a great place to let your hair down while you learn about sustainable gardening methods. A hands-on approach can make you more confident with your own garden. We have fun meeting new folks and helping our community. You, or your group are invited on any Wednesday.


Each Wednesday from 7:30-11:30 AM all adults and children are invited to come out for a fun day of learning and giving back  to the community. Let's grow together! Learn more.

If Wednesdays aren't good for you, call us to set up another volunteer day! 318-445-2773 

 

 
Ireland, Eden, and Salem Guidry love helping in the demonstration garden

 

Spring at the demonstration garden. Blackberries blooming, new chickens striking out on their own, blueberries waiting to ripen, emerging artichokes, and Irish potatoes blooming - so much to see and do!
 
Garden Tip:
Check out this great tool we use here at Good Food Project! Borrowed from the construction world, the cement "placer," cement spreader, or "come-along" is a wonderful tool for shaping your garden beds. It's wide enough to make light of moving large amounts of compost from a truck bed or trailer, mounding beds, and then smoothing bed tops to sow seeds that stay in place. Placers have become an irreplaceable tool for us. They're inexpensive, around $20.00 and can be found in the construction department of your local big box stores. Happy Gardening!
GFP staffer, Dellen Ross, demonstrating use of a placer while reworking a  garden bed at Good Food Project

Volunteer of the Month

Kinsie Rayburn


 

Kinsie Rayburn, Farm to Table Coordinator, Central Louisiana Economic Development Alliance 


 

Good Food Project invited community partners to join us for the potato dig at North Alexandria Community Garden on May 5th. Farm to Table Coordinator of CLEDA, Kinsie Rayburn, showed up to do some serious work. A little dirt didn't deter her from what needed to be done. GFP staff  adopted her immediately as one of the team. From digging potatoes to serving food to neighbors, she good-naturedly lent a hand where it was needed.

According to Kinsie, "Working with the Good Food Project and the Food Bank of Central Louisiana is a complete joy! The staff are great and the community gardens are even better. Lending a helping hand at the celebration of the North Alexandria Community Garden was a wonderful experience that really shows how much impact a flourishing community garden can have on a community. I, a stranger to that community, was welcomed as if we had known each other for years. We talked and joked and reminisced all while pulling hundreds of perfect little potatoes out of the garden and then followed it up with some of the best fried fish this side of the Mississippi."

She further elaborated, "I have only been in Central Louisiana since October 2015 and was first introduced to the Good Food Project as partners with the organization I work for, CLEDA. Before coming here, I had been all over the world, living in Zambia and England for the better part of the previous 4 years. Over that time, I had been a part of many community groups and know how to recognize a good one when I see it - and the Good Food Project is the cream-of-the-crop. I would recommend to anyone who has the chance to volunteer with GFP to seize the opportunity as it is a joyous and satisfying feeling to dig in the dirt with some genuinely good people."

We see Kinsie as 'good people,' also! We look forward to other community collaborations with Kinsie and CLEDA.


 

GFP welcomes  individual and organizational volunteers at our community gardens and at the Good Food Project on Wednesday mornings in the demonstration garden, 3223 Baldwin Avenue - Food Bank of Central Louisiana 71301 - 318-445-2773

 

 
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