Sprout
Good Food Project Garden Newsletter September  2017 Sprout  
 
Savor the Season Garden Party - Good Food Project's Inaugural Evening Fundraiser - Thursday, October 12th
Much preparation has gone into getting the demonstration garden ready for our inaugural fundraising event - Savor the Season Garden Party! We are excited to bring this enchanted evening to Central Louisiana. The demonstration garden will be festooned with twinkling lights, a large tent for dining, a decorated pallet arch for photo opportunities, and  soothing music provided by the incomparable Hoochie Digs of Central Louisiana.  We offer special thanks to the talented chefs who will be providing delicious signature dishes using locally grown vegetables from Inglewood Farm or the Good Food Project. Area restaurants and chefs involved are: Good People Kitchen, Kitty's Catering, Southern Creations, Spirits Food & Friends, Word of Mouth CafĂ©, and Quebedeaux's Boudin and Cracklins. All proceeds will benefit the Good Food Project's model garden network which feeds, educates and connects Food Bank clients, children, and the broader Central Louisiana community. Won't you join us for a magnificent evening sampling some mouth-watering entrees in a lovely garden setting? Don't forget to wear comfortable garden shoes!
If you would like to be a sponsor for this event, please contact the Food Bank of Central Louisiana or if you would like to purchase a ticket at $25 per person, please go to www.eventbrite.com/savor-the-season-garden-party tickets
  
Want to help with fundraising events that benefit GFP? Please call Good Food Project to learn more about our programming, contact GFP at 318-445-2773 or GoodFoodProject@fbcenla.org 



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: fboudreaux@fbcenla.org, or cbaker@fbcenla.org,  and on the web: www.goodfoodprojectcenla.org    
Recipe of the Month
A Simple Pear and Gouda Cheese Snack
 A Pineville Youth Center garden club participant enjoying Gouda Cheese, Bartlett and red pears as a tasty snack
Did you know?
  • Gouda cheese is high in Vitamin K2 that helps fight tooth decay
  • Vitamin K2 boosts health and gives a resistance to aging and degenerative diseases
  • Pears are packed with Vitamin C and fiber that helps kids feel full longer and regulates blood sugar spikes
  • Vitamin C helps them build strong muscles, blood vessels, and teeth
Ingredients
Have the kids help wash and slice several fresh Bartlett or red pears with an apple slicer 
Splurge on a good round of Dutch Gouda, let the kids see the red wax surrounding the cheese, have them watch while you slice small wedges to go with the pear slices. This provides a good opportunity to talk to kids about where different foods come from and why they are packaged as they are in grocery stores or at local markets. Simple, but delicious - A kid favorite!

 

In September plant:

  • Beans (Bush-type, Lima, Snap)
  • Beets
  • Broccoli (Seed, plants)
  • Brussels Sprouts (Seeds, plants)
  • Bunching onions
  • Cabbage (Seed, plants)
  • Carrot
  • Cauliflower (Seed, plants)
  • Chard, Swiss
  • Chinese Cabbage (Seed, plants)
  • Collards (Seeds, plants)
  • Cucumbers
  • Kale 
  • Kohlrabi
  • Lettuce
  • Mustard Greens
  • Onion, Leek (Seeds)
  • Peas, English, Snap
  • Pepper, Bell (Plants)
  • Pepper, Hot (Plants)
  • Potatoes, Irish
  • Pumpkin
  • Radishes
  • Rutabagas
  • Shallots
     
  • Turnips
     

 In October plant:

  • Beets
  • Broccoli (Plants)
  • Brussels Sprouts (Plants)
  • Cabbage (plants)
  • Carrot
  • Cauliflower (Plants)
  • Celery (Seed or the end of a celery stalk)
  • Chard, Swiss
  • Chinese Cabbage (Plant)
  • Collards (Plants)
  • Endive
  • Garlic
  • Kale (Seed)
  • Kohlrabi
  • Lettuce
  • Mustard Greens
  • Onion, (Seeds or sets)
  • Parsley
  • Peas, Green, Edible pods, Sugar Snap, Snow
  • Radishes
  • Spinach
  • Rutabagas
  • Shallots (Sets)
  • Turnips

 

  

 

 

 
NSU Lab School students showing off the melons they grew over the summer months in their school garden, Olla Standard Elementary students - fall garden work day, Tioga High CBT class volunteering at the GFPP Demo garden and Jena Elementary students - fall garden work day

                               

 
Garden News

GFP is gearing up for back-to-school fall garden workdays and new installations. We will be adding to the roster of schools this year in Avoyelles, Natchitoches and Rapides Parishes. Good Food Project will be supporting a culture of health with children in the eleven parishes served by the Food Bank of Central Louisiana. We thank local partners like the Rapides Soil and Water Conservation District and the Central Louisiana Herb Society for helping support school garden programs.

GFP continues to partner with local organizations to bring workshops and lessons about sustainable gardening and good nutrition to the central Louisiana area. If your program is interested in scheduling a workshop or similar experiential program at the demonstration garden, please contact us!

 

Want to help with fundraising events that benefit GFP? Please call Good Food Project to learn more about our programming, contact GFP at 318-445-2773 or GoodFoodProject@fbcenla.org 

 

    Moms and children participating in a GFP hosted sustainable gardening lesson at the T.R.E.E. House Children's Museum on September 8, 2017

 

  For more information about how your organization can partner or volunteer with Good Food Project contact us at goodfoodproject@fbcenla.org or call 318-445-2773 
Workday Wednesday

Children are an integral part of the Workday Wednesday experience. Come be a part of our community of gardeners at the Good Food Project of the Food Bank of Central Louisiana as we all learn together! Help us make a difference in Cenla! Join us any Wednesday at the Good Food Project demonstration garden at 3223 Baldwin Avenue  from 7:30-11:30 AM for WORKDAY WEDNESDAYS! Come out and harvest with us and learn new things about gardening and make new friends! Or, if you are interested in volunteering at one of our off-site garden programs, please contact us at GoodFoodProject@fbcenla.org 

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

 
Some of the Workday Wednesday children who volunteer at GFP and learn about sustainable gardening practices!

 

 

 
Garden Tips:
 The first rule of gardening taught in the GFP youth and school gardens is to "observe". We teach that the garden will tell you what it needs if you look closely every day or every few days to see what changes have occurred. The plants "talk" to you - when they are drooping, they need water, if they are yellow, they may need a nutrient, if there are holes, there may be a bug or worm biting on the plant. Using one's eyesight is an important tool in learning to grow your own food.
 
Children are an integral part of the mission of the Good Food Project - We Support a Culture of Health in Schools in Central Louisiana
Volunteer of the Month - Dianne Melder  
 

   Dianne Melder and Pineville Youth garden club kids 


 

About ten years ago, Dianne Melder became interested in community gardening after seeing the work her son  did as a founding member of Earth Share Community Gardening in Lafayette, LA. She set as a "main goal" for herself to become an advocate for children and gardening once she retired from teaching. The Foodapalooza summer tour of gardens hosted by the Central Louisiana Local Food Initiative in July 2014 brought her to the Pineville Youth Center's youth garden that GFP had installed  in July 2013. The tour inspired her to get involved with the program. GFP has conducted a weekly garden and nutrition class for over four years now with kids ranging in age from six to fourteen.

 

 Dianne joined GFP staff as a committed volunteer this past year. She is excellent with the children and is willing to pitch in and help in any way she can, whether that is helping the kids plant okra, or chopping food for one of the nutritious snacks GFP brings to the kids each week to sample. Dianne has lived in central Louisiana most of her adult life and finds that community gardening is especially appealing. This former kindergarten teacher has a special fondness for kids of all ages and believes that the work being done by Good Food Project is "awesome." We think she's pretty awesome, too! We sincerely appreciate her time and enthusiasm for the children at the Pineville Youth Center!


 
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.