School + life + The Food Ark = love + movement + progress + busy-ness
With that equation, I must make a conspicuous observation... I haven't posted in ages! But we must remember that "No Posts =/= No Progress". Check out The Food Ark's Facebook Page to see what we have been up to! www.facebook.com/thefoodark
Hard work does pay off. Right now, we have surpassed the 100 student mark in our club, which has only been active for less than 2 months. With a growing body and a growing voice, we will surely be able to move forward.
Here is a video from UNC-TV of one of our "Outreach Events" this year. We entered into the State Fair Garden Contest! Spoiler alert: We got 3rd place!
Less than 5 months in the making... and already a TV sponsor! I can't believe it. Correction: I can. Let's keep moving.
Showing posts with label Enloe Food Ark. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Enloe Food Ark. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Communtiy Food Lab x Enloe Food Ark (Book Creation!)
July 22nd, 2014, brought a new collaboration for The Food Ark (my club at Enloe) with the Community Food Lab. The purpose of such a meeting/workshop was to gather thoughts and ideas about a new booklet that the company is publishing soon in their Open Food Booklet Series. Before we get into the details, I would just like to thank everyone who was involved in this collaboration, from start to finish, for creating and providing us this opportunity to come out and share our ideas. Hopefully, being students and parents, we were able to help The Community Food Lab drive their content in the favored and imminent direction of success with sharing our perspectives. I believe that attacking the problem tactfully will benefit everyone in the long-run, and I hope every single participant was able to help give beneficial insight.
Now... excuse me, Ching? What problem are we attacking here?
The answer to that question is: the profligacy of unhealthy foods in schools.
And the simple solution to the problem is.... well... there isn't one; for "The road is not paved" (phrase that came up in a previous meeting with the Community Food Lab and Mr. Small).
_______________________________________________________________
Following my friend and fellow Food Ark adherent, Celia, I stepped through the entrance of the door and into the creative compound (as described in article 1, and 2) where the Community Food Lab lives and grows. Already, I see that two of my other Food Ark members, Sabrina and Daniel, are here chatting and laughing with the others who were there. I sighed in relief and shock, both of which quickly subsided; who am I to think that Sabrina and Daniel, of all people, would be apprehensive about mingling? As soon as I greeted Mr. Maurice Small, Mr. Erin White, Ms. Laura Miller, and the others who were already there, including Ms. Jamison and her son (I will publish a post about <-- very very soon!), the last member, Justin, of that night's group representing my club entered. Another sigh of relief. FYI, this is the second official "Event" that my club has participated in - the first was the cucumber gleaning - so I was still getting the hang of how to actually go about opening up the "Food" community. One step at a time!
That is exactly what Erin did with the workshop. After everyone had arrived, we walked over to the meeting area and each person occupied a comfy little chair. Erin introduced himself, what grade he was going into (his response was very clever: "I sometimes feel super knowledgeable like a graduate student, but other times, I feel like I'm still trying to figure it out, like I'm in kindergarten."), and his favorite fruit (mango; about 4 people said that their favorite fruit was mango). Everyone followed his lead, revealing deep and dark secrets. Of course my father was the one to innovate by misunderstanding "fruit" for "food" so he said that he used to love fanta and twinkies, but after being enlightened with healthy food, he now loves freshly baked bread and watermelon. His response was what the whole booklet is supposed to be about: how to show people that unhealthy foods are bad and healthy foods are the right way to go (in all different aspects from physical benefits to financial benefits) and how to make sure those people stay on the healthy train for the long-run.
We were given these long sheets of paper after our introduction and we were asked to write down where we can find "food" in terms of learning about food and health, to where "food" should be. I wrote down everything from textbooks, to posters, and from school gardens to trashcans. Textbooks because students, the next generation, should know how to eat and what to eat to live a successful and healthy life. Posters because if textbooks fail to attract the eye of a busy and/or lazy student, posters are concise and appealing enough to give that student a lesson within 10 seconds of looking at it. School gardens because I know people who believe that cucumbers are not grown but made and that, my friend, needs to be changed; and what better way of doing it than to let everyone experience the cycle of food first-hand? Trashcans because everywhere ranging from school cafeterias to home kitchens, perfectly edible and good food is wasted. That food can go to feed those who do not have the luxury of throwing away our precious resources (That should be everyone because everyone should be aware of the fact that wasting anything will come back to "haunt" them in all sorts of ways - economically, physically, environmentally. It is, on a rudimentary level, karma.). We were then asked to partner with the person sitting next to us to go over what each other has - comparing and contrasting. I was surprised that I forgot all about where we actually BUY the food that fuels our bodily mechanisms! Supermarkets, farmer's markets, convenience stores! What they have and how they place their food influences the buyer! Erin brought up the good point that that is why most stores stack their checkout counters with the junkiest things out there. Convenience + tastefulness. What more do people want??
After the short exercise, it was time for sharing. The students automatically went to the idiosyncrasies of cafeteria food: how bad it is for your health, how easily accessible it is, how processed it is, how weird it tastes (3 notes: salty, sweet or oily), etc. They also brought up the need for schools to implement organic foods, no GMOs, and health classes that actually enforce health rather than have you blindly memorize boring facts for tests, as well as school gardens. The adults, on the other hand, focused more on healthy foods vs. unhealthy foods and how to get everyone to switch from a soda a meal to fruits and veggies three times a day. All in all, we must all remember that each and every person has their own perspectives that are shaped from their own experiences and backgrounds.
I won't go into too much detail about the booklet, because it comes out soon (early fall!) however, I will tell you what it is aimed to do.
We have seen in everywhere from reality to movies that people have this weakness when it comes to junk food. How can we, as people who believe that healthy food should be more highly prioritized, "convert" others to adopt the ways of the future? Well, we cannot, because the decision of conversion is ultimately up to that person. But what we can do is to try to persuade them using sturdy facts supporting that converting to a healthier lifestyle permanently benefits THEM in every aspect of life: physicality, mentality, financially, socially, etc. The booklet will appeal to people of all ages and will be a game-changer if put into the hands of the administration. This way, students and parents can see the merit of living healthily in school and at home. Let's change the game.
Now... excuse me, Ching? What problem are we attacking here?
The answer to that question is: the profligacy of unhealthy foods in schools.
And the simple solution to the problem is.... well... there isn't one; for "The road is not paved" (phrase that came up in a previous meeting with the Community Food Lab and Mr. Small).
_______________________________________________________________
Following my friend and fellow Food Ark adherent, Celia, I stepped through the entrance of the door and into the creative compound (as described in article 1, and 2) where the Community Food Lab lives and grows. Already, I see that two of my other Food Ark members, Sabrina and Daniel, are here chatting and laughing with the others who were there. I sighed in relief and shock, both of which quickly subsided; who am I to think that Sabrina and Daniel, of all people, would be apprehensive about mingling? As soon as I greeted Mr. Maurice Small, Mr. Erin White, Ms. Laura Miller, and the others who were already there, including Ms. Jamison and her son (I will publish a post about <-- very very soon!), the last member, Justin, of that night's group representing my club entered. Another sigh of relief. FYI, this is the second official "Event" that my club has participated in - the first was the cucumber gleaning - so I was still getting the hang of how to actually go about opening up the "Food" community. One step at a time!
That is exactly what Erin did with the workshop. After everyone had arrived, we walked over to the meeting area and each person occupied a comfy little chair. Erin introduced himself, what grade he was going into (his response was very clever: "I sometimes feel super knowledgeable like a graduate student, but other times, I feel like I'm still trying to figure it out, like I'm in kindergarten."), and his favorite fruit (mango; about 4 people said that their favorite fruit was mango). Everyone followed his lead, revealing deep and dark secrets. Of course my father was the one to innovate by misunderstanding "fruit" for "food" so he said that he used to love fanta and twinkies, but after being enlightened with healthy food, he now loves freshly baked bread and watermelon. His response was what the whole booklet is supposed to be about: how to show people that unhealthy foods are bad and healthy foods are the right way to go (in all different aspects from physical benefits to financial benefits) and how to make sure those people stay on the healthy train for the long-run.
 |
| The students hard at work! |
We were given these long sheets of paper after our introduction and we were asked to write down where we can find "food" in terms of learning about food and health, to where "food" should be. I wrote down everything from textbooks, to posters, and from school gardens to trashcans. Textbooks because students, the next generation, should know how to eat and what to eat to live a successful and healthy life. Posters because if textbooks fail to attract the eye of a busy and/or lazy student, posters are concise and appealing enough to give that student a lesson within 10 seconds of looking at it. School gardens because I know people who believe that cucumbers are not grown but made and that, my friend, needs to be changed; and what better way of doing it than to let everyone experience the cycle of food first-hand? Trashcans because everywhere ranging from school cafeterias to home kitchens, perfectly edible and good food is wasted. That food can go to feed those who do not have the luxury of throwing away our precious resources (That should be everyone because everyone should be aware of the fact that wasting anything will come back to "haunt" them in all sorts of ways - economically, physically, environmentally. It is, on a rudimentary level, karma.). We were then asked to partner with the person sitting next to us to go over what each other has - comparing and contrasting. I was surprised that I forgot all about where we actually BUY the food that fuels our bodily mechanisms! Supermarkets, farmer's markets, convenience stores! What they have and how they place their food influences the buyer! Erin brought up the good point that that is why most stores stack their checkout counters with the junkiest things out there. Convenience + tastefulness. What more do people want??
 |
| Parents engaging in activities |
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| Students hard at work 2.0 |
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| Pictured: Celia, Daniel, Justin (me in the background ;)) |
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| Collaboration! |
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| Collaboration 2.0 |
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| Collaboration 3.0 |
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| What do we have?? |
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| Connecting all the food-related places to one another! |
After the short exercise, it was time for sharing. The students automatically went to the idiosyncrasies of cafeteria food: how bad it is for your health, how easily accessible it is, how processed it is, how weird it tastes (3 notes: salty, sweet or oily), etc. They also brought up the need for schools to implement organic foods, no GMOs, and health classes that actually enforce health rather than have you blindly memorize boring facts for tests, as well as school gardens. The adults, on the other hand, focused more on healthy foods vs. unhealthy foods and how to get everyone to switch from a soda a meal to fruits and veggies three times a day. All in all, we must all remember that each and every person has their own perspectives that are shaped from their own experiences and backgrounds.
 |
| Giving our inputs on the booklet so far |
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| Sabrina trying to explain why the character has a head of broccoli for his/her nose (it was amusing) |
 |
| Just a bit of what we came up with in terms of our perspectives |
I won't go into too much detail about the booklet, because it comes out soon (early fall!) however, I will tell you what it is aimed to do.
We have seen in everywhere from reality to movies that people have this weakness when it comes to junk food. How can we, as people who believe that healthy food should be more highly prioritized, "convert" others to adopt the ways of the future? Well, we cannot, because the decision of conversion is ultimately up to that person. But what we can do is to try to persuade them using sturdy facts supporting that converting to a healthier lifestyle permanently benefits THEM in every aspect of life: physicality, mentality, financially, socially, etc. The booklet will appeal to people of all ages and will be a game-changer if put into the hands of the administration. This way, students and parents can see the merit of living healthily in school and at home. Let's change the game.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Enloe Food Ark: Gardening Pt.1
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| After vs. Before |
Well we've all been through transformations in our life: whether it be in personal style, eating habits, grades, makeup, attitudes, perspectives, etc. But yesterday, 7/28/14, a crew of 6-8 people tackled the wild and untamed Enloe garden that was passed down to me and my club, The Food Ark, from Concert and Mr. Brent Miller. I wished not to leave you suspense to see the final reveal, so I have placed the "After Vs. Before" picture in such a way that it would be the very first thing that catches your eye in this post. Now, you can really see the difference, eh? 2 hours and a very enthusiastic work crew surely makes conspicuous progress.
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| I know... I warned you... |
Monday morning sure is sluggish so walking down the halls of Enloe, my current high school, with my work crew of 3 other students - Celia, Daniel, and Molly - I continuously warned them about what they will see, just to save them from shock. Looking back, I think just letting their bodies fill with shock and voraciousness to get started would have been completely plausible, however, there is a risk that they will see such a challenge and not be inclined to hurdle over the large gap of getting started. In all actuality, I'm more than satisfied with the progress and hard work that my group put in! It was more than I could have ever imagined.
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| Thinking about using the fences as a lateral surface... Got to get approved by Wake County for that to work though... |
After a brief introduction and pep talk, we started getting down to earth (I'm full of puns, hahaha). Everyone knelt down at once on both sides of the strip of weedy land and started yanking those stubborn monsters out of the land. Stress-reliever = weed pulling. That really got everyone to start going at it harder. Hey, might as well get all the stress out now than to have it pile up inside you during the school year! Always thinking ahead.
Within 30 minutes, we cleared half of the garden of weeds. You surprised? 23ft x 7 ft cleared in just half an hour? I'm not. The group worked in perfect synchronization without a word to be said beforehand about teamwork. It was glorious. Each person would make their own little/huge pile of pulled out weeds and then after a pile grew to become a 2ft cube, one person would come around to each pile and pick it up and throw it over the fence. I know what you're thinking; it's not littering... just simply... fertilizing the ground below :). Once again, making use of everything.
As we picked, we noticed that there were still vegetables hiding inside the monstrosity of a weed bed that we violently plucked at. We discovered Romain Lettuce, Okra, Jalapeno Peppers, Green Bell Peppers, Raspberries and an exotic Chinese plant that was unknown to us at the time because it just began sprouting. We decided to leave it there in hope to have some nice delicacy to top our dishes with in the future.
The final product! We added a layer of mulch to the garden, but now, looking back, I believe that wasn't the smartest idea due to the fact that the mulch that we used was the leftover treated/painted mulch used for flower gardens and landscaping. Think about the chemicals in the mulch from the paint seeping through the plant, and because the plant performs osmosis imagine it then hiding in the fruits that we harvest later to eat. Then imagine the same nasty and toxic chemicals making their way through our mouth down into the stomach and being absorbed either by the stomach or the small intestines where it will then make its way into our bloodstream and cause mutations to the cells that the chemical-contained blood feeds. Well, now you have certain diseases that you should not kid with like cancer stacked up fighting against your body. That's scary. Well, my lecture is over (not ever over) about that. That's why organic is so important and healthy. These plants will not be classified as "organic" if I keep the mulch sitting there. AHHHHHHH!!
Now enjoy a series of relaxing photos after reading the above, frightening, paragraph. :)
Luckily, we have another gardening/cleanup day coming our way in the very near future so we can fix the mulch problem. This time, we will be tackling the courtyard and the existing but abandoned greenhouse.
We all make mistakes. But how we react to them determines success or failure. But if the path you took turns out to have the latter as the destination, success will be determined by how you react to failure.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Enloe Food Ark: Gleaning Pt.1
Yesterday, 7/12/14, our first "outside" organization event for my club, The Food Ark (at Enloe HS) went through. I planned a last-minute gleaning trip through a friend I made, who just started at IFFS, at The Community Food Lab's Second Saturday walk in June.
3 people showed up - it's a start! I am very thankful for even the slightest turnout due to the fact that the gleaning event was such a short-notice (planned it in less than a week with finally knowing even the address just the day before the event). Anyway, let's get to the gleaning.
The farm was in Louisburg, so that was about an hour from where we live so we decided to carpool. We were driving along the country road when all of a sudden, the truck in front of us turned left and into a narrow road. I looked and it was the IFFS truck but our GPS kept telling us to go straight so our split second decision was to trust the GPS. We pulled over after continuing several hundred feet to see what the matter was, and turns out, the GPS was eventually telling us to U-turn anyway and go back. Funny story, eh? Well it was more amusing at the time.
Farmer, James Brown, had 3/4 miles of cucumbers to glean and with less than 20 volunteers and a little under 2 hrs, I'm glad to say that we did not even glean half of the glean-able cucumbers out there! Now, I've never gleaned before, so this was completely new to me. The rule for glean-able cucumbers went like this: the cucumbers cannot be too yellow/white, but still must retain a majority of green without any rotten areas. Each person or pair gets a bucket or banana box to store their picked cucumbers until they return back to the truck to drop their load off.
Mr. Brown is 31 and a retired professional football player who bought the land with his wife in 2012. I asked him why he made this decision and he said that he has always had a passion for working with his hands. Looking beyond the cucumber fields, you see ponds, hills and the outstretch of a forest. His farm has anything from grapes, apples, peaches, jalapenos, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and more. A plot of land can be so versatile! He said that during harvesting season, 100,000 lbs of cucumbers are picked every single day by the workers (for Mt. Olive for pickling). 100,000 pounds!! That's crazy!
The workers who harvest the crops work 10 hours a day. We all were about to faint at the 2 hour mark. Wow. This tells you what the human can do through determination.
All in all, I am very glad that I had this experience, especially given that we picked several thousand pounds of cucumbers that would have gone to waste in a week when the land will be plowed and tossed. This will feed so many people... but at the same time... that's not nearly enough :/.
"Gleaning for life!" is what one of the volunteers from my group, The Food Ark, said afterwards. There are many contexts of this quote. We are giving life to those in need and strengthening our own at the same time. To give is to get.
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| Such a beautiful view. Cucumber fields as far as the eye can see! |
3 people showed up - it's a start! I am very thankful for even the slightest turnout due to the fact that the gleaning event was such a short-notice (planned it in less than a week with finally knowing even the address just the day before the event). Anyway, let's get to the gleaning.
 |
| Hard at work! |
The farm was in Louisburg, so that was about an hour from where we live so we decided to carpool. We were driving along the country road when all of a sudden, the truck in front of us turned left and into a narrow road. I looked and it was the IFFS truck but our GPS kept telling us to go straight so our split second decision was to trust the GPS. We pulled over after continuing several hundred feet to see what the matter was, and turns out, the GPS was eventually telling us to U-turn anyway and go back. Funny story, eh? Well it was more amusing at the time.
 |
| Farmer Brown telling us what to do! |
Farmer, James Brown, had 3/4 miles of cucumbers to glean and with less than 20 volunteers and a little under 2 hrs, I'm glad to say that we did not even glean half of the glean-able cucumbers out there! Now, I've never gleaned before, so this was completely new to me. The rule for glean-able cucumbers went like this: the cucumbers cannot be too yellow/white, but still must retain a majority of green without any rotten areas. Each person or pair gets a bucket or banana box to store their picked cucumbers until they return back to the truck to drop their load off.
 |
| Wave of gleaners!! |
 |
| Whoops, my finger is in the way... |
Mr. Brown is 31 and a retired professional football player who bought the land with his wife in 2012. I asked him why he made this decision and he said that he has always had a passion for working with his hands. Looking beyond the cucumber fields, you see ponds, hills and the outstretch of a forest. His farm has anything from grapes, apples, peaches, jalapenos, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and more. A plot of land can be so versatile! He said that during harvesting season, 100,000 lbs of cucumbers are picked every single day by the workers (for Mt. Olive for pickling). 100,000 pounds!! That's crazy!
 |
| Farmer Ching, hard at work! |
The workers who harvest the crops work 10 hours a day. We all were about to faint at the 2 hour mark. Wow. This tells you what the human can do through determination.
 |
| Thousands of lbs of cucumbers! All would have gone to waste without us gleaning them! |
All in all, I am very glad that I had this experience, especially given that we picked several thousand pounds of cucumbers that would have gone to waste in a week when the land will be plowed and tossed. This will feed so many people... but at the same time... that's not nearly enough :/.
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| The Food Ark representing! Thank you Gautham, Reilly and Cory for coming out with me! |
"Gleaning for life!" is what one of the volunteers from my group, The Food Ark, said afterwards. There are many contexts of this quote. We are giving life to those in need and strengthening our own at the same time. To give is to get.
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