GardenShare

GardenShare

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

NEW SNAP APPLICATION HELPS SENIORS

More than a year after Pennsylvanian rolled out a simplified SNAP application process for senior citizens, more than 350,000 elders have used the new tool. The Department of Human Services introduced the easier application in June 2016, changing from a 24-page form that covered multiple assistance programs to a two-page application. The streamlined enrollment is available to people age 60 or older who doesn't…. have earned income from employment. Individuals using this simplified application have to renew their application every three years, rather than annually as others must do. Because many seniors have income from Social Security, rather than a job, their income is more stable than someone whose wages, hours, and income might more frequently change.
Between June 2016, when the simplified application was introduced, and June 2017, the state saw a decrease of 1.1% in its total food stamp enrollment, but only a 0.36% decline in adults over age 60.

Source: MSN, 11/13/17, SNAP App for Seniors

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Giving Tuesday

#GivingTuesday is a global giving movement that has been built by individuals, families, organizations, businesses and communities in all 50 states and in countries around the world. This year, #GivingTuesday falls on November 28. #GivingTuesday harnesses the collective power of a unique blend of partnersto transform how people think about, talk about, and participate in the giving season. It inspires people to take collective action to improve their communities, give back in better, smarter ways to the charities and causes they believe in, and help create a better world. #GivingTuesday demonstrates how every act of generosity counts, and that they mean even more when we give together. 

Shop for everyone on your gift list this holiday at http://smile.amazon.com/ch/16-1607595 and Amazon donates to Gardenshare Inc. #YouShopAmazonDonates



Monday, November 27, 2017

Cyber Monday

It's Cyber Monday.

While you're shopping for the best deals on line, we hope you'll keep in mind your favorite local charities and consider making a donation to them tomorrow, on Giving Tuesday, or anytime this holiday season.



Shop for everyone on your gift list this holiday at http://smile.amazon.com/ch/16-1607595 and Amazon donates to Gardenshare Inc. #YouShopAmazonDonates

Saturday, November 25, 2017

Today is Small Business Saturday

Let's keep some of those holiday shopping dollars local and shop with our locally-owned small businesses!

Support your local economy!

Friday, November 24, 2017

Black Friday

A store is the last place I want to be today!

But for those of you who do celebrate by looking for the best deals, I wish you much luck in finding them.

While you are shopping today, or tomorrow on Small Business Saturday, or on Cyber Monday, we hope you will also keep in mind your favorite charities and consider a donation on Giving Tuesday!

Gloria

Shop for everyone on your gift list this holiday at http://smile.amazon.com/ch/16-1607595 and Amazon donates to Gardenshare Inc. #YouShopAmazonDonates



Wednesday, November 22, 2017

THANKSGIVING 2017--BY THE NUMBERS


6,500--The number of Wampanoag American Indians as of 2010, roughly half of whom lived in Massachusetts. The Wampanoag attended the first Thanksgiving, playing a lead role in the historic event, and were essential to the survival of the colonists during the newcomers’ first year.


244 million--The forecasted number of turkeys raised in the United States in 2016. That is up 4.5% from the number raised during 2015.


4--The number of places in the US named after the holiday’s traditional main course. Turkey Creek, AZ (pop. 405 in 2015), Turkey city, Texas (367); Turkey Creek village, La. (357); and Turkey town, N.C. (280).


859 million pounds--The forecasted weight of cranberries produced in the US in 2016. Wisconsin was estimated to lead all states in the production of cranberries, with 521.0 million pounds, followed by Massachusetts (estimated at 207.0 million pounds).


4--The number of places and townships in the US named Cranberry. Cranberry township , Pa., was the most populous of these places in 2016, with 30,739 residents.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Newman's Own Holiday Challenge

Starting today and running through January 3, the Newman's Own Foundation is challenging nonprofits to raise money to support their important causes and offering challenges and incentives to support these efforts.

To support GardenShare and help us earn some of these incentives, go here to donate.

You can also share the link with others to encourage donations and even set up teams of fundraisers to support GardenShare's work.

Monday, November 20, 2017

STATES ARE ADDRESSING FOOD WASTE


State legislators are beginning to address the connection between food waste and hunger. From implementing tax incentives; funding food rescue operations; or recycling or repurposing waste as compost, animal feed, or energy, states are building relationships with businesses and nonprofits to prevent food waste and to feed families. California, Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Oregon, South Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia offer state tax credits for food donations. West Virginia’s farm-to-food bank tax credits for charitable food donations by farmers takes effect in 2018. Some states, like Minnesota, appropriate funds to food banks to facilitate the collection, distribution, and storage of surplus goods.  That state’s Farm-to-Food Shelf program uses most of this money to provide grants to farmers for harvesting and transporting their surplus crops to the Second Harvest Heartland food bank. Now more than 5 million pounds of fresh produce are collected and distributed each year.

Source: National Conference of State Legislatures, 11/9/17, Food Waste Legislation

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Cyber Monday - don't forget GardenShare

If you'll be shopping on Amazon tomorrow, don't forget that you can support GardenShare with every purchase.

Go here and do your shopping and a portion of each item will be donated to GardenShare!

Support us when you shop this holiday season

Friday, November 17, 2017

Farmer Friday returns - Pleasant Valley Farm

GardenShare intern Maya Williams traveled over to Edwards recently to learn more about one of the new vendors at the area farmers markets, Pleasant Valley Farm.

A curious Red Angus, one of the 60 cattle living on Pleasant Valley Farm in Edwards NY

“It’s come a long way,” Jeff Shippee says as he drives me over the rocky hills that span the Pleasant Valley Farm. Ten years ago, Jeff and his wife Mo bought more than 300 acres in Edwards, New York. Over the past 160 years, the land has changed ownership and has been divided up in the process but Jeff and Mo have spent the past decade restoring it to the farmland it once was in the 1850s. The couple brought the fields back, installed extensive lines of fencing, and refinished the historic barn, which was initially 2-feet deep with pigeon poop, hay, and trash. Pleasant Valley Farm is now a thriving meat farm with 60 cows and 10 pigs, all grass fed and grain supplemented. The land is extensive, rolling with hills and divided by a small stream that meanders across. The property also continues on the opposite side of the road, and cattle are rotated between fields during grazing season. Jeff shows me the property on his 4-wheeler, while Mo sits on the back, describing the history of the farm.

The herd of Red Angus graze together, overlooking their expanse of farmland.

A small stream cuts through the farmland

“We started with two cows,” Mo laughs, as she recounts the decision to start farming. Jeff grew up on a dairy farm but Mo had never farmed before. After years of working for a plumbing and mechanical business in Philadelphia, the couple sought a different lifestyle away from “suburbia America” as Mo called it. “Both of us wanted to live on a farm,” Mo explains, so they bought the land in Edwards and began the process of raising animals. “I felt like it was my calling.”

Jeff admires the herd of Red Angus

With limited experience, the couple bought two Scottish Highlanders and took care of them for two years in Philadelphia before moving them up to Edwards to start breeding. For the first nine years that Jeff and Mo owned the farm property, they were still living in Philadelphia. Jeff would commute every weekend to look after the farm and animals, receiving help from local neighbors when he was back at work during the week. “He put 80,000 miles in less than a year on a new truck,” Mo tells me. The couple finally retired from plumbing and mechanical in December 2016, moving up to Edwards full time.

Jeff pets two Red Angus steers, Rumple and Leroy, the first that will be butchered in May


Mo pets one of the Red Angus
Love for their animals and their land is what keeps these two working.

“I find if you interact with them they are a lot kinder,” Mo tells me as she places a soft hand on the neck of one of the Red Angus cows. Jeff and Mo light up as they describe calves in the spring. “It is such a joy to watch them run and frolic,” Jeff says fondly as Mo describes it as, “The epitome of frolicking!”

The lifestyle is rewarding for Jeff and Mo, between taking care of animals and being able to work in the outdoors. However, there are also challenges, especially as a relatively new farm in the area. “We are still in the beginning stages of trying to get established,” Mo said, but she is optimistic. Pleasant Valley Farm sells at the Canton and Gouverneur farmers markets during the summer, which has helped get their name out into the communities, but many people don’t realize they can visit the farm as well. Increasingly, the farm has been seeing visitors to get a tour, see the animals, and pick up meat for sale. This interaction between farmers and consumers is one of the greatest aspects of eating local. Seeing first-hand the amount of love and dedication farmers have put into their land and their animals has certainly helped me foster a deeper connection to food and appreciation for the people who make it possible.

The Pleasant Valley Farm barn, built in 1853.
The farm started with Scottish Highlanders but Jeff and Mo are in the process of switching the herd.

“We like the highlanders but they are destructive with those horns! And they don’t give us the meat we want,” Mo explains. “Eventually we will be all Red Angus.”

“We can get a lot more meat out of Red Angus,” Jeff pipes in.

The future plans that Jeff and Mo detail for me also include continued renovations to the historic barn. They hope to turn the meat locker, where meat is stored, into a room for sales, and refurbish other parts of the barn into a country store where Mo can sell her quilts. I grew up in a house built in the 1850s so I immediately recognize the old wooden beams that are the framework for the barn. It gives the space a sense of history. Pleasant Valley Farm prides itself as being “an old farm with a renewed life,” and the barn is a perfect visual of this renewed life that Jeff and Mo have breathed into this land. Mo tells me she’s heard the barn is haunted, however, she’s never seen any ghosts. “They must be happy with what we are doing with the place,” she jokes. How could they not be? It seems this is the way the land should be taken care of, by Jeff and Mo and their happy, frolicking cows.

Grants available to help schools grow food

New York Ag in the Classroom (NYAITC) has a new grant program called Grow with Us, and we are providing a variety of indoor grow systems and high tunnels to schools encouraging them to grow food all school year long. 

You will see on our website, we are offering a variety of grow systems including Tower Gardens, 2445 Grow Racks, Grow Cubes, and High Tunnels.

Applications close on December 8th

Thursday, November 16, 2017

SNAP TO THE RESCUE AT COLLEGE


Student hunger is a growing concern among college administrators, advocates, and legislators. Colleges are grappling with how to combat this problem; many have started innovative programs, such as free farmers markets and food pantries, and some are helping students apply for SNAP. The current demographics of the college population suggest many may be at risk for hunger. Among all college students, (1) 51% are financially independent from their parents, (2) 26% are parents themselves, (3) 62% are employed at least part-time, and (4) 48% reported experiencing food insecurity in the previous 30 days. SNAP is generally not available to students who attend college more than half time, although federal law allows for specific exceptions.  Last month Representative Al Lawson (D-FL) introduced H.R. 3875, the College Student Hunger Act of 2017. It would allow college students who are enrolled at least half-time to get SNAP if (1) they qualify for the maximum Pell Grant amount because they have a zero Expected Family Contribution or (2) are defined as independent for financial aid purposes in any one of the following areas: in foster care, a veteran of the Armed Forces, or are classified as an unaccompanied youth who is homeless.

Source: Center for Law & Social Policy, 10/27/17, Hunger on Campus

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Hunger 101 at SUNY Potsdam

Today, a group of GardenShare volunteers joined me to present Hunger 101 to a class at SUNY Potsdam.

This is the third time I have presented the program at SUNY Potsdam and has been the case in the past, there were students in the room had some real life experiences with programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and food pantries.  This enriches the conversation as students are able to open about these experiences and help others realize that this is real and happens right here among us.

One of these students said, "I've had some experience on SNAP before so I know that it can be very tricky.  But I have not had to use SNAP in a while so this helped give me some basic perspective."

Here are some other comments from students in the class:

  • I didn't realize how hard it can be for someone to get enough food for their family.
  • I changed my mind about SNAP - I realized that SNAP is given to people actually need it!
  • It was kind of comfortable, but that was the point.
If you would like to schedule a Hunger 101 session for your group, please get in touch!

NEW PROPOSALS FOR SNAP IMPROVEMENT


SNAP and the earned income tax credit (EITC) are the cornerstones of the social safety net. In 2014, SNAP kept 8.4 million people, including 3.8 million children, out of poverty. Because the EITC is designed to provide benefits only when a household has an employed worker, its effectiveness is limited in times of high unemployment. On the other hand, SNAP can both support work when it is available and serve as insurance, propping up food consumption levels during periods of unemployment. A new report lays out SNAP’s benefits, the characteristics of SNAP recipients, and its effects on families and the American economy.  It also proposes several ways to strengthen SNAP for the future:

  • Increase the earned income deduction from 20% to 30%. This would increase monthly benefits by $40 on average, increase incentives to work, and increase food purchasing power for families with workers.
  • Increase investment in the SNAP employment and training program would help states move more participants into the workforce.
  • Boost federal support to help states purchase the “work number” service, which provides real-time data on employment and wages and can be used for data verification.The service may help improve fraud and error rates of other means-tested programs such as school meals.

Source: American Enterprise Institute, 11/6/17, SNAP Improvements

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

A student reflects on her time at GardenShare

One of the students taking part in the Community Based Learning program at SLU, reflects on here time at GardenShare...

When picking out which community service I wanted, I wasn’t sure which assignment appeared most appealing to me. There were a lot of choices that stuck out to me. However, with the little I knew about the GardenShare, I knew it would be a good fit. Throughout my high school education, community service had always been an important part of my life. Ever since middle school I have been volunteering at my local food pantry, named The Acord Food Pantry. For my Community Based Learning aspect of class, I volunteer my time at the GardenShare. The GardenShare is an organization, whose main goal is to make healthy fresh produce, more readily available to those in the St. Lawrence County.
More specifically, one of their major roles in the community is participating at the farmers market in Canton. At the farmers market, they have a tent set up where people can use their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and a plastic electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards. SNAP is a federal program, formerly known as food stamps, that provides monthly benefits to eligible clients on their EBT cards. GardenShare has set up a program where SNAP clients can use their EBT SNAP card at the Canton farmers’ market in order to gain access to healthy locally produced food options. At our tent, clients can use their EBT SNAP cards and receive coins each worth one dollar. In turn, these coins can be used to purchase fresh produce at the farmers market. One of the benefits of visiting the GardenShare tent at the Canton farmer’s market is that GardenShare is currently doubling the amount of money the clients are asking for. For instance, when a customer comes up with their EBT SNAP card and asks for 10 dollars, GardenShare will only charge them 10 dollars, however the client will receive 20 dollars’ worth of tokens. With this incentive, GardenShare is hoping to encourage the EBT SNAP users to purchase fresh and local food.
My time so far at GardenShare and specifically the farmers market has been more than valuable. It is here, that I learned how prevalent poverty is in the North Country. By attending a wealthy University, where communication off campus is limited, not everyone realizes what Canton is truly like. By working with GardenShare, I now know, and have witnessed firsthand how appreciative members of the community are when college students pay attention to the town they are living in. With this newfound knowledge of the community, I am better able to interact with the customers I work with, and attempt to understand the rest of the community. I learned to understand and acknowledge that everyone’s situation is different, and that there are varying degrees of poverty. However, I also learned that being sympathetic and patient is one of the most effective ways to be respectful and enact change into the community around you.  
                                                   - Lindsay Campbell


FARM BILL MAY HURT FARMERS’ MARKETS


Despite America’s growing love for farmers’ markets, it’s looking unlikely that the Farmer Markets Promotion Program (FMPP) will be prioritized when the Farm Bill comes up for reauthorization next year. The president’s proposed 2018 budget eliminates funding for the FMPP. The program awards grants that support outreach and promotional activities that help farmers markets become self-sustaining and that can be replicated across the country. Since it was first funded in 2006, the FMPP has helped the number of farmers’ markets in the U.S. more than double from around 3,000 to over 8,600. Farmers’ markets sell around $3 billion in food annually, including nearly $20 million redeemed by SNAP shoppers.

Source: Civil Eats, 10/30/17, Farmers' Markets in Trouble

Monday, November 13, 2017

FARM BILL DYNAMICS


The Farm Bill expires on Sept. 30, 2018. Passing a new bill in the next year will require a coalition that cuts across parties and regions. But the bill’s trillion-dollar size produce plenty of critics who create fault lines that could derail the bill, which is currently being drafted by the House and Senate agriculture committees. One of those fault lines is the urban-rural coalition of farm-state Republicans (who back farm subsidies) and urban Democrats (who protect SNAP). But rural Republican support is no longer automatic. House Freedom Caucus members have backed deep cuts to the program in budget resolutions. Work requirements and other means of tightening the program, all billed as ways to ensure that SNAP aid is targeted to the most deserving, will divide GOP support. Some Democrats are more absolutist on SNAP than others. Pragmatists, including the ranking Democrats of both the House and Senate agriculture committees, will tolerate some changes to the rules to get a bill through. More strident advocates resist any reductions. This division weakens the Democrats’ united front. And the food stamp community itself has divisions. Many nutritionists support dietary restrictions for SNAP use as a way to encourage better eating. But the big grocers that support SNAP don't want those rules, which complicate business and could cut into sales.

Source: Bloomberg, 11/2/17, Farm Bill Dynamics

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Support GardenShare when you shop online

While we'd always prefer that you shop locally, we know that sometimes in the North Country that just is not possible.

When you need to shop online do it at smile.amazon.com/ch/16-1607595 and Amazon donates to Gardenshare.


Support us when you shop this holiday season

Saturday, November 11, 2017

VETERANS USE SNAP


Many veterans face challenges transitioning to civilian life, and some need income, nutrition, and work supports to make ends meet. Poverty among veterans has slowly increased over time. The rate varies significantly between states, ranging from 3.7% in Connecticut to 20% in Puerto Rico. Among disabled veterans, there’s a striking gender disparity; 15.3% of women and 9.4% of men are currently poor. Nearly 1.5 million veterans live in a household receiving SNAP.  In 2015:

  • Around 7% of veterans lived in a household receiving SNAP at some point in the year; of those, 1 in 5 had a child in the home.
  • Younger veterans (ages 18-34) were more likely to live in a SNAP household than older veterans.
  • Black  and Hispanic veterans were more likely than white veterans to live in a SNAP household.

Source: Center for Law & Social Policy, 11/9/17, Veterans & SNAP

Friday, November 10, 2017

WHICH FEDERAL PROGRAMS PROVIDE THE MOST SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN?


Most federal support for children doesn’t come from classic children’s programs like Head Start, but from Medicaid, nutrition assistance, and tax credits—programs more often associated with adults. In 2016, the federal government spent $377 billion (10% of the $3.9 trillion federal budget) on children through programs and refundable tax credits.
An additional $108 billion in tax reductions was targeted to families with children, bringing total federal expenditures on children to $486 billion. At $89 billion, Medicaid is the largest source of federal spending on children. The next three largest programs are tax provisions: the earned income tax credit, the child tax credit, and the dependent exemption. SNAP is the fifth-largest source of expenditures on children, providing $31 billion in benefits in 2016. Child nutrition programs, including the school lunch and breakfast programs, provided another $22 billion.

Source: Urban Institute, 10/31/17, Federal Support for Kid

Thursday, November 9, 2017

SCREENING FOR FOOD INSECURITY


What is the best way to screen for food insecurity? The 18-item U.S. Food Security Scale (USFSS) is the gold standard, according to a recent editorial in the American Journal of Public Health. The tool was developed after five years of extensive testing, consultation, and expert review.  Its length, however, makes its use in most clinical settings impractical. The first two questions in the USFSS, commonly known as the Hunger Vital Sign, ask how often within the past 12 months “we worried whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more,” and “the food we bought just didn’t last and we didn’t have money to get more.” Recent research has shown the Hunger Vital Sign to be both a sensitive and specific tool, and thus reliable is ascertaining whether a patient is food insecure, but only if the screener asks both questions and gives the patient 3 response options: “often true, sometimes true, or never true.”

Source: Children’s Health Watch, 11/2/17, Food Insecurity Screening

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Grants for gardens

The SeedMoney grant application period is coming to a close with just a few days left before the November 12 deadline.  These grants are only offered grants once a year, so we want to make sure that as many worthy groups as possible know that they can apply. These grants are available to all types of food gardens (school gardens, community gardens, food bank gardens, etc.) in all types of places (nationally and internationally).  Please help us spread the word by sharing the facebook post linked here.  

MAPPING AIDS BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF FOOD DESERTS


Green areas are food deserts locally.
Food desert maps are commonplace, but the Maryland Food System Map (MFSM) goes further than most. The MFSM details the state’s entire food system, not just its food deserts. When the map launched in 2012 with 30 data indicators, it focused mainly on retail outlets: locations of supermarkets, convenience stores, and small local shops. Now it includes 175 indicators, adding layers for agriculture (small farms, livestock operations, prime farmland); demographics (income, employment); health (mortality, diabetes, and obesity rates); and environmental indicators (air and water quality, biodiversity, and designated environmental cleanup areas). Nonprofits and food policy councils across the state have used MFSM to address food access gaps. In Baltimore, the city’s Food Policy Initiative used it to chart food access across the city and tackle the gaps from an urban-planning perspective. One result of that effort, which began in 2015, was the Baltimore City Orchard Project–a nonprofit that plants clusters of fruit trees in parks and underused spaces around the city–targeting its new projects specifically to populate food deserts and create new sources of fresh produce resource in those areas. MFSM is run through Johns Hopkins University’s Center for a Livable Future.

Source: Fast Company, 10/19/17, Mapping Food Deserts

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

FOOD STAMPS WON’T BUY A HEALTHY DIET


SNAP (formerly called food stamps) isn’t enough for families to afford the healthy diet the federal government recommends. It would cost a family of four, with two adults and two children, as much as $627 more per month than they receive in food stamps to eat the recommended healthy diet, according to new research. The recommended diet, as expressed in USDA’s MyPlate, suggests putting fruit and vegetables on half a plate, and protein and grains on the other half. The daily recommendation for women ages 31 to 50 is 1.5 cups of fruit; 2.5 cups of vegetables; 6 servings of grains (a slice of bread is a serving); and 5 servings of protein (an ounce of meat or an egg is a serving). Researchers considered a variety of ways a family could meet the dietary recommendations. The most expensive way is to eat all fresh food. The least expensive diet is vegetarian, evenly divided between fresh, frozen, and canned food.

Source: Charlotte (NC) News Observer, 10/20/17, SNAP-Diet Gap

Monday, November 6, 2017

Sustainable food and farming online classes

Registration for the winter term of online classes in Sustainable Food and Farming is now open. 

Winter classes are from December 26 - January 20 Registration is open!

Here are the winter courses we are offering!
  • STOCKSCH 100 – Botany for Gardeners (4cr)
  • STOCKSCH 119 – Backyard Homesteading (3 cr)
  • STOCSKSCH 190 M – Intro to Mushroom Culture (1 cr)
  • STOCKSCH 297 FL – Intro to Food and Agricultural Law (3 cr)
  • STOCKSCH 354 – Non-profit Management for Community Food Programs (3 cr)
  • STOCKSCH 379 – Agricultural Systems Thinking  (requires either completion of STOCKSCH 265 or permission of the instructor - contact jgerber@umass.edu) (3 cr)
  • STOCKSCH 397 PB – Pollinator Biology and Habitat (1 cr)

Fresh food access will boost health for millions

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Boosting public spending on fresh foods grown on New York State farms and served in schools, childcare centers, older adult centers, food pantries and other institutions, has the potential to improve health for more than six million New Yorkers, while increasing economic opportunities across the state. The findings are part of a new report, ‘The Public Plate in New York State: Growing Health, Farms and Jobs with Local Food,’ by The New York Academy of Medicine and American Farmland Trust.
Informing policy makers and institutions about the potential health benefits of increasing the amount of farm-fresh, local fare served and consumed in the state’s public and publicly funded venues is part of the Academy’s effort to support policies—across sectors—that improve health. The Academy, and its Public Plate report partners, advise that adding more fresh food to the “public plate” offers an often-overlooked opportunity to help millions of New Yorkers reduce their risk of chronic disease.
“Increased procurement of farm-fresh healthy foods is one way that state agencies in New York can implement Governor Cuomo’s Health in All Policies charge to make ours the healthiest state in the nation. As our report highlights, several agencies are already working to buy more of the food they serve from in-state sources. Increasing the proportion of public spending dedicated to fresh and minimally-processed food grown and raised in New York would achieve three important goals: promoting health equity, environmental sustainability, and economic growth,” said Kimberly Libman, PhD, MPH, lead report author and the Academy’s Director of Prevention and Community Development.

Friday, November 3, 2017

Garden Grant Opportunity from Annie's Homegrown


Annie's Homegrown offers grants to school gardens for educational programs that connect children directly to gardening. The school garden must be an edible school garden (growing fruits, vegetables, herbs, grains, etc) and be located in the USA. Schools can purchase any equipment appropriate for the garden with the grant funds, such as plants, seeds, raised beds, fencing, wheelbarrows, greenhouses, and drip irrigation systems. 

The maximum grant amount is $5,000 and more information can be found on the Annie's website

Thursday, November 2, 2017

ACCESS TO GROCERY STORES AFFECTS FOOD SHOPPING & SPENDING


Researchers believe that poor access to stores that sell a wide range of healthy and affordable foods results in poorer diet and diet-related health problems. Six percent (6%) of American households lack of access to supermarkets, which may mean that they rely more heavily on convenience stores or fast-food restaurants. A new USDA survey of how the local food environment influences where households get food and how much of their food budget is spent at various types of retailers reveals:


  • 77% low-access households shopped at supermarket, superstore, large grocery store, or warehouse store compared to 87% percent for households with sufficient access.
  • Low-access households spend almost the same percentage of their weekly food expenditures at large stores as households with sufficient access.
  • Low-access households are less likely to buy food at a restaurant than households with sufficient access (69.5% compared with 85.8%) and spend less than half as much per person as households with sufficient access ($9.90 compared to $19.56).

Source: USDA, 10/17, Grocery Store Access