Sign Up to Get Local Pasture-Raised Eggs Direct to Our School!

The Food and Farming Initiative is pleased to offer you again this year the opportunity to purchase fresh eggs from free-range, pastured hens raised on a Dutchess County farm. The eggs are delivered straight to our school, every other week, beginning next Monday (see full schedule below.)

Eggs will be delivered to PS 29 from Tello's Green Farm approximately twice a month (see schedule below) and be ready for pickup at 8:30 a.m. on the designated day in the Family Room. All you have to do is send in the attached order form with a check pre-paying for your total order of eggs and show up to pick up your eggs on the distribution day. The eggs are sold by the dozen for $3.50.

What do free-range eggs have to do with PS 29? PS 29 is interested in promoting better physical and mental health within our school community. Eating healthy foods goes a long way towards optimal health. Free range eggs can be expensive in local grocery stores. Yet the benefits to us and our children are numerous. Most notably free-range eggs generally do not contain hormones, steroids and antibiotics often found in eggs from chickens raised in confinement and fed conventional grain. Free-range eggs contain higher levels of Omega-3 fatty acids which have been shown to have positive effects on brain development and heart health.

How and when do I sign up? Click and fill in the attached form and e-mail it to Alison Cohen or place it in the PS 29 PTA mailbox in the school office. Please put “PS 29 eggs” on the outside of a sealed envelope. Don’t forget to include a check made out to Tello's Green Farm (NOT TO PS 29 PTA; this is a community service, not a fundraiser!). Enrollment is ongoing! The first delivery of eggs for the 2008-2009 school year will take place next Monday, November 3rd. Please order and pay in advance for your full order. For more information contact Alison at 773-960-5838 or Kristen at 718-290-4665.

Egg Distribution Days:
November 3rd
November 17th
December 1st
December 15th
January 5th
January 26th
February 9th
February 23rd
March 9th
March 23rd
April 6th
April 20th
May 4th
May 18th
June 1st
June 15th

PLEASE MAKE YOUR CHECKS OUT TO TELLO'S GREEN FARM (NOT TO PS 29 PTA)! This is a community service, not a fundraiser!

Harvest Day - Pasta Pesto Salad Recipe!

For parents who looked on in awe during the recent Harvest Celebration as their kids tucked into pasta with green stuff on it, here's the tasty pesto pasta salad recipe - the family-scaled version - straight from SchoolFood Plus chef William Doherty. The Harvest Day pesto was of course made with the basil planted, tended and harvested by the kids. Just click below and print. Next Food & Farming Initiative is scheduled for Monday, November 3rd at 5:00 PM. We'll review the first year of the garden and plan for next!

Politics of School Food Conference, October 4th, Presented By NY Coalition for Healthy School Food

Please click above for information on The Politics of School Food Conference to be presented by the NY Coalition for Healthy School Foods on Saturday, October 4th at NYU's Kimmel Center. The conference, to be moderated by Mark Bittman, the New York Times food columnist (The Minimalist), features an impressive lineup of speakers. Reservations due by September 26th.

PS 29 Children's Garden Selected for SchoolFood Plus Garden-to-Cafeteria Pilot Program!!

We are very pleased to report that the PS 29 Children's Garden, already designated an official GreenThumb site, has now been awarded participation in the SchoolFood Plus Garden-to-Cafeteria Pilot Project.

Our program has been selected to be one of 20 school sites to collaborate with SchoolFood to grow vegetables and herbs that will be featured on the lunch menu as part of a fall harvest celebration during 2008 NY Harvest for NY Kids Week activities. PS 29 Harvest Day will be scheduled during September 29-October 3 or October 6-10; details will be posted on the calendar as soon as they are set.

Our Harvest Day Celebration will be an opportunity for us to showcase the work of our students, science teachers Nancy Henry and Tina Reres, and our Food and Farming Initiative (a collaboration of administrators, teachers, parents, and community members). The Coordinating Team for the SchoolFood Plus Garden-to-Cafeteria Program represents SchoolFood, NYS Department of Agriculture & Markets, Added Value, GreenThumb, and Cornell Cooperative Extension.

The school year began with a lot of wonderful ideas for a vegetable garden and a black-topped corner of the schoolyard, and now ends with a garden from which kids have picked their own salads of vegetables they've planted, observed and tended! The salad bar, a pie-in-the-sky wishlist item mentioned in the very first PTA general meeting in Sept '07, also became a reality, along with designation as a SchoolFood Plus cafeteria (offering more plant-based menu choices). All amazing accomplishments for just one year in the life of a NYC public school!

Dial In Week for Healthy Schools Act!!

New York State still does not have a Healthy School Food Bill. The legislative session ends on Friday – so please make 4 phone calls to urge legislators to introduce and pass “Governor Paterson’s Healthy Schools Act”. It has several important provisions that will improve the food in schools.

PLEASE CALL THE FOLLOWING NOW:
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver - 518-455-3791
Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno - 518-455-3191
Assembly Education Chair Catherine Nolan - 518-455-4851
Senate Education Chair Stephen Saland - (518) 455-2411

When you call, say:
My name is ___________
I live in ___________ (name of city).
I support “Governor Paterson’s Healthy Schools Act” bill.
I support Governor Paterson’s inclusion of a healthy plant-based meat alternative because it would have no cholesterol and be low in saturated fat and high in fiber.
It’s time that schools practice what they teach. Please ask Assemblyperson (or Senator) ________________ to introduce and pass the Healthy Schools Act before this legislative session ends.

Thank you!

These calls are vitally important. Remember that:

• 1/3 of all kids born in 2000 will develop type 2 diabetes (and for African American and Latino children, it’s even worse at 40 – 53%)
• 50% of children ages 2 – 15 already have fatty streaks in their arteries, the beginning stages of heart disease
• 35% of cancer deaths are caused by diet (and 1 hotdog or 1 bologna sandwich per week can increase colorectal cancer risk by 30 – 50%!)
• Obesity rates are out of control and we have a nation of malnourished children who are so far removed from eating a diet of whole, natural, unprocessed foods
• Less than 2% eat in line with the US Dietary Guidelines

Key provisions include:

1. A Requirement that the Departments of Health, Education, and Agriculture and Markets develop nutritional standards (rather than the standards being included in the legislation itself – and we see this as positive since there is a chance for public input). The regulations created by these standards would take effect sometime after September 1, 2010.

2. A Prohibition on the sale of soda and candy in elementary and secondary schools during the school day.

3. A Requirement that schools offer at least one plant-based meat alternative during the lunch period. This is a great provision given that schools are supposed to reduce saturated fat, cholesterol, and increase fiber.

4. A Requirement that schools offer fruit with no added sweeteners for breakfast and lunch and vegetables that are not fried during lunch and that half of the grain products offered over a school week be whole grain (despite the fact that schools are required to meet the US Dietary Guidelines for their meals, which require that half of grain products be whole grain, not all schools are doing this).

5. Development of media health promotion campaigns, establishing community-based obesity prevention programs, to develop effective messages about healthy eating and physical activity behaviors and to address factors which lead to eating disorders, an assessment of all schools to see if they have an adequate emphasis on physical activity and nutrition education, and the study of the feasibility of requiring school breakfast programs.

6. Click here to read a summary of the bill.

You've Watched the Garden Grow - Please Help Keep It Thriving Over the Summer!!

A note regarding summer volunteers from science teachers Nancy Henry and Tina Reres:

Have you been watching our garden grow? We have harvested broccoli rabe, radishes, carrots, and lettuce already this spring! Peas and more carrots are on the way; squash is around the corner!

As school draws to an end, we are proud of what the children, teachers and parents have been able to accomplish together in a few months' time. We’re looking forward to what more we can accomplish together over the summer and into the fall when we welcome our children and families back.

We are looking for volunteers for the summer to water, harvest and plant. We want to keep the garden thriving in anticipation of a PS 29 harvest festival in late fall. If you’re available for even a day here and there to water the garden, then please sign up.

Indicate your availability on the click-and-print form above. We encourage you to involve your children. The farm chores most days will take no more than one hour. When planting is required, we’ll organize several families and volunteers to pitch in.

Please leave your hand-written response in Nancy or Tina’s mail box in the Main Office. Once we are able to work out a schedule we will contact you to re-confirm your availability and assign you a specific day(s) of the week with instructions about caring for the garden.

Thank you for all of your help and support!!

Let Us Protect Our Lettuce! Volunteer Needed To Cover/Uncover Lettuce Seeds Over Spring Break!

From the Food and Farming Initiative:
Thanks again to all who helped make the PS Children's Garden possible, and please see the note below from science teacher Tina Reres! It has been an amazing community effort. The kids have already planted carrots and peas and more of the beds will be filled this week with spinach and other goodies!

If you will be here over the spring break, can you help with a small task? The kids have planted lettuce in front of the school building (on the Kane Street side), and the containers must get covered by window panes at night. Is there anyone who will be here over the spring break who can lift off the panes each morning and place them back over the containers each evening? Please contact Caroline Petersen if you can handle this! Looking forward to a big salad in June!

From Tina:

Ciao,
I just wanted to THANK EVERYONE for all you have done to make our beds complete. At one point during Super Science Saturday, I looked up from my worm station and I was amazed to see the amount of parents and children standing by our beds. I thought to myself this is really happening! Nancy and I could not have done this without all your hard work and dedication. We look forward to planting in some of our beds this week and watch our garden grow.

Thank you, thank you again.
Tina

The PS 29 Children's Garden Is a Reality!

The much-anticipated PS 29 Garden Day on Saturday, March 29th was an enormous success! The PTA extends a gigantic
thank-you to all of the members of the Food & Farming Initiative  - a true collective of parents, teachers and administrators -  for coming together on a bright, sunny day to build four 4'x24' garden beds for the new PS 29 Children's Garden, which also now has official designation as a GreenThumb Garden! (The GreenThumb program provides materials, technical assistance and educational workshops for the volunteers who manage 600 community gardens around New York City.)

Special thanks go to:

• John Ameroso, Cornell University Cooperative Extension Associate, Emerging Initiatives, for designing the beds and leading the building process;
• Stephanie Manske for securing the lumber (below cost);
• Emmanuelle Chiche and her restaurant, Korhogo 126, on Union St., for the generous donation of the lumber;
• Anne Townsend for successfully writing the Independence Community Foundation grant application;
• Independence Community Foundation for the generous Community Quality of Life grant, which will go towards garden materials;
• PS 41 for tools and seeds;
• Sarah Poten for successfully pushing through our GreenThumb application;
• Kamco Supply Corp. for the discounted lumber;
• Amy Sirot for baking the fabulous muffins for the hungry Garden Day workers;
• PS 29 building manager Anthony Acevedo for being amazing every step of the way;
• Caroline Petersen and Alison Cohen for steering, from the parent side, the many facets of the project;
• Nancy Henry and Tina Reres, our science teachers, for not only an extraordinary job coordinating the many components that went into making the day a reality, but, most importantly, for their upcoming work with our kids in our brand-new garden!
• And, of course, principal Melanie Raneri Woods for having the vision and determination to create a school farm in Brooklyn!

SAVE THE DATE: Saturday, March 29th For PS 29 Farm Installation

The PS 29 Food & Farming Initiative will need volunteers on Saturday, March 29, to help build the school farm! Details to follow, but it looks like we will need people who are handy, who have some tools, and possibly someone with access to a dump truck. We will build four temporary garden beds under the guidance of John Ameroso, a neighbor from Cornell Cooperative Extension, so the kids can begin planting and learning this spring. Stay tuned for more information; but if you can help, please save the date!

P.S. 29 DESIGN DAY on January 31st! Playground Planning!!

If you haven't already heard, we have exciting news! Plans are moving forward for our much needed schoolyard renovation!! Next Thursday, January 31st from 12:30-1:05 PM, the school community will have an opportunity to participate in a Design Day session with Out2Play, the organization that will be helping us redesign and carry out the renovation of the schoolyard. At this meeting, we will start thinking about what we want our beautiful new schoolyard to look like!

Remember, the redesigned schoolyard will also include our brand-new garden (as part of our Food and Farming Initiative!). Facilitated sessions will be conducted by Out2Play at our school on that day. We would like to invite any parents interested in participating in this very exciting planning process to attend the session from 12:30-1:05 PM. If you are interested, please RSVP as soon as possible to Nathalie Green Giles, 718.643.0094/leave a message.

You will then receive confirmation and further details about the meeting. We hope you can join us as we move towards creating an environment that truly supports our children's outdoor play needs and helps us achieve our vision for our farming program at P.S. 29!

Food & Farming Meeting Notes

Please click below for notes from the meeting last Monday, Nov. 19th of the Food and Farming Initiative's Ad Hoc planning committee. (These are notes from the first half of the meeting, before the meeting divided into smaller groups.)

This Week at a Glance

Pinkalicious Tickets Sales Continue!

Get your tickets before it's too late to Vital Theatre's one-time only performance at PS 29, Friday, December 7th at 6:30 PM! Watch for the ticket-sales table at drop off and pick up! Tickets are only $10 each!

PS 29 Merchandise Sale
Kids came home Friday with PS 29 clothing and merchandise order forms. See the display in the main lobby — and place your orders by Wednesday!

City Harvest Food Drive
The City Harvest Food Drive continues this week! Please drop off packaged and canned foods in the main lobby!

Monday Running Club
Parent and teacher volunteers have steadily helped expand the group of 4th and 5th grade Running Club members to over 60 enthusiastic kids! More kids have been joining each week!

Food and Farming Initiative Ad Hoc Planning Committee:
Kick-Off Meeting, Monday, November 19th, 3:00 PM
All members of the parent and teacher community are welcome!

Holiday Coffee Sale Kicks Off on Monday, November 19th
Coffee samples will be available at drop off tomorrow! Place orders by December 3rd for delivery December 12th!

PE/Wellness Committee Meeting:
Tuesday, November 20th, 5 PM
All members of the parent and faculty community are welcome!

Food and Farming Initiative: 1st Ad Hoc Planning Meeting, Monday, November 19th!

The PS 29 Food and Farming Initiative's first ad hoc planning-group meeting will take place on Monday, November 19th at 3:00 PM at school. Please tell other interested members of the parent community. For more information, please contact Caroline Petersen. (A disclaimer: It's hard to find a time for both teachers and parents to meet; notes from the meeting will be made available for those unable to make it.)

Local Carrots in the Schools

New York Times DINING & WINE
Local Carrots With a Side of Red Tape
By KIM SEVERSON for the New York Times
Published: October 17, 2007
Around the country, dozens of farm-to-school programs are trying to get local food back into the schools. But it’s harder than it might seem.

Still...there's hope in sight for NYC school children.
(Caption: A prototype has taken months to develop. Photo: Lars Klove for the New York Times).