GW Food Jusice Alliance

We've Moved

2011-01-21T09:31:00.000-08:00

Visit our new website at gwfoodjustice.org

HellO 2011, HellNO Special K

2011-01-11T17:52:00.000-08:00

This time of year the gyms are packed and everyone seems to be on a "diet." The new year is a great time to have new goals, cleanse, and set an intention for the year, but what I would advice against is buying into corporate pushed diet plans that may work for short term weight loss, but do not work in the long term and often deprive our bodies of nutrients and the pleasures of food.

Having a well balanced diet does not mean you are on a "diet," it simply means the foods that you habitually eat are nutrient rich and you are getting the right types and amounts of foods and drinks to supply nutrition and energy for maintaining body cells, tissues, and organs, and for supporting normal growth and development. The word diet, is such a misunderstood word.

I read a really well written blog post today about the Special K Diet Challenge that I think is important to share. While so many people look for a quick fix to weight loss, a diet filled with processed foods and high fructose corn syrup is certainly not the answer!

Read the blog post here

The new year is a great time to rethink what we put into our bodies and how we treat our bodies, I know I've set a few new intentions for 2011 that have to do with food and nourishment. I also believe that after the holiday's and when the idea of a fresh start is still, well, fresh, this time of year is great for a cleanse. More to come on safe cleansing next week though.

Until then I leave you with a few of my Goals for 2011, perhaps they will inspire you to set a few of your own, omitting of course, the corporate backed high fructose corn syrup diet that is the Special K Challenge.

My Goals for 2011:

graduate from college --not doubt this will be achieved, I just love the satisfaction of crossing things off a list :-)
~~waste~~ spend less time on the internet
read a different book for pleasure each month
floss every day
have variation in my workouts (yoga, strength, cycle, running)
drink more tea
use the microwave less
run the Cherry Blossom 10 miler
keep in touch with my friends from home better
bake my own bread
soak my own beans instead of using canned
eat less kashi cereal --although a better option than Special K it's still a processed food
run a race with my mother
......... etc.

Happy New Year!

Chickens say WWOOF

2011-01-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

Pictured above, myself, Melissa Eddison and Erin McCluskey, had an incredible experience working on a rural organic farm in Panama this winter break. One of the most gratifying jobs we were given was to tend the chickens. Although I consider myself a learned gardener, chickens were a new ball game for me. They squawk and peck at you and flap their wings a ton when they get flustered and it just makes me flustered and I start flapping my arms like a chicken too. On the farm, I really had little choice, either be a chicken or be above the chicken. I did my best to accomplish the latter.

Erin was very calm around the chickens, a chicken whisperer, if you will. This chicken was named Petcho, he was too rogue for the coop and escaped every time we put in him there. He just foraged around the farm for worms and bugs, too cool for the chicken feed.

These were the meet hens and we about 6 weeks and 1 pound away from being dinner! They sure were cute though.
More posts about our time on the farm coming soon and maybe even some video!!

Quinoa For Breakfast?

2010-12-15T08:41:00.000-08:00

Quinoa is an amino acid-rich (protein) seed that has a fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and a somewhat nutty flavor when cooked. Most commonly considered a grain, quinoa is actually a relative of leafy green vegetables like spinach and Swiss chard.

It is a recently rediscovered ancient "grain" native to South America, quinoa was once called "the gold of the Incas," who recognized its value in increasing the stamina of their warriors. Not only is quinoa high in protein, but the protein it supplies is complete protein, meaning that it includes all nine essential amino acids. Not only is quinoa's amino acid profile well balanced, making it a good choice for vegans concerned about adequate protein intake, but quinoa is especially well-endowed with the amino acid lysine, which is essential for tissue growth and repair. In addition to protein, quinoa features a host of other health-building nutrients. Because quinoa is a very good source of manganese as well as a good source of magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorus, this "grain" may be especially valuable for persons with migraine headaches, diabetes and atherosclerosis.

Go here to learn more!

Pumpkin Breakfast Quinoa

1/4 cup quinoa

1/2 almond milk (sub. coconut milk or cows milk)

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 tbsp Mila (or Chia Seeds or Ground Flax)

1 tsp. maple syrup

Dash of cinnamon

Soak quinoa for 5 minutes in water, drain and add to pot with milk. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and cover. Let cook for 10-15 minutes or until the milk is absorbed and the quinoa is fluffy. Stir in the remaining ingredients and transfer to serving bowl. Add toppings, then eat!

Toppings:

chunky apple sauce (recipe here)

chopped walnuts

splash of almond milk

Goodbye for a month, but we will be back!

2010-12-14T06:24:00.001-08:00

As the fall semester comes to a close, all of us at Food Justice Alliance are studiously ace-ing our finals : ) Please excuse the scarcity of posts in the last few days and the rest of this week! While this final exam buildup makes the winter break that much sweeter, some of the Food Justice members are taking a different path. Instead of chillin at home with mom and dad, we are doing something called WWOOF. For those of you unfamiliar with the acronym, it stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms...or Willing Workers On Organic Farms. Either way, through WWOOF, you can travel to any country in the world and work for your stay on an organic farm. The idea is to learn and spread knowledge of organic farming because it transcends cultural differences. We all need to eat and most of what we eat has origins in the ground, thus, connecting everyone on this very basic level.
Erin McCluskey and I are going to Panama for the winter break to work on a farm that focuses on organic permaculture. Permaculture is an ancient practice of farming in harmony with nature that is making a comeback these days. Ellie Smith will be WWOOFing in Puerto Rico on a GW Alternative Winter Break Program.
WWOOFing is an excellent affordable way to travel as it is just airfare that you are responsible for. In addition, you get to learn about organic farming and connect with a family or community anywhere in the world. Stay tuned to hear about our experiences and see photos of our trips!

Free Store Event

2010-12-07T08:22:00.000-08:00

Reduce with Reuse

Recycling is great, but reusing and reducing is better.
Reuse matters because tons of trash (and dollars) can really add up. Each time
you choose used over new, you’re helping to redirect materials from landfills, and
you’re extending the life cycles of natural resources already in circulation.

Freecycling
One person’s trash is another’s treasure. Take part in the Free Store Event this
Friday December 10th 12-4pm in the Fishbowl, sponsored by The Food Justice
Alliance and GW Roots & Shoots.

As you’re thinking of packing up for home, maybe you are studying abroad,
or you just can’t find your textbooks under all the clutter… this is your chance
to purge some of the items you no longer need or want. Bring your gently
used clothing, household items, books or any other odds and ends and give
someone else a change to enjoy them rather than throwing them out. You can
drop off what you don’t want or need and pick up any items that catch your eye!
Everything is FREE!

All leftover items will be donated. Contact foodjusticealliance@gmail.com with
any questions.

Screening of Fresh the film!

2010-12-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

Fresh is a film that explores the re-invention of America's food system by featuring farmers, activists, and business people. It's a beautiful and exciting celebration of the change we can make!

Join the Food Justice Alliance to watch this great movie!

Wednesday December 8th at 8pm

Elliot School Building Room B 117

Check out more info on the movie here: http://www.freshthemovie.com/about/

Enter: Hand

2010-12-06T16:07:00.000-08:00

Peter Krsko, of Albus Cavus Mural Painters, chose the GroW Community Garden as a host to a sculpture of a hand as a part of the Give Me a Vote Campaign. Check out the campaign here and thanks Albus Cavus for thinking of us!

Shout out to Leticia Banful for being an awesome volunteer and baring the cold with us too!

Food Safety Modernization Act

2010-12-01T16:39:00.000-08:00

The Food Safety Modernization Act, or S.510, passed the Senate yesterday. The bill will attempt to force food manufacturers to stop food safety issues (such as the egg, spinach and peanut butter recalls we've had) before they occur by requiring the manufactures to have a "food safety plan" and by empowering the FDA, reports the New York Times and Food Safety News.

Senator Coburn (R-Oklahoma) opposes the bill fiercely, arguing that it would increase the price of food. The foodie world has been buzzing about this bill, with many afraid it would put overwhelming pressures on small farms. But Senator Tester (D- Montana) was able to tack on an amendment that allows producers that sell under $500,000 annually and sell most produce locally to be exempt from the legislation. Famous foodies Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser backed the amendment, saying it would make the bill "even more effective". (The rest of the amendments to make up the Senate approved Manager's amendment can be found here.)

The bill is now floundering in the House due to an error over a "set of fees" that are technically taxes and thus must originate in the House, not the Senate. Follow updates of the bill on Food Safety New's twitter.

Update: Click here for a great video explaining more about the bill, thanks to one of our readers!

FJA 1st Annual Fall Food Cook OFF

2010-11-19T05:31:00.000-08:00

cream cheese frosting

Students For Fair Trade

Caroline

pumpkin soup with sage from the GroW Community Garden

the best pumpkin seeds I have ever tasted, brown sugar, cayenne, rosemary

Jess with SAFI

Israeli couscous w/ veggies

students tasting and voting

Justin, Melissa and Caroline

the prizes were bags filled with jams, butters, apples, breads and cookies from the farmers market
and the winners are....

Third Place: SOFI

Second Place: Students for Fair Trade

First Place: Caroline

oh no, it's time to go to harry potter

things always manage to get silly...

Big THANK YOU to everyone who participated!

The Benefits of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar

2010-11-18T19:36:00.000-08:00

Some of us in FJA take 2 tablespoons of raw organic apple cider vinegar every morning, personally I have seen a difference in my energy level and it has aided with digestion. Time will tell if my skins texture and tone evens out and if it helps boost my immune system. We shall see. Melissa's family swears by it and I'm starting to see why!

Raw Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, is made by fermenting apples in a wood barrel. It can be a powerful, healthy, weapon in your arsenal. It can help you battle a variety of illnesses and flush out toxins.

The truly useful apple cider vinegar is not the clear vinegar you find in many stores. There's no health benefit from clear vinegar. The powerful benefits are found in the natural organic apple cider vinegar with a brownish tinge to it and floating stuff inside. The floating matter is called "mother" and is formed from the pectin and apple residue. This brown vinegar is the one creating all the buzz, the one with the minerals, amino acids and vitamins.

What's Good About Apple Cider Vinegar?

Several ingredients found in Apple Cider Vinegar serve to enhance its reputation as a true health benefit. Calcium, iron, sodium, potassium, malic acid and pectin are several of the minerals which it has in perfectly balanced amounts, which gets most people's attention.

Potassium – to avoid runny nose, hair loss, brittle teeth
Malic Acid – to fight infections from harmful bacteria and fungus
Acetic Acid - accounts for the sour taste of vinegar; lowers the blood's pH levels thereby creating an inhospitable intestinal environment for bacterial & fungal infections.
Pectin – facilitates regulation of blood pressure and removal of bad cholesterol

How Should I Drink Raw Orgnaic Apple Cider Vinegar?

Drinking Raw Apple Cider Vinegar first thing in the morning will invigorate you.

You could drink Apple Cider Vinegar straight, but you need to be careful of your teeth, since the acid in the vinegar can damage your teeth. It's best to mix with a small amount of purified water.
Mix Apple Cider Vinegar with water and raw honey or nectar for a refreshing morning drink; the honey is also beneficial to your immune system and provides energy.
You can use Apple Cider Vinegar when you're making a salad.
If you like to pickle fruits & vegetables, raw apple cider vinegar is a very healthy choice.
Add Apple Cider Vinegar to your regular blend of herbs & spices when you mix marinades for meats.

The Benefits Of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar

See for yourself if there is any reason you should use apple cider vinegar in your daily routine. Try some of the recipes above. See if you don't notice a difference in your skin & your overall health. Adding Raw Apple Cider Vinegar to your daily routine:

Smoothes skin texture and tone.
Promotes a healthy immune system.
Improves digestion and helps expel body toxins.
Can help soothe neck, shoulder and back pain.
Raw Apple Cider Vinegar helps clear skin irritations, like acne & contact dermatitis.
Helps with weight control – Raw Apple Cider Vinegar taken before meals will speed up the metabolism.
Can be applied shoulders, neck and forehead to feel rejuvenated (only for 30 minutes per session and shower after).
Raw Apple Cider Vinegar has even been known to help relieve the symptoms of constipation.

source

Fall Love in a Bowl

2010-11-18T15:53:00.000-08:00

a beautiful bowl of fall flavors

Sauteed Kale and Apple with Dried Cranberries, Toasted Walnuts & Goat Cheese

Serves 2

bunch of kale, stems removed and chopped
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 apple, chopped
1 tbsp chopped toasted walnuts
1 tbsp dried cranberries
goat cheese, crumbled
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil over medium heat, once pan is warm at apples and sautee until tender. Add kale, salt and pepper. Once kale is wilted and soft at toasted walnuts and cranberries. Remove from heat and crumble goat cheese on top.

I like this over red quinoa to make it a complete meal, or as a side dish.

Roasted Acorn Squash

1 tsp. olive oil
accorn squash
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds, cut into half moons and coat with olive oil salt and pepper. Place on a cookie sheet and roast for 15 minutes, flip them and roast for another 15 minutes or until tender and caramelized. I eat the skins, but if you have trouble digesting them just spoon out the inside.

And yes, that is a tiny piece of Atwater Bakery's Cranberry Walnut Sourdough on the side there, yum!

Super Easy Week-Night Dinner

2010-11-18T15:37:00.000-08:00

This is so so easy to make and super tasty and satisfying. Whether you have a full kitchen or not, all you need is a microwave and you can make this dish. I love Mexican flavors and heat so variations of this dish are a staple on my week-night dinner menu. I started making this burrito when I first arrived at college and only had a microwave to work with, now, even though I have a full kitchen (even though it's tiny) I still make these for dinner when I am looking or something super quick.

Re-fried Bean Burritos

1 can re-fried beans
whole wheat tortillas
mexican cheese blend, or cheddar
handful of spinach
corn salsa
fresh tomato salsa

Microwave (or heat on stove top) the beans until warmed through, wrap tortillas in moist paper towels and warm in the microwave (about 10 seconds), put a handful of spinach, a dollop of re-fried beans, cheese, and salsas in the tortilla and enjoy.

Sometimes I add avocado, or other random veggies I have on hand, roasted butternut squash, sauteed kale or cabbage, whatever tastes good. Don't be afraid to use a different kind of bean either!

If you are a GW student thinking of replicating this dish, I bought all of the things needed for this dish at Trader Joes. The corn salsa is with the other canned salsas, the fresh salsa is in the refrigerator section, and they have 3 different kinds of re-fried beans to choose from, pick whichever you like.

Another wonderful variation of this dish is a rice bowl, I start with a base of brown rice then I add beans (black, kidney, or re-fied) and add my toppings. So easy, so tasty.

Friends

2010-11-12T10:41:00.000-08:00

Check out our friends over at GW Progressive Student Union... they were inspired by our blog and now they have their own!

The latest in jobs pertaining to food!

2010-11-10T07:16:00.000-08:00

First Peacecorps...then Americorps...now FOODCORPS!! For all you out there, like me, who is shortly entering the job world and is interested in changing this country's outlook on food, look not further that Foodcorps.

The vision for FoodCorps is to recruit young adults for a yearlong term of public service in school food systems. Once stationed, FoodCorps members will build Farm to School supply chains, expand food system and nutrition education programs, and build and tend school food gardens.

The ultimate goal of the project is to increase the health and prosperity of vulnerable children, while investing in the next generation of farmers.

A 16-month planning process to develop FoodCorps began in January 2010. A summit of 60 interested stakeholders took place in Detroit May 19-20. Open conference calls to discuss the program are held on the first Thursday of every month at 5pm ET. For information about how to join the open calls and reminders on when they're being held, sign up here.

The planning process is building toward submission of a proposal to implement the FoodCorps concept, to be submitted to AmeriCorps and program partners in January 2011.

Photos from Service Excellence Awards

2010-11-09T18:14:00.000-08:00

The famous Jessica McConnell Burt took these photos of us at the Service Excellence Awards Ceremony.

Service Excellence in Sustainability

Student Choice Award

Jenny and me rockin' our certificates.

To read the article on GW Today about the Awards Ceremony, click here.

Polluted Drinking Water from the Potomac River

2010-11-09T08:27:00.000-08:00

Check out this NPR interview with Hendrick Smith about his PBS Frontline documentary Poisoned Waters, which details the widespread pollution of America's water ways.

Smith reports that untreated toxins and chemicals from urban sprawl and development are damaging or destroying natural habitats in the Chesapeake Bay and the Puget Sound. In the Potomac River, chemical compounds are causing mutations in the genitalia of frogs, while high levels of Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Puget Sound have led to the endangerment of orca whales.

Yes, you read that correctly, they have found male frogs in the Potomac with ovaries.... SCARY

This affects people like you and me as residents of DC. Our drinking water comes from the Potomac River.

Take a listen, it's worth getting informed about!

C is for Cookie

2010-11-09T05:48:00.000-08:00

Some FJAers asked for this cookie recipe, so here it is! I whipped these up for our meeting last night, they are super easy to make, vegan, not to sweet, healthy, and light tasting.

Adapted from Oh She Glows

Pumpkin Pie Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1 Flax ‘egg’ (2 tsp. ground flaxseed + 2 tablespoons water)
1 cup regular oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tbsp chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup agave (you could also use maple syrup)
1 small banana, chopped
3/4 cup canned pumpkin

I might use 1/4 cup walnuts next time for a bit more crunch and maybe a tad more cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice might be nice in these also!

Directions: Preheat the oven to 375F. Mix flax egg in a small bowl and set aside. Mix dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl and set aside. Mix wet ingredients in a small to medium sized bowl and then add flax or chia egg. Stir. Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients. Stir well and shape cookies onto a pan. Makes 12 large cookies. Cook for 13 minutes at 375F.

Hoopmania on K st

2010-11-08T21:11:00.000-08:00

Food Justice, Progressive Student Union, and Epsilon Sigma Alpha all came out to the Farm at Walker Jones on Sunday to help build hoop houses for the baby spinach plants.

Farmer John bending the hoops.

Staking the hoops with rebar.

Laying the cloth over the hoops. This cloth is really thin, but sturdy. It's the warm weather version of the plastic vinyl that common hoop houses use.

All of our hard work.

A project that would have taken John a day took him under 2 hours with our help! Thank you to all the volunteers that came out!

Fair Trade Chocolate Campaign

2010-11-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

Food Justice Alliance teamed up with the Progressive Student Union to promote Fair Trade Chocolate and other products on campus. We had a bake sale using Fair Trade cocoa, we reverse trick-or-treated in Thurston, and showed the movie, The Dark Side of Chocolate.

Tyler Somes, of Progressive Student Union!

We gave these out to all the Freshmen in Thurston.

FJA and PSU at the movie screening with reps from Fair Trade Federation and Labor Rights Campaign.

Come See Jenna Norwood talk about her Documentary Super Charge Me! 30 Days Raw

2010-11-08T16:43:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a great event, be sure to check it out!

PizzaMania

2010-11-07T05:38:00.000-08:00

In an effort to use up the rest of our CSA vegetables, a few of us got together to throw all of our slightly wilting fruits and veggies on a few pizzas.

Caroline rolling the gluten-free dough

Me rolling the whole wheat dough

Caramelized onions and peppers on the left and white wine baby bella mushrooms on the right

Pizza sauce on the GF dough

Mozzarella, goat cheese, and feta

Gluten free pizza with brussels sprouts, shallots, spinach, onions, peppers, mushrooms, many types of cheese and tomato sauce

Greek pizza w spinach, feta, olive, red pepper flakes, and mozzarella. Brussels sprout pizza w shallots and fresh mozz. Caramelized onions, peppers and mushrooms with fresh mozz too.

Pizzas all done!

Topping to our dessert pizza--walnuts, pecans, cranberries, apples, honey goat cheese.

Apples for the dessert pizza.

Hungry eaters got to the pizza before the camera did!

Enjoying yummy homemade pizza!

Kathleen : )

More pizzamania nights to come as the seasons and available foods change!

Food Justice Alliance Wins Service Excellence in Sustainability

2010-11-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

Thank you GW for your undying support this year!! We are incredibly flattered and plan to work to live up to this honor in the coming years!

Want a good laugh, at our expense?

2010-11-06T18:47:00.000-07:00

FJA Halloween got a little kooky...

President, Melissa

Vice President, Ellie

Scribe, Sarah

Food Justice's First Ever Salon and Feast!

2010-11-06T18:34:00.000-07:00

Food Justice finally got their act together this weekend and actually had a FEAST. We called it a Salon though because we also had some really great conversations about food, justice, and some alliance we have. Everyone cooked wonderfully delicious foods that shared a Mexican theme--enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas, and guacamole. It was such a success, we are planning more! These salons are open to any individual who is interested in good, home cooked, healthy, hearty, food. With food, comes conversation too, we try to incorporate learning, educating, and discussion as a means to awareness. We had a great turnout this first time and hope to see some new faces!
Here is us:

You know...we were on a roller coaster.

Next Stop on the Tree Hugger Train

2010-11-06T17:24:00.000-07:00

Today Melissa, Justin and I worked up at the GroW on the Vern Garden. We planted wild ginger, a persimmon tree, a fig tree, and five elderberry trees. Soon we will plant sea-scape strawberries.

Planting wild ginger

A super mossy wild ginger plant

Unwrapping the trees

Melissa made us turn to face into the sun, our over exaggerated reaction

An awesome elderberry tree, check out those roots

FJA Get's Scary Silly on Halloween

2010-11-06T16:50:00.000-07:00

FJA (oops backwards J)

FJA gettin their groove on

Monster Beet

2010-11-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

This beet, as a tiny seed, was planted on March 4, 2010 and was just left it to it's own devices for 8 months and this is what became of it. Unfortunately, it had somewhat of an identity crisis and thought it may have been a radish...looks like a beet, but tastes like a radish.

Creative Composting

2010-11-06T10:26:00.000-07:00

Urban agriculture requires much attention to soil building and composting. Our compost bin gets just as much TLC as our plants do, in fact. Anyone on campus or in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood is more than welcome to bring their food scraps to our compost bin. If you are interested in do this keep a few things in mind:
-no meat or bones
-no grease or oil
-try for mostly raw kitchen waste
-we also take any paper waste, tissues, paper towels, newspaper, notebook paper, etc. Make sure to rip it up

Erin and I had a catch-up session with our friendly compost the other day and visiting our bin bearing gifts! We brought a bag full of beer mash from our stellar friend Farmer John from the the Farm at Walker Jones Elementary. Beer mash is the hulls of the hops before they are processed into beer. They are more or less pure nitrogen, which rocks for soil building.

If you have any questions about composting or bringing your compost to the garden, feel free to email Food Justice at foodjusticealliance@gmail.com.

Fall time in the Honey Bee World

2010-11-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to lie, GW has some pretty incredible photographers. Lucky for Food Justice, these two wonderful photographers, Jessica and William, LOVE our honey bees and just can't get enough. For the second time, the kiddos came out with their massive cameras to don bee suits and make like a photo shoot. The never neglect to tell me that projects like shooting the bees is what makes their jobs so awesome. Go Food Justice! for providing entertainment for GW's dedicated photographers and Thank You Jessica and William for making us look so legit. Much love, guys.
Anyway...here are the rest of the goods!

Smoker

Yours Truly.

She took a liking to my glove.

All the baby brood has emerged! The hive is full of nurse bees.

Interested in getting involved with GW's honey bees? Join the Colonial Swarm this Winter while we build a bunch more boxes and introduce brand new colonies to the Mount Vernon Campus.

*Photos courtesy of Jessica McConnell (Burt). We <3 you.

Film Screening and Discussion: The Dark Side of Chocolate

2010-11-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

Tonight 7pm

1957 E Street (Elliott), Room 113

This short documentary (40 min) takes a critical look at the global supply chain that feeds into the world's largest confectionery brands. We will use this film to jumpstart a discussion about consumer responsibility on GW's campus.

Thanks to the consortium of clubs sponsoring this campaign, Fair Trade certified chocolate will be available in the Marvin Center beginning this week. Should we stop there, or push for additional Fair Trade and Sustainably Farmed products at the University? Help us decide at 7:00 pm on Thursday.

Leading figures from the Fair Trade and Labor Solidarity movements will attend this event to field questions from the audience.

Sponsoring organizations:
Progressive Student Union
Food Justice Alliance
Trafficking-Free GW
GW Students for Fair Trade

Setting A Food Intention: FRESH Director Ana Sophia Jones Inspires Students and Faculty

2010-11-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

Mary Ellen, Ana, Melissa, Nancy & Ellie

As part of the Eye on Food Film Series hosted by the Urban Food Task Force students and faculty gathered on October 26th for a screening and discussion about the documentary FRESH.

FRESH celebrates the people across American who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Establishing healthier, sustainable alternatives, our farmers, thinkers and business people offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.

Ana Sophia Jones discussed the daily practice of food and how food is the foundation of our life. She spoke on it's value and our need for honesty, trust, opportunity, and respect.

To find out more about the movie
go to: www.freshthemovie.com

Keep an eye open for FJA’s
screening of FRESH in the
coming weeks.

FJA Retreat @ SweetVA

2010-11-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

FJA Leaders at Sweet Virginia

Food Justice Alliance's leaders, Melissa, Jenny, Jess, Sarah, Erin & Ellie went to Sweet Virginia Oct. 23rd for some much needed time outside the city! We painted bee boxes, picked flowers, grilled, had lively conversation, and enjoyed the refreshment and cleansing that comes with a visit to Sweet Virginia. It is such a beautiful and inspiring place!

Erin, Melissa, Jess & Jenny

Erin is our grill master

Lunch time!

Melissa and her bee mentor Dan

Miss Sarah painting bee boxes

Melissa, we're waiting for you! Getting silly on the porch swing.

More painting

Jenny got paint in her hair

A Recipe for Reluctant Cooks: Baked Eggplant Slices

2010-11-01T08:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday!

Mary Ellen here with a quick post for all your reluctant cooks (such as myself). While I love eating any sort of fresh, healthy and innovative meals, I have mostly stuck with raw foods because a) raw food rocks b) biting raw fruit or veggies is a lot like biting into a magical package of health and crunch and c) I am an anxious cook.

Determined to conquer my anxiety and delve into the enigmatic world of stoves and spatulas, I whipped up a quick and easy snack with an eggplant from the GroW Community Garden awhile back. Some people have told me that eggplants are hard to deal with, but I've always enjoyed eating spongy purple vegetables - and they have been growing so well in the garden!

I used a recipe from The Starving Students' Vegetarian Cookbook by Dede Hall for baked eggplant slices.

You will need:

1 eggplant peeled and cut into slices
1 tablespoon softened butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon grated onion

Directions:

preheat oven to 400 degrees
mix butter, oil, lemon juice, and onion.
put eggplant slices on aluminum covered cookie sheet
spread mixture over both sides of the slices
bake 6 minutes, flip over, bake 6 more (or until it is tender)

I'm not really sure what I'm doing in this photo...cleaning the grater? Such an anxious cook...

What's with the grater, Mary Ellen?

Success! Baked eggplant! The cookbook recommended to dip it in catsup or chili sauce. I put a dollop of hummus on it, then ate about five slices and rather forcefully fed the rest to my roommates. I promise, they liked it!

This was a quick and easy recipe, and a great first step for new cooks (if I do say so myself...)

Give it a try! And I highly recommend the cookbook by Hall!

Have a wonderful week!

First Big Belly On Campus

2010-10-29T10:20:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, GW installed their first solar trash compactor called BigBelly. The can has a solar panel on the top that automatically compacts trash and cuts down the number of times of emptying the can. There is a computer inside that alerts facilities when the bag needs to be changed or if there is a problem. This BigBelly was installed at the most popular trash spot on campus--right outside Gelman library and Starbucks. Usually, the bag is replaced at least twice a day, and now is replaced every two days! This BigBelly is acting as a pilot for future BigBelly's on campus. If it is successful, hopefully we will see more around foggy bottom.

Lucky for me, I got to be the first person to put a piece of trash in our BigBelly!

Food Deserts: A Major DC Issue

2010-10-28T10:47:00.000-07:00

Eliminate DC Food Deserts, Pass the FEED DC Act of 2010
Go here to sign the petition

"If you visit Washington, D.C.'s Ward 7 or 8, you'll notice several kinds of businesses — fast food joints, corner stores, and gas stations, to name a few. But one type of shop is conspicuously absent — grocery stores.
Folks who live in the city's Ward 7 and Ward 8 reside in food deserts, areas that lack supermarkets, farmers' markets, and other places where folks can get fresh, healthy goods. Wards 7 and 8 are also the two regions of the city with the lowest average household incomes. While the wards boast 23 percent of the D.C.'s population, they only contain 16 percent of the city's grocery stores. In contrast, Wards 2 and 3, the region's with the highest average household incomes, boast 27 percent of the city's population but contain 44 percent of its grocery stores. Anyone else notice a massively unjust discrepancy there?" -Sarah Parsons, change.org

Tell the Gates Foundation to support Real Solutions for Hunger

2010-10-28T07:40:00.000-07:00

Sign the petition at Change.org: http://bit.ly/bw8eB3

"In 2006, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) was launched as a joint initiative of the Gates Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation. AGRA's primary goal is to alleviate poverty and reduce hunger in Africa through agricultural development that targets small-scale farmers.

Unfortunately, the Foundation promotes industrial farming, inappropriate technologies, and pro-corporate policies that threaten to make things worse for the hungry, small farmers, consumer health, and the environment in Africa. A handful of large-scale farmers and transnational agribusiness corporations, like Monsanto and Syngenta, may be the only real beneficiaries of AGRA. In the words of a representative of the Kenya Biodiversity Coalition, "AGRA is poison for our farming systems and livelihoods. Under the philanthropic banner of greening agriculture, AGRA will eventually eat away what little is left of sustainable small-scale farming in Africa."

Many farmers in Africa are calling for an alternative approach to sustaining their communities and land. "African farmers are seeking food sovereignty and not imposed unhealthy foods," says Kenyan biointensive farmer Samuel Nderitu. "Indigenous knowledge that has been embraced by farmers in Africa for decades has been farmer friendly, environmentally sound and humane, as opposed to modernized agriculture...African food is healthy and nutritious. We don't need GMOs!" Indeed, scientific studies show that small-scale sustainable agriculture has the potential to revitalize rural economies, mitigate climate change and its effects, restore and preserve the environment, eradicate poverty, and provide healthy, culturally appropriate food for all.

You can make a difference TODAY by pressuring the Gates Foundation to support real solutions to hunger, poverty, and climate change. Stand with civil society organizations, farmers, farmworkers, and farmer organizations, grassroots groups, health and consumer organizations, environmental groups, scientists, and academics in the US, Africa, and around the world in urging the Gates Foundation to support African solutions to African problems.

This petition is the companion to an organizational sign-on letter to the Foundation. Visit the AGRA Watch website to learn more!"

Two-Day Healthy Food Workshop Saturday & Sunday

2010-10-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

This is a great looking workshop that is being offered in DC this weekend. Melissa and I had the pleasure of meeting Julia and Andrew, the leaders, at the FRESH event last night and they said they would be happy to give anyone from FJA a reduced student discount of $50 to attend the event. Consider going, it looks awesome.

The Deepening Roots (www.deepeningroots.org) weekend workshop is a dynamic, hands-on educational program in which we discuss and put into practice five elements we believe are key to sustainable development: meditation, health, agriculture, empowerment and community. People of all backgrounds and experience levels have enjoyed this workshop, and walked away with enthusiasm, new knowledge and the tools to apply it. Our overall goal is to inspire, get people thinking about food and community from a fresh perspective, and provide some basic practical knowledge to implement the elements in their own lives.

Date & Time: Sat. Oct. 30th & Sun. Oct. 31st, from noon to 5 pm each day
Location: 2401 15th St NW Washington, DC map
Cost: $95 regular/$75 students (if cost is a barrier please contact us)
To Register: click here
contact Julia at janzen.ford@gmail.com with questions or for more information

Shopper's Guide: Pesticides

2010-10-27T10:20:00.000-07:00

Not all of us can afford to go 100% organic every time we shop, especially those of us that are students on a budget. The solution is to focus on the foods the come with the heaviest amount of pesticides, additives and hormones. According to the Environmental Working Group, consumers can reduce their pesticide exposure by 80% by avoiding the most contaminated fruits and vegetables.

Why should you care about pesticides?

The growing consensus among scientists is that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can cause lasting damage to human health, especially during fetal development and early childhood. Scientists now know enough about the long-term consequences of ingesting these powerful chemicals to advise that we minimize our consumption of pesticides.

What's the difference?

EWG research has found that people who eat five fruits and vegetables a day from the Dirty Dozen list consume an average of 10 pesticides a day. Those who eat from the 15 least contaminated conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables ingest fewer than 2 pesticides daily. The Guide (EWG's Shoppers Guide) helps consumers make informed choices to lower their dietary pesticide load.

Will washing and peeling help?

The data used to create these lists is based on produce tested as it is typically eaten (meaning washed, rinsed or peeled, depending on the type of produce). Rinsing reduces but does not eliminate pesticides. Peeling helps, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the skin. The best approach: eat a varied diet, rinse all produce and buy organic when possible.

About the guide:

EWG analysts developed the Guide based on data from nearly 96,000 tests for pesticide residues in produce conducted between 2000 and 2008 and collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. You can find a detailed description of the criteria EWG used to develop these rankings and the complete list of fruits and vegetables tested at their website, www.foodnews.org.

Foods you should ALWAYS buy organic:

apples
blueberries
nectarines
bell peppers
spinach
kale
leafy greens
cherries
potatoes
grapes
carrots
pears
tomatoes
meat
milk
coffee
celery
peaches
strawberries

Foods you don't have to buy organic, lowest in pesticides:

Onions
Avocado
Sweet Corn
Pineapple
Mangos
Sweet Peas
Asparagus
Kiwi
Cabbage
Eggplant
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Grapefruit
Sweet Potato
Honeydew Melon

Dr. Andrew Weil is a renowned medical expert on natural health and wellness, here's what he has to say about pesticide laden food:

Info and Data from the Environmental Working Group
Learn more at www.foodnews.org

How to GroW a Kombucha SCOBY

2010-10-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

You may be asking yourself "what is kombucha?" Kombucha is an effervescent and tangy health drink made from fermenting sweetened tea, and something I drink just about everyday. My mom and I joke that we like to drink it for "cocktail hour" since we like to enjoy a glass before dinner. Kombucha contains multiple species of yeast and bacteria, as well as the organic acids, active enzymes, amino acids, and polyphenols produced by these microbes.

Go here to learn more about Kombucha

To make kombucha you only need two things, sweetened tea and a SCOBY (Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeast), AKA “mother,” or “mushroom.” Kombucha mothers are pretty easy to find these days if your friends are making this drink, but if your friends haven't jumped on the kombucha wagon yet you have two options for obtaining a SCOBY, 1) you buy one off craigslist for anywhere from $15-35 or 2) you grow your own for less than $4.

What you need to grow your own mother:

1 bottle of Organic, Raw Kombucha
1 glass jar or bowl
1 kitchen towel
1 rubber-band
1 cup of room temperature sweetened tea

You can buy the kombucha at just about any health food store. I got mine at Columbia Plaza Market, they also carry it at the GW Deli and Whole Foods. If you can’t find it near you though, you can buy a bottle of it online. IMPORTANT: Make sure it’s organic, raw, and unflavored with juice. You just want the plain, original beverage.

The sweetened tea can be as simple as a cup of black or green tea, sweetened with a tablespoon of sugar. I used Yogi Green Tea Kombucha and a tablespoon of white sugar.

Pour the kombucha and room temp sweetened tea into your bowl or jar

Cover it with a towel so it can breathe but be protected from insects and other contaminants and let it sit. Over time, a new SCOBY will start to form on top of the liquid. First it will appear as a thin film, then slowly it will thicken up. Once it is about 1/4 inch thick it is ready. It takes about 3 weeks to grow a SCOBY that is around 1/4-1/3 inch thick, it really depends on the temperature of the room you are trying to grow the SCOBY in. For example, in the summer it might only take 2 weeks. Above is a picture of mine sitting on top of my microwave in my kitchen.

MicroFarm on First and K NW

2010-10-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

Several omens have led me to this farm in the past few months. First, a photographer from GW mentioned it to me to find. It has been on my go-to-visit list in my planner since August. Next-- I saw a video clip about this farm on CNN.com. Then--I went on a bike tour of gardens in elementary school grounds in DC, a stop on the tour was here. I arrived and immediately recognized it from the video clip. The tour wasn't more than a cursory glance which made it even more imperative that I come back again. This morning, I grabbed Erin, fellow food justice member and just...kind of..showed up at this said MicroFarm, hoping to be put to work by creator and farmer, John Cochran.
Lucky for us, John welcomed our help and we tended the collards patch together. As we picked off harlequin beetles, some neighborhood kids came to join us, watering, weeding, and asking endless intuitive questions.

John started this farm in July and donates the majority of the harvest to DC Central Kitchen. (Sounds like another urban agriculture project I know..) Students from Walker Jones Elementary School and residents from the neighborhood all come out volunteer on the farm. The photo above is of John, KK, and Erin all tending the massive collards patch. Also growing on the farm is kale, swiss chard, turnips, carrots, sunflowers, herbs, figs, and other fall vegetables. To learn more about the Farm at Walker Jones, go to John's blog, http://wjfarm.wordpress.com/

Fall = Apples = Apple Desserts

2010-10-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

Apples are one of the best parts of fall in my mind. I have lots of recipes for apple desserts but today I decided to make an old family recipe for Chopped Apple Pudding Cake. Sounds weird, pudding and cake? But I promise it's not like pudding, it's more like a super moist, gooey, spiced apple cake. This recipe is super simple, uses minimal ingredients, and highlights some of the best flavors of fall.

Chopped Apple Pudding Cake

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup flour

2 cups chopped apples

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar and then add the egg.
Sift dry ingredients together and add to wet mixture, blend.
Fold in apples and nuts.
Spread evenly in baking dish and bake for one hour.

I used a mix of golden delicious and rome apples

Fresh out of the oven

I enjoyed mine warm and à la mode.

nomnomnom Sweet Virginia Honey

2010-10-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

FJA spent Saturday at Sweet Virginia, post on the entire day to come later. Until then check out the goodies we each left with...

Beautiful flowers and Sweet Virginia HONEY!!!

GroW Community Garden Turns 1!

2010-10-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

The Garden turned 1 in September so last Thursday we threw it a little birthday party. All of the gardens friends and supporters were invited to join FJA for a celebration and potluck. FJA members supplied the feast, there was apple cider, Asian coleslaw, pumpkin feta muffins with cranberry sauce, fresh fruit, baked brie, squash, pasta salad, black bean brownies, and zucchini cupcakes! Everyone had a really great time eating and mingling.

Everyone brought jars and forks from home for the guests to use, always trying to cut down on waste!

Some of our beautiful radishes were reading to be picked!

The Purple Chicken

2010-10-21T18:29:00.000-07:00

In the lovely BonWit 504 (home to Melissa and Caroline, where we love to build forts!) our love of seasonal food results in many memorable experiments.

Some good, some bad, some purple. This meal was the latter. A few weeks ago we discovered concord grapes from our CSA. (Community Supported Agriculture) After just munching on them raw...and Melissa realizing she was allergic..we decided to try to cook with them. We found many great grape dessert recipes, but we wanted to spice things up and try a savory dish. Chicken seemed fitting and we knew that the grapes would reduced into a beautiful sauce.

Off we went, to cook our chicken breast with a red wine concord grape reduction topped with fresh rosemary complimented by garlic mashed potatoes and roasted broccoli. this being our first experiment with red wine, we learned some very valuable lessons. We had sauce reducing in one pan, chicken in the other, when Caroline decided to jazz up the meal by pouring some red wine into both pans. It turns out that when you prematurely add red wine to chicken, you get a tie-dyed chicken!

Caroline, being the perfectionist that she is, did not enjoy the result of this otherwise delicious chicken, she claims she even had nightmares about it. While purple chicken may not rouse your taste buds, in the end, the rich flavors of the wine melded beautifully with the salty chicken and juicy concord grapes to create a beautiful fall meal.

Purple chicken aside, we loved this dish. With a few quick alterations you too can create this dinner (without enduring the mishaps of purple chicken).

Concord Grape Sauce:

1 Quart of concord grapes
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup sugar
sprigs of rosemary
1 tablespoon flour (We used a gluten-free flour blend)
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the grapes, chicken broth, water, wine, and sugar in a large sauce pan over medium-high heat. As the sauce begins to simmer the liquid will begin to plump up the grapes. Stir the mixture, while not being too gentle, you do want to pop some of the grapes to make sure they combine in the reduction. Continue to simmer over medium-high heat while adding some springs of fresh rosemary and salt and pepper to taste.

As the sauce begins to thicken mix in the flour to add some density. When the sauce is reduced and almost at a syrup-like consistency run it through a fine sieve to remove the seeds and skins (you can later add some of these skins for texture). Pour the reduction over the cooked chicken breasts and enjoy!

--By Caroline and Melissa

Mural finally finished

2010-10-21T05:44:00.001-07:00

Thank you Alicia, Peter, and Sebastian for painting us a beautiful mural!

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Whoopies

2010-10-21T05:30:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Frosting
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 Tbs. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 2/3 cup gluten free flour mix

Frosting
4 Tbs. butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, pumpkin, applesauce, vanilla and mix well. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix just until combined.

On a parchment lined or silpat lined baking sheet, drop tablespoon sized balls of dough, making sure to press down any points or jagged edges. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cakes are "springy" to the touch. Cool completely before icing.

To make the frosting, cream butter and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer. Add in the sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat on high speed for about 2-3 minutes.

Spread frosting on the flat side of one half of the pie and find a matching sized pie to complete the "sandwich."

All photos and hard work all done by Caroline Wilson, the greatest gluten free baker ever!

Garden Birthday Party!

2010-10-20T15:02:00.000-07:00

Come join the Food Justice Alliance at the Garden Birthday Party!

It's tomorrow from 5 - 7 at the GroW Community Garden! Help celebrate the one year anniversary (roughly) of a great gardening experience! It's a potluck, so come enjoy some Fall treats and/or bring some of your own!

Happy Fall!

Epic Building Day

2010-10-12T03:30:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday day, some pretty amazing volunteers came out. GW's Epsilon Sigma Alpha Community Service Sorority lent a hand building our new perennial herb circle out of recycled bricks and bunch of brand new cold frames.

Thank you so much ESA!

Hatchet finally finds the garden!

2010-10-11T10:17:00.001-07:00

After being featured on Fox Local News, DC Channel 7 and 9, GW Today, GW Magazine, Northwest Current, and many a blog, the GW Hatchet finally got around to doing a story about us. Thank you Hatchet, we love you!

Media Credit: Elizabeth Cookson | Hatchet Photographer
With gardens on the Foggy Bottom and Mount Vernon campuses, students in the GW Food Justice Alliance promote sustainability through locally grown food.

Gardening in the city

Cultivating sustainability through locally grown food

by Samantha Zeldin
Hatchet Reporter

On Saturday mornings, senior Melissa Eddison hops into a bee suit.

As part of an urban beekeeping initiative she started last summer, Eddison helps maintain four hives of about 100,000 bees on the Mount Vernon Campus. The bees provide homemade honey and help pollinate a newly formed garden on the Vern.

"It was a tangible way to spread education and awareness about eating healthy and sourcing food locally," said Eddison, who is president of the GW Food Justice Alliance, a student-run organization dedicated to restoring the environment and increasing sustainability on campus.

"First came people with gardening experience, and next people who wanted gardening experience," said Justin Ritchie, a member of the FJA. "On any given day, you can see students watering the plants in their spare time."

Despite being surrounded by concrete walls, the garden blends into its urban atmosphere.

"It's not an in-your-face [thing]," said Ellie Smith, communications chair of the GroW Community Garden.

The Foggy Bottom garden is home to a variety of fruits and vegetables, including eggplants, jalapeño peppers, squash, broccoli, tomatoes, zucchini, arugula and kale. It also contains pawpaw, persimmon and fig trees.

In addition to being eco-friendly, the garden serves the surrounding community through food donations. The FJA donates 80 percent of its harvest to Miriam's Kitchen, an organization that provides healthy homemade meals to the homeless.

The remaining harvest goes to volunteers who tend the gardens.

By working with the Office of Sustainability on campus, Smith said the FJA hopes to expand "this little visible piece of sustainability" so that students will begin to question where the food they eat comes from.

"There is something pleasurable about food when you know its origin and have been a part of its whole life before it landed on your plate," Smith said.

Gardens in the GW Magazine

2010-10-08T07:21:00.000-07:00

In the Summer 2010 issue of GW Magazine, the garden was featured as one of the new highlights of campus.

Urban Gardening Takes Root at GW

Food and foliage make campus plots more sustainable

"Our welfare and prosperity depend upon the cultivation of our lands and turning the produce of them to the best advantage." —George Washington, 1788

A cornucopia of fruits, vegetables, and herbs is ripe for harvest in GW's new student-run gardens. Started by the Food Justice Alliance, two GroW Gardens—a productive food plot in Foggy Bottom and an ultra-native patch in Mount Vernon—have begun to produce and benefit local urban ecology.

Foggy Bottom's GroW Community Garden, on H Street between 23rd and 24th streets, has nine triangular raised bed planters filled with sweet and hot peppers, summer squash, zucchini, eggplant, collards, kale, a half-dozen varieties of tomatoes, and herbs such as sage, basil, lemon basil, and mint. Spring crops included sugar snap peas and Swiss chard. Flowers, such as marigolds and salvia, attract butterflies and other beneficial insects. The alliance also planted young fruit trees—fig, persimmon, pawpaw, serviceberry—that will produce fruit in future years.

A handful of students, overseen by garden fellow and GW rising senior Melissa Eddison, water and maintain the garden during the week. Each Saturday, more volunteers—including community members—join in for bigger garden projects and harvesting. Some 80 percent of the garden's harvest goes to the local nonprofit Miriam's Kitchen, which provides meals for the homeless.

GroW on the Vern is a more structured garden program that uses student volunteers from the eco-friendly Pelham Hall's Green Earth living and learning program—which teaches urban sustainability—as well as faculty and staff gardeners.

This garden has a twist: "More than 90 percent of plants in the Mount Vernon garden are native to the D.C. and Northern Virginia area," says Ms. Eddison, who describes this plot as a "smart garden" for its use of plants to naturally restore soil nutrients and ecological processes.

Many of the Vern garden's plants are unconventional: There's a native variety of plum tree, and a native variety of strawberries helps restructure the soil. Butterfly weed bears a fiery orange blossom that attracts its namesake insect. Adam's needle, a species of yucca, absorbs excess salt used on roadways in winter. Bayberry fixes nitrogen in the soil, making the nutrient more available for roots.

A native garden such as this resembles the garden that George and Martha Washington would have planted. "He knew the folklore of the time and what each plant was good for," Ms. Eddison says. That field of knowledge has gone by the wayside, she says, but some gardeners are beginning to realize the benefits of planting native varieties—from easier garden maintenance to a healthier local ecosystem.

"There's value to planting local, historic plants," Ms. Eddison says. "And it takes a lot of research to do it right."

—Carrie Madren

Photo courtesy of William Atkins.

Help Support Alt. Winter Break

2010-10-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

I (Ellie) am going on Alternative Winter Break to Puerto Rico to work on an organic farm and my group is having a bake sale to raise money. Stop by Ivory (near Potbelly's) tomorrow night (Thursday Oct. 7th) between 9pm-12am to buy some tasty treats and help support our trip!

PS. I made the Vegan Oatmeal Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Early Root Vegetable Roast

2010-10-04T19:59:00.000-07:00

Fresh from the Arlington Farmer's Market came wonderful beets and carrots this week. I had never been to the market before it was so quaint with a tea and coffee stand mixed among the apple and hearty greens.
I decided to slice and dice the carrots and beets in order to roast them, but was unsure of what shape would do best. In the end, I did all kinds of shapes and sizes. I added a pinch of course sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil before putting it in the oven at 350 for about 40 minutes. Half way through I tossed them around in effort to flip them, but not all flipped. They came out wonderfully soft, but still held their own shape.

Most people eat carrots raw, but cooking them actually enhances the availability of their beta-carotene by breaking down the fiber and making it easier for the body to utilize the beta-carotene. There's nothing wrong with eating them raw though, carrots provide the highest source of pro-vitamin A carotenes of all the commonly consumed vegetables. They also provide sizable amounts of vitamin K, biotin, fiber, Vitamin C, B6, potassium and thiamine. Carrots are best from your farmer's market because they are noted to have high levels of pesticide residue on them when bought conventionally.

All this wonderful info is from The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods, by Michael Murray, M.D. It is a bible of a book with hundreds of types of food ranging from grains, to fruits, to herbs, to meats, to vitamins. Be on the lookout for more posts highlights super foods that are cheap to find and easy to prepare!

The Hatchet Covers Community Garden Documentary

2010-09-30T05:27:00.000-07:00

Today's Hatchet has an article about Tuesday's film showing of "A Community of Gardeners" and they mention the GroW Community Garden!

read it here

2010-09-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

You can also join us for a special tour of the GroW Community Garden with Cintia herself at 5pm!

Mount Vernon Garden Planting Session #1

2010-09-27T04:06:00.001-07:00

This weekend, a bunch of awesome volunteers hiked up to the vern to help with the official ground breaking of GroW on the Vern. Saturday was National Dig-In Day, sponsored by Slow Food USA, which translates to National Start a Garden Day. We did just that. Students who came to volunteer ranged from the Green Earth Year Living Learning Program, a freshmen writing class called, Food, Sustainability, and Social Change, and of course a smattering of Food Justice Members.
We dug and planted and dug some more, until everything was in the ground. We planted low and high bush blueberries, river oats, wild ginger, nodding onion, false blue indigo, evening primrose, moss phlox, honeysuckle, chicksaw plum trees, and a hazelnut tree. All these plants are native and perennial!

As an added bonus, Mount Vernon RAC bought us Jetties sandwiches for lunch! Thank you MV RAC and many thanks to our volunteers!

Erin comes to see the bees

2010-09-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

Actually, Erin did more than just see the bees, she smoked them, inspected frames, and fed them sugar water and Honey Bee Healthy. Sounds like a beekeeper in the making! GW's honey bees are hunkering down for winter, finding the last few bits of nectar around town and the queen is feverishly laying her wintertime brood of babies. These baby bees that will emerge from their cells in a few weeks time will be hearty winter bees prepared for cold nights and windy winter days.

In the photo, Erin is digging the floaters out of the sugar water reservoir that we use to feed the bees with. They get really stuck because when the sugar water runs out, the bees think it's funny to glue the wooden floaters to the reservoir with propolis. Not so funny. Ask Erin, it's tough to get them unstuck.

Reduced Rate Slow Food Membership

2010-09-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

From now through October 15, 2010, a donation of $25 or more makes you a member of Slow Food USA.

What is Slow Food?

Slow Food is an idea, a way of living and a way of eating. It is a global, grassroots movement with thousands of members around the world that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment.

Their Mission:

"Slow Food USA seeks to create dramatic and lasting change in the food system. We reconnect Americans with the people, traditions, plants, animals, fertile soils and waters that produce our food. We seek to inspire a transformation in food policy, production practices and market forces so that they ensure equity, sustainability and pleasure in the food we eat."

Good, Clean, Fair

Good:

The word good can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. For Slow Food, the idea of good means enjoying delicious food created with care from healthy plants and animals. The pleasures of good food can also help to build community and celebrate culture and regional diversity.

Clean:

When we talk about clean food, we are talking about nutritious food that is as good for the planet as it is for our bodies. It is grown and harvested with methods that have a positive impact on our local ecosystems and promotes biodiversity.

Fair:

We believe that food is a universal right. Food that is fair should be accessible to all, regardless of income, and produced by people who are treated with dignity and justly compensated for their labor.

Benefit's to Membership:

Connect:

Become a part of our active online community  Meet people who care about slow food in your local community Join your local Slow Food USA chapter Get a Slow Food USA membership card

Get Informed:

Access information about important national and international food issues and quick updates with the latest food news Access exclusive online and offline content, including opportunities to communicate with leaders in the food movement  

Engage:

Help shape the direction of the slow food movement Receive invitations to attend local, national and international events and enjoy discounts where available Learn about opportunities to volunteer on local and national projects  Receive email alerts that let you know when to take action 

FJA Mentioned in the Tufts Observer

2010-09-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

Read about the growing community garden movement in the Tufts Observer. GroW and our Bees are mentioned!

School Lunch Film Premiers in DC Tomorrow 9/21

2010-09-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

School lunch reform advocates are hosting a screening of Lunch Line, a documentary on the history of National School Lunch Program. Tomorrow the film is screening at Landmark's E Street Cinema at 7 p.m.; an RSVP is required, RSVP@prcollaborative.com.

see the whole article here

Add These to Your Queue

2010-09-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

I've watched some really great documentaries on netflix recently that I wanted to share. Check them out, or at the very least visit the websites for each film. The Future of Food made me outraged with industrial agriculture and ready to lash out, partially through King Corn I felt sick to my stomach and sad for grain fed cows--it kills them! Fuel makes me want to drive a diesel car and fill it with bio-diesel, even though I don't have a car in the city, and 180° South was adventurous and inspiring.

The Future of Food offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade. From the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada to the fields of Oaxaca, Mexico, this film gives a voice to farmers whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by this new technology. The health implications, government policies and push towards globalization are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed about the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food supply. Shot on location in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, The Future of Food examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world's food system. The film also explores alternatives to large-scale industrial agriculture, placing organic and sustainable agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today. The Future of Food reveals that there is a revolution going on in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of America, a revolution that is transforming the very nature of the food we eat.

King Corn is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. In King Corn, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, nitrogen fertilizers, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat -- and how we farm.

In Fuel, director Josh Tickell takes us along for his 11 year journey around the world to find solutions to America's addiction to oil. A shrinking economy, a failing auto industry, rampant unemployment, an out-of-control national debt, and an insatiable demand for energy weigh heavily on all of us. Fuel shows us the way out of the mess we're in by explaining how to replace every drop of oil we now use, while creating green jobs and keeping our money here at home. The film never dwells on the negative, but instead shows us the easy solutions already within our reach.

180° South, inspired by pioneering outdoorsman Yvon Chouinard's freewheeling 1968 van trip to Patagonia, South America, a band of bliss-seeking surfer-mountaineers sets out -- in 2007, by boat -- to remake the journey in this adventure documentary. Jeff Johnson and his buddies hug the coast, stopping at the Galapagos Islands and Easter Island before arriving in Patagonia -- a region that's still breathtaking but is now besieged by environmental threats.

Breaking Ground of GroW on the Vern

2010-09-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, September 18, we broke ground on the new garden on the Mount Vernon Campus. The first thing that needs to be done is to shovel brand new topsoil into the three-tier bed structure. We had wonderful volunteers from GW's Community Service Sorority, Epsilon Sigma Alpha, Living Learning Program- Green Earth Year, and of course Food Justice Alliance members. All shoveled their little hearts out. Good thing it was a beautiful day. We also had some much needed help from Mount Vernon's Facilities Team! Thanks so much Tony Dillard for lending us your guys!

Peek-A-Boo Sunflower

2010-09-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

Much to my surprise the squirrels didn't find all of the sunflowers seeds that I planted in the garden this summer. Going along with the general trend of the garden this summer, the sunflowers were...as my loving friends dubbed them..a little gothic. Instead of being sunny and yellow, like most sunflowers, mine are red, orange, and kind of brown. It's almost fitting, to go along with the brown cucumbers, mint green zucchini, deep purple kohlrabi, and radish-like beets.

The first photo was taken on Thursday afternoon and the second was taken on Saturday morning.

We finally have broccoli!

2010-09-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

So I planted these little broccoli plants last March and I never hardened them off, like a good gardener should do in the early Spring. I thought, when they keeled over and played dead, that they were goners, but lo and behold, DC was blessed with an unusually warm Spring. They grew and grew all summer thanks to that warm Spring, but to my dismay, that warm Spring spited them all summer. In order for broccoli to fruit, the temperature at night must drop significantly and then rise again during the day. It wasn't until yesterday, a full 7 months since I planted those seedlings, that I noticed a tiny broccoli tree. FINALLY.

These are the Before Pictures

2010-09-16T05:51:00.001-07:00

The GroW on the Vern Garden is finally taking off! These photos are purely for documentation purpose, so everyone can see how far the garden has gone. Soil is being delivered today, plants and trees are coming next week. Stay tuned to see all the major changes!

Just imagine these beds filled with flowers, shrubs, herbs, and trees -the trellis covered with muscadine grapes and the wall grid with hops.

If you are interested in helping the garden come to fruition, email foodjusticealliance@gmail.com, we need all the help we can get!

Out with Summer in with Fall

2010-09-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

This weekend a bunch of volunteers came to the garden to help transition from Summer crop to Fall. We pulled out all of our dying cucumber plants to make way for hearty greens and radish.

We also pulled the seeds from one of our marigold blooms to sprinkle around the bed. Marigolds are a great natural pesticide too.

Also, our pumpkin and squash plants are coming in small, but strong!

The muralists who are going to be painting a mural on the white wall behind the garden came to volunteers and get to know FJA members. They helped us plant seeds in trays and transplant coneflowers. Thank you Albus Cavus muralists, can't wait to see the wonderful work you will be doing in our garden!

2010-09-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

GW is totally becoming more food friendly and healthy! Diane Robinson Knapp, partner in crime to President Steven Knapp, is revealing her best kept secret to a few lucky undergraduates. She has a Master's in Nutrition from Cornell, and is sharing her wisdom on healthy eating in her very own kitchen on F St. With help from her chef, Robert, who learned his ways at the Culinary Institute of America, Diane is covering everything students need to know about eating on campus with a healthy mindset to creating their own dishes in campus size kitchens.

This is the first semester that Diane has held this kind of event series and it's full for now, but stay tuned for the next installment of Eating Healthy at GW!

For more info, email fstreet@gwu.edu.

FJA Leaders Volunteer at Sweet Virginia

2010-09-09T05:21:00.000-07:00

Our returning Food Justice Alliance members have been working extra hard to make the beginning of this year big. As a Labor Day excursion we trekked to Gainsville, VA, to spend the day with Beekeeper Dan and the Sweet Virginia Bees.

While on the farm, we built and painted future honey bee homes. It's important that they are assembled tightly and painted meticulously, so that water, intruders, and wind don't get in.

Per Labor Day tradition, we had a FEAST of delicious end-of-summer fare, veggie burgers, sweet corn, snap peas, melon, berries, tomato & mozzarella salad, watermelon, and grilled peaches!! YUM.

Then...we played with bees! This time of year, they need to be fed. Seeing as we have taken their winter store of honey for ourselves, beekeepers feed their bees starting in August, about once a week until mid-November, then every few weeks until February. Feeding keeps the bees strong and healthy through the winter, so they can have a head start early Spring. The syrup that beekeepers feed with is usually just sugar water.

When a beekeeper opens a beehive, she first smokes the bees with a smoker. The smoke, which is just dry leaves, grass, and sometimes twine, calms the bees who's job it is to guard the hive. We don't want them thinking that we are attacking them, just poking around a little, making sure all is well inside the box.

Philanthropist Dan, who donates all honey proceeds to charity, also has a Love Through Zinnias Program. He grows hundreds of Zinnias, arranges them in vases, and gives them to hospital patients. We helped Dan pick Zinnias and he let us arrange them and take some home.

All in all, a wonderful Labor Day, filled with sun, fun, and good company.

Garden Volunteers

2010-09-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

In-coming freshman participating in the Community Building Community Program volunteered in the garden last week.

They helped weed, harvest, and rip out plants to make room for our fall crops. All of the students were incredibly helpful and enthusiastic, it was a pleasure for Melissa and I to host and work with them.

We had lots to give to Miriam's Kitchen

Check out these beautiful juicy tomatoes!

Garden Volunteers

2010-09-02T09:37:00.000-07:00

The Office of Summer Session is continuing to send us wonderful volunteers every Friday morning. Here we have Andrea and Danielle. Andrea's favorite summer dish is Caprese Salad and Danielle's is fried chicken.

Andrea and Danielle helped weed, pick vegetables, and water the beds.

Our tomatoes are finally ready!

And of course there were a MILLION cucumbers

Fellow FJA member Sarah helped out picking the tedious and enormous lemon basil plant.

Most exciting though is the good news that the peppers and eggplant are ready to be picked!

What's Cookin'

2010-09-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

Ricotta Goat Cheese and Herb Stuffed Squash Blossoms w/ a Balsamic Reduction

A number of weeks ago Melissa, Sarah, myself and some of our friends got together to experiment with the blossoms from our squash plant growing in the GroW Community Garden on H street. Blossoms are tender, delicate and have a hint of floral sweetness. They are easy to prepare and make a nice presentation.

There are various ways to prepare the blossoms, but a simple and favorite way of mine is to stuff them with a good cheese and then gently pan fry them. First, you want to very carefully open up the top of the flower and with tweezers, break off and remove the stamen, the long pointy thing inside the flower, which is very bitter.

I find it helpful to gently blow on the petals to help separate them from one another before trying to remove the stamen.

Stamen free

For the filling we mixed together goat cheese, ricotta, a generous handful of fresh lemon basil, salt and pepper. But any soft cheese and herb mixture would be great. Another variation I would like to try is ricotta, freshly grated Parmesan, lemon basil, some lemon zest, salt and pepper.

The cheese and herb mixture can either be spooned into the flower or piped in. I find it easiest to fill a plastic bag with the mixture and snip off one corner to create an opening for piping.

Fill the flower to the top

Then take the petals and wrap them together to seal the blossom so that the cheese mixture doesn't ooze out while cooking, though some will.

Here is where we made a mistake, we did not dredge the stuffed blossoms in a bit of egg before pan frying them. However, I would suggest doing so! Dredge the blossoms in egg and shake off the excess, then place the blossoms in a skillet with hot olive oil. Let them brown lightly on both sides. You can stop at this point and serve immediately as is, or you can drizzle with a balsamic reduction like we did.

Simply heat balsamic vinegar and a bit of sugar in a sauce pan until it is reduced and thick like a syrup.

Then drizzle it over the blossoms and enjoy!

Garden Volunteers

2010-08-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Yvonne and Alicia from the office of Summer Sessions came to help out in the garden.

They harvested cumbers, beets, kale, mint, parsley, and basil. We had a great time engaging with people walking down the street who stopped to admire our eggplant and they were very enthusiastic about the future plans for the garden.

For fun I asked Yvonne and Alicia what their favorite summer food or dish is. Yvonne said she loves cucumber salad, I hope the folks at Miriam's Kitchen love cucumber salad because they certainly get a lot of cucumbers donated from the GroW Garden. Alicia's favorite summer meal is fried chicken and green beans.

Our Harvest

What's Cookin'

2010-07-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

Today Melissa, Sarah and I spent the afternoon making Lemon Basil Walnut Pesto with some fresh picked lemon basil from the garden.

Lemon Basil Walnut Pesto

This is not an exact recipe, use as much or as little basil as you have and however much olive oil to get your desired pesto consistency. If you don't have walnuts, use a different nut, it's all delicious. If using a blender I recommend chopping the garlic cloves before blending.

2 cups of basil

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 garlic cloves

salt and pepper to taste

1. Place the garlic, basil and walnuts in a food processor or blender and blend for 10-15 seconds.

2. Pour in olive oil slowly as you continue to mix the garlic, basil and walnuts.

3. Add the Parmesan cheese and mix until the pesto has a pasty texture.

This will taste awesome on pasta, with chicken, thinned out with some more olive oil to dress a salad, as a smear for sandwiches, with eggs... you can basically perk up any dish with pesto. It also freezes nicely, put it in ice cube trays and pop out the little cubes for a single portion or to add flavor to soups, or place in an air tight container for use later in the year.

What's in Season NOW- July

2010-07-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

Keeping fresh produce in mind while planning summer meals, here's what you can find at the Farmers Market these days:

Chard
Beans
Beets
Blackberries
Blueberries
Broccoli
Broccoli Rabe
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Sweet Cherries
Collards
Corn
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Fennel
Garlic
Herbs
Kale
Kohlrabi
Leeks
Mushrooms
Muskmelons
Nectarines
Onions
Peaches
Sugar & Snap Pea
Peppers
Plums
Potatoes
Rapberries
Rhubarb
Salad Greens
Sprounts
Summer Squash
Tomatillos
Tomatoes
Watermelons
Apples
Apricots
Currans
Gooseberries
Okra
Shallots

Our honey bees are famous!

2010-07-21T07:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to GW's media relations team, especially Courtney Bowe, three tv new stations came to the Vern Campus Tuesday June 20, to film features about our honey bees! We suited up the reporters and camera men so they could get up close and personal with the bees. Here is the link to the Fox News 5 feature! Also, some photos from the media event. Thank you Leanne Blanchette for the photos!

Swimming in Summer Veggies!

2010-07-21T06:25:00.000-07:00

The staple summer veggies are exploding from the garden! Cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, oh my! Thanks to the mass amount of rain in the past 2 weeks and similar amount of sun. Volunteers have been hard at work staking, harvesting, pruning, and overall cultivating. In the eggplant picture, the actual eggplant started like the purple flower above it and grew from the yellow center. Eggplants are actually part of the berry family, with similar maturation behavior as a blackberry.

This tree is a fig tree. Little baby figs have been popping up in this beautiful weather. The leaves on the fig tree are super soft and is growing, growing, growing, since it was planted in April, thanks to our partners, Casey Trees.

Fast Times at Sweet Virginia

2010-07-15T07:19:00.000-07:00

Dan Price, creator of Sweet Virginia, has welcomed me to his farms several times this summer. Every time I go, I learn more about beekeeping, bee maintenance, hard work, bee stings, and honey! As the mentor of GW bee initiative, he is fulfil ling his job priming me for any honeybee curve ball that might come my way. These photos are from his farm near Reston, Virginia. I have been building and painting many a bee box as well as doing the rounds checking on the hives.

First Installment of the Bee Blog!

2010-07-15T06:57:00.001-07:00

Another one of FJA's projects is Beekeeping. In March 2010, FJA applied to the Public Service Grant for funds to start an apiary at GW. Lo and behold, the grant came through and in June 2010, the GW Mount Vernon Campus welcomed three bee boxes care of Sweet Virginia Foundation. The Sweet Virginia Honeybee Cooperative of Northern Virginia uses honey as an incentive to donate to local charities. Dan Price, the creator of Sweet Virginia, graciously gave three mature bee colonies to FJA to start us on our journey! Dan is FJA's primary bee mentor as beekeeping is a very particular science.
The season for bees is summer, but the beekeepers work starts in late winter. At the start of 2011, FJA will begin from scratch, building and painting boxes, ordering new bees and queens, and learning all there is to know about the mysteries and miracles of these brilliant little workers.
The reason for the coming of the bees is closely tied to FJA's gardens, but these bees will pollinate flowers and vegetables around the community as well. As with the gardens, FJA wants the bee initiative to be an awareness and education tool for DC. We believe this city has the potential to be a leader in urban sustainability, and we look to achieve that by creating opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and community members to learn and volunteer. Education is the key to change!
*Photos care of Jessica McConnell/GWU

2010-07-08T06:33:00.001-07:00

The garden is happy and flourishing! Spring was warm and sunny peppered with late afternoon showers to quench the thirst of the hungry plants. In the box are sugar snap peas freshly picked off their 5 foot vines that courageously climbed up wooden trellises. The small leafy plants are arugula with a few chard plants dotted in between and the thick curly plants are kale!

Free Store Event!

2010-04-24T12:05:00.001-07:00

Our Free Store Event, put on with Progressive Student Union and Radical Student Union, was a great success! People got rid of unwanted clutter and fell in love with "new" items.

Some people asked why were putting this on - answer: for fun, to help our campus be sustainable, to promote recycling and reusing, and the lofty goal of shifting our cultural view of materialism from one of mere gain to that of community-based sharing!

And what does this have to do with Food Justice Alliance? Everything. Though our focus is on food, our even broader focus is to be part of the movement towards a self-sustaining and sharing community in every aspect of life, wether through gardens or free stores.

Want to see a Free Store become a permanent feature of GWU? So do we! Send us an e-mail and be a part of the Free Store project next semester!

Drew, with the Radical Student Union, browses the Free Store...

Amanda found some Free treasures!!

Thanks to Green Move-Out for taking our leftovers to donate and to everyone who made the event a success!

Photo Update of the Garden!

2010-04-24T11:13:00.001-07:00

The Food Justice Alliance has been busy!

We have been working in the GroW Community Garden every Saturday and it is looking fantastic! Veggies and fruit trees have been planted, a mulch path is forming, and our mural

is coming along!

Trellises for our peas!

Miriam's Kitchen donated some beautiful, hand painted bird houses!

Hurrah for our amazing volunteers!
One of our fruit trees!

The beginnings of the mural!

Our Garden Coordinator, Melissa, hard at work.

Our President, Amanda, has a moment with her plants...

The path is now done and all the vegetables are doing well. We will be out again next Saturday starting at 10 am, come by if you want to help out!

The Foodies are coming! The Foodies are coming!

2010-03-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

Join the Food Justice Alliance on March 24, 2010 from 7:00 - 9:00 PM in Post Hall on the Vern as enjoy this year's Real Food Dinner.

This all-purpose potluck also is a chance for students to bring their favorite dishes and recipes to contribute to this dinner and the creation of a cookbook that will guide poor, starving college students on their quest to make nutritious and delicious meals in their own kitchens. I addition to our cookbook fun, the chef from Miriam's Kitchen will be speaking! This is surely something that any foodie would hate to miss!

Logistics:

Bring: - A favorite dish (more on this in the RSVP form below).
- Ground coffee to donate to Miriam's Kitchen
- Favorite recipes
- Utensils

Fill out the RSVP: http://tinyurl.com/gwrealfooddinner

SEE YOU THERE!!!!!

Come Get Dirty!!!!!

2010-02-28T17:44:00.000-08:00

On March 6th, come join the Food Justice Alliance in the GroW Community Garden at 10 am for a day of remaking our garden. Grab your garden gloves and head on out for some super fun!!!

Here is a list of activities that will be going on:

- Laying out a path with brick pavers and lining it with mulch.
- Making a display for our compost bin.
- Removing old dirt from the beds.

Upcoming fun things:

-Creating a garden mural.
-Spring planting!

The Director of Food Inc. Comes to GWU!!!!

2010-02-23T09:14:00.000-08:00

"Don't take another bite till you see Food, Inc., an essential, indelible documentary."
- Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Don’t miss Robert Kenner’s first appearance in Washington, DC!

The George Washington University
Office of the President
and
Office of Sustainability
invite you to join
Robert Kenner, Academy-Award nominated director of Food, Inc.
for a discussion and screening of highlights from the film
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
8 p.m.
Funger Hall 103
Washington, DC 20052
RSVP at: http://foodinc-gw.eventbrite.com

Capacity is limited! Register today!
Co-sponsored by: Food Justice Alliance, GreenGW, Net Impact, Students for Fair Trade, Program Board and the Student Association

Cupcakes, Coffee and Compost!?!?!

2010-02-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

Join the Food Justice Alliance in the Thurston TV Lounge on Monday, Feb. 22 @ 7pm for FREE cupcakes and coffee. We will be educating students on how to compost in their dorm rooms, while enjoying a tasty snack!

Co-sponsored by the RHA and SA this is sure to be a mouth watering good time!

Don't Snow on Our Parade!

2010-02-19T13:46:00.000-08:00

While we wait for the snow to melt away from our yards and sidewalks, the Food Justice Alliance is preparing for a great spring harvest!

This weekend the group is ordering our seeds and can't wait to get back into the dirt! Be on the look out for our spring planting list and volunteer opportunities.

GroW Community Garden Volunteer Form

2009-09-30T14:42:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! As promised here is the link to the volunteer form to the garden. You can use this form to submit your service hours and make suggestions for the improving the volunteer experience for others!

Thanks again for all of your help!!!! Go Green!

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dFgwZ3lIS1ZZMkZ0Ti1wVUlUUVFFZWc6MA

Michelle Obama's Challenge and GroW

2009-09-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

For those of you not familiar with what has been going on at GW, a few weeks ago Michelle Obama challenged GW students to complete 100,000 hours of community service. If we complete these hours by May 2010, Mrs. Obama will be our commencement speaker (pretty cool huh?!). GroW is going to help GW reach this goal because all the time we spend watering, planting, weeding, and doing other miscellaneous garden tasks count towards these 100,000 hours. Our fantastic member J.D. Spang created a spreadsheet that will track our volunteer hours.

We are going to get the spreadsheet posted here asap-so stay tuned.

In the meantime if you have questions or want to record your hours please email us at foodjusticealliance@gmail.com

Just a quick update on the GroW Community Garden:
It seems as if the days are getting a little shorter and the mornings that much colder. But have no fear; our plants are still growing! In fact our experiential fall thyme seems to just be sprouting now: hopefully the frost will hold off for a few more weeks. Speaking of our little sprouts, the reason they are doing so fantastic is because of the dedication of our members who have been watering every day. Big shout out to our watering crew!

That's all for this Wednesday: Enjoy a nice cup of tea and a fall apple this afternoon.

GroW Community Garden Groundbreaking

2009-09-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

Well we did it!! GW finally has a community garden. Our groundbreaking went off perfectly and was such a great collaboration between students, administrators and community members.

About 20 students were there; Office of Sustainability; Office of Real Estate;the Landscape Design Program which designed the actual garden; Office of Community Service; School of Public Health; Mrs. Knapp; our financial supporter David; and some other interested community members. The Hatchet as well as media relations from GW covered the groundbreaking.

A few speeches were given and then it was time to get down and dirty. Our fearless volunteers helped fill the remaining beds with soil and compost and then we direct seeded some fall crops. We planted endive, lettuce, radishes, swiss chard, spinach, and turnips. We have been watering the garden every day since and hope to see some baby plants very soon.

We will be maintaining the three beds until more are built and we can move into phase 2 of planting the rest of the garden. For now, this is a great way to kick off the fall and thank you to everyone who helped make the day a success.

Look for more picture soon as our crops start to come in.

Welcome Back

2009-09-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to a brand new, super exciting school year.

The FJA was super busy this summer as there was lots of work to do to make sure the garden has its groundbreaking (which it does!). John was in DC and helped out with the Foggy Bottom Garden Club, chose a landscape design for the garden, and tabled at orientation for freshman to get them involved in FJA. Claire worked tirelessly on our organization's constitution, and fingers crossed we will be an official student org within the next few weeks! Amanda was busy farming away but still making sure all the little nooks and crannies got taken care of.

So about that groundbreaking: YES it is actually happening: September 12, 2009 on the north side of H St. between 23 and 24 St. We are going to be planting some late fall crops such as lettuce, chard, and radishes as well as having some speakers address the huge accomplishment that is the GroW Community Garden. At 12 we are inviting people and their friends to come with a bag lunch and have a picnic in the garden.

Leading up to the 12 there is much to be done such as getting food for the event, putting the raised beds in place, laying cardboard (which we went dumpster diving for around campus!), and filling the beds with dirt.

FJA is very excited that our "baby" that we have nurtured and seen grown is finally happening.

Stay tuned for more updates about the GroW garden and other projects we are up to.

Don't forget to enjoy the last few weeks of summer with the bounties of yummy food at the farmers market; I just picked up some white peaches and they smell absolutely delicious.

peace, love, and food for all

Real Food BBQ

2009-04-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day!

What have you done today to be green?

Here in DC, FJA has been busy planning a menu, ordering food, applying for funding for our real food bbq in honor of earth's bounty. Thanks to the help of Sodexo, our fearless FJA members, Gina, and the Office of Sustainability our BBQ was a complete success.

The menu included organic burgers, veggie kabobs, potato salad, green salad, local apples, and organic cookies. We had food for 600 people and were a little worried about getting rid of all the food; but we ran out of food in an hour! That was incredible. I also think we got our name out there and recruited some new members. Yay for local, organic food.

Have a green day

Garden Inspiration!

2009-04-12T17:25:00.001-07:00

For some inspiration, here is the plan for the garden being planted at the White House- Just about 6 blocks from our garden we are planting this fall!

Farmer's Market!

2009-04-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

The Foggy Bottom Farmer's Market is open! I am exited that it's the seasons for farmer's markets again. This one takes places by the metro on Wednesday's from 2-7. I went yesterday and there was a lot of great food to be had! I bought a bunch of kale ($3), cilantro ($3), potatoes, and apples.

With my fresh cilantro and potatoes I am currently making a potato dish. It is relatively easy and most of the items can be found local! The farmers market definitely has a bunch of great things to offer- especially samples!

Foggy Bottom Community Garden Project

2009-04-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

Who we are:
The Food Justice Alliance is a GW student organization founded the spring semester of 2009 with two main goals: to get more local food served in our cafeteria and to create an on-campus community garden.

What we want to do:
We want to create a community garden that will allow students and the larger DC community to connect with food production through service-learning.

How We Are Doing It:
Currently: We are working with Sodexho to bring local food to our cafeteria and have succeeded in making local apples available. Through the Earth Week Committee we are planning a “Real Food” Barbeque for three hundred people utilizing local, organic foods. We are collaborating with Professor Jeanette Ankoma-Sey’s Edible Landscaping Class whose students are creating a layout, plant list, and detailing the logistics of our community garden at GW. The students are being encouraged to utilize native plants and plants found on the Mount Vernon Estate. The garden will be maintained using permaculture and organic methods. Further our garden will be ADA accessible.

Future Plans: Our current focus is on fundraising and developing a sustainable plan for our community garden. We have set a first planting goal for the Fall of 2009. After our first growing season we plan to cover our overhead costs by selling produce at the Foggy Bottom Farmers Market and donating excess crops to Miriam’s Kitchen and the Foggy Food Pantry. Volunteers for the garden maintenance will be overseen by two year-round student “Garden Manager” interns, hopefully from the biology and environmental studies departments. The managers will be responsible for drawing volunteers from the GW student body, local schools, and the Foggy Bottom community, including elderly and homeless citizens.

Who We Are We Working With:
The FJA is currently working with various GW departments including, University Grounds and Maintenance department, Landscape Design Graduate Program, GW Dining Services, Sodexho, the GW Office of Sustainability, Green GW, and GW Students for Fair Trade. Outside of GW we are creating relationships with the Foggy Bottom Garden Club, Casey Trees, Miriam’s Kitchen, Samaritan Inn, and St. Mary’s Court, Common Good City Farm, and students from American and Georgetown Universities to create a garden that will be both sustainable and maintainable.

Impact:
The FJA will build upon GW’s strong traditions of building community ties, provide service-learning opportunities for students, and creating a more sustainability future for GW. The community garden will place GW in the local food economy, allow students to interact with their food, and reinforce the idea that GW students are responsible global citizens.

Seasons!

2009-04-05T16:02:00.001-07:00

Here is a handy guide to knowing which seasons to purchase certain vegetables. This will help to prevent the purchase of food not in season which would mean they were imported from far off places.

GW Food Jusice Alliance

We've Moved

HellO 2011, HellNO Special K

Chickens say WWOOF

Quinoa For Breakfast?

Goodbye for a month, but we will be back!

Free Store Event

Screening of Fresh the film!

Enter: Hand

Food Safety Modernization Act

FJA 1st Annual Fall Food Cook OFF

The Benefits of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar

What's Good About Apple Cider Vinegar?

How Should I Drink Raw Orgnaic Apple Cider Vinegar?

The Benefits Of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar

Fall Love in a Bowl

Super Easy Week-Night Dinner

Friends

The latest in jobs pertaining to food!

Photos from Service Excellence Awards

Polluted Drinking Water from the Potomac River

C is for Cookie

Hoopmania on K st

Fair Trade Chocolate Campaign

Come See Jenna Norwood talk about her Documentary Super Charge Me! 30 Days Raw

PizzaMania

Food Justice Alliance Wins Service Excellence in Sustainability

Want a good laugh, at our expense?

Food Justice's First Ever Salon and Feast!

Next Stop on the Tree Hugger Train

FJA Get's Scary Silly on Halloween

Monster Beet

Creative Composting

Fall time in the Honey Bee World

Film Screening and Discussion: The Dark Side of Chocolate

Setting A Food Intention: FRESH Director Ana Sophia Jones Inspires Students and Faculty

FJA Retreat @ SweetVA

A Recipe for Reluctant Cooks: Baked Eggplant Slices

First Big Belly On Campus

Food Deserts: A Major DC Issue

Tell the Gates Foundation to support Real Solutions for Hunger

Two-Day Healthy Food Workshop Saturday & Sunday

Shopper's Guide: Pesticides

How to GroW a Kombucha SCOBY

MicroFarm on First and K NW

Fall = Apples = Apple Desserts

nomnomnom Sweet Virginia Honey

GroW Community Garden Turns 1!

The Purple Chicken

Mural finally finished

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Whoopies

Garden Birthday Party!

Come join the Food Justice Alliance at the Garden Birthday Party!

It's tomorrow from 5 - 7 at the GroW Community Garden! Help celebrate the one year anniversary (roughly) of a great gardening experience! It's a potluck, so come enjoy some Fall treats and/or bring some of your own!

Epic Building Day

Hatchet finally finds the garden!

Gardening in the city

Cultivating sustainability through locally grown food

by Samantha ZeldinHatchet Reporter

Gardens in the GW Magazine

Urban Gardening Takes Root at GW

Food and foliage make campus plots more sustainable

Help Support Alt. Winter Break

Early Root Vegetable Roast

The Hatchet Covers Community Garden Documentary

Mount Vernon Garden Planting Session #1

Erin comes to see the bees

Reduced Rate Slow Food Membership

From now through October 15, 2010, a donation of $25 or more makes you a member of Slow Food USA.

What is Slow Food?

Slow Food is an idea, a way of living and a way of eating. It is a global, grassroots movement with thousands of members around the world that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment.

Their Mission:

Good, Clean, Fair

Good:

Clean:

Fair:

FJA Mentioned in the Tufts Observer

School Lunch Film Premiers in DC Tomorrow 9/21

Add These to Your Queue

Breaking Ground of GroW on the Vern

by Samantha Zeldin
Hatchet Reporter