The Dirt

What happens when 200 volunteers come together for 2 hours of great food, beer, and amazing company? A ton of fun is had by all. This year’s Annual Volunteer Appreciation was held at Black Star Co-op Pub & Brewery, and what a time was had! Over local cheeses, pulled pork sandwiches, garlic fries, and tasty tasty veggies and spreads, volunteers were appreciated by each other and by SFC staff for all the amazing work done each day, week, month, and throughout the year.

Volunteers work tirelessly throughout the year to keep the SFC mission momentum moving forward. We couldn’t do what we do without all the amazing volunteers we have. With 30-50 volunteers EVERY week, we’ve got folks at the info booth, the kiosks, the Taste Tent, out at community outreach events, giving nutritional demonstrations, recipe testing, printing and copying and laminating, and so much more.

This was our opportunity to recognize all the great volunteers who help out, all those that go above and beyond, and those folks that go above and beyond the above and beyond. Wow.

For all the folks that made it to the Appreciation and those that sadly couldn’t join us: what an outstanding job you all do. We can’t say it enough: we absolutely, positively could not do what we do without you. If one of us forgets to tell you that after your next shift, know that we are thinking it!!

So what better way to celebrate YOU, our great volunteers, and say thank you, than to toast you over food, beverages, and a big ol’ fashioned THANK YOU?!  Thank you to Black Star Co-op for letting us party at their venue, and thank YOU to each and every one of you who makes this all possible. Until the next time, happy healthy eating to you all! You make the SFC mission go ‘round.

-Rebecca Saltsman, Volunteer Resources Director

SFC has come a long way in our 35-year journey since inception as Austin Community Gardens to a flourishing network of farmers, gardeners, cooks with confidence and co-producers (another word for “eaters”)! Our Grow Local program, while the oldest of our offerings, has experienced some of the most amazing growth over just the past five years. Our Spread the Harvest project has grown sixfold in size in the numbers of people it serves, and we have begun delivering the Citizen Gardener classes founded and nurtured by Brandi Clark Burton and Dick Pierce, with the goal of empowering all Austinites to grow their own food.

Festival Beach Community Garden, co-founded by SFC and Austin Parks Foundation on Austin Parks and Recreation Department land, recently held a garden work day at which Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day provided hand washing stations—a huge help for the many hands involved in making light work! As Central Texas’ blazing summer turns to what we hope will continue as a temperate fall, we are grateful for a partner such as this. Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day also sent a guerilla “clean team” to SFC Farmers’ Market at The Triangle to scrub down our café tables and chairs and pick up trash. Funding is being provided to Festival Beach Community Garden and Homewood Heights Community Garden this fall, as well as to SFC in support of our Spread the Harvest and Citizen Gardeners projects by Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day.

Drum roll please…The 3^rd Edition of The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre™’s cookbook, Fresh, Seasonal Recipes, is out!

The cookbook was a true community effort that took over a year to produce. Facilitators, class participants and staff submitted recipes. Volunteers tested the recipes; some were accepted, others were not—welcome aboard Smokey Black Bean & Quinoa Salad, good-bye “black bean soup”—I put this in parenthesis because it was hardly a soup. Yuck. Staff designed a new cookbook template and cover. University of Texas volunteers conducted nutrient and price analyses for each recipe. Volunteers entered in all of the recipes into the design program. Staff tweaked the recipes again. Staff proof-read and edited the cookbook. Volunteers and Facilitators proof-read and edited the cookbook. In two languages. And now, it is ready to be enjoyed by you!

Each Individual Recipe features:

      -Price per serving (average price per serving in the cookbook is $.78; all recipes in cookbook can be made

      for less than $2.82 per serving)

      -Nutrient analysis

      -Seasonality wheel (based on central TX growing season)

     -Food groups according to the following categories:

             (1) Fruits: at least ½ C fruit per serving

             (2) Veggies: at least ½ C veggies per serving

             (3) Grains: at least ½ C whole grains per serving

             (4) Protein: at least 6 grams protein per serving

The book is organized into the following groups, each of which has its own table of contents:

    -Soups

    -Salads

    -Main Dishes

    -Sides and Snacks

    -Sauces, Spreads, and Condiments

    -Dessert

    -Breakfast, Muffins and Quick Breads

    -Drinks

There is a seasonal recipe index.

In addition to each section having its own Table of Contents, there is an overall Table of Contents in the front of the book.

There is a true index by ingredient.

The cookbook is completely bilingual (English and Spanish) and the pages face each other so it is easy to practice one language or the other!

And if that wasn’t enough, SFC staffer, Katy Levit, will be writing the blog Katy Cooks, which will feature cooking challenges and successes, meal and menu planning, and how to juggle kids, work and life and still serve a healthful, home-cooked dinner (from Fresh, Seasonal Recipes)!

The cookbook can be purchased for $18 at the SFC Farmers’ Mkts or online

Ready, set,cook!

I am just now getting caught up on all my work and relevant readings after a 2.5 week vacation (boy was it a nice break!) One of the articles that came out in my absence was Mark Bittman's September 24th blog post in the New York Times, "Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?" This particular article struck a chord in me as he writes that "most people can afford real food" (music to my ears!). He laments the fact that fast food is ubiquitous and so easy to come by in our society, that no one wants to cook, or feels like one can. He goes on to say that we essentially should create carnival of fun in the kitchen to entice more children and families to cook again.

And that is just what The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre™ Program is all about! Our classes are targeted to get real people cooking real food again. In other words, our classes do not teach how to throw a sushi dinner party or how to design a charcuterie plate. (But don't get me wrong, I would oblige if someone put sushi or charcuterie in front me). Our classes do teach how to make dishes like Turkey Vegetable Meatballs and Crustless Swiss Chard Quiche. Not to mention how to really read a food label and how to shop for seasonal, local food on a budget.

The excuse that bugs me most when it comes to people not cooking is time, or lack thereof . Did you know that in 2010 the "average American, regardless of weekly earnings, watched no less than 1.5 hours of TV per day"? Imagine if we, on average, cut down our TV watching time by 30 minutes a day and instead, used that time to prepare food, write a menu plan or grocery shop with our children? We need to create a cultural shift in which cooking with real ingredients is the norm and is supported.

And again, this is where The Happy Kitchen Program comes in. We have 4 season menu plans that help families plan out their meals using less money and less time than one would think. For example, the average price per person on the Summer menu is $4.66/day per person. This includes three meals and a snack with all of the necessary nutrients (The average SNAP allotment is about $5/person per day). So, for a family of four to eat healthy, it would cost just under $19 per day. Now, compare this to the cost of a McDonald's meal for four--two Big Mac, a cheeseburger, six chicken McNuggest, two medium and two small fries, and two medium and two small sodas--$28 FOR ONE MEAL. (Not including the cardiologist's bill.)

So what do you say? Let's join together and get this kitchen carnival started! To get some real food ideas, check our cookbook or see what classes are coming up!

 -Joy Casnovsky, Director of The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre™