In the thick of summer, most want nothing more than to walk the grounds of a bountiful garden, sip a cool glass of wine, sample cheese, and relax with friends.

Now add supporting a local non-profit that uses fresh vegetables from that garden for hot meals that go out to the Spokane, WA community.  Bet your asking: Where can I sign up for that?

The green thumbs of the Campus Kitchen at Gonzaga University cordially invite you to enjoy the waning days of summer with them at “Seeds to Sustainability”, a wine and cheese, garden party fundraiser on August 12, from 5 to 7 p.m. Signing up is as easy as clicking here and donating $15 to their Firstgiving page.

Once you donate, your name will be added to a list, and the Campus Kitchen team will email you more information about the event.

Since the freezing days of the garden opening, the Campus Kitchen team has already contributed tomato starts to Riverfront Farms, an urban farming initiative in Spokane’s West Central Neighborhood.

Help them harvest more for their community virtually by donating to the Seeds to Sustainability event online, even if you cannot attend. Then watch what grows.

Share on Facebook

Help organize garden projects like these.

TO APPLY: Please submit cover letter, resume and list of references to ayers@gonzaga.edu and bdesantis@gonzaga.edu

Position:   Campus Kitchens Community Coordinator

Center for Community Action and Service-Learning (CCASL)

Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington

Full-time, 11 months (Start date:  September 1, 2011)

Position Description:

Gonzaga University’s Center for Community Action and Service-Learning (CCASL) is seeking a full-time AmeriCorps member to coordinate the Campus Kitchens many community-minded endeavors.  One of these is the Campus Kitchens Community Dinner, which provides a Thursday evening meal to homeless and low-income individuals in downtown Spokane.  The dinner not only provides a weekly meal service to low-income individuals and families but is also a nexus of support for those in the community suffering from hunger, homelessness, and the impact of the recent economic downturn.

A second focus is on the Ruellen-Day Community Garden. Located on the Gonzaga University campus, the Ruellen-Day Community Garden engages GU students, staff and faculty in the growing of fresh organic produce for the Campus Kitchen.  Service-Learning courses use the garden as a touchstone to teach about local issues of food insecurity and sustainability. Youth from the mentoring partners use the garden as a resource to learn more about where their food comes from and making healthy meal choices.

A third focus is working with the Gonzaga University Mentoring Programs Nutrition Education Programs. CKGU partners volunteers and service-learning students with Gonzaga’s mentoring programs.  They provide healthy meals as well as programs on nutrition and healthy eating.  Youth and their mentors also volunteer at the community garden and in the process learn more about where their food comes from and how to make healthy meal choices.

This Americorps position will work in partnership with the Campus Kitchen Coordinator and CCASL staff to support these Community-minded endeavors.  The Americorps will report directly to the Assistant Director of CCASL and schedule regular meetings with the Campus Kitchens Coordinator.  They will help to build program capacity by recruiting and coordinating volunteers, conduct outreach to connect with community members who could benefit from participating in health education programs, partner with Gonzaga’s mentoring programs and service-learning faculty to provide nutritional education and activities including involvement in the Ruellen-Day Community Garden, develop the volunteer recruitment and management plan for the garden,  fundraising and resource development, building upon current community partnerships to provide additional services, and completing various other projects that help to develop and sustain this program.

Or you could be gleaning these delicious plums, donated by a generous neighbor.

Responsibilities include:

• Assist in the organization and coordination of the weekly Campus Kitchens Community Dinner
• Recruit, train, and manage volunteers, with a focus on recruiting veterans to volunteer.
• Collaborate with the Campus Kitchen, community partners, university departments, students and faculty to develop and sustain programming for the Campus Kitchens Community Dinner
• Partner with Gonzaga’s mentoring programs and service-learning faculty to provide nutritional education and activities including involvement in the Ruellen-Day Community Garden.
• Outreach to the L’Arche Community, serveral adult family homes for developmentally disables adults, to see if there is a need for fresh produce from the community garden.
• Track the number of referrals to local social services CHAS and other agencies provide to clients met at the Campus Kitchen Community Dinner.
• Track the number of veterans receiving food and other services at the Campus Kitchens Community Dinner
• Attend Spokane Homeless Coalition and Feed Spokane meetings and events
• Identify resources, solicit donations, present program outcomes and statistics to governmental and community stakeholders e.g. Spokane City Council, local Rotary and Kiwanis clubs.
• Participate in professional development and training activities
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications needed:

• Ability to advise higher education students
• Ability to work with marginalized groups (homeless)
• Leadership experience
• Strong organizational skills
• Ability to work as part of a team
• Background in community service work
• Self-motivated, a self-starter
• Must be 21 years of age or older and a college graduate (or graduating in May of 2012)
• Must be a US citizen or legal permanent resident
• Must be able to successfully complete a twelve month term beginning September 2011

Share on Facebook

The partnerships that companion plants can make reflect the partnerships that Emily Paulson at the Campus Kitchen at Gonzaga has been building to help their garden grow this summer! CKGU has partnered with the ESL program at Gonzaga University. The department is offering gardening as a summer elective. Students will spend Fridays in the Garden(!) helping with maintenance while simultaneously practicing English with conversation partners. CKGU has also partnered with the Step program. During an 8 week program designed to help aspiring students gain access to admission for the fall, they will also participate in garden maintenance. Lastly, CKGU continues to partner with the Campus Kids Program who planted tomatoes seeds indoors for the garden. They coupled this project with education on how to use tomatoes in healthy snacks like caprese salads. All of these companions will ensure will ensure a healthy growing season for everyone involved! Happy growing up there in Spokane!

Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte also provides lot’s of ideas about great garden companions. Some of my favorites include intercropping tomatoes and basil, planting nasturtium to repel pests that are attracted to squash and other cucurbits, planting marigolds with eggplant to deter parasitic nematodes and planting peas or beans to provide shade for spinach. Try out some of these suggestions and watch for increase yield and decreased pest problems. Good luck and happy companionship to you!

The National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service is my website suggestion of the week. Not only can you find a great article about companion planting, which includes a very descriptive table of companion crops, (along with many other really useful pieces of information), but you can also check out what it has to offer as its federal funding has been cut. No time like the present to support its work!

Fridays in the Garden is a blog series by The Campus Kitchen Project’s Community Development Coordinator and is designed to provide timely ideas and tips to anyone embarking to garden (at a Campus Kitchen or anywhere). Feel free to contact her with questions at asteiner@campuskitchens.org or leave your thoughts below. Also, follow her on twitter for great gardening thoughts and tidbits: @redheadgardener

Share on Facebook

Communities in New York, New Jersey, California, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and Maryland will receive the grants, which fund the development and implementation of plans expanding access to healthy food through increased participation in federal nutrition programs and other creative initiatives.

In six of those states, Campus Kitchens craft their own creative initiatives to improve access to healthy foods. And, using the manpower of student volunteers and repurposed resources (kitchen space and donated food), they execute these programs at a very low cost.

Just what are Campus Kitchens doing in comparison to the USDA’s most recent grant efforts? Below are some examples.

• Maryland Governor’s Office for Children, Baltimore, Md., $923,812; This project will help Maryland increase participation in the National School Breakfast Program, the Summer Food Service Program that provides meals to hungry kids in the summer, and improve access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The Campus Kitchens Project has two campuses in Maryland: Johns Hopkins University and University of Maryland Eastern Shore at Shady Grove. At Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, student volunteers run Friday Healthy Cooking classes for a local middle school. While it’s not breakfast every day, two graduate public health students help lead the classes, which provide recipes and nutrition education. Recently, students learned of the health benefits from bananas by making banana muffins and peanut butter banana smoothies. Read more here.

• Centro del Obrero Fronterizo, Inc., El Paso, Texas, $110,065; This project will help South Central El Paso administer a culturally relevant nutrition education campaign for food service workers and families, strengthen partnerships and coordination among organizations, and help increase access to fresh, affordable foods for families in need.

The Campus Kitchen at Baylor University in Waco, Texas saw an opportunity to strengthen community relationships througha community garden, and in January they broke ground on the project. Garden organizers will plant English peas, spinach, radish, and kale among other veggies to prep their garden for its main purpose: nutrition education. Among other organizations, Waco Arts Initiative will work with the Campus Kitchen to connect underprivileged youth to hands-on learning activities in the garden. The Campus Kitchen will in turn receive most of the garden’s yield. Read more here.

• United Way of King County, Seattle, Wash., $987,380; This project will focus on initiatives described in the Hunger Relief Now! Plan, and seeks to reduce hunger among low-income children, senior citizens, immigrants, and refugees.

  

  freephoto.com

Every week, the Campus Kitchen at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash. holds an outreach dinner at a local church to bring the community together and help combat hunger. The dinner gives the coordinator the opportunity to provide information about other social services in the community, like bus passes and library hours. Clients at the dinner come from a range backgrounds, and many stay after the dinner to help clean up. Read more here.

Share on Facebook

Almost everything that is grown in a edible garden start from seed. Some exceptions include garlic bulbs, strawberry runners and “seed” potatoes, but for the most part, edible plants start with a seed, either directly sown outside or started in controlled conditions inside.

Peter Prehn/Flickr

Certain plants thrive best when directly seeded (radish are my favorite among these). Others can be planted by direct seeding or by transplanting, depending on the time in the season (cucumbers are an example of this). Lastly, some plants really need to be grown inside and need to be more mature plants before they are exposed to the elements of outdoor living (tomatoes are a great example of this). Seed packets have great information about when and how to plant as do seed companies.

Emily Paulson, the Campus Kitchen Coordinator at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA is getting some of the seeds for CKGU’s Community Garden from 2nd Harvest Plant a Row committee. In addition, several kinds of vegetable seeds are coming from a woman in the School of Education at Gonzaga. Emily said that this woman is eager to share her knowledge about heirloom tomatoes. She is also excited to teach students involved in the garden through Campus Kids about seed saving, which will be a wonderful lesson in sustainable food resources.

When choosing your seeds, there are a few things to consider. First, you want to make sure that what you are planting is suitable for the climate that you live in. This tool will help you find your hardiness zone, which indicates both what you can plant and when. Second, you want to think about types of seeds. You can grow heirloom seeds, which often means seeds coming from open-pollinated (non-hybrid) strains from before the Green Revolution. Another option is hybrid seeds, which are produced by artificially cross-pollinating plants, often to improve the characteristics of the resulting plants. They both have their merits, but plants from hybrid varieties will not produce reliable seeds for future seasons, so consider heirloom or other non-hybrid versions if you are interested in seed saving. Last, you’ll want to think about timing. This also relates to your hardiness zone and climate, but timing definitely dictates when to start seeds indoors as well as when to sow them directly.

A few large companies control the majority of seed production in the world. That being said, independent, small scale seed companies are holding their own all across the country. Supporting seed companies in your area is one way to ensure the saving of heirloom varieties for years to come; plus, regional seed growers have a handle on what cultivars grow best in the area. Some of my favorites are as follows:

Mid-Atlantic Region – Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

Pacific Northwest – Abundant Life Seed Company & Uprising Seeds

Midwest – Seed Savers Exchange & Nature’s Crossroads

Rocky Mountains – Rocky Mountain Seed Company

Northeast – Fedco, High Mowing Organic Seeds & Johnny’s Selected Seeds

Southwest – Peaceful Valley Farm Supply & Seeds of Change

South – Park Seed Company & Sow True Seed

Also check out the Organic Seed Alliance, which supports the ethical development and stewardship of the genetic resources of agricultural seed.

One last resource to consider is the America the Beautiful Fund, which provides free seeds (shipping charges may apply) through their Operation Green Plant program. A number of other seed companies also offer similar seed donation options.

Hopefully these ideas and resources are helpful as you move forward with seed selection and garden planning. Future posts will feature tips on starting seeds indoors, bed preparation and garden design. If you have ideas or questions you want to share , leave them below!

This week’s favorite Garden Blog: The Garden Rant because of their down to earth and witty musings about the great world of gardening. Read on!

Fridays in the Garden is a blog series by The Campus Kitchen Project’s Community Development Coordinator and is designed to provide timely ideas and tips to anyone embarking to garden (at a Campus Kitchen or anywhere). Feel free to contact her with questions at asteiner@campuskitchens.org or leave your thoughts below. Also, follow her on twitter for great gardening thoughts and tidbits: @redheadgardener

Share on Facebook

Most students are in the midst of finals before winter break. For volunteers at 28 Campus Kitchens across the country, they’ve just wrapped up the massive Turkeypalooza feeding effort to make sure all plates are full for Thanksgiving. But the feeding doesn’t stop there.

Campus Kitchen students are also gearing up for winter holiday feeding efforts despite the exhaust from Turkeypalooza and the extra study hours spent in the library studying for finals. Students know the need for meals doesn’t stop when winter break begins.

The Campus Kitchen at University of Nebraska Kearney will team up with Kearney’s S.A.F.E. Center to accumulate a stockpile of goods for holiday feeding from specific wish lists S.A.F.E. distributed to the community.

As dining halls start to clear out their kitchens to go dark until the beginning of next year, the Campus Kitchen at Marquette University will take advantage of the extra ingredients and prepare grocery bags to serve over the break. St. Louis University and Northwestern University will engage in similar grocery bag feeding efforts.

At Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., the Campus Kitchen will help facilitate their regular, weekly outreach dinner at a local church on Christmas Eve with outside volunteers taking the place of students who have gone home over Winter Break.

The Campus Kitchen at Washington University in St. Louis already provided the manpower for a special holiday dinner facilitated by their dining services provider, Bon Appetit. The holiday meal was served in a downtown center, open to the public.

Many Campus Kitchens are keeping stomachs full as the holidays approach in addition to the amazing Turkeypalooza numbers they collectively turned out.

Here are our estimates so far:

• Pounds of turkey: 3324
• Number of meals: 7360
• Total Volunteers: 530

Share on Facebook

The Campus Kitchen at Gonzaga University walloped their turkey count from last year, accumulating nearly 150 turkeys to feed Spokane, Washington residents.

In the peak of a regional snowstorm, the Campus Kitchen at Minnesota State University, Mankato, successfully delivered hand-made greeting cards with grocery bags full of all the Thanksgiving fixings.

At the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, the Campus Kitchen connected with five non-traditional student families to prepare entire Thanksgiving meals with all of the trimmings for busy single parents to heat and serve.

For their first-ever Turkeypalooza, the Campus Kitchen at University of Massachusetts Boston pulled off a successful “Take your Turkey to Work Day”.

The Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee fed clients of all ages and backgrounds in honor of Turkey Day, including the Rockbridge Area Occupational Center, an organization that works with outside agencies to provide center-based employment for people with disabilities.

View more pictures below:

Share on Facebook

CKUVM isn't always this proper. They know how to break it down.

We’ve seen some truly outstanding feats of cinema. Among them: the Campus Kitchen at Johns Hopkins University’s old time parody on walking, talking vegetables and the truly unforgettable I’m on a Stove (not I’m on a Boat) from the Campus Kitchen at Gonzaga University.

Thanks to the Davis Center’s Service Leadership and Civic Engagement Programs at the Campus Kitchen at University of Vermont, and the styling vocals of the student center staff (including the Campus Kitchen’s very own Sarah Heim), another Campus Kitchen video has joined the ranks of parody stardom: We’re Bringing Service Back (Justin Timberlake style).

While the video highlights all programs associated with Service Leadership and Civic Engagement, the Campus Kitchen is front and center as students “Take it to the food shelf.” Don’t understand what that means? Watch for yourself.

Share on Facebook

With April events nation-wide, below are Earth Day examples from three cities:

Pennsylvania: Celebrating nutritious recovery of 10 tons of food and serving its 10,000^th meal, the Campus Kitchen at Gettysburg College will host a 10 Ton event on Earth Day, April 22.  Highlighting the Kitchen’s community collaboration, 20 different relay teams will compete in a Campus Kitchen-themed relay course involving hairnets, gloves, canned foods and thermometers.  Featuring community partnerships, the event will include farmers, chefs and others discussing how they make healthy food accessible while fighting hunger, poverty and promoting the local economy.

Texas:  Students and faculty at Baylor University are teaming up to bring a sustainable garden to campus.  The Campus Kitchen at Baylor University currently tends a garden off-campus, where they are learning the skills necessary to plan, plant and maintain a vegetable garden.  Faculty partners with the Kitchen, helping to work in the garden and also conducting a Spring fundraising drive to bring the garden on-campus.

Massachusetts: On April 26^th, Boston will dedicate its first Campus Kitchen at UMass Boston.  The Kitchen, operational since February, provides almost 100 meals a week to children and their families at The Early Learning Center East.  All meals are created with unused, recycled food from dining halls, community gardens, area restaurants and community donation.

Share on Facebook

“It’s multilayered with them [the middle school students],” says Emily Paulson, coordinator for CKGU. “They not only got to interact with city officials, but the people they think are really cool: the Gonzaga University students. They are also outside, learning about sustainable gardening. And, they have fun playing in the dirt.”

After an opening speech, ribbon-cutting, and tour of the facility, the Garry Middle School students worked with Campus Kitchen volunteers and several master gardeners to plant: swiss chard, carrots, potatoes, onions, peppers and lettuce for about an hour. By the end of April, students will also start cantaloupe and tomatoes.

As the garden progresses, students young and old will take turns watering the garden, and one city council member is even working to get a volunteer force from community centers to tend to it over the summer. In addition to the bounty of fresh produce the garden will yield for the Campus Kitchen, Paulson hopes garden maintenance will turn into a green job for a Spokane resident.

Before - students weed the donated greenhouse

After - Students get a tour of the greenhouse plots

More Pictures of the Opening:

Share on Facebook