california

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog:

On a sunny October morning at Columbia School in El Monte, California, Allen Ng, our Regional Administrator at the USDA Food and Nutrition Service presented El Monte City School District with the first HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC) Awards in California since the Challenge joined the Let’s Move! initiative one year ago.

When asked why El Monte City School District took the Challenge, Dr. Robert Lewis, Director of Nutrition Services, humbly explained his desire to highlight the collaborative nature found in El Monte’s wellness community.  It’s no surprise Dr. Lewis points to the consistent teamwork and partnership among school district folks, community members, parents, teachers, principals, school nurses, district office administrators, and students as the key to achieving Silver HUSSC awards for 14 of El Monte’s elementary schools.

Cross-posted from the Let's Move! blog:

Earlier this fall, in conjunction with International Chefs Day, Chef Melinda Burrows had the opportunity to team with Fremont Elementary School in Alhambra, California, to help launch their Chefs Move to Schools program.

They did so in grand style. With three school assemblies focusing on harvests, the popular event centered around chef-led demonstrations featuring spaghetti squash, pumpkins, and other varieties of healthful foods.

As many as 28 students from the Pajaro Valley High School recently planted wetland trees, shrubs and grasses as part of a Pajaro River Watershed project near Watsonville, California.

For this project, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is working with the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County, Watsonville Wetlands Watch and the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County to restore wetland habitat in the Pajaro River floodplain.

For more than a year now, the Slow Food on Campus members at the California Culinary Academy have proudly partnered with students from San Francisco’s James Lick Middle School.  The staff teamed with the school, which participates in the Chefs Move to Schools program, because of their diverse student body and receptive school administration.

La Agencia de Servicio Agrícola (“Farm Service Agency” o FSA, por sus siglas en inglés) se enorgullece de encabezar la marcha en la representación del USDA en un importante evento nacional a favor de la educación de los hispanos.  La ocasión fue la convención anual de la Asociación Hispana de Universidades (“Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities” o HACU), celebrada este año en San Diego, California. La oficina de la FSA del estado de California estuvo a cargo de coordinar la participación, y se me asigno la responsabilidad de montar y atender el quiosco de información, junto con otros funcionarios de la FSA y de Desarrollo Rural (“Rural Development”) en California. El quiosco de la FSA figuró como un punto focal de atención para los estudiantes y varias otras agencias del USDA también compartieron con éxito su información con los estudiantes presentes.

The Farm Service Agency was proud to lead the way recently for USDA representation at a major national Hispanic educator’s event. The occasion was the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) Annual Convention, held this year in San Diego. The FSA California State Office was asked to coordinate our attendance and I was detailed to set up and staff our booth alongside other California staff with FSA and Rural Development. FSA’s booth seemed to be the focal point for student attention and several other USDA agencies were also successful in sharing information with those attending.

I can’t think of anyone more deserving of the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) and North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) Farmer Rancher Pollinator Conservation Award than Paul Kaiser of Singing Frogs Farm in Sebastopol, California. That’s why I was so excited when I found out he would be receiving the award in 2010!

Here’s the second video in our three-part series introducing Rural Development programs that can support local and regional food systems:

Top U.S. Department of Agriculture officials came to Novato in September to learn about the district’s success in partnering with various community organizations to bring fresh, local and organic fruits and vegetables to school meals while supporting local farmers. Project Lunch is the culmination of several innovative developments sought by Food & Nutritional Services Director Miguel Villarreal since coming to Novato in 2002. “We’re putting nutrition and wellness in the forefront,” Villarreal stated to the crowd gathered in Novato High School’s cafeteria for the kick-off event on September 9. Whole Foods, Marin Organics, Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Teens Turning Green and the Marin Department of Public Health are just a few of the partners that participated in the event. Novato High, the event site sponsor, is leading the movement by launching the district’s first Food Club. Food Clubs are made up of students, food service staff, farmers, chefs, and other school community partners working together to improve school lunches through hands-on learning. The Club will take field trips to farms, farmers markets, and green grocers and will prepare meals and host chef demos.

Most people do not realize that more than half the water in the United States comes from watersheds managed on forests. Used in homes, on ranches, in industry and for energy production, water resources in forests provide important services to people, as well as habitat for a wide variety of aquatic life. Our rapidly changing climate, however, is challenging our watersheds with both wet and dry extremes - more severe droughts, more frequent and larger floods, more soil moisture stress and lower stream flows during the dry season, less of a snowpack reservoir, and other effects. In a unique pilot project, 11 national forests around the country are assessing the vulnerability of their water resources and watersheds to such changes.