Getting in Holiday Spirit with CAN IT!

Food Forward volunteers, MEND volunteers and MEND recipients we treated to a canning 101 workshop by master canners Nina Corbett and Kevin West on Sunday at the MEND Kitchen. Over twenty folks gathered to learn the basics and food safety tips about how to can fruits and veggies.  After canning over 50 2 quart jars of pears, all going to MEND clients for the holidays, we were treated to a tasting of Nina and Kevin’s fine creations.

This was a pilot workshop for FF to see how we might incorporate caning into our activities to have recipients both learn basic skills alongside us, make our fruit stay longer and to explore generating some revenue for our group by sales of canned fruit at farmers markets and beyond.  We have scheduled a follow up get together for those who attended and those who couldn’t make it share ideas about integrating this into FF.  If the concept interests you, we hope you’ll be in touch.

WHAT: CAN IT! Follow Up

WHEN: Monday December 7th, 2009 @ 7PM

WHERE: The Original Farmer’s Market at 3^rd and Fairfax

HOW: RSVP to erica@foodforward.org

In the meantime, here are several shots from the great day we had.  Thanks again MEND, Nina and Kevin and please check out their great blogs:  http://putsup.com and http://www.savingtheseason.com/

Happy Thanksgiving from the FF Crew!

The Food Forward Crew sends thanks out to all the volunteers, supporters, property owners, food pantry’s and funders for helping our 1st 10 months be so successful!

As those of us who are all fortunate enough to enjoy an abundance of food at our Thanksgiving meals, we must not forget those who still need our help and the help of Food Forward. As we enjoy our holiday celebrations, please remember that we must all continue to search out friends & family and ask for their cooperation in providing fruit trees that we can harvest to continue our efforts. We need all of your help in this effort! Please have them sign-up on the website or contact Erica our Property/Harvesting Coordinator at erica@foodforward.org.

We wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Food Forward endorses Blueprint to End Hunger in LA

This morning, Rick Nahmias (founder of Food Forward) joined a panel/roundtable discussion at the launch of the Blueprint to End Hunger in LA (www.fedupwithhunger.com)  to talk about what a grassroots volunteer-driven organization can do about urban hunger. We were honored to be included in the launch of the blueprint and received a strong response to Food Forward’s ideas and continued work of how Angelinos can go beyond cash donations and can drives and be PART of the solution of helping feed the hungry from the abundace of fruits and vegetables we have in our own backyards.

For the work Food Forward has been doing for the past 10 months, we received word we have been awarded a $3,500 micro grant from the Jewish Federation which will go towards tools and basic operating costs of FF activities.  We are extremely grateful to the Federation for being included at the table for this urgent and important initiative, and for the support of our ongoing efforts.

Our First Major Grant !!

Just a quick word to our ff family: we have become the elated recipients of our first major seed grant: $25,000 from jvpf-la – erica, capt. Carl and myself picked up the dandy check wed night at their annual banquet – it will go to scaling our little engine that could operation into its second year and beyond….

When we recieved the check wed nite, we learned that we had been selected from a pool of over 80 applicants (we actually were solicited for the grant based on our work, and had not ever formally applied) and became the first non-faith based grant jvpf has ever given out. It is a humbling, exciting and amazing time for the core team – knowing full well we could not have reached this point without the consistent hard work of our volunteers and the support of our partner pantries, sova and mend.

Thanks again to all at jvpf for their belief and offers of help and mentorship

Here’s to future growth !

Rick & the FF Core Team

“Fair Food: Field to Table” Project Launches !

Though I try to keep my professional life seperate from my work with Food Forward – the connection on a recent project it too close to not  blog about. I am pleased to announce today the launch of the result of an 18 month collaboration with California Institute for Rural Studies in the form of a streaming web documentary entitled: “Fair Food: Field to Table.” http://fairfoodproject.org

As many of you know, I have worked promoting farm labor issues for several years, and this new project picks up where “The Migrant Project” ( http://themigrantproject.com) left off – looking at both current day farmworker issues AND replicable solutions and best practices that consumers, growers, students, businesses and others can adapt to ensure that equitable treatment of farm labor becomes a permanent part of the local, sustainable and fair food movements.

As urban gleaners Food Forward folk have a strong connection to farmworkers and I hope you take a few moments to see how deep that connection runs. Each of the documentary’s three parts focuses on a different part of the equation: Part 1: The Farmworkers, Part 2: The Growers, and Part 3: The Advocates – together we hope they will give you and others a multi-dimensional view of what is happening around domestic fair food issues and what you can do to help make change.  The streaming multimedia documentary is embedded in a website rich with links and information to help people – no matter their walk of life – be part of the change.

As you sit down for Thanksgiving next week, I hope you will take a few moments to look at the abundance we will each undoubtedly be lucky enough to have before us and understand better how, and at what cost, that food reaches you and your family, and feel the urgency to get involved to help farmworkers get fairer treatment for what they do and what they make possible.

Lastly, please pass email or forward this project link to your friends, families and networks (the documentary is also available in hi-def on youtube – where you can rate it!).  The more eyes that see this, the more chance we have to create meaningful change for those responsible for feeding the best fed country on the planet.

We will be presenting this project around the country at universities and conferences in the coming months, but for now the presentation is free and easy to access at: http://fairfoodproject.org

Thanks

Rick

Magical AM pick in SM Canyon last Sunday…

Great pick Sunday in SM Cyn – almost 300 lbs of amazing oranges picked on a delightful morning that was a constant reminder of why we live in this incredible place and why we can do our thaaang 12 months a year. Thanks all who made it out – new volunteers and old.

 

Food Forward tops 60,000 lbs!

What an amazing Food Forward pick we had last Sunday in Granada Hills. It was a perfect day in a beautiful, two row, 16 tree orange orchard. And together, we harvested 1,789 lbs of oranges!

This brings Food Forward’s YTD total to 60,649 pounds of fresh fruit
gleaned and donated to our local food pantries to feed families in need!

A huge thanks to all 20 volunteers who came, helped and celebrated Food Forward pushing over 60,000 lbs this year…

Sweet Oranges in Northridge!

Last Sunday we had a two-home pick in Northridge  which yielded 648 lbs of some of the sweetest oranges! Thank you, volunteers, for being so ready and willing to glean the impromptu trees as well as the planned ones!

Just wanted to let all of you know that all of the November picks (except the Weds 11/11 in Northridge at NOON) are currently full. THANK YOU all for being so enthusiastic and responding so quickly! We are trying to add more picks and will keep you posted..

Food Forward needs properties with fruit trees! If you know somebody who wants to donate their excess fruit please have them sign-up on the website or contact Erica at erica@foodforward.org

CAN IT! – Our Pilot Preserve Project Launches Nov. 22

In an attempt to take Food Forward’s activities of helping fight hunger in Southern CA to the next level, we are partnering with master canners Nina and Kevin of putsup.com for a pilot workshop on canning and preserving.  This is aimed specifically to help educate/inspire FF volunteers who would want to be part of a new program where we can some of the bounty we harvest, donating part of it to the hungry as preserves, and selling part of it to help raise money for our group.

If you have a strong interest in learning about canning AND would want to use that interest to help move this initiative forward we have a HANDFUL of spots available for a Sunday Nov 22nd workshop at the MEND Kitchen in Pacoima.  It will start at 1:30pm and Nina will be running what is assured to be a great afternoon of learning and hands on canning.

RSVP to info@foodforward.org.

Again, we have VERY FEW spots and are holding them for FF folk who to help take this knowledge into piloting a new initiative with us.  Thanks!

November Picks Fill…

Hello Fellow Volunteers! Just wanted to let all of you know that all of the November
picks are currently full. THANK YOU all for being so enthusiastic and responding so quickly!

Please check back here and on Facebook (group: food forward) /Twitter (foodforwardla) for continued blasts about new picks and events being announced throughout the month