Amy Youngs and Kin Rinaldo create art and food

See some of the amazing work going on here in Columbus, Ohio bringing art and food together. www.farmfountain.com

Farm Fountain is a system for growing edible and ornamental fish and plants in a constructed, indoor ecosystem. Based on the concept of aquaponics, this hanging garden fountain uses a simple pond pump, along with gravity to flow the nutrients from fish waste through the plant roots. The plants and bacteria in the system serve to cleanse and purify the water for the fish.

This project is an experiment in local, sustainable agriculture and recycling. It utilizes 2-liter plastic soda bottles as planters and continuously recycles the water in the system to create a symbiotic relationship between edible plants, fish and humans. The work creates an indoor healthy environment that also provides oxygen and light to the humans working and moving through the space. The sound of water trickling through the plant containers creates a peaceful, relaxing waterfall. The Koi and Tilapia fish that are part of this project also provide a focus for relaxed viewing.

The plants we are currently growing include lettuces, cilantro, mint, basil, tomatoes, chives, parsley, mizuna, watercress and tatsoi. The Tilapia fish in this work are also edible and are a variety that have been farmed for thousands of years in the Nile delta.

Farm Fountain is a collaborative project by artists Ken Rinaldo and Amy Youngs. We hope you will be inspired to create one yourself. Please visit our illustrated "How-To" pages to see how we made our home version and join our free online forum to share your ideas.

Check out the live webcam! (6am to midnight EST)

http://farmfountain.com/ff4mov1.html

Georgia Elementary School bans junk food....

The school day starts with an hour of jumping jacks, exercising and dancing -- one morning to the beat of "Whoomp! (There It Is)" as the children bounce and sing along. Students also eat a breakfast of omelets, soy milk, organic cereal and turkey sausages.

"When students are healthy, they do their best work..." Sanders-Butler said. "We want to make sure we're providing foods that will not only nourish the body, but also brain foods."

It turns out the kids don't hate the healthy stuff.

"One of the most requested vegetables now is broccoli..." Sanders-Butler said. "Can you believe that? The kids love broccoli."

In the first six months of the sugar ban, disciplinary incidents went down 23 percent, counseling referrals decreased 30 percent, and in the first years of standardized test scores, reading scores improved 15 percent, she said. Browns Mill was named a national blue ribbon school and a Georgia school of excellence in 2005.
read more by clicking on the title....

The Greener Grocer keeping it fresh year round...

The Greener Grocer Weekly Fresh Market Bag
In the summer of 2008, The Greener Grocer, located in the historic North Market and owned by Local Matters, launched our “Urban Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)”, a program that offered a weekly bag of fresh, nutritious produce purchased from local farms. Many of our original participants expressed gratitude about how this program helped propel them back into the kitchen, allowed them to be more connected to the source of their food and created either a new or renewed appreciation of cooking and gathering!
To build upon this success, and to provide an “uninterrupted” service to our guests, The Greener Grocer is creating a new and expanded version of this program that we are calling our “Weekly Fresh Market Bag”. Under this new program, we will offer a summer and winter sign-up opportunity, with each season operating for 26 weeks. During the summer season, we will offer only fresh, seasonal produce from local farms. In the winter season, we will offer local produce when we can and supplement these offerings with organic produce, seasonal citrus and other fruits as well as local, dried beans, locally milled flour and perhaps even some cheese or Snowville Creamery Milk! (Vegan Option is Available) Our goal is to provide delicious, local and/or seasonal items each week on a year-round basis and provide a one-stop shopping opportunity for you!
The cost of a share for each of the seasons will be $780.00/person/per season which translates to only $30 per week! The Winter season will run from mid-November through the end of March and the Summer season will continue from the end of March until mid-November. For each season, you will have the option of paying in full or utilizing the following payment plan:
• $180 due by the first day of the new season followed by four equal, quarterly payments of $150 each (you can join at any point in a season and pay a “prorated” amount for the remainder of that season)
Currently there are 2 sites where you can pick up your weekly GG Weekly Market Bag:
• Clintonville-Beechwold Resource Center
• The Greener Grocer at the North Market
The Greener Grocer can deliver to your work site if 10 or more employees sign up!
We will continue to donate two bags of fresh produce to the Clintonville-Beechwold Resource Center for every ten bags sold at retail.
Our new season begins on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 and will run through Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
Please call 614.223.1512 or stop by The Greener Grocer at the historic North Market to get more information or to sign up!

Food Education in our public schools!

Local Matters is announcing:

"An Evening with Dr. Antonia Demas." The evening will highlight her "Food is Elementary" curriculum that Local Matters will be facilitating throughout various public schools and child daycares, Head Start, the YWCA and YMCA. Food is Elementary© (FIE) is a unique and vibrant curriculum introduced into schools and communities that teach children about food, nutrition, culture, and healthy living by:

• Educating children about the relationship between food choices and disease prevention
• Encouraging a child's natural curiosity and creativity to be the foundation of learning
• Providing children with the life skill of food preparation through hands-on interactive experience
• Introducing healthful foods through the traditions and arts of different cultures
• Involving families and community in classroom teaching, school meals, gardens, and collaborative mural projects

The event will be held at The Indianola Informal School at Everett, located at 100 W. 4th Ave., just off of W.5th Ave, hosted in the auditorium. This exciting opportunity is open to the public and will take place Tuesday, November 11th from 6:30 pm-8:30pm. The Greener Grocer will host cooking demonstrations featuring recipes from the "Food is Elementary" Curriculum from 6:30-7pm. Dr.Demas will participate in a town hall discussion from 7-8:30pm.

Come join us in an evening exploring the power of food to change our community!

Local Matters

Local Matters

Local Matters is a 501 (c) (3) organization located in Columbus, Ohio. We believe that food has the power to transform, sustain and build community in Central Ohio, the city of Columbus and the neighborhoods within our city limits.

We believe that we can harness the power of food as an important key to community change. Just as food nourishes the individual’s body and soul, so it is capable of nourishing the neighborhoods we inhabit and the city that our neighborhoods form.

As we gather all of central Ohio around the table of local foods by creating healthy, prosperous connections among rural and urban farmers, families and businesses, Local Matters sees our local food system as a key ingredient to transform our communities. This transformative power of local foods can affect systemic social, economic and environmental change and can have positive impact on the overall health of our region.