At least 1 in 7 American families lack consistent access to food. Click here to see some faces and stories of hunger in our own country and in our own neighborhood. Meet Cameron from Lewiston, a member of Lots to Gardens, a program located at St. Mary’s Nutrition Center of Maine.
Friday, October 28, 6:30 pm
St. Mary’s Nutrition Center
208 Bates Street
Lewiston, Maine
As local gardens wind down, you’re invited to wind up and celebrate the bountiful growing season in full costume. Whether you come as a zombie, a tomato, some combination of the two, or something totally different, you’re invited to sit back, relax and take in the sounds of local musicians and the taste of a multi-course meal featuring locally grown ingredients. NOTE: there will be a costume contest so don’t forget to dress up! Audience members get to decide who the winner is – winner will take home yummy Lots to Gardens’ treats!
Tickets for Alive in Lewiston are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, $5 for kids, and $5 for Lots to Gardens’ youth and community gardeners. If these prices don’t work for you but you really want to come, call or e-mail Lots to Gardens. We hope you’ll join us for this fun, family-friendly event. NOTE: space is limited – To be guaranteed a space please register in advance by calling (207) 513-3844. Early registration ends Thursday, October 27th at 10:00 pm.
A group of young local performers and gardeners known as De’ Hillview Groupsing will start off the night sharing “some rock and some roll”. The group has performed at Hillview’s annual Holiday show and Art Show and is known for singing African Folk tunes as well. Members of the group have different levels of experience, but all are required to attend one singing lesson each week to participate in the group. The only qualification for being in the group is “a great beat”.
The Maine Squeeze According Ensemble, known for playing eclectic music from around the world, will also be sharing their tunes. Whether they’re squeezing out jazz, blues, klezmer, zydeco, or traditional French Canadian they’re sure to make your feet move.
Wrapping up the evening will be the Juke Joint Devils, “an old time, hard driving, hard swinging blues band that never fails to get the crowd jumping.” Hailing from Portland, the Devils’ music is rooted in the blues of Chicago, Memphis, New Orleans and West Coast Swing. The band features 2011 International Blues Challenge finalist Tom O’Connell on harp and vocals and Gerry Byrne on bass, with Stefan Iris on guitar and Pete Shorey on drums.
Attendees will also learn about the Youth Food Bill of Rights, a declaration written by 130 youth from around the country at the annual Rooted in Community(RIC) conference in Philadelphia this past July. Four youth from Lewiston participated in the development of the original Youth Food Bill of Rights. After attending RIC they brought the idea back to Lewiston and led their co-workers at Lots to Gardens in developing their own Youth Food Bill of Rights for Lewiston. The 21-item declaration includes demands for less processed food in school lunches, an end to chemical and pesticide use on food, and more land for youth and community gardeners to grow food.
See you there!
In 2010, participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) redeemed more than $7.4 million in benefits at farmers markets. This represents more than a 70% growth in one year. Along with such growth comes local innovation designed to ensure that farmers markets are making quality food available to all members of a community.
This summer, nationwide participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is at a record high of approximately 45 million Americans. Fortunately, the families relying on this and other programs to put food on the table have a friend in farmers markets, where an increasing number of low-income consumers are purchasing locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables.
The Lewiston Farmers Market is one of a growing number of markets across the nation who accept EBT/SNAP cards and WIC coupons. In an effort to make fresh, healthy food even more accessible for all members of the community, we are continuing to offer double value coupons to SNAP and WIC customers. This program was made possible through grants and sponsors, and matches money spent at the market by customers on their EBT/SNAP card or WIC coupons dollar for dollar up to $10 a week. Customers can then use the matching “market dollars” on any healthy food at the market.
We are committed to providing the community with access to fresh, local, healthy food at affordable prices and the vendors at our markets have shown their commitment to this vision as well. Market-goers have noticed that prices at the market are often better than organic produce offered at grocery stores…and the freshness simply can’t be beat. This is true food equity.
The need for food is something that all people share. Fresh, local, healthy food nourishes our bodies, our minds, and our community.
Click here to read more blogs from Lewiston Farmers’ Market.
Please join us for our Community Dinner this Thursday, August 25th at the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center (208 Bates Street, Lewiston, ME) from 7:00-9:00 pm.
Our Youth Gardeners and Youth Interns are hosting an evening of dishes from the various cultures that we all come from. Look forward to a salad bar, squash bread, eggplant parmesan, sambusa, corn chowder, beet brownies, and many many more dishes.
The dinner is free – but the youth gardeners are encouraging everyone that comes to donate money. All money raised will be donated to help with famine relief in Somalia.
Lots to Gardens’ Community Dinner
Thursday, August 25th
7:00-9:00 pm
208 Bates Street, Lewiston, Maine
Please join us,
The Lots to Gardens crew!
P.S.Dinner will be served after sundown so all members of our community can participate.
Laura Look, ArtVan's Outreach Coordinator for the L/A communities
The growing season is well under way, each week the variety of produce ready for harvest increases, come out and see what we have this week.
ArtVan is a mobile arts therapy program. Their mission is to inspire, create and deepen relationships with the individuals and communities they service. Facilitated by an art therapist and professional art staff, the ArtVan Program takes the arts to:
· the streets
· public housing developments
· corrections facilities
· schools
· group homes
· anyone who has the least amount of social services and access to after school and summer activities
They engage these populations in the art making process so they can explore and enrich lives.
L to R: Lewiston Engineering Intern Ben Sullivan, Lots to Gardens Education & Outreach Coordinator Bridgette Bartlett, and Lewiston Engineering Intern Greg LaBonte.
LEWISTON Thanks to a joint effort between the City of Lewiston Public Works Engineering Division and the Lewiston School Department, the local Lots to Garden initiative now has an additional source of water for its garden located by the Lewiston High School (LHS) ball field dugouts in Franklin Pasture.
Lots to Gardens is a youth and community driven organization, sponsored by St. Mary’s Health System, that uses sustainable urban agriculture to create access to fresh food and to nurture both healthy youth and a healthy community. Individuals are taught how to grow their own food, access affordable fresh food, and youth are involved as leaders. Lots to Gardens also helps families and youth develop skills towards lifelong and community-wide change. Since 1999, Lots to Gardens has built 15 gardens and green spaces in 4 diverse Lewiston neighborhoods.
To provide participating gardeners with additional water, Engineering Division summer interns, Ben Sullivan and Greg LaBonte, installed gutters and downspouts on the LHS dugout and located a rain barrel under the downspout. The rain water runoff from the dugout roof fills the barrel providing water for the gardeners. The dugout roof, measuring 36’ by 11,’ provides 250 gallons of runoff in a one-inch rain storm.
Bridgette Bartlett, Education & Outreach Coordinator for Lots to Gardens, states, “The community gardeners will really benefit from all the extra drops of water this rain barrel can collect. St. Mary’s Lots to Gardens is excited about the educational aspect as well as the overall benefits to the community when the City and other agencies can work together to help make a project happen.”
As a money saver, residents are also encouraged to install a rain barrel at their respective homes to collect water for lawns and gardens. In addition, by utilizing such runoff at homes, local rivers, streams, and lakes will be kept cleaner, as stormwater runoff is the biggest threat to water quality. By collecting the water prior to it becoming street/road runoff sweeping up pollutants and discharging them into water without any treatment, the concern is considerably lessened for that area.
Jan Patterson, Lewiston Project Engineer, further praised the rain barrel at the dugouts, stating, “This project will be a living stormwater education project.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Lewiston Winter Farmers’ Market meets monthly, the second Thursday of every month from 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm at the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center, 208 Bates Street in Lewiston. The next market will be Thursday, April 12. The final market of the winter season will be May 12, 2011. The Lewiston Winter Farmers’ Market is sponsored by St. Mary’s and the Great Falls Farmers & Artisans Market Association. For more information about the farmers’ markets in Lewiston or to join our market email list please contact greatfallsmarket@gmail.com or (207) 513 3848.
The Winter of 2011 may be the best winter you’ve had in a long time or the worst winter you’ve had in a while. This, of course, all depends on who you are and how much you love the cold, the snow and spending lots of time out in it! While these last few years in Maine have helped me learn to enjoy Winter and all that comes along with it (I’m about to buy my first pair of snowshoes!) the real reason I’ve learned to love this cold dark season has less to do with what I can do outside and more to do with what I can put inside- that is I mean, all the good food I can eat!
Over the years I have found Winter to be a great time to treat myself to the foods I love. It helps of course, that I love hot food! And working with the Nutrition Center has exposed me to many delicious and hearty recipes that help take the chill away while keeping my body healthy enough to fight off the colds that seem to linger behind every snow bank. Whether it is a group of us is sitting together sharing a pot of Farmhouse Beef Stew at our Adult Cooking Class or a handful of staff and volunteers serving up 100’s of bowls of French Onion Soup at our Winter Farmer’s Market, we love to share recipes that not only taste great but are good for the body and the soul. So read on if you’d like to serve yourself up something warm this season. And when you’re done cooking, make sure to pass the recipe on and invite a friend to join you.
Vegetable-Barley Soup
12 Servings - 40 min 10 min prep
Ingredients
1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onions, chopped small
1 large carrots, diced
1 large celery ribs, chopped small
1/2 package mushrooms
½ teaspoon granulated garlic powder
8 cups water
2 cups vegetable broth (low-sodium)
14 fluid ounces canned tomatoes, mash and include liquid
8 fluid ounces canned red kidney beans, including liquid
¼ cups pearl barley
1 large potatoes, cubed ½ inch
½ tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoons curry powder
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 cups chopped kale or spinach
½ tablespoon soy sauce
1 ½ teaspoons dried dill weed
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
Directions
In a heavy bottom cooking pot, add olive oil, chopped onions, sliced carrots, chopped celery, mushrooms, garlic powder and cook for 5 minutes or until vegetables begin to soften, stirring frequently. Add water, vegetable broth, mashed tomatoes including liquid, kidney beans, barley, cubed potatoes, basil, vegetable soup base, curry and pepper; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until barley is barely tender. Add soy sauce and dill weed; cover and simmer another 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender; stirring a few times during cooking. Adjust seasonings to taste. Remove from heat when done and let sit for about 10 minutes before serving. When serving, stir in 1 teaspoon of grated parmesan cheese into each bowl. Refrigerate any unused portion of soup or freeze for future use!
Healthful Hint: Add any veggies you like! (i.e. green beans, corn, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower). Using frozen vegetables will save you money and time!
Culinary Hint: For a full bodied soup, finish off with a couple of Tablespoons of sherry or cooking wine and a teaspoon or two of Worchester sauce.
Curried Pumpkin Apple Soup
6-8 servings - 50 min 10 min prep
Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter, broth, or water
1 cup onion, chopped
3-4 apples, chopped
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoons curry powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon cumin
2 cups broth
1 ½ cups apple cider (or apple juice)
2 cups pureed pumpkin (or canned pumpkin)
1 cup light cream or milk
¼ teaspoon maple syrup
Directions
In large saucepot, melt butter (or broth).
Add onions, apples, and garlic.
Sauté until soft, about 5 minutes.
Add spices, cook for 1 minute.
Add broth and cider. Boil gently, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes.
Stir in pumpkin. Cook for 5 minutes.
In batches, puree in a blender or food processor.
Return to saucepan, add cream and syrup.
Mix well and heat until warm.
Helpful hint: When using fresh pumpkin, bake in casserole dish with enough water to cover the bottom. Cut pumpkin in half (remove seeds) and cook until soft. Let cool, remove inside of pumpkin and cook down (to remove excess water) by heating medium saucepan and stirring constantly until water has been removed.
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93 Campus Avenue, Lewiston, Maine 04240
Phone: 207-777-8100
