LONG BEACH GROWS™ (www.longbeachgrows.org) is Long Beach's original urban agriculture resource hub for >4 years, since 2010. LONG BEACH GROWS' mission is to promote green, healthy, environmentally sustainable urban agriculture in Long Beach, California, & other activities that educate, enhance, & grow our communities by ensuring & safeguarding local food security. Our vision is a city that feeds itself.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Announcing a new community farm in Long Beach: Unity Farm
Unity Farm, as it is called, is not your typical community garden. The operative terms are community and co-operation. In a typical community garden, individual garden plots are rented to and tended by individuals on a seasonal basis. Some community gardeners make better use of their alloted land than others. Some community gardeners never even meet the person gardening right next to them. Where is the community in that?
Long Beach Grows’ community farm co-ops promise to be different. Members will work together in teams on land that they all grow together. There will be scheduled work days, scheduled harvest days when crops ready to be picked are divvied up amongst co-op members and the underprivileged of the community, and other scheduled gatherings, celebrations, and fundraisers.
The Farm Coordinator, Steve Passmore, who helped start the farm, says
“We will strive to keep the division of labor as equal and fair as possible, while trying to accommodate the special strengths, interests, and assets that individual members have to offer.”All members are asked to pledge to uphold and abide by the mission and vision of Long Beach Grows.
- Organization mission. LBGROWS’ mission is to promote green, healthy, sustainable urban agriculture in Long Beach, CA & other activities that educate, enhance & grow our communities by ensuring & safeguarding local food security.
- Organization vision/goals. LBGROWS is the first organization of its kind in Long Beach, with a mission to advocate for change & to educate the public on issues of local food security & urban agriculture. The current food system in Long Beach, particularly as it pertains to local food & real food, really caters to the wealthy of our residents. LBGROWS plans to change this. The ultimate goal of LBGROWS is to grow a network of urban farm co-operatives for food production in the heart of urban Long Beach, with at least one community kitchen and urban farm site per city district, where people can grow & harvest real food together while building community & relieving hunger.
There will be a modest fee to join Long Beach Grows to farm at The Unity Farm. People will be contacted to join in the order they have signed up on the LBGROWS co-op wait-list. To join, add your name here. Volunteers are also welcome.
More farm co-op sites are in the works. The group is actively seeking other underutilized properties in Long Beach that LBGROWS could transform into productive community farm co-op sites to help relieve hunger in our community.
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| Youth unloading mulch to prepare a vegetable bed at Unity Farm. |
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You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner, National Food Policy Examiner, National Science News Examiner, and founder and director of Long Beach Grows™.
Copyright © 2011 Donna Marykwas; All rights reserved.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
A sustainable Long Beach must achieve food security
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| Local Community Harvest Dinner @ T's Space, Fall 2011. Photo by Peter Phelps. |
Food security is
“affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate* food for all people at all times”as defined by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
*Who is to determine what is culturally appropriate? This must be determined by the individual, not by the government or by others.
The Community Food Security Coalition states that,
“at a basic level, Community Food Security is about making healthy food accessible to all, including low-income people. It’s about making nutritious and culturally appropriate food accessible, not just any food. It is about promoting social justice and more equitable access to resources, and building and revitalizing local communities and economies. It’s about supporting local, regional, family-scale, and sustainable farmers and businesses. It’s about empowering diverse people to work together to create positive changes in the food system and their communities... and much more.”When it comes to food security through urban agriculture, we are falling way far behind other municipalities including San Francisco, Seattle, Portland in Oregon, even New York City. If these big cities can do it, what’s holding us back? Our municipal code is! Let’s change it!
Let’s not waste our time and money and other resources by reinventing the wheel. Other cities have already done this. Other cities have already done the impact reports and health assessments. Let’s just adopt the best of the best from Seattle’s, San Francisco’s, and NYC’s respective municipal codes.
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You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner and founder and executive director of Long Beach Grows™.
Copyright © 2011 Donna Marykwas; All rights reserved.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Fairview Farms at the Los Angeles county fair, a short drive from Long Beach
For those involved in the urban agriculture movement, the Big Red Farm at Fairview Farms is the highlight of the fair. There are numerous hands-on educational activities for everyone to enjoy.
Children in attendance may have the opportunity to cradle and feed a baby goat or sheep with Farmer Sky and his friends from Zuckerman’s Nursery at the exhibit.
A variety of dairy goat breeds are on display. Visitors have the opportunity to milk the animals while they snack on grain to keep them occupied. The does are amazingly cooperative despite being yanked on by inexperienced and clumsy milkers.
Milk can of course be turned into a wide variety of dairy products including cheese, which you can learn how to do at the Curds & Whey Barn.
The Petting Barn features 150 animals to pet, mostly goats. This is a must see to experience how truly docile, lovable, and friendly these animals are. Goats have been domesticated for over 10,000 years and make great outdoor pets for people who are allergic to dogs, cats, and other more common domestic animals. They are truly dual-use animals that can provide companionship even in an urban setting, as well as feed you if you have the time and inclination to breed them so that the mothers produce milk to be shared with you once their little ones are weaned.
It would be wise to research the many attractions available at the Fair before you go, lest you miss out on something of special interest to you. For example, at California’s Heritage Square, you can visit a 1920’s farm house and learn to spin wool. If only I knew. But the rides were calling my daughter, and I couldn’t disappoint her. At least we avoided all the Fair food.
Some proceeds from sales at the Fairplex contribute to agricultural education through donations to the California State University Pomona Foundation. Cal Poly Pomona is one of the few CSUs that offer an education in the field of agriculture. Cal Poly Pomona’s is particularly noteworthy, with seven departments in the College of Agriculture.
More Information
LA County Fair
1101`W. McKinley Ave.
Pomona, CA 91768
General Information website
909-523-3111
Cal Poly Pomona
College of Agriculture
3801 West Temple Avenue
Pomona, CA 91768
agriculture@csupoma.edu
888-2DAYS AG
website
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You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner, National Food Policy Examiner, National Science News Examiner, and founder and director of Long Beach Grows™.
Copyright © 2011 Donna Marykwas; All rights reserved.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Government raid of Rawesome food club in Venice
For the second time in two years, the Rawesome raw foods buying club was raided and ransacked, the morning of August 3, 2011.
This was a multi-agency sting that involved the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the California Franchise Tax Board, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Milk and Dairy Food Safety Branch, the CDFA Division of Measurement Standards, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, the Ventura County Department of Public Health, the Los Angeles Police Department, and the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety.
James Cecil Stewart, the owner/operator of Rawesome, was arrested and charged with seven misdemeanors and six felony counts of conspiracy. His bail was set at $123,000.
Sharon Palmer, who operates Healthy Family Farms, LLC, in Santa Paula, Ventura County, CA, was arrested and charged with three of the misdemeanors and the six conspiracy charges. Her bail was set at $121,000.
Eugenie Victoria Bloch, LA chapter leader of the Weston A Price Foundation and part-time employee of Healthy Family Farms, was arrested with three counts of conspiracy. Her bail was set at $60,000.
All for daring to sell Healthy Family Farms’ raw goat milk and raw goat milk dairy products (and raw cow milk from Pennsylvania) to their loyal club members and shareholders.
People who belong to the “Right to Choose Healthy Food’s Rawesome Club” sign a membership agreement that states
Besides the felonies “to conspire,” the misdemeanor charges were for processing milk without pasteurization, operating an unlicensed milk plant, selling milk or milk products that don’t “conform to the standards,” selling milk that had been produced or handled using unsanitary conditions, operating an unlicensed milk business, operating a food facility without a permit, selling unlabeled and improperly labeled food, selling food from unapproved sources, failing to store eggs at the proper temperature, and removing a notice of closure.
But it is legal to sell raw milk in California. Organic Pastures in Fresno sells throughout the state and online.
And with the evidence now down the drain, is there any physical proof that the milk had been contaminated, as surely it must have been had it been treated without concern for sanitation?
Have there ever been any cases of illness due to consumption of raw food products from Rawesome? If not, this is all a big show.
Note the identity of the second official stakeholder, the California Franchise Tax Board. That’s the real story. Money. The money it takes to comply with all these licensing requirements. Money the state wants but hasn’t received because the farm has been operating without a license since 2007, and Rawesome for more than six years.
Licenses and permits are supposed to protect the public health, for example by requiring proper cleaning and sanitizing of equipment and proper veterinary care for animals. It seems clear that Rawesome and Healthy Family Farms have been breaking the laws requiring such licenses. However, the absence of a license does not make food prepared without one inherently unsafe. It is unconscionable to dump $10,000 of food for a technicality. If this was to punish Rawesome and the farm, at least the food, including the milk and other dairy products, could have been donated to a food bank.
The Felony Complaint for Arrest Warrant reveals some details of the undercover investigation that led to this arrest, involving informants disguised as buyers. Healthy Family Farms and Rawesome were set up. Isn’t this entrapment?
One person at the recent raid told the raiders:
There was a Rawesome protest at the LA Courthouse this morning at 8:00 AM. The three “co-conspirators” had their day in court. Victoria Bloch was released without bail, still charged with one felony count. James Stewart’s bail was reduced to $30,000 provided he doesn’t sell unpasteurized milk without a license. Sharon Palmer will be arraigned Friday 8-4-2011 in the same courthouse. Rumors have it that her pro bono attorney will be Christopher Darden who worked on the prosecution side of the O.J. Simpson murder case.
More Information
Government Data Proves Raw Milk is Safe. June 22, 2011. Press Release by the Weston A. Price Foundation
Three Arrested on Charges of Illegally Producing, Selling Unpasteurized Milk. August 3, 2011. Press Release by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Rawesome Farm Buying Club Raided Again. August 3, 2011. Press Release by The Weston A. Price Foundation.
Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. Defending the rights and broadening the freedoms of family farms and protecting consumer access to raw milk and nutrient dense foods. website
Ann Marie Michaels. Weston A. Price Foundation Activist Award 2010. Cheeseslave on Facebook
Enjoy this? Then share the link and comment below, even if only to say "Hi!"
You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as National Food Security Examiner, National Science News Examiner, Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner, and founder and executive director of Long Beach Grows.
Copyright © 2011 Donna Marykwas; All rights reserved.
This was a multi-agency sting that involved the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the California Franchise Tax Board, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Milk and Dairy Food Safety Branch, the CDFA Division of Measurement Standards, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, the Ventura County Department of Public Health, the Los Angeles Police Department, and the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety.
James Cecil Stewart, the owner/operator of Rawesome, was arrested and charged with seven misdemeanors and six felony counts of conspiracy. His bail was set at $123,000.
Sharon Palmer, who operates Healthy Family Farms, LLC, in Santa Paula, Ventura County, CA, was arrested and charged with three of the misdemeanors and the six conspiracy charges. Her bail was set at $121,000.
Eugenie Victoria Bloch, LA chapter leader of the Weston A Price Foundation and part-time employee of Healthy Family Farms, was arrested with three counts of conspiracy. Her bail was set at $60,000.
All for daring to sell Healthy Family Farms’ raw goat milk and raw goat milk dairy products (and raw cow milk from Pennsylvania) to their loyal club members and shareholders.
People who belong to the “Right to Choose Healthy Food’s Rawesome Club” sign a membership agreement that states
“I completely reject and refuse all governmental food standards. I fully trust the board members of this club to properly oversee and manage the preparation, handling and packaging of the food in this club, including but not limited to raw meat, raw eggs, raw produce, raw juices, raw dairy...”The FDA sent a message today, this is not the land of the free, certainly not when it comes to deciding what healthy food one consumes. The “officials” threw away $10,000 worth of food, not only the raw milk and dairy products but also fresh fruits and vegetables, just to send this message. They also confiscated cash, computers, and more.
Besides the felonies “to conspire,” the misdemeanor charges were for processing milk without pasteurization, operating an unlicensed milk plant, selling milk or milk products that don’t “conform to the standards,” selling milk that had been produced or handled using unsanitary conditions, operating an unlicensed milk business, operating a food facility without a permit, selling unlabeled and improperly labeled food, selling food from unapproved sources, failing to store eggs at the proper temperature, and removing a notice of closure.
But it is legal to sell raw milk in California. Organic Pastures in Fresno sells throughout the state and online.
And with the evidence now down the drain, is there any physical proof that the milk had been contaminated, as surely it must have been had it been treated without concern for sanitation?
Have there ever been any cases of illness due to consumption of raw food products from Rawesome? If not, this is all a big show.
Note the identity of the second official stakeholder, the California Franchise Tax Board. That’s the real story. Money. The money it takes to comply with all these licensing requirements. Money the state wants but hasn’t received because the farm has been operating without a license since 2007, and Rawesome for more than six years.
Licenses and permits are supposed to protect the public health, for example by requiring proper cleaning and sanitizing of equipment and proper veterinary care for animals. It seems clear that Rawesome and Healthy Family Farms have been breaking the laws requiring such licenses. However, the absence of a license does not make food prepared without one inherently unsafe. It is unconscionable to dump $10,000 of food for a technicality. If this was to punish Rawesome and the farm, at least the food, including the milk and other dairy products, could have been donated to a food bank.
The Felony Complaint for Arrest Warrant reveals some details of the undercover investigation that led to this arrest, involving informants disguised as buyers. Healthy Family Farms and Rawesome were set up. Isn’t this entrapment?
One person at the recent raid told the raiders:
“Drink your milk from Monsanto and poison your own children.”I say “survival of the fittest” will determine who is right and who is not.
There was a Rawesome protest at the LA Courthouse this morning at 8:00 AM. The three “co-conspirators” had their day in court. Victoria Bloch was released without bail, still charged with one felony count. James Stewart’s bail was reduced to $30,000 provided he doesn’t sell unpasteurized milk without a license. Sharon Palmer will be arraigned Friday 8-4-2011 in the same courthouse. Rumors have it that her pro bono attorney will be Christopher Darden who worked on the prosecution side of the O.J. Simpson murder case.
More Information
Government Data Proves Raw Milk is Safe. June 22, 2011. Press Release by the Weston A. Price Foundation
Three Arrested on Charges of Illegally Producing, Selling Unpasteurized Milk. August 3, 2011. Press Release by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Rawesome Farm Buying Club Raided Again. August 3, 2011. Press Release by The Weston A. Price Foundation.
Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. Defending the rights and broadening the freedoms of family farms and protecting consumer access to raw milk and nutrient dense foods. website
Ann Marie Michaels. Weston A. Price Foundation Activist Award 2010. Cheeseslave on Facebook
Enjoy this? Then share the link and comment below, even if only to say "Hi!"
You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as National Food Security Examiner, National Science News Examiner, Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner, and founder and executive director of Long Beach Grows.
Copyright © 2011 Donna Marykwas; All rights reserved.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Jamie Oliver’s food revolution victory with Los Angeles Unified School District sets a national example
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| From Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution |
Tuesday June 14, 2011, the Los Angeles Unified School District Board voted in favor of eliminating flavored milk from the city’s public schools. This school food policy goes into effect July 1 to improve the nutrition of the 680,000 students in the second largest school district in the nation. LA students will be drinking real unflavored milk with their meals from now on.
This change is in response to Jamie’s Food Revolution efforts that currently have LA in the spotlight and his Milk Day of Action campaign that inspired food revolutionaries across the nation to demand only fresh wholesome food for schools, starting with real milk.
In Jamie Oliver’s TED award speech given February 2010 in Long Beach, California, Jamie highlighted flavored milks in schools as an issue “epitomizing the trouble that we’re in." He said,
“School food is something that most kids, 31 million a day actually, have twice a day, more than often, breakfast and lunch, 190 days of the year, so you could say that school food is quite important,really, judging the circumstances."
“Judging the circumstances, any judge in the whole world would look at the statistics and the evidence and they would find any government involved guilty of child abuse, that’s my belief.”
In response to his recent LAUSD victory, Jamie said,
“With flavored milk, kids are getting loads of sugar and other food additives they simply don’t need to grow and learn. In the Food Revolution the little battles set us up for the next win. All these little battles count; they matter. It’s not just milk. It’s caring about what we feed kids 180 days a year.”Perhaps your school district did not get on the Milk Day bandwagon this year. That’s OK. You can use your summer away from school to organize your school food policy campaign. It’s never too late to make our schools accountable for the good or bad food choices they offer our children.
More Information
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution milk factsheet Jamie Oliver Foundation website
Join the Food Revolution Community on facebook
Watch Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, season 2, Fridays at 9PM/8C on ABC. This Friday’s episode is “Feed them healthy food with 77 cents,” June 17, 2011.
Books by Jamie Oliver
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You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as National Food Security Examiner, Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner, Long Beach Restaurant Examiner, National Science News Examiner and founder and executive director of Long Beach Grows.
Copyright © 2011 Donna Marykwas; All rights reserved.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Join the Long Beach Grows™ real food security coalition to help fight hunger in Long Beach
We are in the midst of one of the worst recessions ever. A recent report prepared by LAANE for the Coalition for Good Jobs and a Healthy Community indicates that one in five Long Beach residents are living in economic hardship and over 50% of our children are living in poverty. HealthyCity.org, an authoritative source of demographic data, indicates that 62.3% - 66.19% of LA county residents cannot afford enough food to eat. The remaining 33.81% - 37.7% remain hungry.
Long Beach Grows recently established the LBGROWS™ Real Food Security Coalition to advocate for a just and equitable food system in Long Beach, and to empower the low income Long Beach communities to establish their own food security, independence and freedom from hunger. The Coalition will work to identify Long Beach’s populations at greatest risk of food insecurity, the reasons for this, the strengths and weaknesses in our food system, and long term solutions to create a future of food security for all. While the main focus of the Coalition is community organizing, outreach may influence positive change on regional, state and national policy and will include reporting and documenting on food issues.
The Coalition will attempt to connect all sectors of the community and local food system. All Long Beach residents are encouraged to join. Low-income residents who need access to better food are especially welcome. So whoever you are, whether you are rich or poor, an adult or youth, an individual with only personal interests or a community organizer leading a group with a mission, your input and help is wanted. Local growers, environmentalists, non-profit food distributors, grocers, restauranteurs, dieticians, artisanal food crafters, city employees, big consumers such as Long Beach Unified School District or Long Beach Memorial, all are invited.
The Coalition will assemble at least once a month and is currently scheduled to meet the first Thursday of each month from 6 - 8 PM at the Catalyst space at 430 East 1st Street in the arts district of downtown Long Beach. Mark your calendars. As the Coalition grows, so will the venue.
Spread the word. Join the Coalition today.
Enjoy this? Please share the link and comment below, even if only to say "Hi!"
You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner, Long Beach Restaurant Examiner, National Food Policy Examiner, National Science News Examiner, and founder and director of Long Beach Grows™.
Copyright © 2011 Donna Marykwas; All rights reserved.
Friday, June 3, 2011
New City Public Schools Farm in Long Beach celebrates urban agriculture and education at Farm Festival this Saturday
Just one year ago, on June 10, 2010, was the first New City Schools Farm Build Day. Volunteers from throughout the city, including Mayor Bob Foster and 1st District Councilman Robert Garcia, came to help build an urban farm on a quarter-acre lot in the heart of the city at 15th Street and Long Beach Boulevard. This location is within walking distance of both campuses of the progressive New City Public Schools charter school. This also appears to be part of the same location where the former Long Beach Ostrich Farm was located circa 1907-1910.
Kathleen Irvine is the energetic Farm Manager who understands the challenges of gardening with children and has used her insight to create the kid-friendly farm that the site has become. For example, the planting beds are narrower than usual to allow the children’s short arms to reach what is being planted and later harvested. In addition, to minimize hurt feelings, no one is allowed to eat a crop unless there is enough for every student.
The garden is visited by two to three classes of students three days a week. Fridays are also busy with field trips. It serves as a living laboratory where the students learn all about plants, what is necessary to keep them alive and to make them thrive, and where their food comes from. Kathleen said that prior to this opportunity to grow an urban farm, some of her students mistook a yellow squash (still on the plant) for a banana. Now they know better.
School gardens and farms can make a big difference in our kids’ appreciation of nature, their understanding of where real food comes from, and their present and future healthy diet and lifestyle decision.
Come celebrate the success of this urban school farm this Saturday beginning at noon. Entertainment will include music, dancing, a drum circle, crafts, and face painting. Green vendors and information booths will also be available for you to enjoy.
Be sure to return to this article to view the slideshow of the event.
New City Public Schools Farm Fundraiser
Date: 06/04/2011
Time: 12:00 - 4:00 P.M.
Location: 225 East 15th St., Long Beach, CA 90813
Contact: Kathleen Irvine, Farm Manager (818) 470-0005
More Information
Long Beach School Gardens & Farms, Long Beach Grows website
New City Public Schools website
Enjoy this? Please share the link and comment below, even if only to say "Hi!"
You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner, Long Beach Restaurant Examiner, National Food Policy Examiner, National Science News Examiner, and founder and director of Long Beach Grows.
Copyright © 2011 Donna Marykwas; All rights reserved.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Mexican food at Los Compadres in Long Beach is nothing special
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| Hard shell chicken tacos |
The atmosphere was certainly festive. Colorful balloons decorated our tables. The dark wood interior was comfortable.
Of course, it is difficult to feed a crowd so big, and perhaps the hosts of the event were mostly responsible for the very limited selection options, but still.
Diners chose between either hard shell chicken tacos or hard shell potato tacos, that’s it. Aren’t hard shell tacos passé? California is the land of the luscious soft taco; hard shell tacos belong to the inferior realm of Taco Bell. Although the shells were tasty deep fried tortillas, all one could taste of the taco was the greasy shell.
Side dishes were rice and beans. The rice was too soft and tasted just like Rice-a-Roni. The beans were pintos and tasted overwhelmingly like chicken stock, not bad but not beany.
The guacamole was fresh but could use more spice, and at least one refill per table of four hungry diners.
The best part of the meal was the orange slice garnish.
Other diners who have more experience with Los Compadres said they come for the delicious ceviche. It did look good.
For now, though, this Long Beach restaurant reviewer and food critic gives Los Compadres just 1 thumb up.
Los Compadres
3229 East Anaheim Street
Long Beach, CA 90804
(562) 961-0061
www.loscompadreslbc.com
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You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as Long Beach Restaurant Examiner, Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner, National Food Policy Examiner, National Science News Examiner and founder and director of Long Beach Grows.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Eggs, eggs and more eggs: a Long Beach Unified School District Science Fair project
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| Maya, a 4th grader from Minnie Gant Elementary |
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| Home grown eggs have tall bright orange yolks. |
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| Store bought eggs have dull yellow yolks that break easily. |
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| Old eggs float. |
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| Measuring the height of an egg yolk isn't as easy as it looks. |
LBUSD students have been anticipating this event since conducting their projects and submitting them almost two months ago. A total of 1,100 students (the number of registrants) represented 56 LBUSD schools, including 34 elementary schools, 10 K-8 schools, 10 middle schools, and 2 high schools.
A total of 125 reviewers, including Boeing employees, LBUSD teachers, CSULB professors and students, and community volunteers, volunteered their Saturday morning to support and inspire our future generation of scientists and science-literate citizens. Each student presenter had the opportunity to speak with at least two reviewers.
In addition to the student posters, there were numerous interactive exhibits including an 80 pound cobra to pet, solar boats, wind energy devices, and robots made by student engineers.
Eric Brundin, the School District’s K-12 Science Curriculum Leader, said of the Science Fair
“It is a testament to our great schools and families that in spite of all the economic and employment challenges people face, our district Science Fair has stayed strong. We are still huge, one of the largest such events in the nation, and the excitement of our students is as strong as ever. That, after all, is what keeps us going.”
At least one of the projects was relevant to urban agriculture. Maya, a 4th grader from Minnie Gant Elementary, raises chickens at home and told all about her experiments to test the differences between store bought eggs and fresh home grown eggs. Onlookers were impressed with her knowledge of chickens and the obvious differences in egg shell integrity that could be seen as she “candled” eggs with a bright LED flashlight. Excerpts from her poster presentation and report are given in the slideshow.
Maya said of the experience
“I really liked doing a science fair project. I think I was actually lucky to be picked to go to the fair. It was cool doing it on eggs.””
Next year, maybe you too will decide to do a science fair project based on something to do with agriculture.
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| A gross store bought egg with a thin transparent shell. |
 | |
| A gross store bought egg that let the dye in. |
Eric Brundin
K-12 Science Curriculum Leader
Long Beach Unified School District
997-8000, Ext. 2963
Karen Connors
LBUSD Science Fair Steering Committee
(562) 997-8000, Ext. 2963
 | |||||
| A mess of eggs. |
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You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner, National Science News Examiner, National Food Policy Examiner, and founder and executive director of Long Beach Grows.
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| “Most hens are usually raised in crowded not very nice factories in small cages. Only some ever see the sun or go outside. These are called pastured. My hens are pastured and they have names and I love them.” |
Thursday, May 26, 2011
What is food security?
 | ||||
| Community Food Security Coalition |
For some people, food security means to not have to worry about where their family's next meal is coming from, whatever that meal might be and for whatever reason, including poverty, homelessness, or absence of food even if money is no object.
Some communities are considered food deserts because they lack access to grocery stores. A food desert could be a small town in a remote rural location, or it could be a neighborhood within a big city.
However, food security is not merely freedom from hunger. One's diet might fill the belly but still be nutritionally inferior and actually cause harm.
Even access to a full service grocery store does not ensure food security, if one takes into account whether the food is stripped of its nutritional value by over-processing, whether it contains antibiotics, hormones, drug-resistant bacteria, or other contaminants that don't belong in our food. Food security requires that our food be safe.
Long term food security on a global and even local scale requires that we preserve the natural resources necessary to sustain our food supply.
With food insecurity comes serious health problems and other socioeconomic issues.
Food insecurity has been responsible for the demise of entire civilizations.
Without food, we die.
Earth is fast approaching its capacity to feed a global population expected to reach 9 billion people in just under 40 more years.
Thus, food security is the most important social issue of the 21st century.
I will address these and other issues relevant to the loaded term "food security." Stay tuned for more details to come.
*The U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture
More information
Community Food Security Coalition
Food Deserts
USDA Food Desert Locator
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You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as National Food Policy Examiner, National Science News Examiner, Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner and founder and executive director of Long Beach Grows.
Copyright © 2011 Donna Marykwas; All rights reserved.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Kabob Curry serves Pakistani-style Indian food in downtown Long Beach
Today two lunch specials serve three people, two adults and one child. The dishes are more like platters and include a pile of basmati rice pilaf, a simple salad, and a wedge of flat bread called naan. The gyro combo at $6.99 includes a mixture of beef and lamb served atop the rice. The chicken curry and channa combo at $5.99 comes with curry on one side of the rice, channa masala on the other.
The channa, or whole chick peas smothered in a spicy sauce, is just perfect. The basmati rice pilaf is fluffy and exceptional, cooked just until tender, smattered with small brown seeds (perhaps fenugreek) and can be eaten grain by perfect grain if one so chooses.
The lamb and beef gyro surprises the palate with an initial burst of heat of the hot pepper variety but which does not overwhelm all the remaining subtle flavors.
The chicken curry is very tasty as well, with a tomato- and cream-based curry sauce including cinnamon, cardamon, and other flavors. One disappointment is that the four small chicken pieces are mostly bone and include two backs that should be relegated to the stock pot.
The waitress is nice but cannot help describe the difference between Pakistani-style Indian food versus the familiar Indian foods and flavors of U.S. restaurants. Perhaps that is because Pakistan was formerly part of India and did not itself exist as a nation until 1947.
Geographically, Pakistan encompasses 307,374 square miles, just 16,000 square feet less than the combined areas of California, Washington state, and Oregon. India is on Pakistan’s east border. The Arabian Sea is to the south. Pakistan’s north is home to the western portion of the Himalayas mountain range.
Diners at Kabob Curry can grind Himalayan salt on their Pakistani-style Indian food in Long Beach in Southern California. Touted by the restaurant as the “purest” of salts, it is “unprocessed” meaning that it has not been purified but instead has more than 84 minerals and trace elements, straight from the Himalaya mountains.
Four (out of six) thumbs up! (We usually dine in threes.)
Kabob Curry
108 West 3rd Street (3rd & Pine)
Long Beach, CA 90802
562-49-KABOB
Open 7 days a week.
Sunday - Thursday, 11 AM - 9:30 PM
Friday & Saturday, 11 AM - 10 PM
www.kabobCurry.com
Enjoy this? Read them, share them, and please comment below, even if only to say “Hi!” What should your Long Beach Restaurant Examiner try the next time she visits Kabob Curry?
You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner, National Science News Examiner and founder and director of Long Beach Grows.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Japanese Garden green generation mixer focused on “Redesigning CSULB, the renaissance of Long Beach and Southern California”
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Held April 13, this prelude to Earth Week 2011 featured guest speakers spotlighting green efforts on and off campus and representing the city, the university, and other community groups. Jeanette Schelin, Director of the EBM Japanese Garden, and Tracy Gorden, Program Assistant at the Garden, presided over the event and introduced the speakers.
Whole Foods sustains local & ethical healthy food choices!
Adrienne Peters, the marketing supervisor at the Long Beach Whole Foods Market that sponsored this event, spoke about Whole Foods’ green mission and commitment to local healthy food and environmental sustainability. She introduced Whole Foods’ Health Starts Here program to help people make healthier food choices, and the store’s participation in Global Animal Partnership (GAP) which she described as “beyond organic.” GAP is a 5-Step animal welfare rating standard used to rate and certify meat producers based on their animal welfare practices.
Donnie Bessom, the SSTF Project Coordinator, asked Ms. Peters to consider bringing Whole Foods to campus because as he said,
“right now food on campus is pretty bad.”The snacks Whole Foods shared at the event were pretty good,
“Especially the cheese,” says the cheese lady*.Green Long Beach! shines a spotlight on the green community!
Tiffany Chen, recent CSULB alumna, current sustainability assistant in the city’s Office of Sustainability, and co-Catalyst of Green Long Beach!, highlighted the evolution of the Green Long Beach! festival. First held in 2009, the festival attracted >1,000 attendees and 100 participants. The theme of this year’s festival is Ignite Change! and is expected to draw > 5,000 attendees and 400 participants. It will take place Saturday June 11, 2011 from 10 AM - 8 PM at The Promenade between Broadway and 3rd Streets.
City of Long Beach sees a greener future!
Larry Rich, who has worked for the city in various positions for 20 years, became one of the city’s sustainability commissioners in 2008 the year the Office of Sustainability was formed to develop and implement green initiatives throughout Long Beach. He describes himself as the most sustainable of the sustainability commissioners, since he is the only one of three remaining. His office currently oversees 10 part time interns (8 who are paid) and 17 youth workers from the Workforce Development Bureau’s green jobs program.
In what Larry describes as a soft sell (of green awareness) some of the interns act as one-on-one field supervisors of the youth workers, working on projects such as planting native drought tolerant plants at city installations, and delivering mulch to vacant city lots as part of Project Mulch-A-Lot and to residential applicants as part of a new Mulch Delivery Program. In collaboration with West Coast Arborists, the Office of Sustainability diverts ~6,000 tons of green waste per year from the waste stream.
Larry explained that the city’s solid waste reduction program does not include green bins (such as are offered in neighboring San Pedro) because Long Beach has the largest of the only three California Southeast Resource Recovery Facilities (SERRF) where solid waste is burned for energy. This is considered diversion, not incineration.
CSULB facilities are green behind the scenes!
Jon Root, the campus manager of integrated waste management and waste services, spoke about the university’s recycling efforts that mostly go unseen. The mulching mowers used on 60 acres of campus turf divert ~400 tons a year of grass from the waste stream, The tree trimmings from the 7,200 trees on campus are saved and re-used in the landscape. The university’s recycling efforts include not only paper and plastic recycling (see these images from last year’s CSULB Earth Week fair) but also a scrap metal program and an Associated Students Recycling Center that is operated by student employees.
Long Beach Grows plans for local food security! Grow Beach!
Long Beach Grows promotes food security through urban agriculture. Donna Marykwas, the Executive Director of Long Beach Grows, spoke about her plans and vision for a Long Beach with at least one community farm co-operative per city wide district, where people can grow and harvest real food together while building community. Donna has gardened at various community gardens throughout the country since 1985, first at Cornell in upstate NY, then in Cambridge, MA, Lincoln, MA, and Long Beach, CA. Describing the major differences between typical community gardens versus community farm co-ops, she envisions truly cooperative sites where people share in the work, share the rewards of their efforts, and share the bounty with the community. There are over 100 families on a waiting list to grow food with Long Beach Grows. Donna expressed serious interest in growing food security through urban agriculture on the CSULB campus, preferably at the site where there once was a community garden in the past. She thinks that growing food for the present on the Native American Indian ancestors of the past is a way to honor, respect and preserve their connection to the land.
CSULB faculty designs green phones!
Department of Design Professor Wesley Woelfel spoke about design methods to divert cell phones from the e-waste stream, citing statistics that with 1.2 billion cell phones sold globally per year, only 10% of obsolete cell phones are e-cycled. This is the motivation for his life cycle analysis of ways to design sustainable cell phones. Some ideas that he and his students have come up with are to encourage the design of new phones that are modular, easier to repair, upgradable, and did I hear him say biodegradable? We’ll see.
Industrial designer dreams green transportation!
Max Beach, a founding partner of Impact Design Associates in Culver City, teaches part time at CSULB. He wowed the audience with a futuristic animated video that brought to life his dream of an alternative transportation system based on inductively charged solar-powered CSULB streetcars.
Go green!
Connect with the green community at the next mixer to be held Wednesday, May 4th, 4:30- 6:30 PM, also at the Japanese Garden.
Enjoy this? Please share the link and comment below even if only to say "Hi!"
You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner, National Science News Examiner and founder and executive director of Long Beach Grows.
Copyright © 2011 Donna Marykwas*; All rights reserved.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Earth Week 2011 in Long Beach is lush with green activities
Saturday, April 16
9 AM Produce Exchange Long Beach @ Bluff Park
- Location: Bluff park @ Ocean Blvd and Junipero
10AM - 1PM Mosaic Workshop at 2CC Art Gallery
FREE, kid-friendly environment-themed workshops
Most Sundays, April through July
- Location: 2nd City Council Art gallery & Performance Space, 435 Alamitos Ave.
Monday, April 18
9 AM - 11 PM Colorado Lagoon Earth Week Clean up Event
- Location: Colorado Lagoon Marine Science Education Center, 5119 East Colorado St.
Tuesday, April 19
7 PM - 9 PM Donation-based Herbal Education Class
- Location: The Catalyst Space, 430 East 1st St.
10:30 AM - 2 PM CSULB’s Earth Week Environmental Fair
- Location: CSULB Campus, Speakers Platform across from the University Bookstore
on Beach Drive just off of Bellflower Blvd.
For More Info: Jessica Young, email
Wednesday, April 20
9 AM - 6 PM Long Beach City College Horticulture Club Open House &Plant Sale
- Location: Pacific Coast Campus, 1305 East Pacific Coast Hwy, Horticulture Gardens
10:30 AM - 2 PM CSULB’s Earth Week Environmental Awareness Fair, continued
Thursday, April 21
9 AM - 6 PM Long Beach City College Plant Sale, continued
2 PM - 5 PM Growing Experience Earth Day Event
Family-friendly farm tours and kid activities
- Location: 750 Via Carmelitos
Friday, April 22 “MOTHER EARTH DAY”
9 AM - 6 PM Long Beach City College Plant Sale, continued
10 AM - 2 PM Earth Day Celebration at Long Beach City Hall
- Multiple city departments will be coming together to showcase their green initiatives and environmental programs.
For More Info: Tiffany Chen email, city website
11 AM - 2 PM Earth Day on Campus! @ Long Beach City College
- Demos on solar energy, water pump, climate change presentation, reuse guide, recycling tips & more!
- Location: LBCC Liberal Arts Campus, Courtyard by White Oak Hall, 4901 E Carson St
Saturday, April 23
9 AM - 6 PM Long Beach City College Plant Sale, last chance
10 AM - 1 PM Colorado Lagoon Habitat Restoration
- Location: 5119 East Colorado St.
Additional Resources
Download the City of Long Beach’s Earth Week 2011 calendar here, for more events.
Earth Week History
Enjoy this? Please share the link and comment below even if only to say "Hi!"
You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner, National Science News Examiner and founder and executive director of Long Beach Grows.
Copyright © 2011 Donna Marykwas; All rights reserved.
Free produce exchange comes to Long Beach Bluff Park on alternate Saturdays
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| Produce Exchange Long Beach |
The Produce Exchange is scheduled to continue the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month until the growing season wanes, beginning at 9 AM. Although it is called an exchange, you are welcome to participate whether or not you are able to contribute to the offerings.
If you garden and are lucky enough to have more than your family and friends can eat, think about sharing your excess here. If your fruit trees bear more than you need, you can prevent waste and protect your trees from being damaged from overly burdened limbs, share your bounty here.
Sarah Rosenberger says “This is a place to connect with your community.” She is a member of Foodscape Long Beach. Sarah organizes their Produce Exchange, something she says “I have dreamed of forever.”
Foodscape Long Beach, founded by Ryan Serrano, is a community group recently adopted, or fiscally sponsored, by the Catalyst Network of Communities. Ryan has 9 years of experience as a landscaper/general contractor replacing lawns with California native plants. He started Foodscape, a not-for-profit gardening service, to build and maintain food gardens on peoples’ private property. The Foodscape mission is to “foster the culture of local growing, increase community interconnection, and to aid the poor and impoverished.”
Enjoy this? Please share the link and comment below even if only to say "Hi!"
You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner, National Science News Examiner and founder and executive director of Long Beach Grows.
Copyright © 2011 Donna Marykwas; All rights reserved.
More Suggested Reading
Farm Together Now
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Earth Week 2011 Open Letter to First Lady Michelle Obama
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| Two full grown Nigerian dwarf goats and one 8 year old girl. |
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
FAX: 202-456-2461
Dear First Lady Michelle Obama:
It has been over a year since I first wrote to you about how you can help people throughout our great nation advance their local food security efforts. My original letter can be viewed here. I am writing to you once again in light of the upcoming Earth Week celebration (April 16 - April 22) to ask for your action.
I am a mother, a wife, an educator, a scientist, a community gardener, and a practitioner of nourishing traditions that include urban agriculture as part of my back to the basics philosophy of feeding and nurturing my family. I am trying to teach my daughter about healthy food choices, local and sustainable food security, and self-sufficiency while respecting the animals and the earth that provide for us. I no longer allow my daughter to eat the food provided at school because it is overloaded with fat and carbohydrates and contains minimal fresh fruits and vegetables. Yet she begs me to allow her to eat the school "food" because she sees her friends eating it and this is what the Long Beach Unified School District offers; what kind of nutritional message is this teaching our children? In addition, it is amazing to see how many children have no idea where their food comes from. Every school (not just a handful, and particularly in the city) should have an organic vegetable garden that is incorporated into the K-12 curriculum to teach our children about real food, nutrition, healthy lifestyle choices, sustainable agriculture, and even science. Moreover every urban center should develop a demonstration urban farm to serve as a positive example that educates the children and adults of our community while providing them with another source of local real food and life skill training opportunities. I believe this is our only hope for a sustainable future.
I applaud you for setting a positive example by planting a food garden at the White House. I am writing to ask that you please take the next step in educating the public about the benefits and suitability of urban agriculture by adding egg-laying poultry but especially miniature dairy goats to your White House urban yard. Other great cities allow this type of urban agriculture, including San Francisco, Seattle, Portland OR, Pasadena, Oakland, and even NYC (which allows poultry and recently honey bees). Small scale urban agriculture is beneficial in so many ways, not the least of which is in allowing us to reconnect with the earth that provides us sustenance.
I wish to legalize miniature goats in the city of Long Beach, CA. Two or three female Nigerian dwarf goats can provide a year round supply of milk to a family, perhaps with enough to spare to make yogurt and cheese. Goat milk is more nutritious and less allergenic than cow milk, more people in the word drink goat milk versus cow milk, and since goats were domesticated about 10,000 years ago (about the same time as dogs) many cultures throughout the world including immigrants to the US are quite familiar with raising goats. Not only could goats provide a renewable source of food to nourish a family, they could also provide a renewable source of fiber and fertilizer. They can be put to use to clear brush, to mow pesticide-free lawns, and to compost kitchen waste. On top of all these “uses,” they make great pets; they are friendly, quiet, relatively docile animals that are great fun, providing hours of wholesome education and entertainment for the family and neighborhood children. Contrary to popular belief, they do not stink (except for in-tact males), they do not attract flies and vermin, and they do not pose a significant health threat to the public, certainly compared to dogs that can transmit rabies or compared to cats that can transmit toxoplasmosis, to name just a few.
To celebrate this year’s Earth Week, I urge you to add 3 or more miniature goats to your White House urban yard, breed them, and make the birthday a public event and celebration for a sustainable future. Once the mothers give birth, they will provide milk (and public education) long after the babies are weaned.
For more information about urban agriculture and its many benefits to your personal well-being and to the well-being of our local and global communities, please visit my website at www.longbeachgrows.org. In addition, I urge you to show your support by signing my online petition in favor of urban agriculture in Long Beach, California (www.longbeachgrows.org/LongBeachGrows/Please_sign_my_petition.html). It would mean a great deal to me.
Yours sincerely,
Donna L. Marykwas, Ph.D.
Founder and Executive Director
LONG BEACH GROWS
Growing a more sustainable future
Enjoy this? Please share the link and comment below even if only to say "Hi!"
You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as National Science News Examiner, Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner and founder and executive director of Long Beach Grows.
Copyright © 2010, 2011 Donna Marykwas; All rights reserved.
Suggested Reading
Monday, March 7, 2011
Long Beach Science Fair ‘Ag’ challenge
Each public school has their own guidelines for participation in this annual event. For example, this year Minnie Gant Elementary will be participating. The school will hold its own Science Fair exhibit, and the best entries will be chosen to represent Minnie Gant at the District Science Fair.
Each K-5 elementary school can enter no more than 18 projects at the district fair. Each middle school, high school, and K-8 elementary school is allowed no more than 24 projects.
Table 1 shows which types of projects your child can enter. For example, K and 1st graders are allowed to enter collections that address a scientific question, K through 5th graders are allowed to enter a project based on library research as opposed to experimentation, 3rd through 8th graders can enter inventions, 7th graders can enter scientific surveys, 9th through 12th graders can enter engineering projects, and all students can enter experimental projects.
The judging criteria varies between project types and is more stringent for the more advanced grades. The basis of any Science Fair project is a problem that needs to be solved and for which the Science Fair participant doesn’t already know the answer at the outset of the project. This is a good opportunity to learn about something new.
As an extra incentive to enter your school’s Science Fair competition, the Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner will reprint some of the best entries that cover an agriculture-related topic.
Agriculture is largely science-based but often overlooked by those considering a career in science. Yet a farmer needs to understand and carefully apply a great wealth of scientific knowledge with practically every decision he or she makes, from the selection of the most suitable crop for the prevailing conditions on his or her farm, to the best time to harvest to maximize ripeness and nutritional quality while minimizing risks of loss that might happen if the crop is picked too late.
In addition to actual farmers who work in the field, there are scientists who work in the lab (and field) to feed the world as well. They include soil scientists, crop scientists, agronomists, pest control scientists, animal scientists, and more.
Agriculture-related topics that one might consider for a Science Fair project could be about composting, seed germination, soil fertility, or even genetically modified organisms. The possibilities are boundless.
To be considered for online publication, just send a legible pdf of your Science Fair project to this address, along with a signed note from your classroom teacher verifying the authenticity of your work. All submissions will be entered into a pool from amongst which the best entries will be selected (by me) for publication after the district fair has completed.
Resources to help with your science fair project:
LBUSD Science Fair information page
California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom website
Life lab website
Suggest other resources here.
Enjoy this? Please share it and comment below even if only to say "Hi!"
You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as National Science News Examiner, Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner and founder and executive director of Long Beach Grows.
Copyright © 2011 Donna Marykwas; All rights reserved.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Creating Livable Communities in Long Beach on this evening’s City Council agenda
“Recommendation to request City Manager to conduct community meetings to discuss ways that residents can become involved in making Long Beach a more livable, mobile and desirable place to live.”
Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal, our 2nd district council representative, is co-sponsoring this request for Creating Livable Communities, along with Councilman Robert Garcia of the 1st district, Gary DeLong of the 3rd district, and James Johnson of the 7th district. The idea, though, is that residents from ALL Long Beach Communities, not just those represented by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 7th districts, be given the opportunity to become
“more involved in the planning of local projects that enhance community character and reflect a broader group of citizens’ input” to create “more mobile, sustainable and livable communities.”
Tell your City Council representative to mandate this type of community dialogue, including not just a few community meetings but regular meetings on a continuing basis. If you don’t know who your City Council representative is, you can find out here. It is highly recommended that as many interested residents attend.
As an individual citizen of Long Beach, and as the founder and executive director of Long Beach Grows, I agvocate for and work towards a greener, healthier, more sustainable Long Beach that supports local food security through urban agriculture.
Urban agriculture is about building healthy communities in Long Beach. As is the case in San Francisco, the city of Long Beach should embrace urban agriculture into our culture’s mainstream approach towards food security.
A walkable and bicycle-friendly city is only livable if the people who walk and bicycle as their primary form of transportation have equal access to nutritious, affordable, real food. Urban agriculture within the city (not just peripheral to the city) and within all zoning districts will allow this to happen.
In addition to waiting to be heard at one of the community meetings, please voice your opinions here. What does a happier, healthier, more sustainable and livable Long Beach mean to you?
Enjoy this? Please share it and comment below even if only to say "Hi!"
You might also be interested in Donna’s other work as National Science News Examiner, Long Beach Urban Agriculture Examiner and founder and executive director of Long Beach Grows.
Copyright © 2011 Donna Marykwas; All rights reserved.
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