Courtney's Food Fight

I have been thinking about the phrase “grow where you are planted” for weeks and today’s events have moved my thoughts into ideas, which can finally be recorded as a much overdue blog post.  I have had the opportunity to work with some girls at Columbus’s High School for teenage mothers over the past two weeks.  Early Head Start is opening its first two centers and one of them is at the TAP Center. 

So teenage mothers…….as my husband noted, this is not something I have any experience with, and I thought about that today.  I could look at how foreign these young women are to me and yet, all I wanted and all I saw were a connection and a desire to be heard, perhaps even understood.  There is nothing foreign about those feelings, so it never entered my mind that I’ve never been exposed to teenage pregnancy and motherhood at such a tender age.  Does it really even matter if I share in all of these specifics?  At this moment I must say no.  What matters is that I care and that I’m there, willing to listen and share myself with them without judgment or fear.

So over the weeks, this saying “Grow where you are planted” which an old college boyfriend used to say to me (I think he was saying it so I wouldn’t take off with someone else…ah, youth) Sorry I digress!  The saying has matured with me, and not being as self involved as I was then, it makes me think about celebrating where I am in my life right now and celebrating that in others.

These teenage girls are mothers and no matter how young, this is something to celebrate.  They must learn to grow where they are planted, and I mean like the wild kudzu that is taking off all over this gorgeous state due to heavy rains all year long.  It may look wild and untamable, but when I look past the tangles all I see is lush green beauty that blankets the ground.  I really celebrate these girls and hope that I might be a positive part of their journey.

So, now that Jamie Oliver’s FOOD REVOLUTION is over, I still want to continue my journey with this blogging craziness and I think I’ll change the title from Courtney’s Food Fight to Food for Thought?  Food fuels our bodies and thought our minds, so hopefully it will make for great fodder!  Journey on.

I realize that it has been over a week since the Season Finale of Jamie Oliver’s FOOD REVOLUTION and even now I find it difficult to write a response.  Other ideas for a post have seemed more important to me since watching that last episode….what is that telling me?  I need to make time to look on the internet for other opinions of the show.  I really liked it, celebrate the message, and yet fall short at this moment.  Honestly, I just get so overwhelmed by the magnitude of the issues surrounding food and its preparation, especially in schools. 

Last week, I mistakenly sent my 7 year old with a lunch that needed to be heated on a day they were having a picnic, so since he refuses to eat anything the school produces, I ran something down to the River Center and sat down with all the kids on the lawn.  I was not so horrified by what was in the lunches that the school provided: sandwhiches with nasty looking processed meat, processed cheese on a giant white bun, a piece of fruit, a bag of chips and a bag of goldfish (didn’t get that)…….typing it makes me feel like that should have been the most offensive, and yet it was how much food (especially fruit) went into the trash not even touched!!!  There are homeless people standing in lines at a church around the corner all morning waiting for food!!!  It really hurt me and now, I wish I’d made time to gather it up and take it up the street to donate.  I mean how can we let children throw away perfectly good and nutritious food like that?  Even on Jamie’s show, pounds and pounds of food goes “into the bin”!  This is something to revolt about. 

Another injustice that I’m desperately trying to process is how some people get services while others with just as much need go unhelped.  I have been working on the opening of Columbus’s first two Early Head Start Centers.  I feel so honored to be working with all these fantastic people and yet one of the new centers is next door  to another classroom that doesn’t get the same funding to support those infants/toddlers and parents.  So on one hand this federally funded program seems to be so magical, but then there is this dark side.  I don’t know how to reconcile the dichotomy in my mind and spirit.  Again, it seems like such a giant hill to climb. 

I’m afraid this blog feels like a bit of a downer, but I have to go here to get to new ideas that will hopefully provide some answers.  As a matter of fact tonight I’m going to attend a wonderful community farm dinner in Pine Mountain, without children!  So maybe I’ll get some inspiration there?  Most of the more liberally minded folk in town will be there, so I won’t have to tread too lightly!  Well, any of you reading this may be thinking after this long winded rant that I’ve hardly lost my words, but somehow I still feel a void?  I’ll let you know what I come up with!

Have I said yet how much I love Jamie Oliver’s TV show FOOD REVOLUTION?  The way he empowers the kids with a voice to say what they want brings tears to my eyes!  He’s providing the experential education and allowing people to make up their own minds.  Isn’t that what we all want?  I want to be respected, educated, and then trusted to do what is right for me.  I know my children want and need this too!

Argh…back to Alice!  Scarry.  Give the children what they need and not what they want and they will get used to it!  I believe that too.  We’re talking about little kids in school, they aren’t going to go rogue just because flavored milk is gone.  As a matter of fact when I don’t have popsicles in the house, my children act much better.  There are no revolts, no arguing, because the problem is gone.  When popsicles are in the house the kids negotiate and argue with me to get them as quickly as possible.  Food for thought…..

The other brilliant thing that happened in the Huntington Elementary School, is that the teacher influenced the kids on their milk choice.  If anyone is reading this and is excited about giving the kids an opporutnity to have a voice….then I emplore you to help our teachers find, and use their voices to effect change.  There are thousands of them out there that want the respect, knowledge and power to influence and teach our children.

Who are these people making the food regulations for schools?  French fries count as a vegetable and someone is more concerned with Calcium intake than the sugar in flavored milk….seriously, who’s voice is that?

So if you watch the show…all I can say is ALICE, ALICE, ALICE is she the cowardly lion or the wicked witch of the West?  Stay tuned next week, Will Alice get some courage or melt into the ground?

It is time for Dinner on the Farm’s Spring Community Dinner!

Mark your calendars for Saturday, May 1st, 2010–4 p.m.-8:00 p.m.

The Jenny-Jack Farm & the Dinner on the Farm crew invite you to join us for another incredible ‘on the farm’ experience. The event will feature delectable local & traditional foods including seasonal produce grown by Jenny & Chris Jackson on the very farm fields where we will be dining, delicious roasted chicken raised by Lafayette, AL farmer Steven Ledbetter, a farm tour hosted by farmer Chris Jackson, along with live bluegrass music & the good company of your neighbors!

$45 per person, tax & gratuity included/$10 per child, ages 4-12, includes supervised activities
Please direct your questions to: dinneronthefarm@yahoo.com
For reservations, please send checks payable to:
food blossoms gourmet catering
c/o 2171 Fortune Hole Road
Hamilton, GA 31811
(Please include your e-mail address & the number of guests in your party & their names, along with your check)

Dinner on the Farm Event Hosts:
Chris & Jenny Jackson of Jenny-Jack Farm, Shannon Klein of food blossoms gourmet catering & Kelly Geer of Blue Sky Creative

We are taking reservations now!
We have limited the number of guests for this event and so hope that you will plan to be among them!

We have attached a pdf of our promo flyer. Please feel free to share it with your friends & neighbors!

 Jamie Oliver wants to give kids a voice!!!

National guidelines say that French fries are a vegetable!

 Wow….I am such a cry baby!  Last Fridays episode of Food Revolution was so moving for me.  It really causes me to think about what my revolution will be.  How can I make a difference?  When Jamie said it really only takes a little bit of effort to influence change, my initial response was split.  I felt motivated by the idea, but then overwhelmed by the task.  I kept thinking about how Jamie Oliver has such a massive voice and foothold in his field of expertise. With his fame comes resources like money and access to TV producers.  How is any of that a small effort?  How can I really fit into this landscape of change?

Do you ever feel like the kids are running the show?  I’m certainly guilty on a variety of levels……but that doesn’t make it right.  I’m all for developing their authentic voice….but that being said, I am still the parent and have 31 years of life on the little critters.  There are plenty of things that I don’t like to do, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t great for me or something I need to do. Life lessons can be difficult, but as responsible adults we help our children navigate through these lessons. We shouldn’t be letting them tell us what is healthy and what they will and won’t eat, unless of course they are like Warren and bust you when you’re eating too much sugar!  So be careful, children do listen and we have to be prepared to take our own advice from the little people we created.

 Boy creativity works.  I’m watching all these kids dancing and cooking on Jamie Oliver’s show.  He is brilliant!  Make food fun…it is a celebration of life.  People have used food to gather and celebrate for as long as they’ve existed.

 RESPECT, isn’t that what we all want.  So maybe instead of the power struggle at meal times with the kids, maybe we/I could make it more fun and model some respect for each other and the food we eat!  This is a great time to talk about where our food comes from…..and I don’t mean the Publix!  Lately, my son has been getting very picky at dinner, so I’ve got him planning meals and cooking them.  He loves it, and eats it!

 Jamie’s creating community! People are together, talking, cooking! Who has time to update the world on what they’re doing in that moment…these people in Huntington, WV are living in the moment surrounded by community, not just tweeting about it! People together loving life that is what it’s about for me.  What is it about for you?

Warren and I just tasted Jamie Oliver’s first episode of FOOD REVOLUTION and think it is pretty great. I kept wishing that I were having lunch in the Huntington Elementary cafeteria. Now when’s the last time you wanted to eat in a school cafeteria? Honestly, I can’t even walk into the cafeteria without feeling nauseated.
I don’t know where to begin to comment on Jamie’s task! I felt crushed just watching. Crushed by the magnitude of his challenge and the waves of emotion I feel for the personal challenges facing millions of American families. All I could see was fear. Fear from the radio announcer, the school cooks, and the school administrators. Why are change and differences so scary? I don’t believe they have to be…..especially when we realize that we are all in this life together. We are all a part of humanity and all have the power to make life better.
I didn’t choose to see Jamie Oliver as a threat to Huntington, WV. I didn’t choose to think that he was there for his own personal gain. Don’t we all have and make choices? Our points of view shape everything. I am hoping when I turn on my TV next Friday night, that I see the people in Huntington, WV choosing love over fear. As my professor says, love is creative and limitless and selfless, while fear is destructive, constrictive and selfish. Ultimately, this show is about love for humanity. Sharing knowledge to create better lives for all, fearful or fearless. This is my kind of revolution!