We all agree that kids can make a difference; and in New London, kids DO make a difference!  Our organization, FRESH (Food: Resources, Education, Security, Health) has been working along with young people in New London Connecticut for five years now.  Our programs for  people aged 5-21 are a continuum of involvement and engagement with the food systems: exploring natural systems; confronting the status quo through education and advocacy; and building the skills and relationships that will result in the strong vibrant local food system that is crucial to our goal: making healthy food normal again!
 
Today, junk food is ubiquitous.  It is at school, at church, in the home, and it dominates the market place.  Everyone knows what it is, how to handle it and where to get it.  The consequences of our current [junk] food system are also easy to find: from obesity, diabetes and coronary disease; loss of regional farming and farm culture; to the relatively subtle loss of ecological literacy amongst our children: the status quo in food is entrenched and aggressive in its peddling of disease in fancy wrappings.  The current focus on a national health care system, we hope, will be another opportunity to focus on the relationship between what we eat as a society and public health, as well as the rich collective opportunity we have to prevent much of the personal and ecological illness which is so rampant today.
 
Our work is part of a national movement to reclaim the food system:  to transform the way we currently grow, access and eat into systems that are sustainable, just, accessible and beautiful!  Young people are at the core of our efforts.  Since our start in 2004 we have employed, trained and provided opportunities for hundreds of youth to get involved is this transformative and empowering work.  Youth powered the creation of our productive 2 acre organic farm at the site of a residential school for foster-care involved children and they have used their own hands and minds to plan and build the infrastructure for community gardens in New London which have greatly increased the amount and the visibility of gardening in the city.  These dynamic urban sites provide exciting experiential education for school children, another 'path of participation' for young people in this 'growth industry' of local and healthful foods. And the experiential learning is not only for children.  An important part of our youth employment program is advocacy and leadership training.  Along with basic agricultural and life skills we teach and practice critical thinking, problem solving, creative communication, public speaking, and community organizing.    And its not only young people who need to understand the ecological impacts of their daily decisions, the global implications of the systems by which they are fed, or even how to grow and cook food.  These basic yet complex insights, information and skills are in too short a supply.  Happily the demand for all of these is growing!   Many are starting to realize that "We ALL Make a Difference"; the youth who work with FRESH are spreading the skills and perspectives they gain so that everyone, young and old, rich and poor can get involved in making change. We are particularly proud of one example of this which I would like to share: our new collaboration with Public Allies (www.publicallies.com), an Americorp related program which pairs community service work with intensive organizing and leadership training.
 
Jessica Cartagena, who at 19 has been with FRESH for 4 years, is the first Public Ally to come from and work in Eastern Connecticut.  She has just started the program and is already highly energized by the opportunity to learn and work with the highly diverse and dynamic cadre of other young people who she is participating with.  Four days a week she is working with us to bring our youth training programs to a higher level.  On the fifth day of each week she is herself receiving training with PA, which promises to bring her to a higher level!  Read about her experiences so far later in the newsletter.
 
So whatever your age, we hope you will check us out on the web (freshnewlondon.org), and be on the look-out for ways to get more involved in the kitchens, gardens and farms that are in your community!
 
-Arthur Lerner, FRESH Co-Director

Summer of 2009 saw the biggest Youth Crew ever for FRESH New London!  17 New London Youth, including 6 second-year Crew Members and 11 new Crew Members, worked seven intensive weeks on all aspects of FRESH's work in the New London community.  The teens worked hard at the FRESH Farm, helped grow the FRESH Community Garden, cooked great food harvested from the Farm, taught younger kids about gardening in the Education Program, held a series of six Community Luncheons at the Garden, worked on the Mobile Market, hosted visits from other Youth Groups from around CT, and made trips to experience other groups in CT, MA and beyond.  The Youth also took part in workshops, learned about food systems and food justice, and worked hard on developing themselves and the group.
 
9 Youth have been chosen to continue their work with FRESH this Fall.  Here are a few highlights from the applications the Youth completed for Fall '09 Youth Crew:
What are you the most proud of that you've accomplished working @ FRESH?
"Gaining people's trust." "I'm most proud of the way that I changed [how] my family eats.  I bring home vegetables and they are happy to eat them." "What I'm most proud of that I've accomplished working at FRESH is serving the community.  Growing, weeding, harvesting and selling vegetables that my community can benefit from financially and health wise.  That makes me proud because I am participating in a good thing."
What has been the most valuable to you about working with FRESH and Why?
"... helping out the community has made me a better person and I enjoyed doing it." "Learning new things and trying out new experiences, because I want to be a good speaker and leader." "... Mobile Market because I see how people are eating healthy veggies.  Also I feel proud because I'm with FRESH and doing something productive!"

Potatoes, carrots, leeks, raspberries, a few wayward broccoli and chard plants, the occasional squash and tomato are the final products of a field that has produced over 20 different kinds of fruits and veggies this year.  Working at the FRESH farm had been a challenging but rewarding experience.  One of my goals was to subsist as much as possible off the food that I was helping to grow.  Many afternoons I would not bring a lunch and simply munched a carrot or a raw onion.  I even ate a raw eggplant one day, much to Arthur's horror.  It was delicious!  My time with FRESH is drawing to a close, but I will take away from this a great appreciation for the work that goes into producing food, and the intention to be an advocate for small scale organic agriculture.

The 2009 season was one of expansion for FRESH Community Gardens.  The Community Beds at the FRESH Community Garden Center were filled by early spring, including many returning gardeners in their second or third years, as well as a whole crop of new gardeners.  We had a significant number of "graduates" from 2008 to 2009, people who had fallen in love with gardening and needed more space than the raised beds at the Garden; these graduates have created new, larger gardens from themselves in their backyards or those of other family members!  To accommodate the long waiting list of potential gardeners, FRESH decided to convert what had been a large Demonstration Garden at the United Way Food Center, into a new Community Garden with 19 Gardeners.  The UWFC Garden is growing well; this fall the Gardeners will be meeting to design Garden Guidelines and make plans for a more organized effort in 2010!
We hosted a series of six Workshops at the FRESH Community Garden Center: Container Gardening, Organic Insect and Disease Control, Propagation Methods, Perennial Gardening, Strategies for Small Gardens, Season-Extension, Organic Gardening and Food Canning.  These were fun events that we hope to build on for next year.  Thanks to presenters: Kimberlery Stoner, entomologist; Kristin Grivois, FRESH Garden Intern 09; and all the FRESH Community Gardeners who shared their experiences. 
 
The interest in Community Gardening is continuing to grow in New London.  FRESH is available as a resource and support organization for any groups interested in starting new community gardens.  So if you want to be part of the community gardening movement, please contact us!

The Fall at FRESH is a start for new beginnings with the first and second grade classes at Jennings Elementary School.  I will be working with the students in the FRESH Community Garden on lessons that meet their current curriculum and class standards.  Along with working with the students at Jennings, FRESH will continue our past endeavors with the fabulous kids from the after-school program at the Drop-In Learning Center.  As we have over the past four years, The FRESH Youth, along with myself, will be hosting an after-school program at the Drop focused on nature.  The Fall 2009 FRESH educational programs will be divine.

 

Is it the low prices, the freshness of every flavorable vegetable, or the friendly service?  Why has the FRESH Mobile Market (MM) become familiar to the New London Community?  I can see the impact the MM has over the course of time.  It is nice to see people constantly calling the FRESH office to see if they haven't missed the market yet or see others standing in line anticipating FRESH's arrival.  Eating fresh and buying local has seemed to be the motivation for most residents who have become dedicated FRESH shoppers.  It's an empowering movement.  FRESH is feeding a need within the community: FOOD, a theme we're all connected by because we all have to eat.  When the MM is not running to each stop we've made it more accessible for the community to purchase our produce at a few local bodegas/corner stores that have collaborated with us to held feed the need. 
The Youth & Staff work hard every day, in sweat, exhaustion, dedication, laughter and love.

The dedicated Staff at FRESH continues to make FRESH move and hum.  Haley is moving on from FRESH this September; we thank her for the great energy she has shared at FRESH as Youth Program Manager and wish her all the best with her future endeavors and travels.  Anique Wiggins has been growing her position and the Educational Programs, expanding into school-day programming with Jennings School this Fall.  Jessica has begun her 10-month tenure as a Public Ally (see her article); her professional and personal growth is going to be exponential and she will share her knowledge and experience through greater hours at FRESH, working on the M.M. and with the Youth Crew.  This summer, Cabernet Queenan (graduate of the first ever Youth Crew in summer 05!) worked with us as the Assistant Youth Crew Manager and Chelsea Cleveland worked as an Assistant with the Educational Program.  Peta Madry, also continued her work teaching culinary skills to the Youth Crew and making great, health food.
This summer, we also had three great Interns working with us: Kelvin Vu, now a junior at Yale University, spent 12 weeks designing and constructing the FRESH Wild Garden, a kid's natural play space at the Community Garden.  Dan Thompson is just wrapping up his work at the Farm, sharing his time, energy and wit with all the Farm Crews.  Kristin Grivois, a senior at Unity College, spent seven weeks at the FRESH Garden, working on the gardens and giving workshops.  Many thanks to each of them for sharing their time and energy! 
And as always many, many thanks to all the volunteers who help FRESH grow and work, you know who you are!  A few I would like to name particularly are the Anniversary Party Crew: Chelsea, Adam and Barbara; the Mobile Market Drivers: Kerry and Anna (who has also given lots of hours at the Farm); and Bob Stuller for long-term Website support.
Arthur and I thank everyone who helps makes FRESH possible through their hard work and dedication, we're all working towards this vision of transforming the food system together one carrot at a time!

I was honored to be accepted for the PUBLIC ALLIES Class of 2009/2010 (www.public allies.org).  The application process was very intense and about thirty people were selected.  For every Public Ally chosen, fives other people could have filled each place.  Most of the Allies selected were college graduates from top universities such a as Yale, Notre Dame , Trinity, UCONN and many more.  Well, as for me, I only just graduated from high school one year ago.  That makes it more of an exciting opportunity and I'm glad to have competed with such advanced people.  Public Allies will help me to develop better professional working habits and more community organizing skills, as well as add a positive Public Allies perspective as I go through this transition and building myself and FRESH.  I went through a two week training, where I spent three days at a campsite to get better acquainted with my fellow Allies and did team building and trust activities.  I also went to visit and learn about the history of three cities: Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven.
Being a PA means that I am now a full-time staff member at FRESH.  I will be working closely with the youth program, continuing leadership with the Mobile Market, and helping expand community gardens in New London.  This is a stepping stone to further my passion to change my world here in New London in little ways that make BIG difference.

FRESH turned five years old this year and we needed to celebrate this milestone with a party at the community garden. The party took place on September 19, 2009 from 2 to 5pm. It was a really big success and I'm glad to have been involved. So many different people from the community attended to celebrate with us. One of the big things that happened was the unveiling of the finished pizza oven. I got to make a pizza and I saw many others do the same. It's a great contribution to the garden and I hope it's used many times throughout the years. My mother, Heidi Larson-Cleveland, did a great canning demonstration. I know a lot of people were interested in learning about canning and it was evident at the party when many people surrounded her. There were tarot card readings being done where people got to see what the future holds for them. Some great music was played by some local folks and I saw a few kids dancing along to that. Peta and the Youth Crew did a really excellent job with the food. I know it was good because 1) I sampled some of it and 2) I saw a man eat three big platefuls of everything that was on the table. Let me not forget the wonderful raffle that Barbara Rousseau put together. The turn out was amazing and everything came together so well. So many places contributed something. I hope everyone who won something really enjoys it! There were many different factors to why this party was a success, I couldn't have asked for anything more. It completely exceeded my expectations and that's a wonderful thing. Hope to see this happen again in 5 more years with even more to celebrate.