Recipe of the Month
Turkey Chef Salad
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb mixed salad greens
1 cup fresh basil leaves torn into pieces
3/4 lb sliced turkey breast
1 small jar of prepared roasted peppers (about 7 oz)
4 oz Kalamata olives
1 1/2 basket cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 medium avocado, cut into cubes
Dressing
2 TBS balsamic vinegar
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
Salt and cracked black pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Rinse and dry salad greens. Drying is best done in a salad spinner.
2. Divide the greens and rest of ingredients equally on 4 plates.
3. Top with goat cheese, if desired.
4. Whisk together vinegar, oil, salt, and pepper and drizzle on top of salad.
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 | We have broccoli!
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 Rebecca, Madison, and Alayna chose to spend a day working in the garden during their Thanksgiving break! |
Beautiful veggies at the YMCA garden! |
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-- Thank You --
The Good Food Project earnestly thanks the following businesses and individuals for their support in providing plants, supplies or services for the community garden.
Montessori Educational Center
Garden Path & Stone Center
YCP
Petrus Feed & Seed
Poole Bros. Nursery
Antwine Plumbing & Heating Inc.
City of Alexandria
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What Our Garden Needs
The following items are needed to enhance our community garden.
Manure
Compost
Leaves
Please contact us at goodfoodproject@fbcenla.org
or 318-445-2773 if you are able to donate any of these items.
Thank You!
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Sustainable Garden
Tip of the Month
The beauty of salads is that whether you're looking for sweet, soft, subtle, or bitter flavors, there are many different tastes and textures which make a tasty meal on their own, or which can provide a wonderful base for a range of interesting ingredients. There are hundreds of different varieties of salad mixes, but the quickest, cheapest, and easiest-to-grow salad leaf is (oddly enough)...pea shoots! Pea shoots are simply the young leaves of a pea plant. Normal garden pea plants take months to grow and require much more space and effort than most people have. But pea shoots take just 2-4 weeks, and with minimal effort you are rewarded with delicate, juicy and tender leaves and tendrils.
Here's how:
Pea Shoots and Tendrils
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Sprout
Good Food Project Garden News
December 2012
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"To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." - Mahatma Gandhi
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Volunteer of the Month
Seth Tillman
Even though he is a mere 15 years old, Seth Tillman carries with him a strong, wholehearted work ethic that reaches far beyond his years. His energy, creativity, and innovative ideas are just what the Good Food Project needed. Seth first began volunteering with his mother, Renee, in the middle of November, but after he got the swing of things Seth began to show up to the garden on his own and got straight to work. "I really enjoy manual labor", Seth said. "And I'm good at it." Seth is no stranger to hard work. His father owns a landscaping business in which Seth has spent much time learning and gaining hands-on experience while joining his dad on projects.
Naturally, we were able to utilize his landscaping skills in the garden. Seth made use of the resources we had lying around and added some incredible touches to the beds. "I found some paving stones sitting under the steps, so I thought 'Why not make a border?'" Seth said. Not only did he transform beds, but he also renovated the inside of the hoop house and made it a working, functional space for plants to grow.
Seth fit right in with the other regular volunteers, and he was able to keep us entertained with his witty remarks and intriguing stories. We knew we could count on him to get a job done in an efficient and timely manner. When it seemed as if we would never get all those weeds pulled or beds planted, Seth never once complained and continued to work until the task was complete.
It's always much more fun to garden with other people, so we were thrilled to have Seth be our right-hand-man these past few weeks. We greatly appreciate Seth and the time he gave to better the Good Food Project, and we are proud to call him our Volunteer of the Month.
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Our First True Community Garden
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On Tuesday, November 20th, the Good Food Project officially introduced its first true community garden.
Located on 2510 Wise Street, Alexandria, LA, the Eugene Warner Neighborhood Garden sits on a 35x150 lot donated by former councilman, Louis Marshall. "
The property was my grandfather's, Eugene Warner," explains Marshall. "I know my grandfather would be glad to see us do this. The neighborhood has elderly people that would benefit from the garden as well as those less fortunate. So this is my way of giving back," says Marshall.
Community gardens thrive in areas all across the nation and are a great way to get both children and adults involved in beautifying the neighborhood community while working with nature. They also bring fresh, local produce to households at a very low cost. "One of the goals of the Good Food Project is to provide greater access to fresh nutritious food," explains Jayne Wright-Velez, Executive Director of the Food Bank of Central Louisiana. "This is certainly a positive step in that direction," says Wright-Velez.
The idea for this garden is that the neighbors will work the plot and each family that participates in the garden will receive produce from the harvest. The Good Food Project staff will teach the residents about organic gardening methods and continue to provide technical assistance to guide the effort. Several local businesses have reached out to show their support for this new and exciting project.
"We are grateful for the positive reception from the neighbors of Wise Street and their response to this garden project. We are fortunate to have found great partners in Louis Marshall, Lowe's, the City of Alexandria, Henry's Tree Service, and Antwine Plumbing & Heating, Inc." says Wright-Velez.
"It has been awesome to see this garden develop. We hope that this is just the beginning for the Eugene Warner Neighborhood Garden," says Wright-Velez.
If anyone in the CENLA community is interested in starting a garden, please contact GFP Marketing and Outreach Coordinator Elizabeth Monk at (318)787-6893 or via email emonk@fbcenla.org.
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Join us for WORKDAY WEDNESDAY every week from 8am to 12pm! All adults and children are invited to come out for a fun day of learning and giving back to the CENLA community.
Let's grow together!
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 Planting Day at Forest Hill Elementary! |
More students at Forest Hill Elementary working hard!
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