August 2008

School Board Gets on Board: At the request of the Superintendent, Dorothy Peterson, Davis Farm to School President, and Ann Evans, Steering Committee member, gave a presentation at the School Board meeting on August 21st, outlining Davis Farm to School projects and objectives for the school year. Dinner for the meeting was catered by the Davis Joint Unified School District’s (DJUSD) Student Nutrition Services, and featured local and seasonal produce.

Cooks Camp: Ann Evans and Georgeanne Brennan (Evans & Brennan, LLC) organized “Cooks Camp”. This was made possible through their work with the Yolo County Agricultural Marketing Initiative. The event was cosponsored by University Dining Services at UCDavis by Sodexo. They offered nutrition and seasonal cooking training to all institutional chefs in the county. From the Davis Joint Unified School District, Rafaelita Curva, Director of Student Nutrition Services, and 15 staff attended.

The Village Feast: The Annual Village Feast was on August 23rd under the sycamore trees in Central Park in Davis. The Village Feast is a long lunch celebrating the late summer harvest, and is Davis Farm to School Connection’s premier fundraiser. Proceeds fund school gardens, second-grade farm visits, recycling programs in schools, and seasonal produce in the school lunch program. This year we raised $28,500.

Slow Food Slow Journey: Evans & Brennan, LLC organized a Slow Food Slow Journey tour from San Francisco this month. 31 people, representing 10 states, came to Davis to see K-16 Farm to School Education. They toured UC Davis and DJUSD’s programs. As part of their tour they visited the Central Kitchen with Rafaelita Curva. The Central Kitchen is where most of the cooking and food preparation is done for all DJUSD schools in Davis. The Central Kitchen is adjacent to the Community Garden and the coordinator, Jane Shafer Kramer, has given permission for the SNS staff to pick herbs from the garden for their cooking needs.