Service Learning - Final Blog

Group Post:

     As part of our service-learning project, we created a Facebook page called, Supporting North Shore Agriculture.  There are many benefits in supporting the local farmer.  Buying local agriculture supports the local economy.  Also, there are fewer emissions to the environment since the food does not need to be transported, helping our global community.  Finally, the food is harvested when it is ripe and sold immediately, so it is better for you and tastes better.  As a group, we chose this particular venue for a number of reasons.  First, Facebook is a huge social networking tool.  We felt it has the capability to reach thousands of people.  Second, Facebook is where people go to get information and to connect to the community, so the two go hand in hand.  We hope to provide information on local agriculture, locations of farms and farm stands in the area and breaking news regarding local agriculture and legislation. 

Support through Facebook!

Christine’s reflection:

                I believe this Facebook page impacts the greater good by providing a “one-stop” information station for North Shore agriculture.  This page serves as a community service and I hope it brings people to their local farmer in some capacity to help bring about change in how we feed ourselves.  Although I enjoyed this service-learning project, I wished it had been incorporated at an earlier stage into the curriculum.  Given the demands of Junior Block, it was difficult to juggle the project and block.  Had I had the project in Premise, I would have been able to delve deeper into the subject.  I believe that community service, in any capacity, is an important part of a young person’s life and is important to incorporate community service within the curriculum.

Leo’s Reflection:

                For this assignment I think that our choice of a Facebook page fits perfectly with today’s day and age. People check Facebook everyday sometimes more than once. In this society the social media networks have such a major impact on people that it seemed like the perfect solution to get all the information we needed out there. I think that this was a good project that could have a very useful outcome if there was enough time to really make it perfect. I think with all of the other work we had to accomplish this kind of fell off the radar and did not gain the effort it deserved. I think doing something like this in the classroom would be very beneficial for students to get them involved while learning everything they can.

Erika’s Reflection:

I believe that our blog and the way we made it easily assessable had an impact on the greater good. If we never posted this via Facebook and just did a presentation to our Block class it wouldn’t have reached our other friends and family members that have ‘liked’ our page and now get updates related to our topic. I wouldn’t do this again or at least the blog aspect of it because the blog only circulates through our class and not reach more of the public like Facebook does. I mean I’m friends with my aunt on Facebook and she ‘liked’ our page and now she is buying more locally and is more aware of supporting her local farmer. I would however, have my own students create their own service learning project because it would be beneficial for them to be aware of the issues that they will be faced as adults and have to deal with it because of a past generation’s mistake.

Blog 6

For our service learning project to support local agriculture, we are going to reach out to the local community utilizing today’s technology, social networking.  We have created a Facebook page, Supporting North Shore Agriculture.  We envision this site to be a central information station for people who live on the North Shore and surrounding areas to find information on local agriculture, as well as share information and discussion.  The information we hope to include consists of:  locations of local farms; schedules of local farmer’s markets; crop schedules; economic issues associated with local agriculture; news on local agriculture; a comparison of two apples (The Tale of Two Apples); legislation concerning local agriculture and dialogue and discussion with local farmers.

Christine - After doing further research on Local Agriculture, I found some interesting information on a program offered by the state of Massachusetts.  It is called The Massachusetts Farm to School Project.  Legislation was passed to help connect local farmers with consumers in an effort to support and stimulate the local economy. The legislation, initially intended to prohibit junk food being sold in schools, has an amendment attached that allocates funds to support the Farm to School Project. This program attempts to facilitate better communication and cooperation between school districts and local farmers to get locally grown produce in school cafeterias, retain local jobs and help keep Massachusetts farms profitable.

I think it is important to include citizenship and community involvement in the curriculum.  However, the logistics of accomplishing this are enormous.  With an already comprehensive curriculum, the space is limited to accommodate more programming.    Nevertheless, the task is not insurmountable.  Currently, there are several school districts in the area that require varying number of hours of community service as a requirement for high school graduation.  This is a start, but does not address the lower grades.  In elementary grades, service learning should be incorporated in the social studies curriculum in tandem with academic lessons. 

When considering the NCSS definition of social studies, I cannot say I have seen this practiced in my school placement.  However, I have not seen any social studies teaching in the classroom nor have I seen it scheduled on the daily agenda.  I think that getting involved helps reach the goal “to promote civic competence.”  When I attended junior high school, we were required to take a civics class.  In this class, we learned about the government, how it functions, as well as ideas such as democracy, foreign policy, involvement, community, etc.    Today, students are no longer required to enroll in a civics class, and this is unfortunate.  By teaching these ideas in the social studies curriculum throughout a student’s entire academic career, we can infuse the skills needed to be an involved citizen.  Our service-learning project helps support community involvement on many levels.   First, supporting local agriculture would teach the students the importance of supporting your local economy.  Secondly, our service-learning project also connects students to their global community, as well as the local community, by highlighting the environmental impact of supporting local agriculture. 

Leo – To take a deeper look into our topic of supporting local agriculture I was doing online research about the topic. I came across a website (Local Farms) that has different ideas on how to get involved in supporting your local farms. The site gave some good ideas on how to help farms stay afloat in this time of economic stress. Some of these ideas included “1. Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farm. Buy a share of the harvest at the beginning of the season and pick up fresh food once a week at its peak harvest time. What could be easier? 2. Go meet a farmer. Farmers markets enable farmers to keep 80 to 90 cents of each dollar spent by the consumer. Buy at your local farmers market or farm stand, or pick-your-own farms. 3. Ask for locally grown food and/or plants wherever you eat or shop. Keep asking. Explain why locally grown is better for the community, better for the environment and better for you.” This website also had links about where to buy more healthy foods, recipe ideas and clubs to join.

When it comes to teaching what your students are interested in is extremely important. Of course you want to focus on things that you required to teach and what children really need to learn, but teaching to children’s interests can be beneficial not only to students but also to the teacher because it will further promote children’s thinking with something that they enjoy. Dealing with the curriculum it does not necessarily fit in the program but me personally would try my hardest to make it fit because of the potential positive outcomes. Finding out what children are interested in could be as simple as having a group discussion about their interests or filling out a survey. In my placement I would not necessarily say that I’ve seen the word for word definition that was stated on the website. Getting involved in this project, there is a connection between what we as teachers can teach in the classroom and the project itself. Before this project I did not necessarily know how you should teach social studies, it was such a confusing topic and how to present it to a class was beyond me. This project has opened up some new doors and ideas about how to actually teach the topic of social studies.

Erika - A new article about eating locally has caught my attention. It’s called “Eating local is more than healthy” and it’s about how purchasing and eating locally grown food and their benefits. It is a great article and I believe that everyone should take a look at it: lawrenceville . I believe that I can integrate this into my curriculum and make space so it will always be covered. I would try to do a brainstorming session and see what the students are interested in, which is going to depend from year to year. The frameworks should be rewritten so that there is space for these important issues.

NCSS defines social studies as ‘the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence. I actually see this in my classroom in a few ways. One of the ways I see this is the 100 can challenge. The class tries to collect 100 can of food for the homeless shelter. Right now we have 219 cans, and they are all so excited that they surpassed their goal! They are now trying for 300 cans. The other way that the class is engaging in civic duties is by collecting some of their Halloween candy for the soldiers. I feel that in order to live by the NCSS definition, the only way to do that is by being active in the community; and in order to do that more citizens need to do something similar to our project that we are doing in our Social Studies class.

Eating Local is About More than Health

lawrenceville.patch.com

Farm-to-Kitchen expert to talk about the benefits of purchasing and eating locally grown food.

Blog 4

The four kinds of approaches to discussion are responding to a problem, responding to an observation, responding to a narrative and reflecting on classroom activities. Given Christine’s mother in laws observation about the public’s lack of knowledge about local farms and farmers markets we have decided to look at responding to an observation. A question to facilitate the discussion in a class could be “How many of you know where a local farm is located, and how did you find out where it was?”

There are many best practices to help facilitate a discussion such as preparing the students for a discussion; create standards for rules of conduct during a discussion; and it is important for the teacher to have a script and a flexible plan for the discussion. The questions to describe best practices are.

1.       Ask students questions such as “what do you like to do when you talk to people?”

2.       Ask the class to come to a consensus about appropriate behavior when in a class discussion.

3.       Ask the students “Has anyone ever experienced this in your life” to further keep the discussion going. 

4.       If a class discussion is not going well to reestablish the discussion you could ask probing questions such as “has anyone ever seen anything like what we are talking about” which makes connections to their lives. Asking questions about a smaller detail versus the entire picture could also help the discussion.

Service Learning Project

                We have started a Facebook page hoping to utilize a more modern approach of communicating with the public about our issue of supporting local agriculture. In this Facebook page we hope to include information such as locations of local farms and farmers markets, laws that impact the local agriculture community, and to be a resource for people of the North Shore to  find information on local agriculture.

Like Us on Facebook!
Supporting Agriculture through Facebook.

Blog 3 - Take Action!

 

1A:

            According to our textbook, critical attributes are “A teaching strategy that focuses on transmitting the procedural knowledge of identifying the essential elements of a concept so that students do not form inaccurate concepts and ultimately inadequate ideas and insufficient beliefs that are necessary to be affirmative citizens” (42).  Critical attributes in the curriculum can connect the students to their local community as well as the global community. The students can use today’s technology to collaborate on interdisciplinary projects, which helps them to become better citizens for the future. 

            In order for someone to know why he/she should support local agriculture and the local farmer, they need to know the who, what, where’s of the matter.  For instance, what are the local crops in the area; what and when are the harvesting times; the economic impact of supporting the local farmer and the global climate benefits in supporting your local farmer.  Since most produce is packed up to a week before hitting the shelves at the supermarket and are shipped thousands of miles.  Consider that local produce taste better; buying local supports the local farmer and the local economy; there are fewer pesticides in local produce and fewer emissions into the atmosphere. 

Some information you may find helpful:

Local Farms:

Farm	Town	Web Site
Connors Farm	Danvers	http://www.connorsfarm.com/
Green Meadow Farm	Hamilton	http://www.gmfarm.com/
Russell Orchards	Ipswich	http://www.russellorchard.com/
Smolak Farms	North Andover	http://www.smolakfarms.com/

Local Farmers Markets:

City/Town	Location	Day	Time
Andover	Andover Historical Society	Saturdays	12:30-3:30
Middleton	Angelica's Restaurant Parking Lot	Wednesdays	3:00-7:00
Peabody	Behind the Courthouse	Tuesdays	1:00-6:00
Salem	Derby Square	Thursdays	3:00-7:00

Local Crops:

There is a multitude of options when you consider buying local.  Here are a few options.  Please visit FarmFresh.org for a complete listing. 

Farm Fresh

Crop	Harvesting Times
Apples	September 10-End of October
Blueberries	July-August 30
Pumpkins	September 10-End of October
Raspberries	July-September 30
Squash	September 10-End of October
Strawberries	Mid June-July
Tomatoes	August 1-Septmeber 30

            How can we teach this?  One way to showcase this idea would be to compare and contrast three apples from different locations.  One apple is from a farm on the North Shore, another apple is from a farm in Washington State and the third apple is from a farm in Chile.  We could analyze what it takes to grow, ship and transport these apples to your table.  We could also analyze the growing methods and processes used for each crop to determine any potential health risks.  We would compare and contrast the cost, environmental impact and health benefits of the local apple to the other two apples.  This comparison would also include information on each farm, growing practices, how the crops are produced and type of farm.

1B:
Service Learning Projects

1. Write a letter to Senators and House of Representatives with a possible Facebook petition with links.

2. Go to a Farmers Market and Interview local farmers

3. Create a Facebook page with info on local farms, farmer markets etc.

1C:

Christine:

             Busa Farm is located in Lexington.  In 2009, the town purchased the farm under the Community Preservation Act and created an ad hoc committee to determine the best use for the nearly 8 acres of land.  Currently, there is debate in Lexington whether to use the land for recreational purposes (sports field, playground, etc) or for a community farm.  There is a group of residents circulating a petition supporting a plan for a community farm.  Although I am not a resident of Lexington, they are fairly close to my hometown and I decided to sign the online petition.  Considering the issue we have chosen, I felt this petition would support our cause.  Given the difficulty to start up a small local farm, a community-supported effort would help improve the quality of life for the citizens and help contribute to a better community.


Erika:

I’ve decided to take a different approach to the take action part of the blog. Instead of constantly telling people we should support our local farmers, I’m going to give the cold hard facts about what is in our grocery stores and how little information we know about the foods in there. With these facts I hope to open the minds of the consumer so that they can make the right choice to support local farmers. As part of the take action part, I signed a petition to fight the corporate companies that are making a monopoly of our food industries.

Here are some interesting facts taken from the Fight Big Food website, “Just four companies control more than: 84% of our nation’s beef, 66% of our pork, and 58% of our chicken. In the past 70 years, nearly 5 million chicken farmers have lost their jobs. The surviving 30,000 poultry growers live a life of unfair contracts, a cycle of debt, and intimidation if they speak out.”

Leo:

                For taking action in our topic I tried doing a few different things. I went online and did some research about the local farms in the area. I found a few interesting websites but there was one that stood out to me the most. FarmAid.org is a website that strives on strengthening local farming support. The website boasts a variety of interesting facts and details regarding local farms compared to other sources of food.  There is a take action section right on the website that states “Spurred on by a wide variety of health concerns, communities are working to bring healthy, fresh, and nutritious foods to institutions all over the country. Here are a few examples of communities that have worked hard to protect their food and source more food from family farms.” It gets to talking about people who are affiliated in the local issues and how it has made changes in their lives.

                There is a link on the website that says “Join in Take Action” and the first thing you see when you click the link is the board members include Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Dave Mathews and Neil Young, yes the celebrities. It states how they have provided countless hours supporting the importance of local farmers and the need to keep them in business. I signed up for the account and there are countless links and blogs about local farming issues all around the country. There is even a source to try and get local farming products into school versus the everyday school lunches. I found that this was very interesting to read about.

“There's a new food movement sweeping the country and Farm Aid is doing all we can to promote that movement.”
– Willie Nelson


Links to Take Action:

Farm Aid
Busa Farm
Massachusetts Farmers Markets
Fight Big Food

Interviews About Local Farming

Leo
Interview

                The person I’ve chosen to interview about my topic was my mother-in-law Stephanie.  After discussing our group’s topic and issue we talked about some of the questions provided.

1.       Do you think others in our community think this is a problem?

I do not really believe others think this is that much of an issue, everyone seems to just be blinded by the large chains such as Shaws or Stop N’ Shop and forget about all the goodness of local farms. There are many people that I know that shop at farms, but I think it needs to be more constant, and more people need to take part in the action of local farms.

2.       Is this an important issue to you personally?

This is an important issue to me; I always go to my local farm, Tendercrop, to buy a majority of my items, such as fruit, vegetables and meats. I think that more people should buy their food at these local places because the overall quality of the produce and meats are so much better. Supporting local farms is something that should be taken more seriously. Not only do they provide better quality items but they also seem to take pride in the fact that they are indeed providing a higher quality product than a lot of the larger stores.

After discussing the Commonwealth Quality and all the policies and things it has to offer we talked about the following questions.

3.       What are the advantages of this policy?

I personally didn’t know anything about this but I think it’s an excellent idea. The fact that they use these stickers to “mark” the items that we as consumers purchase is perfect.  It just further helps people purchase quality food products that are healthier and overall better for you.

4.       Are there disadvantages?  Does this policy need to be enhanced?

As far as I can see, from an uneducated eye, I cannot see any disadvantages; the only thing I can say about enchaining it would be that it should be a more widespread thing.  I think that every single company should have to have some sort in depth production standard to ensure that consumers are getting the very best quality possible.

5.       Are you aware of all the local farms in your community?

I personally only use the one farm which is Tendercrop, I can get everything that I need there at a pretty decent price for the quality that the farm boasts. However on the way there I go by two other farms. These are of smaller size but they seem to be just as nice.

6.       After answering these questions has your opinion of local farming changed?

My opinion of the issue has only been increased after talking about it. I strongly agree that more people should shop at these local farms. If people are continuously blinded by these large chain stores they should change their thinking. Local farms need support and they products that they offer are such better quality and are an all-around better deal.

After doing this interview I actually learned more than I thought I would. I knew that Stephanie shopped at Tendercrop however I did not know that she actually rarely goes to the supermarket. This just makes it more clear to me that more people need to take it upon themselves and start looking into the benefits of local farms. These businesses are excellent sources of natural products and they should be taken advantage of.

___________________________________________________

Christine's Interview:

The person I have chosen to interview is my Mother-in-law, Nancy.  She is a nurse in Massachusetts and lives in Wakefield.  As a nurse (and a grandmother), I know that healthy food choices are important to her and therefore options are critical.  She and I have shared many meals together and have explored many grocery stores and local farms together.  Often, when we vacation, we will even try local farms in the area.  I discussed the blog to Nancy, and she was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.

Do you think local farming is important?  Does your community support local farming?

Yes, I think local farming is important. If the local farmer is not supported, we risk losing the farmers ability to financially continuing to provide us with wonderful produce. It is also a way of preserving the land.  My community provides us with a farmers market every Saturday in a common area and farmers come from many different local communities to sell their products.  My community also advertises this event in the local newspaper weekly.

How do you think the government (local, state or federal) support or does not support the local farmer?

Although there are no local farms in Wakefield, the town provides the space and time for the Farmer’s Market weekly, at no cost to the farmers. I don’t know what the state and federal governments provide financially or supportively to farmers.

Do you or have you ever used a local farm?  If so, for what?  If not, why not? 

I have used a local farm, Green Meadows Farm, about 30 minutes away. Green Meadows is an organic farm and I belonged to Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. I paid up front for about 6 months of my share of the produce that was available.

Do you think your food tastes better from a local farmer than from a grocery store?  Why or why not?

Definitely tastes better. It’s food that has just been picked from the garden to home and usually cooked that same day/week.  I have also gotten flowers at the Farmer's Market and through my CSA.  The flowers are more beautiful and last longer.

I spoke with Nancy about the Commonwealth Policy in Massachusetts.  She was not aware if it and was very interested.  I asked her if she would choose a product with the Commonwealth Policy Seal over another item in a supermarket.

Definitely, I would choose their product.  It would be homegrown and fresher.  It is a shame more people are not aware of this so they could look for it and seek it out.  There doesn’t seem to be much advertisement about it.

After talking with Nancy, I have come to wonder how many people truly know what their food options are.  The supermarket seems to be so convenient, that we may not even be considering other healthy, fresher options.  Nancy had a point, not many people seem to be aware of their choices and no one (in the government) seems to be telling anyone. 

________________________________________

Erika's Interview

                                  Interview with Paris Beckett

I chose to do my interview with my best friend Paris who is also an environmental minor at Salem State University. After discussing local farms, she was kind enough to answer questions.

1.      Do you think supporting local farming is important? Why or why not?

Local farming is important because it is supporting a local economy and the small business owners. By supporting the smaller business it not only helps the farmer, but it helps to prevent a monopoly on products.

2. Do you think the community you live in supports local farming? How or how not?

My local community is an old farm town and we here still enjoy our fresh produce. Many homes even have their own vegetable gardens and often go to the weekly farmer's market to help support our local farmers.

3. How do you think the government (local, state or federal) support or does not support the local farmer?

Government does not support local farming because it continues to give tax cuts and loop wholes to the biggest business. There are only 5 major slaughterer houses in this country. And there is only 1 company the provides growing seed t farmers, and this company will attack any farmer that is suspected of holding seed (see Food Inc documentary). Not to mention that all the former emplyies of the big bussnesses are in high government possitions that regulate the bussnesses and their policies.

4. Are there any disputes in your community about local farming or Agribusiness?

In my communities only family owned farms are allowed in the farmers market. But no large bussnesses are allowed in my town. But in my area there are several large food marts. Large companies are not allowed in Boxford.

5. Do you have any local farms in your community?

My town does have local farms as well as many personal green houses and gardens that sell their produce from their homes. Some even have chickens and sell fresh eggs.

6. Do you or have you ever used a local farm? If so, for what? If not, why not?

I have used local farmed produce. Whenever I go away if I see a farm stand I try to stop. I find the produce to have a better taste and I enjoy having the one on one contact with the person who has produced or harvested the food I am about to consume.

7. Do you think the government should offer local farmers/CSA’s affordable lease options?

Lease options should be made salable however what the government should do is eliminate the chock hold on local farmers so that they can hold their own seed and local ranchers can have their own slaughter houses and unbiased legislation in the senate. That people in the senate should legally have no ties to any side that could make it difficult for them, to make an unbiased decision.

8. Do you think your food is safer from a local farmer?

The food has been proven to be safer from local farmers because they are not often producing in the mass quantities company farms are producing. Because they are smaller they can better regulate water and sanitation. And often it is their home land they are farming so they have a greater investment in what is put into their environment and fed to their families.

 
9. Do you think your food tastes better from a local farmer than from a grocery store? Why or why not?

I feel it does taste better. Though some fruits can taste better from the companies because there are artificial genes in them to become sweeter. Once you taste a wild blueberry and a GMO blueberry you will know the difference. From there it is only a personal preference. I have also experienced something similar with eggs.

10. Would you support offering the same tax shelters that Agribusinesses enjoy to the local farmer?

No, they do not need them.

From doing this interview, I've realized that young adults my own age are fully aware of this issue concering local farms. What we know need to do is have it trickle down to the even younger generations to make a bigger impact.