Welcome back to CSG programming, Caista!
We are so excited to have Calista Barbour working with CSG in a new way! Calista started working in the gardens in Middle School–involved back when CSG was one garden at Buford. She is joining us again, a now recent graduate of CCS, as the Garden Associate at CSG. She is taking what she has learned and helping to guide the next generation through the garden programming.Calista hit the ground running this summer as she helped lead all of the elementary school garden camps. We are excited that she has chosen to continue at CSG as a leader and educator for the CCS students. Look for...
Read MoreThe Power in Food–2019 Youth Internship Program
Written by Makayla Howard, a 4th year Food Justice Intern Summer of 2019 was one of our best summers yet. Our workdays were filled with harvesting, weeding, and planting but the best part of it all was having the ability to meet new people and learn a little more about our city’s history. This summer we had the honor of participating in the Local Food, Local Places seminar. We, as interns, started our day with a workday at Charlottesville High School, where we later held lunch, gave our introductions and talked about the events before us. Afterwhich, we got on a bus and headed to...
Read MoreLocal Food, Local Places
On July 16th and 17th, the Charlottesville Food Justice Network and the City of Charlottesville held a community event called Local Foods, Local Places. This event was made possible through a technical assistance grant from the Environmental Protection Agency. There was tremendous turnout at the event, with 4 foundations, 7 federal and state partners, 4 city departments, 6 housing and redevelopment organizations, and 16 non-profits present. The workshop was a wonderful opportunity for the community to come together and align on the topic of food justice. On the first day of the event, a...
Read MorePreparing Dilly Beans
This week we spent time making some quick dilly beans with the student interns. The major take away recipe that we talked about was the 1:1:1 ratio for the brine; this is 1 cup water, 1 cup vinegar, 1 tbsp of salt. We encouraged them to get creative with the aromatics. We brought dill, mustard seeds, pepper corn, coriander, hot peppers, to fill their dilly bean jar with. Here is a very simple recipe for some dilly beans! Put 1 cup water, 1 cup vinegar, and 1 tbsp of salt in a pan and bring to a boil. While waiting for this brine to boil place 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 teaspoon red pepper...
Read MoreMonacan Seed Keepers
On May 24th, Unity Day Cville hosted a presentation by members of the Monacan tribe highlighting the history of the land that we call Charlottesville and we were lucky enough that a team member was able to make it to hear the conversation. A Monacan tribe researcher shared stories about the history and modern day tribe members. This inspirational message that has sparked excitement for our team to learn more and ensure that this message continues to be shared with the community and youth in our programming. As we researched more about the contributions and history of the Monacan tribe we...
Read MoreGarden Updates at CHS
As we are bringing our summer programming with our amazing youth interns to a close, I’d love to take a minute and reflect on the past few months here at Charlottesville High School and give you a peek into what is in store for the 2019-2020 school year! Two of the most notable differences you’ll see if you visit the CHS garden are the wildflower plantings as well as the new expansions we are adding to our garden. We started smothering the grass (a much better way to get rid of grass than spraying chemicals or breaking your back with a tiller in this Virginia red clay we have here) over...
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