ay is always a big month to prepare for our Kids Can Cook summer classes. My staff and I have deJune started off with me taking some time off to play Grandma. My daughter had her first baby on May 25 and I got to spend a few days helping her. Darn! Then Chuckie and I headed to New Orleans for the ACE (Association for Communication Excellence) annual conference. The conference was great! A few of my favorite presentations were:
• Eat, Cook, Click: New Technologies for Communicating Food Behavior
• The Camera in your pocket: Video production made simple with smartphones and iPads
• Video shooting tips: Bump up the quality
I hope to be able incorporate some of these ideas into my EFNEP/SNAP-Ed programming.
We visited the Ninth ward (which was devastated during Hurricane Katrina) and saw how important community gardens have become to building up the community.
Another interesting tour was to the “Grow Dat Youth Farm” who’s mission is to nurture a diverse group of young leaders through the meaningful work of growing food. At Grow Dat, people from different backgrounds come together to create a more just and sustainable food system. On this farm they work collaboratively to grow food, educate and inspire youth and adults, and build power to create personal, social and environmental change. I have ideas percolating about how we can use our high tunnel in a similar way.
Another highlight of the trip was learning about the culinary culture of New Orleans. We learned the difference between Cajun and Creole, we know the “trinity” of southern cooking and we experienced some new foods in the restaurants where these dishes were invented. We even attend a class at the New Orleans School of Cooking. We hope to be able to share of some of this culinary experience with our citizens.
KIDS Can Cook--The Nutrition Assistants are busy with summer programming. In June, we’ve had Kids Can Cook in Pittsburg, Frontenac, Girard, Parsons, Independence, Edna and Altamont. We are doing classes at the summer school programs in Pittsburg and Girard. Here are some highlight pictures.
veloped the schedule for 30 (3-day) sessions, located free facilities at 20 different sites within the district. The registration is online and has been distributed to all elementary schools. Currently we have 385 students enrolled with many sessions closed due to large enrollments. In addition, I’ve been busy ordering supplies, hiring three summer employees and updating curriculum.
Staff has all been in Pittsburg two days preparing all the foods that we will be teaching children to make. This year is a culinary tour of France, Mexico and Hawaii.
Our first session starts on June 6 and we end on August 10. It will be a very busy summer!
M
Kids can cook
and ace conference
Martha Murphy
EFNEP
EFNEP