Pat Kenschaft

• Pat Kenschaft, 9:00-11:00 AM, 56 Gordonhurst Avenue, Montclair. Drive north two blocks on Grove Street from Watchung Avenue, and turn right. The third house on your right.
• Judy Hinds , 9:00 AM – noon, 156 Rhoda Avenue, Nutley. From Montclair take Watchung Ave. east all the way east over GSP to its end at the light at East Passaic. Turn left on East Passaic (no street sign – alas). Turn RIGHT at 2nd corner, Coeyman Ave – comes up pretty quickly. Count 4 streets on left, Stanley Ave. Turn left on Stanley, then immediately LEFT onto Rhoda. Our house #156 is third house on right, with a huge oak tree in front.
• Necole Fabris, 9:00 AM – noon, 8 Prospect Place in West Orange. From Montclair take Harrison Avenue to the West Orange end (Main Street). Left on Main Street. Follow Main Street to the next light. Go through the light and bear right to stay on Main Street. Make an immediate right on Prospect Place. We are the second house on the left.

Pat has raised all her family’s vegetables for decades, including a time when she was working full-time, her two children were teen-agers, and the family took in two foster teen-agers. Her husband brings home 100 bags of others’ leaves each fall and they mulch with neighbors’ grass clippings. These and wood chips are all they use from off the site. Composting is the key. Continuous tours take about a half hour. Email Pat.

Judy has an organic square foot garden. See the cool weather crops off to a great start, and the preparations for the warm weather. Check out her mini-cover cropping and her protective measures for seedlings. 973 661-0067. Email Judy.

Necole composts, uses leaves and grass clippings as ground cover, and introduces natural pest control measures into her garden, as needed. Her flowers consist of assorted annuals and a perennial bed, and her vegetable garden supplies approximately 80% of her family’s produce during the months of June, July, and August. The garden will be minimal in April, but much more lively in May. One and all are welcome. Please do not mind the dog barking as you arrive. She’s all bark and relishes a good compost heap like her human mom, just for a different reason. After all, dogs are scavengers and compost heaps are gold mines!

[From the Slow Food Northern NJ invitation] Every four to five years and opportunity arises for all concerned with the health of our nations children to evaluate, defend, and improve federal Child Nutrition programs. Child Nutrition Act is the federal policy that allocates funds and regulations for all school feeding programs- this year the Child Nutrition Act is up for reauthorization.

In 2004, the National Farm to School Program was established as a section of CNA but no money was allocated in the end. The time is ripe to implement policies that include locally and regionally grown foods in national meal programs, and we need advocates to make this happen.

The National Farm to School Network works with schools, farmers, food services, children, parents, and communities, providing direct technical assistance to get farm to school programs off the ground. They represent millions of Americans supporting policy solutions:

• Restore the right of all children to access good food in school
• Educate and inform communities about healthy food and its impact on the wellbeing of children; and
• Connect farmers, school districts, food service companies, and great ideas to the food system delivering school lunch

In celebration of the new growing season in NJ, the Montclair Township Environmental Affairs office & Community Green are pleased to present an eye opening film about food and farming, THE FUTURE OF FOOD, on Wednesday, June 3, 7:00pm at the Montclair Public Library Main Branch! There is a revolution happening in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of America – a revolution that is transforming the very nature of the food we eat. Sign up to see it!

THE FUTURE OF FOOD, a film by the award-winning Deborah Koons Garcia, offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade. This film gives a voice to farmers and citizens whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by this new technology. The health implications, government policies and push towards globalization are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed by the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food supply.

The film also explores alternatives to large-scale industrial agriculture, placing organic and sustainable agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today.

Wednesday, June 3rd at 7:00 pm 
at the Montclair Public Library’s Main Branch, 50 So. Fullerton Ave.
Please sign up at Meetup.com!

Tonight

Speakers at the event will be:

• Jose German, a founder of Montclair Community Wildlife Habitat Project and active with the Cornucopia Network of NJ which promotes organic gardening and composting. German is a founder of Green Harmony Now, which helps people maintain their properties sustainably.
• Bud Feder, PhD, a Montclair psychologist who specializes in stress reduction and meditation. Feder has authored many books and edited others and has facilitated training workshops in many countries across three continents.
• Catherine Moon is in training to become a gourmet “Raw” chef at Raw Soul in NYC. She will discuss the health benefits of eating raw foods especially as they help healing from both minor and serious illnesses.

For directions and further details, go to www.essexcountygreens.org, or call 973-338-5398.