November 2003

Note: Adopt-A-Family is the previous name of Local Foods Connection

The following is a book review of Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, by Adopt-A-Family's terrific UI student volunteer Nicole Powell! Look for a more in-depth analysis of the book on our web site (www.adoptafamilyiowa.org) in a few weeks.

Review: Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
Review by Nicole Powell

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the counter at your favorite fast food stop? Behind that counter is a world full of lies, deception and greed. The book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser delves deep to find the truth behind the food's production and preparation, marketing techniques and the effects the industry has on every one of our lives.

I approached reading this book with the perspective that I already could take a fair guess at what was going on in the fast food industry and this book would just be a rehashing of that knowledge. After reading the book, I realized I had seriously overestimated my perception of fast food and even though I started with the belief that a book like this could not affect my life, it has. Since I have read the book I have not eaten any fast food and I have no intention to. The book swirled my emotions from grief to anger to unbelievable disgust. Those emotions remain with me and I do not know if I will honestly ever be able to look at fast food in the same way again.

Schlosser does an excellent job at hooking the reader with personal stories from workers and victims. Then he reveals the truth about the industry with facts, statistics and other sources of information. He never lectures the reader about fast food. Instead, he informs readers about the industry and its' effects. At the end he leaves you with the choice of making up your own mind about how you want fast food to be and what role you want it to play in your life. It is at this point where you realize how much power you actually have in the world through the power of choice.

I hope you will take advantage of this goldmine of information and pick up a copy of Fast Food Nation. It will open your eyes to the fast food industry, the situation of people in the world around you and your immense purchasing power.

Musings of a Pea-Picker
by Amelia Challender

During 2003, Amelia Challender served as a Local Harvest CSA intern. She worked at the ZJ Farm for 2 ½ months, followed by 2 ½ months at Simone's Plain and Simple. Amelia is now volunteering at Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. She plans to begin her junior year at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina in January, where she will pursue a degree in Environmental Studies, concentrating in Environmental Education.

Growing up in a town of 30,000 in Kansas, I had little interest in farming. It never occurred to me to think about where my food came from. Even though Kansas is a farming state, I had no more knowledge of agriculture than a native New Yorker might. To me, farm animals existed in children's books and vegetables came in cans from the store.

Given this background, one might wonder how I came to spend five months as an intern on two organic farms in Iowa. During my seventeenth summer, I traveled with my church youth group to Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. I got my first taste of agriculture there. While taking part in educational programming about world hunger and sustainability, I worked in the organic garden, milked a goat for the first time, and shoveled compost. To my astonishment, I found that I actually enjoyed the work.

Two summers later, in 2002, I returned to the Ranch as a full-time volunteer. While working in the Education department, I had time to milk two goats by hand a few times a week, lead children and youth in large-scale composting, and observe the overall function of the Ranch.

In the next year I decided that I wanted to spend time working on an organic farm in order to explore my interest in farming and gain more first-hand experience. I searched through Internet listings for a place where I could garden, work with goats, and be involved with a CSA. I found Local Harvest CSA and after completing my sophomore year of college at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas, I packed up my car and moved to the ZJ Farm for the summer.

Planting, weeding, harvesting, and distributing vegetables to about 150 families is a large task. While the work was often long and hard, I found it to be equally rewarding. From the time of my arrival, the ZJ children warned me about the backbreaking, arduous task of pea picking. When the time to pick peas finally came, I attempted to enter into it cheerfully. With three 250-foot rows, we had to pick one row each day. If I were to pick alone, this task could easily become a day's work. If you wonder what pea picking is like, try this simulation in order to experience it for yourself:

1. Go outside at about noon on a hot July day.

2. Bend over at the waist.

3. Remaining stooped over, inch forward slightly every couple minutes.

4. Repeat step three until several hours have passed.

5. Stand up (slowly!), feeling free to groan a little as your back spasms in pain.

This little exercise will definitely give you an idea of the physical discomfort of picking peas. However, since peas will not be a product of your pain, you will experience none of the joy. Before coming to the farm, I'd never had peas as fresh, tender, and delicious as those that I spent hours picking. Having the opportunity to stop and snack while picking made the task more pleasant, as did talking and joking with the people picking with me. I was only able to truly appreciate the job when I allowed myself to realize its importance. By picking peas, I was helping to feed people in a way that was in accordance with my values and beliefs. The peas I picked in the morning had been grown without the use of chemicals and would find their way to a CSA member's home by dinnertime, without being shipped long distances. Realizing the profundity of my part in this process made my hours bent over in the hot sun worthwhile.

Today, when I think of vegetables, the image of a can on a grocery store shelf doesn't enter into my mind. Instead, I hear the crunching sound of my knife as I cut cabbage in the garden, I taste the sweetness of fresh kohlrabi, and I envision snow peas clinging to the vine. In the future, I hope to educate children and adults about sustainable agriculture and the importance of their decisions as consumers. I want to provide others with the kind of eye-opening experience that I had when I was seventeen. I hope that I'll be able to help other city kids realize that a vegetable is much more than something that comes from a can.

Meet The United Action for Youth Family
The United Action for Youth recommend a terrific family from Coralville for adoption into our program this year. The household includes a mother and father, five children and one beautiful six-week-old grandchild! The large family enjoyed a large vegetable share from ZJ Farm, and could have eaten more!

We thank this family for working so hard to learn about new vegetables and recipes. We are glad they met some of our farmers and helpers, and congratulate them on a terrific adoption experience for everyone!

Here is a statement from the family's mother:

When our family first became a part of Adopt-A-Family's share program, we were a family of seven with one income. At the time, I was fighting a life-threatening illness, and was in the middle of a year long treatment that caused some nasty side effects. And to boot my teenage daughter was expecting a baby.

Each week, going to the Farmer's Market to pick up our share, was quite the uplifting event for me and my children. We got to see what local growers had to offer. All the farmers were very willing to answer questions and educate us on the veggies we'd never even seen before. Susan, our farmer, was especially helpful in explaining to me what the vegetables were and the best way to use them. Susan and her children have given me some great ideas to encourage my children to eat the vegetables. Laura, my Adopt-A-Family contact, was a great source of information on recipes.

Adopt-A-Family has allowed us to eat healthier than we would have if we were not part of the program. I am now cooking healthier with new and healthy food we wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. We now are a healthier and very thankful family of eight.

Adopt-A-Family Has A New Address
The mailing address for Adopt-A-Family has changed from the home address of the organization's president, L Dowd, to a post office box at the Iowa City Post Office. This change is a result of the growth of our charity, and the need to separate the charity's business work from the personal live of a particular person or director. We hope the change doesn't create a feeling of distance between donors and directors, and we are still accessible by phone: (319) 338-2010; email: adoptafamilyaaf@yahoo.com; and web site: www.adoptafamilyiowa.org.

A Quick Look At Our Finances
Expenditures 2003 Year-To-Date

88.44% Farmers

5.20% Postage

3.94% Office Supplies

1.698% Equipment & Appliances

0.71% Membership

The Equipment and Appliances expenditures are accounted for by the purchase of:

1. a pizza stone for an adopted family who attended a CSA pizza cooking demonstration class, taught by a farm worker volunteer and using ingredients straight from the farm; and

2. six month rental of a meat locker storage unit for an adopted family who purchased half a hog from ZJ Farms in Solon.

The Membership expenditure is accounted for by the purchase of a one year membership in the Volunteer Administrator's Network (VAN). VAN is dedicated to providing leadership, service, networking, and support for local agencies that are committed to strengthening their volunteer program. For more information, contact Leadership Team member Mary Duncan at maryd@girlscouts-mvc.org, 800-568-7077.