Attention, budding and professional artists and illustrators!  We need your help with the cover for the new What’s On Your Plate? book!

Here’s what we want you to do:

• Draw/paint a picture of a farm, preferably with sunshine and animals and vegetables galore.
• Draw/paint a picture of a kitchen, preferably with a stove and some food on it.
• The cover will show Sadie and Safiyah side by side, with a farm background behind one, a kitchen behind the other, and the title up top.  So, if you like, you can work around our template.
• You can use crayons, watercolors, markers, pencil, collage… it’s up to you!
• The deadline is July 30th.
• Please send us a high-resolution JPEG of your submission.
• We’ll be posting the artwork on our blog.

When health insurers can no longer evade much of the cost of treating the collateral damage of the American diet, the movement to reform the food system — everything from farm policy to food marketing and school lunches — will acquire a powerful and wealthy ally, something it hasn’t really ever had before.

Op-Ed Contributor – Big Food vs. Big Insurance – NYTimes.com.

This week, in partnership with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, over 200 school officials gathered in New York City at the 2009 Healthy Schools Forum. Sadie and Safiyah shared their experiences with a panel entitled, “Avoiding Food Fights and Wellness Wars: Meaningful Student Engagement to Promote Health.” The panel focused on successful student involvement in school wellness activities. Watch Sadie and Safiyah at the recognition ceremony by clicking on the webcast link here.

Did you know…

That a can of soda contains 10 teaspoons of sugar?

That in one day a honey bee can fly 12 miles and pollinate up to 10,000 flowers?

That the average person eats 53 pounds of bread a year?

That an ear of corn never has an odd number of rows?

That the average chocolate bar has eight insect legs in it?

That it takes 20 minutes for your brain to know your stomach is full?

That there are 61,269 pizzerias in the USA?

That lettuce is a member of the sunflower family and apples are members of the rose family?

That pumpkin flowers (and other squash blossoms) are edible?

That a hard boiled egg spins but a soft cooked or raw egg does not?

Neither did we until we looked it all up! Send us your food questions at admin@aubinpictures.com and we’ll see if we can answer them…..

Try out this yummy beet salad recipe from our friend and advisor, Bryant Terry!

• 4 medium beets, scrubbed, tops trimmed, root tails left intact
• Coarse sea salt
• 4 tablespoons plus 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 12 teaspoon agave nectar
• Freshly ground white pepper
• 3 large bunches arugula, trimmed and roughly chopped (6 to 7 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups candied walnuts

1. Combine the beets, 3 quarts cold water, and 1 teaspoon salt in a medium pot over high heat. Boil uncovered for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the beets are easily pierced with a knife. Drain. Peel the beets by holding them under cold running water and rubbing their skins off with your fingers or a clean towel.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 F
3. Trim the tails off the bottom of the beets. Reserve two of them for the vinaigrette and compost the others. Cut the beets into 1/4-inch dice. In a medium bowl, toss the diced beets with 4 teaspoons of the olive oil. Transfer them to a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to ensure even cooking. Remove the beets from the oven, transfer them back into the bowl just used, and toss with 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar. Return to the baking sheet and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Set them aside to cool.
4. In a blender, combine the reserved roasted beet tails with the remaining red wine vinegar, mustard, agave nectar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and white pepper to taste. Blend while slowly pouring in 4 tablespoons of olive oil. If needed, add more salt to taste.
5. Place the arugula pieces in a large serving bowl, add the roasted beets on top, and add the candied walnuts on top of that. Immediately before serving, toss well with just enough of the vinaigrette to coat.

TODAY ONLY! Our friends at Just Food sent this important alert- contact your representative in New York!

On June 30, NYC Council Member Bill de Blasio introduced a groundbreaking resolution in the City Council that calls for a citywide “FoodprintNYC” initiative to create greater access to local, fresh, healthy food, especially in low-income communities as well as city-run institutions (see resolution background below).

So far 11 City Council members have signed on as co-sponsors. Make sure your representative shows their support!

Tomorrow, take action to support FoodprintNYC! 

Calling your representative is fast, easy, and effective. You can call on your way to the subway, while walking your dog or on your way home from the office. Every call that you make in support of or against a policy issue gets recorded. 
 
Calls are usually short and you are rarely asked questions, as staffers are busy and want to take down your position and get you off the phone!  
 
Here are three quick steps to calling your representative and voicing your support for the FoodprintNYC resolution:
 
1) Find your City Council representative.

2) Find out if your City Council representative has signed on as a co-sponsor of the FoodprintNYC resolution.

3a) If your city council representative has not yet signed on as a co-sponsor of the resolution, please call their legislative office and urge him or her to support the resolution. Feel free to use the following simple script:
 
·        Hello, my name is ______________ and I am a constituent.
 
·        I live at/in ___________ (give street address or neighborhood so they know you are a constituent).
 
·        I’m calling to urge Council Member _______ to support Resolution 2049 calling for FoodprintNYC.
 
At this time you’ll likely get thanked for calling, and then the purpose of your call will be recorded.  If they do ask for more detailed information, here are the key points:
 
·        The resolution was introduced in the City Council by Bill de Blasio on June 30, 2009.
 
·        It is the first resolution in NYC or any other US city to exclusively address climate change through our food system.
 
·        It calls for a citywide initiative to create greater access to local, fresh, healthy plant-based food, especially in low-income communities as well as city-run institutions.
 
·        Increasing availability and use of local, healthy food decreases significant pollution caused by the growing, packing, processing and shipping of food.
 
If you’re calling after hours you can leave a message, state your name, where you’re from, your phone number and that you’d like your representative to co-sponsor Resolution 2049 calling for FoodprintNYC. 
 
3b) If your city council representative is one of the 11 members who have already signed on as a co-sponsor of the resolution, please call and thank him or her for their support. Feel free to use the following simple script:
 
·        Hello, my name is ______________ and I am a constituent.
 
·        I live at/in ___________ (give street address or neighborhood so they know you are a constituent).
 
I’m calling to thank Council Member _______ for their support of Resolution 2049 calling for FoodprintNYC! I am so glad to see the connection between food and climate change being taken seriously.

Thank you!!

The first CSA distribution was on June 23rd and it turned out great!  Not only did a whole ton of people sign up to get fresh vegetables straight from the Angel family farm, quite a few passers by stopped in and asked how they could get their hands on some of those delicious vegetables.  It was a beautiful, hot, sunny day and the CSA probably had as much of a crowd going as the ice cream truck down the street.  Thanks to the Neighborhood School for letting the CSA set up on their doorstep, and a huge thank you to the Angel family for working so hard to bring fresh vegetables into the city every week!

We’re thrilled to see that the work of so many in New York City has resulted in getting rid of junk food in vending machines!

Check out the New York Times article about it here.

There lots more work to be done so kids can have healthier food in schools, but it is nice to have one small victory. Thanks to all who worked so hard on this.

Please come at 6pm  for some fantastic music (and BYOPicnic) and stay for the screening at dusk (8:30pm)!

June 27th, Ft. Greene Park in Brooklyn.

6pm Music

8:30pm Screening

Find out about the screening here! And watch the trailer for BAMcinemaFEST here!

One of Sadie and Safiyah’s goals in working on this film was to help start a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) with the Angel Family.

It’s happening now! Families are signing up to become members and then the Angels will drop off delicious veggies for members on Tuesdays between 3 and 6pm at the Neighborhood School in Manhattan.

We’re still taking sign-ups! Email: neighborhoodschoolcsa@gmail.com or check out http://tnscsa.wordpress.com/ for more info.

Here are some pictures from the recent trip to the farm to help plant.