Produce grown at college benefits local nonprofits

A garden housed at Monroe County Community College serves two purposes.

The venture is an immersive learning laboratory for local students. And the produce grown in the fields is donated to nonprofits in the area that provide locally grown food while highlighting the benefits of healthy eating.

A team of volunteers run the farm: Ned Birkey, a Michigan State University Extension instructor emeritus who specializes in agriculture; Pete Loughney, board member of the River Raisin Institute; and Jacqueline Iannazzo-Corser, associate professor of cooking at the college and owner of the Public House Restaurant.

“We’re trying to get the products out to people who don’t have access to a lot of fresh food,” Loughney said.

The garden was laid out at college four years ago, and was created through discussions between Lougheny and Andy McCain, a member of the college’s agricultural department who also serve on the board of directors of the River Raisin Institute.

Loughney said McCain approached him about space on the college campus that could potentially be used for farming.

Loughney said the farm started with a single raised bed and grew quickly as local greenhouses donated plants to aid the effort.

This year, the 12 acre farm helped donate more than 3,000 pounds of fresh produce to the Monroe County Opportunity Program and Village Market, a grocery store operated by Oaks of Righteousness. Deliveries have been weekly for the past few months while the produce is being harvested, Loughney said.

Tomatoes, sunflowers, okra pods, kale, beans and many other products were grown on the farm. The most recent harvest included acorn and butternut squash.

Everything done on the farm is the product of a donation of time, materials, or labor, Birkey said, adding that the benefit to the college is a learning laboratory for students.

Birkey said the college is unique in that it offers specialized programs in agriculture and culinary studies. The goal of the farm is to help these students better understand how the two concepts interact, he added.

“Cooking students don’t always know what the farm is like, and agricultural students don’t always know what happens when the food comes into the kitchen,” says Birkey.

Birkey said the college was very kind to provide the land for the farm that the students use for courses such as entomology, horticulture, and biology.

“Michigan is the second most diverse state after California,” said Birkey.

Loughney said there are several programs in the area designed to help those in need find food. Much of the struggle is figuring out where and how to access these initiatives, he said.

“Realistically, if people in Monroe County have trouble finding food, it’s because they don’t know where to report,” Loughney said. “This community has a lot of heart – people like to support whoever needs it. … A number of health problems are directly related to diet (problems). … We see people who don’t understand the alternatives. Hopefully we will offer an option for a healthy diet. “

It is very valuable to see the process of growing products, said Iannazzo-Corser.

“You can see what can become of this,” she said. “And this product – there are so many recipes that can be developed.”

It is vital to educate people about the benefits of healthy eating and penetrate the food supply chain, Iannazzo-Corser said.

“You have to train people to think outside the box or to develop healthy eating habits,” she said. “It helps if we bring it to them.”

She said that people come to the village market to buy the fresh produce, adding that the demand continues to grow.

“Our community is important to us,” she says. “People don’t have to get on a bus or find someone else’s transportation to get to one of the (bigger) stores.”

Iannazzo-Corser helps prepare recipes that are sold on the market. They often contain the products that are grown on the farm.

“Some people never learned how to use fresh produce in the kitchen,” she said. “I’ll show you how items can be combined.”

Oaks of Righteousness Pastor Heather Boone said MCCC President Kojo Quartey had approached her about how the farm’s products could be used to provide food for people in the Orchard East neighborhood of Monroe.

The area is considered a food wasteland, she said, adding no shop in the area that supplied fresh produce or meat.

Last year Boone introduced the Sacred Oak Clinic, a free health center. It found that many of the health problems faced by people in the area could be related to diet.

“Lack of access to and exposure to healthy foods is a big problem,” she said. “The (partnership) with the MCCC farm is really good at bringing healthy food to people. … (organizers) were very excited to be able to offer us locally grown products. “

The store is not for profit. It buys groceries at cost, Boone said.

“We sell at the lowest price,” she added. “We don’t make any money – we’re just trying to help the people in the area.”

She hopes to continue working with the college farm as market customers visit the center for products.

“The (volunteers) responded to the needs of our community,” said Boone. “They planted things that they knew people would like and use. It was a wonderful opportunity. “

Loughney said the farm will be in dire need of volunteers next year. Birkey said the volunteer-led effort was to raise grants to help with recruiting.

The team is also preparing for the next cycle of growth.

“We’re already preparing for next year,” said Birkey. “It takes a whole year to go through a cycle. We’re at the end of one … it’s a slow process. “

Jacqueline Iannazzo-Corser, an associate professor of culinary arts at the college and owner of the Public House Restaurant, provides the village market with recipes using produce grown on the Monroe County Community College farm.

Below are two such sunflower recipes.

Vegan cold sunflower soup

Ingredients:

• 1– 1 ½ cucumber (1/4 half and 1/2 cubes)
• 1 clove of garlic pressed
• 3 ounces. peeled from raw sunflower seeds
• 1 – 1- ½ cups of water
• 1 lemon
• ¼ bunch of dill, chopped
• Salt & pepper to taste

instructions:

1. In a blender, add sunflower seeds, lemon juice, water, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix until the consistency is creamy. Pour into the mixing bowl
2. Add the cucumber, garlic and dill.
3. Mix and place in the refrigerator until chilled, about 1 hour.

Sunflower artichokes

ingredients

• 1 large edible sunflower head
• 1 cup of vegetable broth or water
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. In a larger stock pot, add 1 cup of water with the sunflower head. Blanch the sunflower over medium heat for 8 minutes.
2. Once the sunflower is balanced, transfer it to a pan with vegetable stock and add salt and pepper. Cover the pan and simmer until the sunflower bud is soft and easy to cut.
3. Cool the sunflower.
4. Using a cutting board with a paring knife, remove the outer leaves, then scrape all the petals off the inner part of the bud.
5. Place the buds in a container with an airtight lid and refrigerate them until they are needed.

source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/09/26/produce-grown-at-college-benefits-local-nonprofits/