This is the written transcript of my comments made during the Public Comment section of the 2/3/16 Board of Ed meeting.

I had the opportunity to speak to the 4th graders at Wells Rd School a couple of weeks ago.  Mrs. Cloukey asked me to speak.  The children were doing research for opinion pieces they were writing and after reading articles and watching a video on the subject of school lunch, they asked me to serve as a further source.  I was asked to come speak because as a farmer, a mother and a community member, I am known to have strong opinions on the topic.  In fact, I spoke to you about school lunch two years ago (you can find those comments on my website).  I made the same case to the 4th graders that I made to you two years ago:  processed food has no business in our schools. 
 
It was a fun back and forth with my engaged audience.  I first asked them why they came to school in the first place?  Hands went up with answers like “to learn”, “schools have resources we don’t have at home”, and “teachers”.  Then I asked if learning about nutrition was important.  Yes, they said emphatically, citing that you could only live a certain amount of days (we weren’t really clear on EXACTLY), without food or you DIE.  And, food helps keep you healthy.  I told them, that in fact the administration agrees because there is curriculum about nutrition taught in our schools.  Then we talked about messages inside their school.  Do you have R rated books in the library? I asked them.  NO, they answered. Well, how about those motorcycles they let you ride out on the playground…  those must be fun, I egged them on.  After some roaring laughter, we agreed that teachers and the administration don’t offer just any toys and games to play with on the playground, but only ones that are appropriate for the ages of the kids at school.  What about signs like these:  do you see signs like these in the lunchroom?
I wrote on the board:

2+2=5
 
PUT YOU’RE TRAY HERE
 
Laughter again.  Of course not.  Because we don’t teach math and grammar ONLY in the classroom.  Positive messages are posted everywhere in school.  And that’s why we should give positive messages through the food we offer them every day.  After a discussion about what is good food and testing my hypothesis: Good Food Grows, it was clear that processed food is not good food.  Quick test for you:  Do Doritos grow? Pop Tarts?  I’ve been combing through my seed catalogs for a few weeks now and still haven’t seen a Doritos seed.
 
This conversation is again timely because the US government recently released the 2015-2020 Federal Dietary Guidelines.  This year, more than ever, the guidelines are clear:  processed food is NOT good for our bodies.  We NEED to limit added sugar and salt.  But this is not a discussion about outlawing processed food.  If you want to eat a bowl of Doritos this weekend while watching the Superbowl, I promise I’m not coming over to your house to grab them out of your kid's hand.  I’m not lobbying Stop and Shop to stop selling anything in a package.  I’m asking you.   School.  Stop telling our kids that added sugar and salt is OK for their bodies.  That’s exactly what you’re doing by putting a pile of chips right at the end of the lunch line.  And, honestly, you’re telling parents it’s OK too.  But as parents, we’re not there to see how our kids are moderating.  And many of them aren’t.  Talk to the cashier of the Wells Rd. lunch line.  I did last week.  She is very upset about the kids she sees who end up buying and eating a strawberry milk, a couple of cookies and a bag of chips for lunch.
 
Now, I understand that the school lunch program needs to be profitable.  We need to think outside the box and brainstorm new ways of doing things in the lunchroom.  Because it is unethical to be balancing the budget of the school lunch program by offering our kids snacks that current science says are not good for their bodies.
 
I spoke to you about this two years ago and we made some progress.  Healthy School Lunch certification is a great thing.  But just because our government says that Baked Doritos can be included in a “healthy lunch”, doesn’t mean we have to toe the line too.  We’re not in the pockets of the Big Food companies they way the USDA is.  I’m bringing this up again now because the stakes are about to get higher:  Next school year we will be sending our kindergarteners, our 5 year-olds to Kelly Lane where they will have access to a healthy hot lunch every day.  Please don’t send them the message that chips and ice cream are part of that healthy lunch.
 
I’m excited to get to work on this.  I had a great talk with Dave and Rosemary at the Wells Road cafeteria last week and am looking forward to meeting with them again to brainstorm ideas.  But in order to make lasting change in our community, the Board of Ed and the administration need to embrace a vision of health for our kids and then we need to put it into action in every cafeteria in the district.  I very much appreciate your time.  I am always reachable and would love to hear from you at katebogli@cox.net.

The growing season is coming up and it sounds fun to join the club of “Local Foodies”, but there’s work, kids activities, let’s face it, LIFE.  Who has time to spend all day going around to local farms to gather up food you don’t think your kids or your husband are going to eat anyway?  Here are my top 5 ways to make the transition from big box processed food diet to local veggie-based whole foods diet (really, it’s not that scary!)

1.     Ask for what you want, but buy what they have.  Farmers love feedback from their customers!  Want more tomatoes in your CSA share?  No nitrates in your sausage?  We want to hear what you like and don’t like about what we’re growing because pleasing you will keep you coming back.  But if we don’t have this or that just now, don’t walk away with nothing.  The recipe called for flank steak and the farmer’s all out?  Maybe skirt steak will work just as well; or maybe you just change to burgers for dinner.  You LOVE roasted carrots?  Try parsnips!

2.     Try one thing at a time:  Start slow and ease into the local eating diet.  Changing from eating big brands and packaged foods from the one-stop grocery market to seeking out farmers and eating whole foods is a big change – give yourself time.  Try doing one thing this season:  Join a CSA, commit to buying meat from a local farm once a week (or once a month), go out for a glass of wine at a local vineyard instead of your favorite restaurant, make the local Farmer’s Market a weekly habit.  Any ONE of these changes can improve the quality of your diet by leaps and bounds.

3.     Talk to insiders.  Farmers, friends, Facebook and your local health food store are all great places to look to get advice about local eating.  Don’t know where to go for milk?  As your CSA farmer.  Who still has shares available at a local CSA?  Ask in your local Facebook group.  Want bones to make bone broth?  Ask how-to at the health food store.

4.     Double up – Lots of small farms are now trying to offer more for their customer:  they raise meat and also stock local dairy products in their farm store.  They grow veggies, but offer meat in their CSA once in a while.  Use your resources to find these gems.  You might pay a bit more for having all those products in one place, but the reduction in travel time is worth it.

5.     Take advantage and try something new.  Instead of eschewing the bad, sugar-laden processed stuff (you can do that too!), try adding in more good stuff:  try some Bok Choy, or that lean grass feed ground beef.  And take advantage of the tools your farmer offers:  try the recipes they send out in their CSA newsletter or website.  Make sure up to show up with your farmer’s annual tour day – then corner the farmer to ask all your questions.  A well-educated eater is a farmer’s best customer.

Try these 5 tips this summer and see if you can make some changes stick.  Your farmer and your body will thank you!

Last night the Town of Granby’s Town-Owned Land Study Committee held a public meeting to solicit ideas about what to do with 107 East Street (formerly the Evonsian Farm), a property recently acquired by the town.  I felt so grateful to hear so many residents of our town speak in support of farming in Granby.  Here are the comments I made:

“I’d like to see the land stay as it is right now (in corn).  I know you’ve been charged with coming up with a purpose for this newly acquired town asset, but let’s not forget: this land is not new, just new to the town.  The farmers who owned it and their neighbors have been farming this land for years.

“Keeping land in farmland is important to keeping the rural nature of our town and staying true to its farming heritage.  Granby can’t FEEL like a farm town if we aren’t actually farming.  The reason our town feels like a farm town – different from others – is because we drive past acres of corn growing, farmers making hay in the summertime, cattle and horses grazing in fields, row after row of vegetables growing, and old apple trees heavy with fruit.

“The farmers who are currently using this land need it.  They grow food for their animals who in turn grow food for us.  I’d like to see the town let them continue.”

There is still time to give your opinion on how this property should be used.  A survey will be available April 1st on the town’s website, granby-ct.gov.  Fill it out and let the them know what you value in our town.

If you’ve seen the front page of this month’s Granby Drummer (let alone taken a peek inside), you know that someone is not so happy with our town vineyard.  Maybe the entire issue can be solved with a change of attitude, so I’d like to take a minute to look on the bright side of having a vineyard in our beautiful town. 

I don’t live next door to the vineyard, but I do live across the street from Salmon Brook Park.  I enjoy the happy sounds not just of summer concerts and weekly ball games as I work in our fields.  I love the fact that we can see and hear the fireworks for Celebrate Granby right from our front porch.  So I can’t imagine not loving being the neighbor of the vineyard.

We moved from New York City to raise our kids in the town where my husband grew up.  With all its benefits (there are so many), culture is not as quick and easy to be found.  I love having a place to see art, hear music, admire the beauty of nature.  So I can’t imagine not loving being the neighbor of the vineyard.

The best part of being a farmer in this town is our community.  We are all looking to help each other, each believing that together we are stronger than we are individually.  It’s why we started Open Farm Day, why we showcase each other at our own farms, and why we feel we can rely on each other for help and advice.  The vineyard is a big part of this community.  So I can’t imagine not loving being the neighbor of the vineyard.

Our farm had plans (literally) to become a housing development before my husband and I decided to move back to Granby.  Because of a family commitment to farming on the part of his grandparents, his parents and us, our 50 acres in the center of town is still a farm.  We are hoping that the work we are doing now will inspire our own kids to want to take care of the land as a farm in the future.  But they need to see it as a successful, viable business (as all farms MUST be) in order to want to take on the work that it is. Diversification is key to the health of any farm.  So I can’t imagine not loving being the neighbor of the vineyard.

I’ll admit it.  I’m jealous of the vineyard.  It’s a place people just love to go (who doesn’t love wine).  Ground beef and pork chops just aren’t as sexy as Firehouse Red and Clemons Springs white.  They pull people in from near and far and their draw helps not just all of the farms in town, but all of the businesses in town.   So I can’t imagine not loving being the neighbor of the vineyard.

We’re losing farmland at an alarming rate – less so in CT, thankfully.  How great is it that we have not only farmers who have been working their land for generations, but new farmers, reclaiming land that surely once was farmed.  What a great resource for our town.  So I can’t imagine not loving being the neighbor of the vineyard.

As farms in town, we realize that we sometimes try your patience.  But we thank you for being so helpful and understanding.  Our horse is in your back yard?  Thanks for helping us corral them back on to our property.  You can smell the cow manure we spread on our fields?  That’s the smell of spring in Granby!  You are behind us on the tractor?  You give us a wave as you pass with a wide berth.   You can hear the music from down the street?  Sit back, pour a lemonade and enjoy. We’ll repay you by keeping our town rural, pastoral, authentic.  Please do come visit us on Septebmer 6 – Granby’s Open Farm Day 2014!

--Farmer Kate