Interview with Sophia Qin - Teenage Author, non-profit Founder, & app game Producer!

Interviewed by Adrianna Freeman, Communications & Operations Manager for The HEAL Project

This summer The HEAL Project camps had a guest presenter, that being Ms. Sophia Quin! Sophia is a 16 year old bay area High School student that has gone above and beyond in terms of environmental advocacy. The HEAL Project's Theory of Change includes our vision for our program participants to become Engaged Citizens, Sophia walked me through what sparked her environmental passion, how she got the ideas for her multiple passion projects, and how she plans to continue to educate those around her. Please enjoy as you dive into her success as an author, nonprofit founder, app game producer, and most importantly, environmental advocate!

Adrianna - Let’s start with a bit about your background. Tell me about yourself.

Sophia - “My name is Sophia and I am a Junior at Aragon High School in the Bay Area. I am 16 years old and one of my main interests is writing. I love to write, and this started early on during the transition from 5th to 6th grade. Our language arts teacher gave an assignment to write a short story and present it to the class. This is when I found out about creative writing, and when I really delved deeper into the hobby. I started exploring poetry, short stories, novel writing, and really began to fall in love with it. This went on for a while, and during this time I also submitted some of my pieces to the Scholastic Art & writing awards. Here I was able to win some regional awards, and it was really neat that other people were appreciative & willing to share my work with others. When I entered HS we had a journalism team, so I decided to try something new, and joined as a News Staffer. Currently, I continue to serve as a News Editor. That is more about my writing background, and I view writing as a very powerful medium to inspire and compel others. I use that to educate the public on issues that I really care about, which is specifically environmental issues, a segue to my other passion. That being said, I love the environment, and I do a lot of work advocating for planetary health.

Besides these two passions which I have merged together, I am also a very avid lover of history, I also love baking during free time over the weekends. I search recipes up and bake treats for family and friends. Spending time with family as well, I have a chihuahua as well, I love animals!”

Adrianna - Please share how you became involved with matters of environmental stewardship.

Sophia - “Since a young age, I have been exposed to this type of stuff. We had occasional guest speakers come in talking about the importance of saving water, and various other speeches or presentations regarding environmental issues. I feel like this never really stuck to me (as opposed to subjects such as history/math), where you are learning this in daily classes, whereas environmental education is not very systematic, and it is not in our actual school curriculum. So, in 6th grade I came across an article regarding global warming. This featured a polar bear standing on its last bit of ice habit. This was very sad and appalling to me as I love animals. I think this was the actual turning point where I suddenly opened my eyes to the outside world & realized what was happening. As opposed to previously, when I heard the guest speakers, it never really stuck to me. That article really shocked me and ever since then (this was 6th grade), I started trying to become an eco-friendlier citizen, in hopes of those poor polar bears and other animals not suffering as much. At the same time, I was looking at my peers & friends to see if they were doing the same thing… and the answer is no. At lunch time, I would see trash being thrown on the ground, littering, not knowing what trash to recycle in which bin, and leaving around piles of food waste.

That is when I thought that something needed to be done about this, but also, I was doubtful as to whether I had the capabilities of being a prominent voice. I was not really the outspoken one in class; I was scared to speak up. This went on for about 2 or 3 years until I entered high school. Regarding my past mention of joining journalism and becoming a part of the News Staff, I believe that really trained me and made me get out of my comfort zone. I realized my potential of how I can grow and become more outspoken, through the interviews I conducted. This is when I really decided to go for it, and become the person that advocates for environmental protection. I think that if I did not do it, no one else would step up to do it. So anyways, that is why I decided to write the book & start this nonprofit organization. That is how it all got rolling!”

Adrianna – Can you expand on the book you wrote & nonprofit you created?

Sophia – “Sure! So, I founded my own non-profit organization which is called Light Earth’s Destiny, in short it is called L-E-D (LED). We do many projects around environmental education, such as compelling other youth in our community to join us to protect the environment in ways that they can contribute to, and educating them overall. I also wrote my own book, this being called Becoming Earth 2.0, it is an educational science fiction book mainly dedicated to elementary and middle schoolers (although all readers of all ages and backgrounds are welcome to explore it).”

Adrianna – Could you tell me more about projects within your non-profit?

            Sophia - “Sure! We have quite a few projects right now, one specifically I am very excited about is called Saving Earth 2.0, and I am sure you can guess it is connected to my book. We have really talented tech app developers here at our organization. Over the summer they have worked very hard to develop this app game based on my book. Basically, (not getting too specific) there are a lot of mini games in the app, the player's goal is to save this dying planet as it experiences many environmental issues. Throughout each mini game they are supposed to solve obstacles such as plastic pollution, the wildfires going on across the planet, etc., and during their time on the planet, the players learn more about how we can be change-makers, and be that person that addresses/ tackles these issues. Therefore, we created this app game, and it actually launched very recently! It is developed for Apple & Android users, as we hope to make it accessible to everyone. We plan to distribute it to museums/other places that take in these app games & make it be seen in the public! You can access the app here.”

Adrianna – Can you tell me more about the book you wrote - what inspired this and how it came together?

            Sophia – “The book was in my sophomore year of high school. There was this long period of time between then and 6th grade where I was hesitating on being the one to go out there and be the leader. I was definitely since 6th grade adopting more eco-friendly practices & further educating myself, but I was still not sure if I could be the one leading.

            In 9th grade I was more focused on growing myself, I went to a few environmental science research programs to be more knowledgeable in that area. This was to expand my knowledge before I took on exciting yet also ambitious projects.

            Elaborating further, when I really decided to take action, I was thinking how could I contribute? I felt I was pretty strong in writing, and felt I could accomplish a whole book. I think books are a very, very entertaining resource for kids. This is because other resources we have on climate change and global warming etc., are just long articles & research etc., that are not very exciting for kids. This is why I find books to be an ideal way to get kids started at a young age. Kids are our future generation, these are the people that are going to grow up and make decisions, all of our behavior and choices directly impact earth's well-being. So, I think it is very important that at a young age we start having this coexistence with nature, no matter what we are doing. This is why I think environmental education is so, so important, on a note in addition to beach clean ups/planting trees.”

Cover of Becoming Earth 2.0, written by Sophia Qin & Illustrated by Lily Fang

Adrianna - What is the book's overall concept/summary?

            Sophia – “Becoming Earth 2.0 actually takes place in the future, in 2100. A team of top international climate scientists gather in an international laboratory. They have already helped our Earth transition into an eco-friendlier lifestyle. They are now helping a faraway alien planet called 2.0 with their battle in climate change. It is this whole journey where Karina, the earth scientist, is building trust with the aliens through communicating back and forth and introducing them to sustainable solutions. These solutions are so neat to me considering they are extremely futuristic and advanced. 

            I also want to mention that my main character Karina, is pretty special, in that she was born in 2047, so you may think she is already 50 but she is only about 28 or 27 in my story, due to her having gone through suspended animation. This is another futuristic thing, where climate change got so bad where the younger generation in my book had to be put to sleep in a way and wait until the world leaders and older generations solved those issues and restored the health on earth and it became safe enough for kids to come back to live again.” 

Adrianna - Did you create a timeline or plan for the book? Please tell me about that if so.

            Sophia – “I took about 1 month brainstorming how the story plot and how all the characters would come together. That was because I had several goals in mind, the first and most obvious one was environmental education, and teaching kids about envenomed issues. But I also wanted to represent underrepresented voices, diverse backgrounds, and emphasize the need for global cooperation when we come together to battle climate change. Also, encouraging gender equality in the workforce. All of these together, it took me a long time to figure out how I was going to go about the story.        

  Now that you have a summary of it, “Earth” is the positive and hopeful outlook of our future, so I really want to give readers the motivation that as long as we try enough, we can reach that beautiful and green future that I imagine in 2100. But again, because I wanted to incorporate all of these environmental issues, 2.0 was the reflection of what would happen if we continue going down this unsustainable pathway. Sort of the warning to readers that we can’t follow this pathway anymore, it is going to lead to a lot of dangerous consequences.

Third, I wanted to praise the work of current scientists who are our heroes, coming up with all of these futuristic solutions, such as in my book I mention renewable energy, biodegradable plastic, plastic eating mealworms, lab grown meat, vertical gardens, floating cities, desalination equipment that can make salty ocean water into drinkable water. A lot of these neat solutions out there making these kids excited for a hopeful and optimistic future.``

Continuing on book’s timeline –

  Sophia - “Yes, I did have a timeline planned, as I prefer to keep track of everything I do & set deadlines for myself, in hopes of keeping pace & publishing the book when I wanted to. So, I went about this by setting deadlines for each chapter (after having a general idea of topics), and then I basically just went for it. I wrote a draft, no matter how rough it was, and then I asked a lot of friends from middle school/even elementary school, as they are going to be my main audience so I was wanting their feedback. After doing that, I revised my draft and sent it out again to them to read it and revise, back and forth for. Along time. I did actually calculate a rough draft of how long this took me, it was about 6 months of work and almost 300 hours of writing and eventual publishing of the book.

I also want to mention that the book has illustrations, created by my cousin Lily Lanqing Fang. Lily is responsible for the book cover and all drawings included, huge thank you to her.  We are super close, so I planned deadlines for the both of us, for example as I finished a chapter, I would ask that she finish the drawing for that section. The eventual publishing through Amazon was super nice as it allows authors such as us to self-publish via Amazon. I additionally had a narrator, James Simenc, who is super talented and has given me immense support along the way. It is also available via kindle, and paper books (b&w as well as color).”

Air Pollution Illustration from Becoming Earth 2.0, drawn by Lily Fang

Adrianna - What was challenging about putting this book together? What resources did you lean on?

Sophia – “I am pretty lucky in that I had some experience with writing beforehand, due to this being a hobby of mine already. I am very lucky in that I went in expecting it to be tiring 7 exhausting to write a whole book. But what was very new and challenging to me, was researching all of these topics. I cover a lot of env issues from air pollution, plastic pollution, wildfires, etc., and I wanted to make sure I was presenting the right info, and that all the facts are right. So, I did a lot of fact checking, leaned on google as my best friend, and really read a lot of research papers & articles from credible sources online. I also included an Appendix and Reference at the end to give readers additional information, and cite my sources. Also, since my future is set in 2100, I obviously can’t predict the future so I would type in what the world would look like in 2100, and just piece together all those types of innovations that have not come to life yet & piece together what that would look like. Especially with suspended animation, I had to consider the logistics behind this.

I also had to consider my audience. Their age is elementary/middle school, so I had to break down my information and make sure it is something they can understand. So this whole process was different from my typical creative writing in that I normally just discuss my topics/feelings, but this was again consisting of much fact checking.”

Plastic Pollution Illustration from Becoming Earth 2.0, drawn by Lily Fang

Adrianna - What was the most rewarding part regarding the completion of the book?

Sophia – “Seeing that others enjoyed reading my book and that they are excited for it. After I published my book, I wanted to make it a whole project, so I now call it Becoming Earth 2.0 environmental education initiative, where I would visit summer camps, libraries and schools, and make a presentation/ lesson based on my story. What was so rewarding is seeing their eyes light up, the overall excitement in kids, getting to share it with them, seeing how I achieved my goal partially in making kids excited about how they can be stewards of earth. I really enjoy spreading my message across the community.”

Adrianna - How have you shared this book with the community? (Local and beyond)

Sophia – “Yes absolutely, I have gone into nature camps as a guest speaker to present, organized author events with libraries, visited elementary & some middle schools, and partnered with children’s book project (a literacy organization in SF). I additionally want to make sure the book reaches underprivileged children, as it is challenging for them to access books in general and resources for how they can protect the earth. I therefore hope to continue to donate books to schools such as that. I only make 7 cents a book, which is used to further book donation initiatives. I want to use the little amount I earn to further fund my projects, making it ultimately as big as possible.”

Adrianna - What was your experience when sharing this with kids at The HEAL Project?

       Sophia – “I recall vividly because THP was one of the first camps I ever visited with children. So, getting into that I was nervous... due to not knowing if I could catch the attention of children or whether kids would be interested. It ended up being a fabulous experience, as I enjoyed interacting with them greatly. Despite the covid pandemic, I was able to go in person & show THP kids the book. I invited along a member from my nonprofit organization, and we did a free giveaway including 3 books. It was super exciting and I was very satisfied seeing smiles & being in the moment.”

Adrianna - Were any projects or goals of yours impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic? (Book related or not)

Sophia – “Regarding my book initiatives, the impact was not that big, but noticeable in some ways. For example, it messed up presentations, as virtual presentations are not engaging for kids. Additionally, several camps rejected me for pandemic related causes. On top of that, visiting with masks on is not as ideal.

In regard to my non-profit, it did not impact Light Earth’s Destiny’s progress, as the whole mission has always been to build a network of students across the bay area. We were separated regardless, as we would often do zoom meetings anyway. Thankfully, we are all very motivated high school students, and each has their own position to fulfill, consisting of their own tasks & to-do list. With individuals being self-motivated and proactive, the combination of our work ethic together is extremely successful.”

Adrianna - What kind of goals do you have for the future, any specific projects you are currently working on?

Sophia – “My goals in the near future are that I would like to continue my book initiative, as this is a project I have dedicated most time to and am extremely passionate about. When I go to college, I would like to either continue running my nonprofit, or at least find someone to succeed and run as president in my place. I hope to keep Light Earth’s Destiny running as long as possible. In the long-term, I will continue to involve myself in environmental aspects, as this is a huge part of my life. Getting into career goals, while I am not 100% sure yet, I think focusing on environmental policy, and gearing us towards a lower carbon economy, will be on my agenda.”

Adrianna - Any other initiatives or thoughts you would like to share. Thank you!

Sophia – “You are welcome to check out our website for any other interesting things, I believe I have covered my top two projects.”

Adrianna - Going deeper into Sophia’s top 2 projects, her non-profit, Light Earth’s Destiny, is hosting an eco-art contest. This contest would love as many submissions as possible, and calls all young artists aged 5 to 14 to create an environmentally themed art piece! Some theme examples are Imaging Our Green Future, Focusing on the Present, and Honoring an Environmental Hero. There are many opportunities for sponsored prizes, and you can win a copy of Sophia’s book!

Additionally, Sophia & her innovative tech team’s app came out this last weekend! It is available on android and apple devices. What a neat way to get kids learning while they’re having time on the iPad!

Conclusion… How can we keep up with Sophia?

            Adrianna – “Sophia shared that her current nonprofit site, Earth-v2.org,  stays as up to date as possible. She has a long-term goal of potentially starting a different website to keep track of her various undertakings. Lastly, keeping up to date with her name app game, Saving Earth 2.0, is a great way to stay involved. I want to give a huge thank you to Sophia, for not only taking time to share her story with me, but for most importantly, making an extreme effort to save the planet in an impressive multitude of ways. We look forward to hearing about your continued success in the future, Sophia!”

Interview with Anthony Myint, Co-Founder of Zero Foodprint

Interviewed by Chapin Dorsett, Communications & Operations Manager for The HEAL Project

Chapin - Where did the idea for Zero Foodprint come from?

Anthony - We began with an interest in climate solutions and were trying to figure out how to make restaurants part of the solution. We started out by looking at the operations of a restaurant and analyzing its carbon footprint with an eye for how we could reduce that footprint. In 2019 we began collaborations with regional governments and underwent a transformational evolution away from carbon footprinting and carbon neutrality and towards a circular economy approach to carbon farming.

What would you say is the main purpose that Zero Foodprint serves?

Zero Foodprint is giving customers and citizens a way to directly fund carbon farming and regenerative agriculture, so a way to directly take carbon out of the atmosphere in your own region with local farms and ranches. The restaurants that work with us send a portion of their proceeds to our carbon farming projects. Oftentimes they generate that portion by adding an extra one percent fee to customer bills.

Explanatory graphic from zerofoodprint.org with permission.

What kind of restaurants do you partner with?

We really partner with any restaurant or food company, or even just any citizen who wants to fund carbon farming. We’re really excited that the movement is spreading—in Boulder, Colorado, for example, we just had a Subway franchisee sign up with five locations, which is really helping to normalize this carbon farming economy. It’s not just about a few fancy restaurants making better choices; it’s really about the whole food economy coming together to fund a structural change in how ingredients are produced.

How can normal people get involved with the project?

Any person that wants to directly fund carbon farming can contribute to the featured project on our website. The money goes directly into practices like compost application, planting cover crops, reducing tillage, and other practices that build healthy soil on farms and ranches and take carbon out of the atmosphere. People can also dine at participating restaurants and send a portion of their bill to our carbon farming projects. And corporations can start using their CSR dollars towards local climate solutions.

Twisted Fields, of San Gregorio, California, is one of Zero Foodprint’s featured projects. Photo from zerofoodprint.org with permission.

What about farms and ranches—how do they get involved?

In San Mateo, for example, we’re working with the Resource Conservation District, which is    reaching out to farmers and ranchers to encourage them to apply for our grants. Farmers and ranchers fill out the COMET-Planner, which is a carbon sequestration modeling tool, and propose a scope of work to us. Let’s say they were interested in applying compost on ten acres of their land. They would plug that project into the COMET-Planner and it would estimate how much carbon the project would draw out of the atmosphere. We divide the proposed cost of the project by the estimated carbon benefit to derive a cost per ton of carbon removal. You can think of it like a carbon sequestration return on investment. So if the project would cost $10,000 and is estimated to draw 100 tons of carbon out of the atmosphere, the cost per ton would be $100. We rank all of the applications primarily based on that number, and then the best projects get the funding. The grantees then work with a technical service provider, like the Resource Conservation District, to implement the project. The RCDs are really the boots on the ground working with the farmers and ranchers on their projects.

Where do you see Zero Foodprint going moving forward?

Our goal is to scale up our work in California and in other states and regions to potentially get to maybe hundreds of businesses participating and millions of dollars per year flowing towards carbon farming in each region. There’s a lot of work to do.

—

Anthony Myint is the co-founder of Mission Chinese Food, The Perennial and Zero Foodprint, named 2020 Humanitarian of the Year by The James Beard Foundation. ZFP leads a public private collaboration with governments in California and Colorado to scale regenerative agriculture. Restaurants and businesses that participate in Zero Foodprint are directly funding climate beneficial farming projects that transform bad atmospheric carbon into healthy soil carbon.

Farms and Wildlife

by Fiona Benjamin, The HEAL Project’s Farm Manager

Agriculture is often portrayed in the media as being at odds with nature. Less often we hear stories about how farms managed with an ecological mindset can be incredibly vibrant places that create habitat for local fauna. This synchronicity is one of the things that drew me to agriculture as a college student. One of the themes I stressed to student visitors in my previous role as an Educator here at The HEAL Project was the importance of farms as open spaces that can provide habitat.

I think it's important to note that even the most “conventional” farm is likely more beneficial as a space for wildlife than a developed urban area. However, there are many practices a farmer can use to increase habitat value on their properties, some of which we employ at the San Mateo County School Farm, such as pollinator strips, reduced tillage, and the interplanting of perennial crops with annual crops (alley cropping).

At the Farm we are very fortunate to be surrounded by natural spaces. On the East side we have Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and on the Northwest side we have Denniston Creek. My theory for why pest pressure on our site is relatively low despite zero pesticide usage is that these natural areas aid our farming efforts by providing a refuge for beneficial insects. Reciprocally, during the dry season our irrigated area helps to provide resources for the whole food web. For example, our crops could support a pest insect population that feeds local birds that are in turn prey for bobcats or raptors.

A quick list of critters spotted right here at the San Mateo County School Farm:

Mammals

• Blacktailed deer

• Grey fox

• Red fox

• Coyote

• Bobcat

• Long-tailed weasel

Reptiles

• Gopher snake

• Garter snake 

• Western fence lizard

Insects

• Monarch butterfly

• Swallowtail butterfly 

• Bumble bees

• Syrphid flies

Birds

• Red tail hawk

• Turkey vulture

• Kestrel

• Scrub jay

• Stellar’s jay

• Black phoebe

• Great horned owl

• Spotted towhee

• Hermit thrush

• Robin

• Swallow

• Great blue heron

Amphibians

• Pacific tree frog

• California newt

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All photos by Fiona Benjamin.

Above left: One of my favorite wildlife encounters at our site was the several months that two fledgling great horned owls sheltered at the farm as they grew up and prepared to leave the nest. They could frequently be found asleep on the fence in the very early morning.

Above right: Another favorite encounter—this red-tailed hawk caught her prey right in front of me, but she couldn’t get it loose from the fence. She let me pull it loose and hand it to her right after this photo was taken.

Above left: This lizard crawled onto a 3rd grader of its own accord and stayed for about a half hour. The student and his friends were very calm, and then the lizard went on his way.

Above right: Here is an adult monarch butterfly visiting the hedge along the entrance to the Farm. We have several varieties of native and non-native milkweed and are adding more. Milkweed is the only food for the monarch caterpillar. We also have a local retiree who raises monarchs at his home and releases them on the Farm in an effort to bolster the local population.

One of my favorite animal visitors to find is the Pacific tree frog. I find them all year round. Here’s one I found while picking raspberries.

—

Fiona has been with The HEAL Project since 2018, first as a Farm Educator and now as the Farm Manager. As a native of the Coastside, she is grateful to have the opportunity to share her passion for healthy eating and the environment with her local community.

Carbon Farming: Reversing climate change while nourishing our lands and people

by Bryanna Whitney & Adria Arko of the San Mateo Resource Conservation District

Photo courtesy of the San Mateo RCD.

San Mateo County’s agricultural roots run deep. The very character of this place is defined by its history of ranching, farming, and fishing, as reflected by the many local plans that call for maintaining the region’s agricultural character, conserving coastal farmlands, and supporting the economic viability of local producers.

Our long farming tradition is being supported today by the growing local food movement, which depends upon the healthy water, soil, and farms that are the foundation of a vibrant and thriving agricultural community. The HEAL Project is a part of that movement as it plays an important role in sharing the joys of growing food with the next generation.

The San Mateo Resource Conservation District (RCD) plays a part as well. Our mission is to help people help the land, and we do so in many ways, from monitoring local water quality, to improving habitat for our local wildlife. When someone comes to us and asks for help, we work with them to make a holistic plan that can help their property to be more resilient.

One of the ways that we can do this is by teaching landowners and land stewards about carbon farming.

Carbon farming takes carbon from the air where it’s a harmful greenhouse gas and puts it into plants and soil where it’s helpful. By storing carbon, improving soil health, and reducing erosion, carbon farming can increase agricultural productivity and resilience while also fighting climate change and its ill effects.

The truly remarkable thing is that it does all of this by harnessing the way that plants and soils already work together.

Through photosynthesis, plants remove carbon from the air and store it in their leaves, stems, and roots, which then help enrich the soil. As plants die and decompose, this carbon can either stay in the soil or be released back into the atmosphere. Carbon farming applies centuries-old agricultural solutions to the modern problem of excess carbon. Techniques such as windbreak and streamside plantings, rotational grazing, and manure and tillage management create healthier soils and help store carbon for a long time.

Illustration of how plants sequester carbon in soils and potential for mitigation. Source: Mother Jones.

 A carbon farm plan gives landowners recommendations and guidelines that can maximize the land’s capacity to store carbon. Our working lands (such as places where livestock are grazed in a managed way) have an incredible ability to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere into soil carbon that can be stored underground for centuries if managed correctly.

What’s in it for landowners and land stewards?

Besides contributing to a viable climate solution? Healthier soils hold more water and are less susceptible to heat and drought. This reduces irrigation costs and local water demand. Managing plantings, grazing, tillage, and waste to store more carbon and nutrients can increase productivity, as well provide wildlife and pollinator habitats. By preventing erosion, and even catastrophic property loss, these practices also protect a farmer’s most precious asset: their land. Combined, these investments mean a more resilient farm, both now and in the face of future changes.

Jarrad Fisher, Senior Program Manager for the Water for Farms Fish and People program, surveys a property in San Gregorio with a landowner looking for opportunities to conserve and store water for agriculture. Photo courtesy of the San Mateo RCD.

Although agriculture has been singled out as a significant greenhouse gas contributor, the good news is that its climate impacts depend largely on how it is done. Carbon farming is a win-win practice that makes farms a part of the solution to the excess of carbon in the atmosphere, and the abundance of carbon becomes part of the solution to protecting farmland. Through carbon farming, agricultural producers can become climate heroes.

So how do you do it?

Carbon farming begins with understanding a landowner’s vision and their production and economic goals. A resource inventory helps identify ways to protect and enhance both land and water, while also capturing more carbon. A customized and flexible plan is then created to help the landowner respond to both environmental and economic changes as well as opportunities. After the plan has been developed, it’s time to put it into action.

For nearly a century, this is what the San Mateo Resource Conservation District has been teaming up with local farmers and ranchers to do.

Adria Arko, Agriculture & Climate Program Manager for the RCD listens to a landowner while gathering information for a conservation plan on the property in Pescadero. Photo courtesy of the San Mateo RCD.

TomKat Ranch crew and RCD staff participate in a workshop with NRCS Soil Scientist Ken Oster. Photo courtesy of the San Mateo RCD.

In 1939, visionary farmers in San Mateo County formed the first conservation district in California and one of the first in the nation. The Dust Bowl crisis had just destroyed millions of acres of cropland by drought and subsequent soil loss. In response, the USDA established the Soil Conservation Service (later renamed the Natural Resources Conservation Service, or NRCS). Local counterparts were set up across the nation to ensure that local priorities were served. Thus were born conservation districts.

The RCD’s origins in soil protection lie at the foundation of carbon farming. But our long history and deep understanding of the region’s working lands also mean that we know how to provide the on-the-ground support that local landowners need. Our whole-farm approach includes fire management, wildlife habitat, water and soil health, and agricultural production. This comprehensive set of services creates an effective regional solution to global greenhouse gas reduction while supporting local communities, food, and water resources.

Through carbon farming, the Resource Conservation District and local producers are reversing climate change while nourishing the lands and people of San Mateo and beyond.

Cover crop protects a farmer’s soil during carbon farming trials in Half Moon Bay. Photo courtesy of the San Mateo RCD.

You can learn more by visiting the RCD’s Carbon Farming webpage or contacting Adria Arko, Agriculture & Climate Programs Manager at adria@sanmateoRCD.org. 

Interview with Doniga Markegard, Rancher at Markegard Family Grass-Fed

Interviewed by Chapin Dorsett, Communications & Operations Manager for The HEAL Project

Chapin - Let’s start with a bit about your background. What got you interested in ranching and permaculture? 

Doniga - I was raised in a rural area in Washington, and my family grew a lot of our own food. We lived close to the land and I grew up on a big river. During high school, I took an alternative path and went to a wilderness school where I studied wildlife tracking, wilderness survival and other nature skills. That connection to nature during my upbringing has influenced everything I do now in my life. I’ve also worked on some organic farms and had a permaculture business for a while. When I met my husband, I had been studying holistic management of grasslands that emphasizes stewardship for diversity and the healing of watersheds.

Photo from www.markegardfamily.com with permission.

C - Can you tell us about Markegard Family Grass-Fed, the regenerative ranch that you started with your husband?

D - We’ve been doing this for 15 years, now. We raise 100% grass-fed beef and lamb in addition to pasture-raised pork and chicken. We sell our meat at farmers’ markets, through a CSA, on our web shop and in some restaurants.

C - What are some of the regenerative ranching techniques that Markegard employs?

D - We keep our animals moving so that they’re never stagnant in one place. By moving the animals, they actually help to stimulate the grass growth. It’s a way we can keep the animals healthy and the grasslands healthy. When you move the animals around, you’re allowing grasses to grow, meaning they can photosynthesize. The photosynthesis draws down carbon into the soil. Grasslands evolved with large herds of grazing animals, so they require a level of disturbance to stay healthy. Without animals trampling, eating and pooping on the grass, you end up with less diversity because one grass species will take over. You also get patches of bare ground because plants will die and then fold over and not allow for other types of plants to reach the sunlight. By using regenerative agriculture practices, we are able to see incredible results in the drawdown of carbon into the soil.

Photo from www.markegardfamily.com with permission.

C - How do you measure the amount of carbon drawdown into the soil?

D - We have soil scientists come to the ranch to take measurements. We work with Point Blue Conservation Science, and they take measurements on ranch land. A common measurement is of soil organic matter. An increase in soil organic matter means an increase in carbon storage in the soil. Another measurement is depth; there is deep and shallow carbon. The deep carbon is important because it’s long-term storage.

C - What has your involvement been with policy and advocacy?

D - Because of the regenerative work that we’re doing, we’re going against the grain. We’re not following in the path of industrial agriculture. We’ve been trailblazers for this movement from the beginning, so we need to be advocates for the work that we’re doing. There isn’t a whole lot of policy right now that supports regenerative agriculture. Right now, it favors the larger, more consolidated farms and ranches, so we have to be advocates for that change.

C - What’s it like to work with your family?

D - It’s great, especially with our kids. It’s so nice to have the kids outside and working with the animals. I just think it’s so important. All of the kids have their own things that they each love to do. They’re great on horseback, and can gather cattle or check fence or work at the markets. It’s just nice to be out there with the kids and to have them really involved in all aspects of the operation. They have a tangible view of what we do as a family—it’s not like their parents go off to work and do something on a computer and then come home. The kids know that the work they do with their hands is producing healthy products that are really making an impact. They can choose whether they want to continue on with this later, but the lessons that they’re learning now will stay with them through life.

Photo from www.markegardfamily.com with permission.

 C - Is there a specific project you’re currently working on that gives you optimism for the future?

D - There are a number of projects I’m working on right now, but one is that I’m in the process of certifying our ranch with the Audubon Society. We would be the first ranch in the state of California to be certified by them. Basically, the logic is that we are selling a product that has been proven to be bird friendly. Our ranching practices preserve habitat for grassland bird species, which is a group of birds at high risk right now. It makes me excited to align with a large group like the Audubon Society that views ranchers as an integral component in the conservation of grassland species.

Interview with Andy Ollove, Food Access Program Director for Fresh Approach

Interviewed by Chapin Dorsett, Operations Manager for The HEAL Project

Chapin - To start us off, could you give a brief overview of Fresh Approach’s mission, how y’all got started and what you do?

Andy - Fresh Approach works at the intersection of food access, public health, nutrition education and local food systems. We were born out of the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association, which includes 50 markets in the Bay Area. In 2008 we began as the nonprofit wing of the association, aimed at getting low income communities to shop at farmers’ markets. Our two primary program areas are food access and nutrition education, and these programs have a uniquely strong tie to the local food systems. Our education programs are rooted in the food and medicine philosophy that healthy eating and healthy behaviors drive healthy outcomes. We utilize a behavior change model through long-term classes about eating and shopping healthy and preparing foods. We give out vouchers at each class that can be used at 100 different farmers’ markets as an incentive for people to take what they’ve learned in class and put it into action, as well as to help with access to buying local food. We also run gardening and composting workshops at our community garden in East Palo Alto.

Prior to the pandemic, our food access programs revolved around two mobile farmers’ markets (styled like food trucks) that visit low income communities and serve locally-grown food. The mobile markets provide a 50% subsidy to people who use food assistance programs like CalFresh or WIC. We also do a similar matching program at farmers’ markets in low-income communities like East Palo Alto and Richmond.

C - How have your programs changed since the start of the pandemic?

A - Our main change has been pivoting our food access work to emergency food relief and focusing on how to bring local food systems into this. We have strong networks of people who trust us, so we were able to move into modified programming quickly, mainly an emergency CSA box model. The CSA started with a partnership with Pie Ranch to distribute 100 boxes a week of locally-sourced produce from small, Latinx-run farms to families in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, including the La Honda–Pescadero Unified School District. We then took the model as a proof of concept and applied for the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program. We now work with eight other organizations, including Pie Ranch, to coordinate the distribution of 3,200 CSA boxes per week. The program has directed over a million dollars to local farmers. We’ve had to pull back on the mobile farmers’ markets due to social distancing protocols, so now we’re only running one mobile market once day per week (as opposed to both trucks six days per week). 

Aside from the new CSA, our education programs have largely moved online. We’ve been running group online classes through zoom and google classroom.

C - Where did the idea for the mobile farmers’ markets come from?

A - The program started in 2013 with the support of a USDA grant for local food promotion. At that time there were a handful of mobile farmers’ markets around the country, but since then the concept has really blossomed and now there are dozens. People call us all the time to ask about starting their own. The mobile markets are designed to be able to travel to communities that don’t have regular farmers’ markets, because these communities are often overlooked with regards to food in general and farmers’ markets in particular. It’s a good, fun, flexible program that people really appreciate. It’s unique and makes people happy to see. And the 50% discounts that the mobile markets provide make them really valuable to families that come to rely on food at those prices. In a given year, our two mobile market trucks sell $100,000 worth of produce.

One of Fresh Approach’s Mobile Farmers’ Markets. Photo with permission from Fresh Approach.

C - Where do you source your produce from? What is your relationship with the producers like?

A - Since we started out of the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association, we have relationships with many of the farmers that sell produce at the markets. Our mobile market trucks would go to the farmers’ markets to pick up produce directly from the farmers there. We have a South Bay and an East Bay truck team, so those teams work with the farmers at their own discretion. But we have a list of values written on our website that we look to when determining sourcing. For instance, we prioritize farmers of color and farms that use sustainable and organic farming practices. We also consider ease of delivery and the farmers’ communication styles. We’re always finding new farms to work with and are trying to source culturally appropriate food for the families that we serve. We work with close to 30 farms each year, and our team has pretty close relationships with them. The farmers are generally appreciative of the extra income and they like knowing that their food is going to low income communities. The farmers don’t necessarily have the ability to get their food to these communities themselves, but they are glad when the food does get there. The farms are located in all directions from us, but they’re mostly all well-within 200 miles of the Bay.

C - How do you balance your on the ground education programs and food access work with broader work surrounding policy and advocacy?

A - We ourselves don’t do much policy work, but we’re in the room with those who are doing the policy work. We’re a collaborative organization that likes participating in groups and getting to know other partners in the field. So we navigate this balance by being an active member of the ecosystem and by being supportive of other organizations. My programmatic philosophy is that if my colleagues and partner nonprofits are successful, then I’m successful, because we have overlapping missions. We root our work in collaboration, alignment and resource sharing, which leads to a strengthening, not necessarily directly in policy, but in overall resilience. For example, we coordinate collaboration on the CSA emergency food box program, but we’re not moving the food ourselves. We saw our ability to network between organizations that wouldn’t have had the resources to work with the USDA, but our impact is reliant on our partners.

C - How have or haven’t you been able to frame your work through an equity lens?

A - Fresh Approach is actively engaged in looking at our work through an equity lens. We have equity goals and metrics that we set and look to. We actively look at our programming and institutional structures and give space to the organization and employees at every level to engage in conversations about representation. We did intentional value-setting a couple years ago, and we’re constantly looking back on those values and checking ourselves to see if our programs are in alignment with them. We keep innovating, making changes and addressing the holes we see.

C - Any new programs or initiatives you’d like to share?

A - In the beginning of September we launched an emergency fire relief endeavor with prepared meals sourced from local farms. The meals right now are going to evacuees of the CZU Lightning Complex fires. This came about because we were able to move quickly through our networks and find partners to get it off the ground. We’re partnering with Growing the Table, Off The Grid (a Bay Area food truck company) and Google Kitchens (they’re using workers who have lost hours due to closed cafeterias at Google to instead do meal prep for other initiatives). The meal program also serves farms like Brisa de Año and Pie Ranch by supporting them in an emergency food harvest they risked losing due to fire evacuations.

—

Andy has been working to build resilient food systems since 2014. In that time, he has been particularly focused on increasing the linkages between small-scale, mission-driven farms to communities who have historically been denied access to healthy food landscapes. Andy has developed unique program interventions around the country, he has worked with corner store owners in the Bronx, food pantries in Brooklyn, gas stations in the Navajo Nation, farmers’ markets in Mexico, and cooperatives in rural Maine. In the Bay Area, he leads food access work at Fresh Approach, managing a diverse portfolio of projects including two mobile farmers’ markets, traditional farmers’ markets in low-access/low-income neighborhoods, and now the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program.

Interview with Gluten-free Chef Amy Fothergill

Interviewed by Chapin Dorsett, The HEAL Project’s Operation Manager

C - So, Amy, what was it that got you interested in gluten-free cooking and baking?

A - About 13 years ago, my daughter was experiencing severe skin issues. A friend suggested that I try a naturopath doctor because the regular doctors that we had been seeing hadn’t come up with any answers. After doing some testing, the naturopath suggested that we take out gluten, dairy and eggs from her diet, and I had to quickly adapt to a new cooking style. I’ve always been a chef, but I went in blind to gluten-free cooking. I’ve learned a lot along the way, and I get better the more I do it. I’ve also learned about other people’s intolerances, which has given me a new sense of empathy for others.

C - Now that we’re into our fifth month of the pandemic, can you reflect on how the quarantine has impacted your relationship with food?

A - During the quarantine, I’ve recognized how important it is to make sure my family is eating local, nutritious food, and also to help support others as best as I can. Prior to the shelter in place, I was pretty busy with managing the activities of my kids, my work, and organizing social events. When everything just stopped, I reevaluated a few things. I decided to replant our back garden. I went to the farmers’ market and bought starter plants from Simm’s Organic as well as Fly Girl Farms. I made going to the market a priority and since we were always home, it was much easier. I think part of it was the fact that we couldn’t go anywhere, and thus had to rely more on local food. I’ve gained more of an appreciation for what was available. With health in general really coming to the forefront during these times, it has been even more important for me to make sure I keep my family healthy, which I’ve been doing by focusing on local, nutritious fruits and vegetables.

C - Tell me about your garden!

A - My family had a garden a while ago, around 2008, but we didn’t take care of it and it got overgrown. It kind of became a cat and raccoon box that my husband would occasionally put potatoes into. When quarantine hit there were a lot of unknowns and nervous feelings. There was the fear that there might not be food, which was really scary. Things look different now, of course, but initially my family felt like we should have one secure food source, just in case. So we cleaned the box up, got starters, and tried a few different things. It looked so small in the beginning and we thought we wouldn’t grow anything, but all that sun we had really helped. The kale, chard, herbs and zucchini are all doing great!

C - It sound like you spend a lot of time thinking about and working with food. Do you have a food philosophy?

A - My food philosophy is to eat what’s good for your own body. For me, it’s eating gluten, soy and dairy-free. For my daughter, it’s gluten-free. For others it could be peanut-free. Understanding what your body needs is crucial, as is choosing to give your body things that will nourish it. For instance, I like pizza, but I don’t know that it nourishes my body. You have to find a balance between what your body needs and what you like, or what your brain wants. Even something like organic foods—most of us know it’s what we need, but our brains have to tell us that it’s worth it or we won’t go our of our way to buy it.

C - I see from your website that you received an award from San Mateo County for participating in the “As Fresh As it Gets” program. Can you tell me about your involvement with that program?

A - I think that focusing on vegetables and local produce should be part of what everyone does, so it was easy for me to get onboard with the “As Fresh As it Gets” program. I was a personal chef and taught cooking classes for five years, and I always bought local produce. It was just part of what I did. I got a cottage food operation permit last October, and I’ve begun to bake more to sell at the farmers’ market and for my customers who can’t travel to bakeries. Now with the cottage food operation and cooking for my family, using fresh, organic produce whenever I can is an important part of what I want to provide to others. I’ll go to the farmers’ market, buy some strawberries, and think, what am I going to cook next? Oh, strawberry cupcakes. Before the pandemic I would go to New Leaf, get kale and eggs and think, oh, I can make a crustless quiche. A big part of how I cook is using local farms when I can, which has two big benefits: supporting local farmers and eating food from close to where I live.

C - So your gluten-free baked goods operation at the Pacifica farmers’ market is pretty new! What does your preparation look like for market days?

A - I got a cottage food operations permit in 2016 to try to sell baked goods at the Half Moon Bay farmers’ market, but I didn’t have as much expertise in baking at that time, my kids were younger, and I was still working with personal chef clients—it was too much. When the shelter in place started this year, I wasn’t driving my kids anywhere anymore, so I had more time. I focused on improving my recipes and finding out what kinds of goods people wanted. At the market one day, I spontaneously asked Erin Tormey (Coastside Farmers’ Market founder) if there was space for a new vendor. She said that there was space at the Pacifica market, so I went to look at it and thought, okay, I think I can do this. The first day was really frantic. When you’re baking, especially gluten-free, it’s important that everything is fresh. You have to bake it the day of or the night before. After the first couple of market days, though, I learned that I can measure all of my dry ingredients out beforehand and bake a couple of products earlier as well. I generally take three days to prep for market day so that I can give people variety. I go to the Half Moon Bay market on Saturdays and then choose my recipes for the Wednesday Pacifica market based on what I’ve pick up there. I’ve been doing a lot with strawberry, peaches and basil lately. I’ve also been doing flavors with fruit and herbs, like strawberry basil cupcakes, peach mint scones and olallieberry mint scones. That part is fun for me—rather than baking the same products each week, I’m all about what’s fresh and different. And then at the Wednesday markets I look at what people are buying and asking for, and start thinking about what I’ll make for the next week. I don’t necessarily advertise the gluten-free aspect of my products because I feel that the baked goods stand on their own. Some people don’t even know that they’re gluten-free!

C - Is there anything else you wanted to leave this conversation with?

A - It’s very important right now for all of us to try to help each other in any way we can. I’m not talking about me or convincing people to buy my food. I’m talking about the farmers and people working hard to keep their businesses up. The more we can do to keep money in the community, the better. I’m appreciative of people buying products from me, but what I really want is for people to come to the farmers’ markets and help out the other vendors that are there. I’m trying to spend my money more consciously now than I did before. I didn’t used to buy much takeout food, but now I’m getting more takeout to support local restaurants. Money that I wouldn’t spent over the hill, I’m now spending locally with more purpose. I think many people around here have been doing that as well, and it’s been a big change. We’ve always seen the need to buy locally, but the pandemic has been a real eye-opener. Life is very fragile. You go day by day, but we’ve all had to take a step back and evaluate what’s important. Food is important. Keeping your immune system healthy is important. If I put out fresh food from the market that’s colorful and pretty, my kids will eat it. People think that their kids won’t eat vegetables or that it’s a lot of work to prepare, but getting sick is also a lot of work, and I think it’s better to the preemptive work than the post.

—

Amy has over 25 years of cooking experience as a restauranteur, caterer, and food service manager. She was trained at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, a world-renowned, ivy league hospitality school. Besides cooking, Amy enjoys spending time and traveling with her family. She tries to exercise regularly to maintain a healthy lifestyle and participates in various fundraising efforts for education.

Bees at The HEAL Project Farm

By Julie Mathiasen

On the first Saturday in April, Pat Morrissey (“The Bee Lady”) drove up to Glenn, California to purchase bees from Koehnen to start our hive at The HEAL Project Farm. She brought back 3,000 bees and a queen bee for our hive. We set up a hive near the Hedgerow at The Farm. The Hedgerow is a row of native plants that attract pollinators like bees and butterflies.

Pat and two friends suited up in their bee suits for protection and gently put the bees into the hive. The boxes that are stacked on top of one another to make the hive are called “supers.” Pat provided sugar water for the bees. The sugar water helps the bees build their comb on the frames in each super. Four supers with frames have been added to our hive as more and more baby bees hatch. This provides room for honey production and the brood area inside the hive.

Left: Julie in her bee suit. Right: Julie adding frames to one of the hives.

On June 17th, our bees “swarmed,” which means that part of the bee colony formed a new queen and left the hive in search of a new home. They didn’t end up going very far, landing in a Ceanothus bush about 15 feet from the original hive, fairly low to the ground. When the bees are swarming, they are very relaxed and will generally not sting. They formed a thick mass around one of the main branches of the bush. The mass of bees was about 15 inches wide and about 3 feet long. Pat estimated that there were about 7,000 bees that swarmed!

Left: The bees swarming in a bush. Right: Bees migrating from the ground into the hive to be with the queen.

Pat doing some preparation.

Pat and I suited up and positioned a new hive below the swarm on the branch. I filmed while Pat tenderly put her gloved hands around the bees and lowered them into their new home. After about four huge handfuls of bees were lowered into the hive, Pat gave the branch a shake to loosen the last of the bees, which then fell gently into the hive. Some of the bees were on the ground and started climbing up the edge of the hive to get inside. The bees could smell that the queen was inside the hive, so they wanted to be in there, too. We misted the bees with a bit of water to keep them from stressing out and give them a bit of a drink as they cleaned the mist off their wings. It took about an hour for all of the bees to arrive safely inside the new hive. When most of the bees had entered the hive, we covered it up with an inner cover and then a hive cover.

Bee hives at The HEAL Project Farm!

By that time, the bees in our original hive were foraging for nectar and pollen as usual. We decided to come back at dusk, when we knew that all of the swarmed bees would be inside of their hive to keep warm for the night, to move the hive to its new location. We then added a second super to the new hive and put a strap around the hive to keep it together. We lifted the whole hive up and placed it on top of a hive stand located about ten feet away from the original hive in the Hedgerow. Now there could be upwards of 10,000 very happy bees at The Farm doing their thing: gathering nectar and pollen and making it into honey!

—

Julie has a degree in Horticulture from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Prior to joining The HEAL Project, Julie worked as an Educator with UC Elkus Ranch. She also works as After School Director at an elementary school. Julie has a passion for teaching children where their food and fiber comes from.

Nourish to Flourish: How our mental well-being is interconnected with nature

By Angela Reiner

Now more than ever, times are calling for us to take care of our well-being. Not only to keep our immune systems strong and healthy to ward off any potential exposure during the Coronavirus pandemic, but also to take care of our mental well-being as we weather these uncertain times and adapt to a “new normal” that entails more conscious acts of social distancing and more conscious acts of social justice from us for the well-being of our country and our world. It can be an overwhelming time for many.

The good news is, the more we can reconnect to our roots through nature, and help our children to do so too, the more resilient we can become to flourish in our health. Connecting with nature enables us to connect on a deeper level with ourselves, our families, and our communities, and to see the inter-relationship of our own well-being as it relates to the collective well-being of our planet.

A wide array of research shows that connecting with nature significantly improves our mental well-being and health. More so, evidence featured in The Wall Street Journal explains that what we eat greatly affects our mental health, helping us ward off depression. Some of the answers to healthier mental well-being truly lie in organic, unprocessed produce, which we can get directly from nature and grow ourselves to eat. Often, the experience of depression is rooted in a deep sense of disconnect, something many may be suffering from right now given the physical distancing we have to practice. However, an important distinction to make is that physical distance does not mean we have to disconnect from our ability to connect with ourselves, others, or nature. Our well-being and happiness arise in times of feeling a sense of greater connection with ourselves, our sources of social support, and our surroundings, so it is important to find creative ways to integrate this.

One simple antidote is to spend time outdoors (and even better if you can do this while connecting with your family or friends). Spending time outside in nature has been shown to bring about more mental well-being and happiness. REI is sponsoring a study being led in the Bay Area where UCSF doctors prescribe patients a dose of getting outdoors as part of their preventative health. This is a free way for many of us to reduce stress and makes a key component of mental health accessible to all when there is so much inequity in access to care in our current system. Other research studies have backed this effort by showing that time in nature greatly benefits our health and well-being by reducing stress and improving mood.

When we can spend time outdoors doing mindful renewal activities like gardening, for instance, our mental health is even further bolstered by the time we are spending simply being present away from the distractions of screens and technology to quietly connect in our relationship with plants and nature. A similar practice in Japan known as “forest bathing” is the practice of being outdoors in the presence of trees. A Time article by Dr. Qing Li, a Japanese expert on forest bathing, highlights that by simply experiencing senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch while observing nature without distractions, we can re-energize ourselves from fatigue from the clean air and oxygen. Trees and plants also release phytoncides, which help us boost anti-cancer proteins, decrease anxiety and anger, and improve sleep.

Most profoundly, it has been shown that eradicating more processed, fried, and sugary foods while adding in more vegetables and fruits to our daily diet has helped boost individuals’ moods. People in these studies who have eaten certain studied foods that ward off depression, have experienced reduced insomnia, more energy, and a greater engagement in daily activities. The types of foods that contribute to greater well-being are foods higher in vitamin B6. Vitamin B6 boosts serotonin, which regulates our mood and sleep, DHA, which promotes brain function, and prebiotics, which promote gut health. Gut health has been proven to affect our mental health as well. This includes types of foods like spinach, cabbage, bananas, sweet potatoes, avocadoes, onions, asparagus, artichokes, garlic, and fermented vegetables like turnips, cucumbers, or carrots. Many of which we are lucky enough to be able to grow ourselves or rely on local agriculture to supply here in the Coastside. This means that the food sources are fresher and denser in nutrients than produce that needs to be shipped from far away.

So, if you are feeling a bit stir crazy these days while “sheltering in place,” now is as great a time as ever to step outside into your home garden or community garden as a radical act of self-care. Use this time and engage your children in the activity, too, to help our next generation learn early on more effective coping strategies to bolster their well-being by staying interconnected with nature. We can do this so easily simply by taking a mindful moment outdoors in our community, harvesting the fruits of our labor from our gardens, and creating a fun way to socially connect by having picnic to savor the healthy food we’ve grown, as we nourish to flourish in our well-being and happiness overall.

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Angela Reiner is the Founder of The Flourishing Co. She is a Happiness Coach & Consultant based in Half Moon Bay, CA. Her work is grounded in Positive Psychology, a research-based branch of psychology that studies the "science of happiness,” what really causes people to flourish in their lives and work, and applies these findings in practical ways.

Angela’s background is in global human resources in the non-profit and private sectors, having previously worked at Partners in Health and Bain & Company. She has a Master's in Positive Organizational Development & Change from Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. She holds certifications in Transformational Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University and Positive Psychology from the Wholebeing Institute. She also is a 200-hour registered yoga teacher. Throughout her career, Angela has used positivity to bring out the best in people, organizations, and the communities she has worked with for greater collective human flourishing.

Food for Our Children

By Joe Fullerton

Since the outbreak of a novel coronavirus, it’s been hard to look beyond the immediate need to flatten the curve of the pandemic. The global response has been swift and, largely, sincere.  As a society we’ve looked at every element of our lives anew—keeping social distance, shopping only for essentials and doing nearly everything remotely. Among the many significant changes has been the closure of schools. This is a wise and necessary step in terms of immediate public health; however, schools regularly serve food to millions of students who are otherwise more likely to go hungry or malnourished.

The National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program feed over 30 million students across the US each day and provide over 5.1 billion meals annually—most at reduced or no cost. Food programs at schools are shown to improve the outcomes of students both in and out of the classroom. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention highlights, among other evidence, that:

• Student participation in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) School Breakfast Program (SBP) is associated with increased academic grades and standardized test scores, reduced absenteeism, and improved cognitive performance.

• Deficits of specific nutrients (i.e., vitamins A, B6, B12, C, folate, iron, zinc, and calcium) are associated with lower grades and higher rates of absenteeism and tardiness among students.

Calories alone will not result in better scores, though. Nutrient rich diets and balanced meals are really what make the difference.  Researchers at UC Berkeley and the University of Montana found that the “relationship between healthier school meals and test scores is due to the nutritional quality of the meals rather than the quantity of calories consumed.”*

School breakfasts and lunches help kids to show up, retain and recall information and behave. But these services are less frequent and, for some, less accessible while school is out of session. Cabrillo Unified School District is providing breakfast and lunch pickup for a few days per week during the closure: 

• El Granada & Hatch: Monday and Wednesday 11:30am to 12:30pm

• Moonridge: Friday Breakfast and lunch for 1 day

• Second Harvest grocery supplements: El Granada & Hatch 11:00am to 1:00pm

Even without COVID-19, access to food raises a range of issues to even the most diverse and healthy community. But the impact is certainly greatest in marginalized and minoritized communities. Research shows a direct and persistent link between food insecurity and gender, racial and ethnic health disparities. According to Children’s Health Watch:

In 2016, more than 31% of female-headed households reported household food insecurity. This is more than twice the rate for all households (12%). Inequality also clearly plays a role in the rate of food insecurity by race and ethnicity: over 20% of African American or Black households and 19% of Latinx households reported food insecurity, compared to 10% of white households. Additionally, households with children under age 6 also had significantly higher rates of food insecurity compared to all US households (16.6%).

The demographic makeup of the 39% who are eligible for free or reduced meals at school in Cabrillo Unified School District is not readily available, but it’s safe to assume that those who were at risk before the pandemic are even more vulnerable now. To address this, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond announced the launch of the “Cal Meals for Kids” app. The app is available for free download through Apple’s, Google’s and Microsoft’s app stores. Another available resource is: www.nokidhungry.org.  Additionally, private citizens and organizations like Second Harvest Food Bank are stepping in to fill the gap and feed those in need. Even with social distancing as the social norm, the COVID-19 response is bringing our community closer together in many ways. For instance, farmers are banding together to help out with programs like Veggielution in San Jose that distribute fresh produce.

Looking beyond the pandemic is daunting. Social isolation, ongoing supply chain concerns and myriad economic and social impacts are part of our foreseeable normal. Just imagine all these concerns being outweighed by not knowing when and where you might eat again. While we may feel powerless in many ways, there are immediate and direct things that we can each do to help make sure those that need food, particularly our students, get it.

*Source: School meal quality and academic performance Anderson, Michael L ; Gallagher, Justin ; Ramirez Ritchie, Elizabeth Journal of Public Economics, December 2018, Vol.168, pp.81-93

—

Joe Fullerton is a sustainability expert with nearly two decades of experience influencing and instigating positive changes at scale. His recent professional focus has been on high-quality, accessible education as the Energy and Sustainability Manager for San Mateo County Community College District and as communications faculty in Arizona State University’s Master of Sustainability Leadership program. Joe also serves as a citizen advisor for Peninsula Clean Energy and is dedicated to supporting local sustainable food system non-profits. He lives in Half Moon Bay with his wife and young son.

Selecting Plants for Your School Garden

By Naomi Stern

One of the most common questions I receive from educators is: What should I plant in my school garden? If this sounds like you, you’ve found the right blog post!

School gardens have unique challenges that make plant selection difficult, especially for novice gardeners. Before you choose what to plant it’s important to assess your growing space. Here are some things to consider before planting:

Climate: What are the unique growing conditions at your site? Every school has a microclimate. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area we have a Mediterranean climate, meaning dry summers and mild/wet winters. These are great conditions for growing food! Your microclimate can vary if you are on the coast or in a hilly area. It is important to choose plants or plant varieties that will do well in your school’s garden. 

Time: How much time do you and your school garden champions have to dedicate to the garden? With a lot of time, you might be able to take on more challenging plants. If you are more limited, it is best to consider lower-maintenance garden plants. 

Note: The school calendar year makes growing some plants more challenging. Summer break is when many crops are either ready to harvest or need watering. If your garden champion has limited availability in summer, considering growing shorter season crops in spring and fall. 

Cost: Buying plants can get expensive, especially from nurseries. Seeds are much less expensive, but take more effort to grow. Having a plan for what you want to grow will help reduce the cost of purchasing plants. 

Goals/Theme of Garden: What is the main goal of your garden? Having a defined theme will help you in selecting plants. Some theme ideas include: Vegetable, Herb, Native Plant, Pollinator, the list goes on! 

Every garden is different. Try, and if you don’t succeed, try, try again! Luckily with gardens we can always start fresh and every growing season is an opportunity to begin anew. 

I’ve organized my growing chart into Mild, Medium, and Spicy. Mild are easy to grow plants that are highly likely to be successful in any school garden. Medium and Spicy will require more skill or time to manage, but come with delicious and/or beautiful rewards!

More resources to explore:

• “The Growing Classroom: Garden-Based Science” by Roberta Jaffe and Gary Appel

• “How to Grow more Vegetables” by John Jeavons

• “Golden Gate Gardening” by Pamela Pierce

• Renees Garden 

• Planting Your School Garden

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Naomi was our Programs Manager for four years. She began teaching as an undergraduate at U.C. Santa Cruz. After receiving her degree in Environmental Studies, she was a Programs Instructor for The Youth Garden Project. Naomi is grateful to teach students about the power of healthy food and responsible farming.

The Evolving Value of School Gardens

By Roger Hoppes

1. The history of school garden programs includes:

   A) the late 1800s in both rural and urban communities

   B) the victory gardens during World War II

   C) support for science education over the last thirty years

   D) all of the above

Poster issued by the U.S. School Garden Army Bureau of Education.

“All of the above” is the correct answer. A very early school garden movement began in the late 1800s. The initial purpose of these rural school gardens was to encourage kids to continue living in their farming communities rather than migrate to expanding industrial cities in search of jobs. This approach became known as the Nature-Study Movement. As one historian described it, “the idea of the Nature-Study Movement was to keep rural kids on the farm by teaching them to love the earth.” Progressive educators in urban areas took notice of the movement, and in 1891 the first city school garden program was created in Massachusetts. The idea spread as schools struggled to both integrate and teach a rapidly growing immigrant population. One school garden site was even called the Good Citizen Factory.

Government support for the U.S. School Garden initiative increased during World War I with a more practical reason in mind: food security. The first war-time school gardens, called “victory gardens,” increased both in size and intensity with the new government funding. When the war ended, the funding effort also unfortunately ended, as did this period of school gardens.

While school garden programs became much less practical without funding, their value was not completely forgotten. Victory gardens once again found their place during World War II with school grounds providing a prime location.

Students in San Francisco participating in their school’s victory garden during WWII.

After WWII school gardens once again faded from the daily routine. Throughout the past thirty or so years, however, they have seen a resurgence, this time with the direct purpose of supporting the learning curriculum. (Interestingly, school gardens have also taken root in many other countries, illustrating the core value agriculture has in our collective societies.)

2. In recent decades, school gardens:

A) are viewed as a very useful support activity for education

B) can increase outdoor exercise and counter some consequences of youth sedentariness

C) may convey the principles of a good diet and an overall healthy lifestyle

D) play an acknowledged role in building an environmental ethic

E) all of the above

Once again, “all of the above” is the correct answer. School gardens have taken their place as an effective, hands-on activity to support a STEM curriculum. This curriculum seeks to integrate science, technology, engineering and mathematics in a holistic approach, gaining further reinforcement through “practical applications.” California’s Next Generation Science Standards partners effectively with student engagement in garden programs, whether as a field trip to a local farm or through regular participation in their school garden plots.

Young people today are growing up in a world where an abundance of digital stimuli wedges out time spent on physical activity. Childhood obesity, nearsightedness and diabetes are on the rise. The associated decrease in activity levels, increase in time spent inside, and trend towards unhealthy diet choices are creating major health concerns. One estimate predicts that the current 18% obesity rate in the overall U.S. population will reach 50% in just ten years! Additionally, a recent research review revealed the likely link between the risk of cancer and unhealthy diets, lower activity levels and time spent indoors. A school garden curriculum can provide a contrarian set of activities based on food production and the preparation of a healthy diet. Through these lessons, students come to understand they can make diet choices and that a healthy nutrition plan can benefit their lives.

Students at The HEAL Project’s farm learning about veggies.

Physical activity and exposure to green spaces have become acknowledged assets fostering a student’s learning potential. In this regard, the Children and Nature Network has created extensive material including teacher guides supporting the advantages of moving the classroom outdoors (“green schoolyards”). In general, the goal of these initiatives is to counterbalance the negative childhood trend often termed nature deficit disorder. Physicians today are even writing prescriptions for outdoor time, thereby acknowledging nature’s healing properties. Studies have also recently revealed a better state of adult mental health when as children they spent more time in an outdoor setting. Even environmental groups like the Sierra Club have acknowledged the advantage gardening can provide. Through their Nearby Nature initiative, the Sierra Club is “empowering young people to explore the role that school and community gardens play in improving access to healthy foods and nearby greenspace, supporting environmental education, strengthening communities, and protecting our environment.”

By offering intensive classroom engagement with local schools, farm field trips for students from San Mateo County, and summer camp experiences, The HEAL Project seeks to create a long-term pathway for students. While The HEAL Project emphasizes healthy diet choices and associated benefits, their programs also encourage students to build relationships with the natural environment.

3. The HEAL Project:

A) supports core elements of a healthy lifestyle

B) bolsters positive learning through engagement with the outdoors

C) connects students with California’s Environmental Principles and Concepts and other core standards

D) embraces the early school garden initiative of the Nature-Study Movement by continuing to teach kids to “love the earth”

E) all of the above (hint)

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Roger is on our board of directors. He completed graduate school at UC Berkeley. Throughout his 30+ year career at the San Francisco Zoo, Roger found many outlets for his interests as a curator and as head of zoo operations. As a current board member and docent for Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, he applies his background in environmental education.

Our History

By Chapin Dorsett

Rooted deeply in the San Mateo County (SMC) Coastside community, The HEAL Project (THP) sprang out of concerns of local parents and community members that children were becoming too detached from the food that nourishes them. Between 2001 and 2005, this group sought funding to construct an educational garden at Hatch Elementary School in Half Moon Bay.

In October of 2005, our signature program, later named the Intensive Garden Program (IGP), was established. The program aimed to address childhood obesity in Coastside schools through a garden, nutrition and (for a brief time) sports curriculum.

After a yearlong pilot program for six of Hatch’s 2nd and 3rd grade classes, the IGP was expanded in 2006 to incorporate all ten of the school’s 2nd and 3rd grade classes. In addition, the Garden Club was created as a recess option for 4th and 5th graders, giving students the opportunity to continue their connection with the garden past our formal curriculum.

From 2007-2008, we expanded our IGP program to Farallone View Elementary School and constructed a garden on their campus. Our IGP curriculum was set up for 26 weeks of environmental education in coordination with California state standards.

Also during this time, students in our program at Hatch became the first student certified growers in the state of California to sell student-raised produce in farmers’ markets. Student interest in the markets spurred us to partner with the Coastside Farmers’ Market on the introduction of our Junior Marketeers Program. Graduates of the IGP practice math, cooperation, responsibility and customer service skills as “Marketeers” selling student-grown produce at the farmers’ market in Half Moon Bay.

In 2008-2009, THP won the J. Russell Kent Award from the SMC School Boards Association for our IGP at Hatch. We officially became a nonprofit, taking up the name HEAL as an acronym for Health, Environment, Agriculture Learning. Upon acquiring 501c3 status, we framed our original mission statement to share our intentions with the community:

The HEAL Project teaches students to make healthy choices for themselves and their world.

In 2010, THP’s second signature program was initiated. As part of the vision of the San Mateo County Food Systems Alliance and with support from the San Mateo County Health System, the San Mateo County School Farm (SMCSF) was created. Thanks to the generosity of Dave Lea of Cabrillo Farms, we secured an in-kind lease for two-acres of farmland north of Half Moon Bay. With this new space, we began providing farm field trips for schools within SMC.

Over the next few years, we tested out several arrangements and worked through the challenges of launching a new program. By 2013, we had landed on a sliding fee scale to make our low-cost field trips free to the highest-need schools in SMC.

In 2015 with our IGP and SMCSF in full swing, we hired the current Executive Director who went to work on an internal strengthening of our organization. We also modified our curriculum and lesson plans to align with state educational standards so we could provide greater support to the science programs of the schools we serve.

2016-2017 was a big renovation year for us. We rebuilt the Hatch School garden and improved infrastructure at the Farallone View School garden and at the SMCSF. We also began a two-year Strategic Planning project, created a new logo, rolled out a new website and adopted an updated mission statement:

The HEAL Project teaches kids where their food comes from and why it matters.

In this same year, THP was honored to win two awards: the first “Innovation Award” at the Mel Mello Farm Day Luncheon and recognition for One Planet Challenge as part of the SMC Office of Education’s (SMCOE) Environmental Literacy Initiative for Local Sustainable Food System Instruction in SMC.

In 2018-2019, our new relationship with the SMCOE helped us adapt our lesson plans for each grade level visiting the farm to support California’s Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards. Moreover, we developed our Theory of Change and created an Evaluation Plan to help us measure our impact. These tools have helped us to clearly communicate how our programs benefit the students that we serve.

Where we are now: We continue to work hard each day, using best practices to refine our curriculum, evaluation tools and Strategic Road Map. Our hope is that students who participate in our programs will grow up to be more invested in their own health as well as the health of the environment. We also seek to inspire student confidence in the essential life skills of choosing to prepare and consume local, fresh food for the benefit of themselves, their families and the community.

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Chapin is our Operations Manager. She is excited to encourage community-based environmental awareness beginning with small hands in the dirt.

Lasagna Garden Beds

By Fiona Benjamin

Since becoming the San Mateo County School Farm (SMCSF) manager, my focus has been on building the soil fertility at our little educational farm site.  I believe that cultivating good soil fertility will not only allow us to grow more food to support our programming and share with the local Coastside community, but also to increase biodiversity and even help capture and safely store the atmospheric carbon that contributes to climate change.

That being said, building soil is no easy task.  You may have heard that it takes over 100 years to build just one inch of topsoil.  Ecological and human time do not necessarily operate on the same scale!  However, any gardener knows that we don’t necessarily need to rely on natural processes to build fertility in our gardens; tools like compost and mulch can help feed our soil and build fertility in a much shorter time horizon. 

Our soil food web mural at the farm: the soil food web is a complex web of interactions in which soil organisms and plants work together to each other's mutual benefit.

 This is what I am working to do at the SMCSF.  My goal is to build our soil organic matter (SOM) percentage up towards 5% from our current estimated 1-2%.  To increase SOM, it is helpful to have an understanding of the soil food web. The soil food web is a complex group of interactions between plants, microbes, fungi and other invertebrates. In this web, plants feed sugars fixed though photosynthesis to soil organisms. In return, the soil organisms help the plant by forging for nutrients in the soil.  Unfortunately, common agricultural practices are detrimental to these interactions, which threatens the foundation of a healthy soil. For example, fertilizing plants with synthetic nitrogen allows plants to sidestep the soil food web. Spraying pesticides causes damage not only to insect pests, but also to beneficial soil microbes. Perhaps the worst agricultural practice in terms of soil health is tillage, or mechanical manipulation of the soil.  Tillage creates a temporary boost in fertility as soil organic matter gets ground up, oxidized, and digested by bacteria, but over time the practice reduces soil organic matter and destroys beneficial soil critters like fungi and earthworms. Moving away from these practices can be challenging, but it is also very important if you want to build great soil!

The first lasagna bed going in at the farm back in August.

One strategy I have been utilizing to reduce tillage and build fertility at the farm is the creation of “lasagna garden beds.”  This term refers to a growing area that is created by the layering of organic materials.  Though lasagna garden beds can have many different layers, I have found success with a relatively simple model. My beds contain a light base layer of  compost, a layer of overlapping clean, plastic-free cardboard, then 1-2 inches of compost on top. With crops directly seeded into the compost on top, the result is almost zero weeds and a fluffy, rich soil layer underneath.  In less than three months, the cardboard in our oldest lasagna bed has already decomposed! I have definitely noted increased earthworm populations in these beds—the carbon rich cardboard is a favorite food source of these super soil-building organisms!  Building lasagna beds at scale requires a LOT of materials, and I have found our local community to be a huge asset. I am very grateful to Lyngso Garden Supplies for their generous donation of 32 yards of compost, Wheeler Farms for 12 yards of generously discounted compost, and to New Leaf Community Market and Markegard Family Grassfed for saving cardboard for us!

This glorious earthworm was under the first cardboard corner I lifted on one of our lasagna beds! Earthworms come to the surface to eat the cardboard, then pull the carbon rich material back into the soil. In the process they create tunnels for water and air infiltration and channels for plant roots to use, all while adding fertilizer!

Building a lasagna bed is one of the easiest ways to start a new garden plot at home.  I recommend starting a few months before you want to start growing; fall is a great time to build a bed that will be ready to plant in the spring.  Check out the links below for information on soil health and how to build your own lasagna bed. Remember, they don’t necessarily need to be very complicated or have many types of materials (mine only had cardboard and compost).  Happy growing!

• How to build a lasagna bed

• Soil carbon and climate change

• Soil formation in nature

• Tillage and soil health

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Fiona has been with The HEAL Project since 2018, first as a Farm Educator and now as the Farm Manager. As a native of the Coastside, she is grateful to have the opportunity to share her passion for healthy eating and the environment with her local community.

SNAP Challenge: What's it like to live on food stamps?

By Naomi Stern

What’s it like to live on food stamps? For two weeks, I decided to find out.

This September I completed a “SNAP Challenge”, using the federal government’s financial aid for food purchases (commonly known as food stamps). . This comes out to $6.40 a day, for a total of $96 over two weeks.

I started planning for this challenge 6 months ahead of time, when I first got inspired to raise awareness about food insecurity.

At the same time I was planning for this budget challenge, I was getting immersed in the world of food waste. It’s a broken system when on one hand there are whole communities who go hungry and on the other hand Americans waste 40% of all produce grown here.

When I learned about “Shelf September” -- an effort to reduce our waste by spending a month eating all the things in our pantries -- I realized I had found a great combo!

After initial research and intention setting, it was time to start! I gave myself $48 for a week, made a meal plan, and decided I needed to have coffee no matter what.

The first week I spent $27 shopping at Trader Joes and using up my pantry items (including glorious coffee and half and half that I managed to stretch most of the week).

I noticed an immediate difference in my cooking. All of a sudden, all food was precious, every calorie was extra important and not to be wasted. I also was much more strategic than usual about how to use up every last ingredient I had in my fridge/pantry in order to make meals that felt robust.

I also noticed how expensive fresh fruits and vegetables are. When it came to meal planning, it was tricky to think about needing to reduce meat or gluten and having enough money to make meals that would fill me up. Since I work at a farm, I was able to harvest vegetables to supplement what I could purchase. To me, this might mimic how someone on SNAP might be able to get food from other sources as well, such as family or a restaurant where they are employed.

The biggest difference for me was the time it took to prepare all of my meals. Having to plan ahead for an entire week meant thinking very carefully about what I would eat and when, since I did not want to run out of food. With this budget, I couldn’t fall back on eating lunch out occasionally or doing a second grocery shop mid week.

My greatest successes from week 1 were:

-Making zucchini bread from only ingredients I already had -- and a huge oversized zucchini gifted by a friend. I ate half and froze the other half for future yummy snacks

-Using up all my frozen blueberries in my oatmeal (making oatmeal for breakfast every morning much more enjoyable)

-Lots of lentils and rice for filling meals

Heading into week two, I was a little nervous since I had used up most of my pantry items and would be relying more on the budget. I was able to only spend $27 for my second grocery trip.

In order to qualify for SNAP as a 1 member household, the monthly income in California must be below $1,307. This blew me away as someone who lives in the Bay Area; this is well below what seems like a livable wage. This got me thinking about other things that might make the SNAP budget harder such as work hours, supporting children, access to grocery stores, disabilities, legal status, mental health... the list goes on. As hard as it is for me to make sure I get fed on this budget I can see how much harder it would be for people with different backgrounds than myself.

It was a privilege to be able to step outside of my day to day and reduce my food budget. A challenge like this isn’t accessible for everyone. It was important for me to take this opportunity to spread the word and start more conversations about food justice.

My takeaways from week 2 were:

-It is really hard not having flexibility about what to eat. Even if I was craving something else there weren’t other options.

-Eggs were my favorite protein source

-Coffee doesn’t taste as good without half and half

The SNAP challenge might not be perfect but it did a good job for me of revealing my own challenges around food budgeting and food waste. I was amazed with how much lower my waste was during the 2 weeks. It was also insightful to spend much more time cooking than I normally do and get much more creative with leftovers than before.

Stepping into the shoes of someone with SNAP was more insightful than I realized it would be going into it. I hope to incorporate these takeaways into my work with food systems education. I wanted to take a step back and get into the mindset of these students and their families.

I work with many students who are from high-need schools whose families qualify to receive free or reduced cost school lunches. There are 13.1 million households in the US with children that are considered food insecure. The USDA defines food insecurity as: “lack of access to enough food for an active, healthy lifestyle for all family members”.

When they come to the farm, we teach these students about healthy eating and how food is grown. We harvest produce and then show them how to make snacks they could make at home. They leave inspired to take care of their environment, try new fruits and vegetables, and with a deeper understanding of how their food system works.

There are lots of ways to help support food inequality. Some of those include funding organizations like Feed America which supports food aid programs. Others include getting involved with the conversation of food justice in your local communities.

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Naomi Stern was The HEAL Project’s Programs Manager for four years. Naomi began teaching as an undergraduate at U.C. Santa Cruz. After receiving her degree in Environmental Studies, she was a Programs Instructor for The Youth Garden Project. She is dedicated to building programs that teach students about healthy food systems.