Center for Food in Community and Culture

Center News

Laurel Phoenix, new Co-Director of the Center for Food in Community and Culture, honored by the American Water Resources Association. At the May 11 meeting of the Center, Laurel Phoenix, Associate Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs, and Chair of Geography, was elected Co-Director, serving with Debra Pearson.
Professor Phoenix was honored by the American Water Resources Association with the Icko Iben Award, established to recognize persons who have made outstanding contributions to the promotion of communications among the various disciplines of global water resources. She was given this award in November for her work as an Associate Editor of Water Resource IMPACT.

Professor Emerita Sandra Stokes of the Center for Food in Community and Culture, passed away March 26, 2012. Her research and teaching focused on early childhood education, specifically on pedagogies and community practices that promote literacy. Her studies on literacy concluded that cultural literacy and anti-poverty programs as well as broad community engagement with literacy are critical to reinforcing good classroom pedagogy. Her interest in literacy led her to study and write about the importance of school lunch and breakfast programs to student achievement. Sandy and her dedication to advancing Center projects, her friendship, and her talent will be missed.

NEWfare Conference on Local Food, Health and Wealth

On Nov. 4, 2011 at NWTC in Green Bay, farmers, food entrepreneurs, health professionals, community food advocates, and students attended , NEWfare: A Forum Cultivating Health and Wealth through the Local Food Economy. One of the featured speakers Debra Pearson, Co-Director of the Center for Food in Community and Culture. Dr. Pearson discussed how agricultural practices influence the nutrient content of the fruits and vegetables we grow and the livestock we raise.Lynn Walter spoke on the development of New Leaf Market Cooperative in Green Bay. Videos of both presentations are available at newleafmarket.org in article "NEWfare Conference Recap".

Nutrient Quality of Food Affected by Agricultural Practices

Dr. Debra Pearson's presentation at NEWfare focused on how agricultural practices influence the nutrient content of the fruits and vegetables we grow and the lifestock we raise. An examination of the USDA’s food database since the 1950s indicates that there has been a decline in some nutrients over a range of fruits and vegetables.1 There are still many unanswered questions and controversies about why there has been a decline in the nutrient content of produce, but research suggests 3 reasons for this decline: 1) monoculture farming, 2) selection for yield, and 3) plant defenses. Techniques of plant breeding, selection and genetic modification, fertilizer, pesticide and herbicide practices, crop and livestock management differ markedly between sustainable/organic farming and industrial farming, and these differences impact the nutrient profiles of crops and livestock. Read more on p. 2.

Joanne Gardner at Eco-Deck for Earth Week

Joanne Gardner and her UWGB students represented Sustainable Green Bay's Food and Local Health Committee at the first Eco-Deck party on April 30, 2011. For Earth Week, they demonstrated how to grow your own sprouts, and Joanne talked about how we can improve our health by growing and preparing our own food.

Jeffrey Hou on Learning from Seattle's Community Gardens

Jeffrey Hou

Jeffrey Hou, chair of the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of Washington-Seattle, was on campus on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010 to present a public lecture on his work on Seattle’s community gardens. His presentation expanded upon his 2009 co-authored study, Greening Cities, Growing Communities: Learning from Seattle’s Community Gardens. Dr. Hou began by noting the rapid development of community gardens, nationally and internationally, in the last decade. He began to pointing to Vancouver, BC as one of the leaders in this trend, then focused on Seattle, where the formal community garden program, called the P-Patch Program, was instituted in 1974 and has grown today to 73 garden sites. He related the expansion of community gardens as a public project to the growth in farmers markets, community-supported agriculture, and urban agriculture, and argued that these developments are embedded in larger social movements around food systems, food security, food justice, food sovereignty, food democracy, healthy eating, local food, and urban sustainability. Read more on p. 2.

2010 Champions of Conservation Awards

Champions of Conservation, photo courtesy of Dominion

Coggin Heeringa, Carl Scholz, Kay and Wayne Craig and their son Rudy, and LNRP Director Jim Kettler

The Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership presented its 2010 Champions of Conservation Awards at a reception and ceremony in the Phoenix rooms of the University Union on May 20, 2010. The honorees were Kay and Wayne Craig, owners and operators of Grassway Organics Farm for Land Use Protection and Habitat Protection through managed rotational grazing. For Environmental Education and Outreach the winner was Coggin Heeringa, Director of Crossroads in Big Creek in Door County, for promoting environmental education programs for children and adults. The Champion of Champions Award went to Carl Scholz for his lifelong environmental stewardship in Water Resource Protection. The program was hosted by Jim Kettler of Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership, who sponsored the event with Dominion. Campus co-hosts were the Center for Food in Community and Culture, EMBI, and SLO Food Alliance.

Community Gardens in Brown County: Past, Present, and Future Generations
The Center for Food in Community and Culture sponsored a panel discussion on Community Gardens in Brown County on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 7 pm in the Central Library in Green Bay. The panel discussion was to support the One Book, One Community reading selection of Seedfolks, a novel for young adults by Paul Fleishman.

Panelists Yia Thao, Sue Huxford, Frank Haney, and Karen Early

Sue Premo of the One Book, One Community committee began the evening with a brief introduction to Seedfolks, which tells the story of how 13 people from diverse cultural heritages and generations came together to create a community garden in a low-income neighborhood in Cleveland. The panel began with Karen Early of UW Brown County Cooperative Extension, who presented the history of the development of community gardens in Brown County from the 1990s to the present outlining their successes and struggles over the years. Frank Haney, from Oneida Nation followed with a presentation of the development of various Tsyunhehkw^ (trans., Life Sustenance) programs, including an organic farm, cannery, and retail store. Yia Thao, Southeast Asian Coordinator for Student Services at NWTC, discussed the role of Hmong elders in community gardens--as farmers and farmers market vendors. Sue Huxford who teaches English Language Learners at West High School in Green Bay wrapped up the panel discussion by sharing her experience teaching the book Seedfolks and community gardening in Portland, Oregon. The audience of about 40 people had many points to discuss, especially about how we can improve the nutritional quality of school meals and the health of children through school gardening programs. To see more pictures and slides p. 2

Are We Restoring or Destroying Our Health? Agriculture from the Ground Up

Science faculty members from the Center for Food in Community and Culture participated in a panel discussion, entitled “Are We Restoring or Destroying our Health? Agriculture from the Ground Up,” 5:00-6:15 p.m., Thursday, November 19, 2009 in Mary Ann Cofrin Hall 208. Joanne Gardner, Vicki Medland, Debra Pearson, and Angie Bauer-Dantoin focused on various impacts of agricultural and food production practices on human health. Read more about their presentation on p. 2

Poster designed by Kristi Edminister and Jenna Dunnick

Center Faculty publish on Critical Food Issues

Laurel E. Phoenix and Lynn Walter have edited a two volume collection on Critical Food Issues: Problems and State of the Art Solutions Worldwide, which was published by Praeger Publishing in September of 2009. Among the contributors are Center faculty members--Joanne Gardner, Regan Gurung, Aeron Haynie, Vicki L. Medland, Debra Pearson, Larry Smith, and Sandra M. Stokes. Other regional authors include Bill Van Lopik of the College of Menominee Nation and Cheryl Kalny, Lecturer in the Social Change and Development Department at UW-Green Bay and at St. Norbert College. The authors take an interdisciplinary approach to the examination of problems ranging from food insecurity and natural resource depletion to disordered eating and declines in food quality. The main focus of each of the 31 chapters is on strategies devised by farmers, scientists, artists, and citizens from around the world to address these problems.

It's Time to Harvest Art at the Potato Patch

See snapshots of Chris Style’s potato print project created from potatoes grown in the potato patch planted by Larry Smith outside of the University Union East Entrance. For a more complete picture of the project, you can check out Chris' slide show. Students in Style’s Intro., Intermediate, and Adv. Printmaking courses took part in a potato print workshop. Potatoes were harvested, cut using various tools, rolled up with ink, and stamped onto cotton towels, pillow shams, and paper. Besides printing from the carved potatoes, they also printed the potato plant and roots, by rolling it up in ink and putting it through the printing press. The potato prints on paper will be scanned and used by Style in the Potato Project Zine. Potato’s are inspiration as well as sustenance.

The entire potato patch will be harvested on October 24 at 1:00. Larry Smith and Chris Style are working with the University Union kitchen staff to cook up potato soup to share with the campus community. Look for updates. Just how many potato’s will be harvested on October 24?

Potato Patch Art Project Begins with Planting

University of Wisconsin – Green Bay Potato Patch Art Project 2008 C. Style and L. Smith Location: Outside UWGB Student Union near Little Campus Store window. This project originated as collaboration between Professors Chris Style (Arts & Visual Design) and Larry Smith (Social Change & Development). Both are members of the Center for Food in Community & Culture. Larry Smith planted the potatoes on June 17, 2008 with support and cooperation from UWGB Dean of Liberal Arts & Sciences Scott Furlong, Facilities Manager Paul Pinkston, Director of University Union Rick Warpinski, Student Government Association representative Brad Fischer and the Center for Food in Community & Culture while Professor Sarah Detweiler (Arts & Visual Design) photographed the planting process.

Larry Smith selecting potatoes for planting, photo by Sarah Detweiler

The project celebrates the United Nations’ declaration of 2008 as The International Year of the Potato http://www.potato2008.org/ for its extraordinary role in supporting human welfare since it was exported to the world from its roots in Peru in the sixteenth-century. The Potato Patch calls attention to issues of nutrition and sustainability as it demonstrates how easily potato power can turn lawn to garden. The potatoes will provide creative sustenance for Prof. Style and her students as they make potato prints, and feed the creative soul through photographic and drawn documentation of the potato patch to create a zine that will be placed in the new Cofrin Library Zine Collection (started by Sarah Detweiler and Stephan Perkins in spring 2008 and located on the 3rd floor). The potatoes may also be eaten. . . during a potato soup feast – a frugal repast sometime after harvest with the public invited.

Center Opening Features Lecture by Jack Kloppenburg on "Resolving the Omnivore's Dilemma: Eating Pleasurably and Sustainably in the 21st Century."

Jack Koppenburg lecture, photo by Christine Style

On Thursday, March 27, 2008 at 5:00 pm in Mary Ann Cofrin Hall 208, an overflow crowd heard Dr. Kloppenburg, Professor of Rural Sociology at University of Wisconsin-Madison, describe his work promoting local and regional food production. His lecture was followed by a reception and brief presentation by Lynn Walter on why we developed the Center for Food in Community and Culture at the University of Wisconsin. >p. 2

At the opening reception, Christine Style presented a slide show of images of food and agriculture. You can see her work as a rather large pdf, by clicking here.

Anne Kok of the Center for Food in Community and Culture was suddenly taken from us in a car accident on Monday, February 4, 2008 on her way home to Sturgeon Bay. Anne's interest in food and community focused on food security issues in Brown County. Anne was Associate Professor and Chair of Social Work. Anne and her students conducted a food security survey of vulnerable populations in Brown County, Wisconsin in 1998, 1999, and again in 2004. Karen Early, Nutrition Educator at Brown County Cooperative Extension was her collaborator in these surveys, which were done under the auspices of the Brown County Food and Hunger Network. She will be missed by her family, many students, friends, and colleagues.

Aeron Haynie Develops New "Culture of Food" Courses

Dr. Aeron Haynie was the first recipient of the Instructional Development Council's new Advanced Course Development Grant to develop a food studies course for the humanities. The course, "The Culture of Food," is being offered for the first time this fall 2007. It will show how the humanities can be used to examine contemporary debates about scarcity, cultural difference, gender, ethnic identity... making important intellectual issues concrete and real to students, to "connect learning to life" in a very visceral way. The course is likely to include a service-learning component (a trip to a food pantry, for example). She is also offering a new freshman seminar on this same theme.

Peterson Thesis on Traditional Oneida Food Systems

Spring term 2005, Diana L. Peterson completed her thesis, entitled "Three Sisters Gardening: Rejuvenating a Traditional Food System with the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin." Dr. Laurel Phoenix, a faculty associate of the Center, served as Peterson's major professor. This case study of ten community gardeners who raised a traditional Three Sisters garden for two growing seasons analyzes the sustainability of individual traditional community gardens. She concludes that this part of the Tsyunhehkw^ program, focusing on rejuvenating and preserving traditional agricultural practices, has been helpful in that regard.