After spending several weeks learning about food from UC curriculum “Healthalicious Cooking” the Ready after school students paired up with family members in the 1^st annual salsa contests at Jefferson Charter Academy and Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary Schools.  Each family had 30 minutes to work together to create their own special salsa. UC CalFresh furnished the basics of tomatoes, onions and cilantro while the families used their secret ingredients to make their salsa different from other competitors.  Judges were selected from teachers, administrators and after school students.  After tasting the different salsas, ribbons were handed out for most unusual, sweetest, spiciest, best aroma, best flavor, most creative and best appearance.

 

Susan Lafferty and I attended this workshop for school and community gardens. This was a great hands on workshop to learn how to assess or plan a garden site. We learned about soil types, how to plot out your garden to harvest vegetables at a certain time and square foot gardening techniques. The garden was located at Sacramento Food Food Bank on Third Avenue and the second day of training was held at Sierra 2 Center for the Arts & Community Sacramento. Hosted by the California Department of Public Health, Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Branch and Training Development and Support Section we would like to thank the great instructors at this event.

We plan to use the information we learned at this workshop at serveral of the gardens in Kings County. TheUCCE Master Gardener program had many handouts that were simple and easy to use. If you are interested in finding out more about what your UCCE Master Gardeners Program has to offer, contact your county UCCE county office.

Hanford District Ready After School Program joined UCCE to promote physical activity and healthy eating! About 100 students from Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Elementary Schools participated in a 5K MyPlate Color Run. Students joined Nutrition Educators for a MyPlate obstacle course as they finished their run. Students ran through the fruit group hoop run, grains poly spots, protein jump hurdles, vegetable javelin throw, and dairy ball weave. Each student was given a goodie bag that contained all five food groups; such as, cheese, sunflower seeds, mandarins, cheerios, and carrots. UCCE provided a raffle to promote physical activity, students had the opportunity to win jump ropes,  footballs, and basketball hoop. This event supplements one our weekly visits with Hanford Ready After School Program. Students expressed their enjoyment of the MyPlate obstacle course and would continuously run through it. This was our second annual MyPlate run and will continue to support students to pursue a healthy and active lifestyle!