Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Annual Charter School Conference - SAVE THE DATE

Come see Organic Fresh Fingers booth and breakout session discussion "Navigating National School Lunch" at this year's Charter School Conference in Salem, February 25-26, 2010.

CLIMBING NEW HEIGHTS
Salem Conference Center

www.nwceo.org

See you there!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Written by OLCV Communications Director Toby Van Fleet

http://olcv.org/content/evann-remington

Ask Evann Remington about her favorite spot in Oregon and you’ll get a list of stories told in the way one shares the best childhood memories:
Fast-talking stream of consciousness loaded with detail—and all smiles. Evan is unequivocal about her love of the Rogue River, where she spent summer months as a kid camping with her immediate and extended families. Arrivals to the camp would have to call down the canyon to be collected by boat. They built a sauna. “We had a lot of time,” says Evann. “We were able to do some really creative things.”
Maybe that glorious time on the Rogue is what instilled her sense of environmental stewardship that now seems to inform her life decisions. Two and a half years ago, Evann, 29, launched her own business, Organic Fresh Fingers, in Salem, where she grew up.
Evann says that some of the rhetoric you hear from the business community might lead you to believe that you can’t create jobs, strengthen the economy and take care of the environment at the same time. “But,” she says, “We’ve been able to show that you absolutely can.”
And now Evann is signing up for more work. Volunteer work. As a steering committee member for Marion County’s newly re-formed OLCV chapter. Through her work with the OLCV Marion County chapter, which is on the precipice of some important local elections in 2010—including Salem Mayor—Evann hopes she can help to get other businesses on board with considering social and environmental impacts as part of their bottom line.
“I’m actually really having a lot of fun,” she says, adding that the steering committee is full of some pretty great—and fun—folks.
Work is good. Fun is better. And while the memories of the Rogue may be informing Evann’s environmental values, looking ahead is what’s motivating her. “I’ve got a three-year-old,” says Evann. “I’m really concerned about what the future’s going to look like for her.”

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The calm after the storm.....

Well, obviously it being two months since my last post, we have been busy. The Fresh N' Local meal program is going great. All new schools and daycares are up and running and the children are loving their new healthy lunch program. We have many new and exciting program changes that will be implemented for the new year. More choice, you asked for it....now we are working away on a system that will provide the same great Organic Fresh Fingers entrees and allow more flexibility in our customized menuing process. Thank you for an amazing start to a wonderful school year!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

A buzz is in the air!

With so many new schools beginning the Fresh N' Local meal program in September - the Organic Fresh Fingers team is running around down right gitty. Preparing to increase meal production by 10 times - the heat is on. It is nothing we can't handle though! I apologize to those schools who I had to turn down this fall. Please check back with us after the first of the year as we should be adding some new spaces for the Fresh N' Local meal program. In the meantime, we are all set to offer excellent customer service to our existing customers! Thank you for your business!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Fresh N' Local is catching on!

With 25 schools and daycares in Salem and Portland now using the Fresh N' Local meal program, Organic Fresh Fingers is now helping 5,000 kids a day eat fresh, local, natural and organic food!

We are so proud to have such a positive impact on the health of Oregon's children - thank you!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Food Inc. premiers tonight at Salem Cinema

Go to Salem Cinema tonight at 6:00 p.m. for the first screening of Food, Inc. followed by a lively conversation with people involved in the local, sustainable food movement. See you there!

Salem Cinema: 1127 Broadway NE, Salem, Oregon 97301

Keeping Kids Healthy by Eating Local and Unprocessed Food, by Colin Beavan

Keeping kids healthy by eating local and unprocessed food
A big part of the No Impact project was to eat only local, seasonal, unpackaged food. That meant, basically, lots of fresh vegetables. Michelle and I both lost a lot of weight.
As though to prove how good eating a local-food diet is for kids, too, BusinessWeek writer Cathy Arnst has posted a story, which comes from the processed food end of things, called "How Mac 'n' Chees Is Like a Cigarette." She writes:
Two thirds of adults are considered overweight or obese, as is one out of every three children under age 18. Those numbers have been rising steadily since the 1980s, when the average weight took a dramatic spike upwards for all races, age groups and genders. For example, in 1960 women aged 20 to 29 weighed an average of 128 pounds. By 2000 the average weight had jumped to 157. Our national weight gain is not, as many people assume, because we are far less active; studies have found little difference in energy expended now than in the 1950s. It is because we are eating far, far more calories than ever before, in the form of soda, junk food, sweets, fat and salt laden meals, and huge portions. We have become addicted to food, and that addiction starts in very early childhood. Kessler [author of the new book The End of Overeating] lays out how sugar, fat and salt stimulates the reward centers of the brain in much the same way as cigarettes, alcohol and illicit drugs. By eating food that is extremely palatable, we keep wanting more, whether or not we are hungry. Since highly palatable junk food is socially acceptable, and often cheaper than the healthy stuff, we keep going back for more. The food industry knows this better than anyone. Kessler quotes an industry consultant who says that food manufacturers try to hit the “three points of the compass”: Sugar, fat and salt make a food compelling, said the consultant. They make it indulgent. They make it high in hedonic value, which gives us pleasure. “Do you design food specifically to be highly hedonic,” I asked. “Oh, absolutely,” he replied without a moment’s hesitation. “We try to bring as much of that into the equation as possible.
Here's the good news about local eating. None of the farmers I talk to at the farmers' market try to jam their food with salt, fat or sugar to get my little Isabella addicted.
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Posted by Colin Beavan aka No Impact Man at 03:00 AM in Local food only