By Rebecca Wiggins-Reinhard
IATP Food & Community Fellows Blog
Posted April 7, 2013

One of my greatest joys is watching young people bloom. In my professional life, I am a fortunate witness to this every day. I see the happiness that comes when kids plant seeds for the first time, or taste turnips that they grew themselves, and the confidence that builds in our young service members as they become teachers and role models for other youth. Continue reading here.

Learn more about the extraordinary things happening in schools around the Paso del Norte region in our monthly School Garden Beet newsletters!

You can follow all 7 school gardens with weekly updates at La Semilla's School Gardens Blog.

What a way to start the new year!  

Our wonderful mentors and partners at Farm to Table have the entire Green Fire Times January edition devoted to detailing their wonderful programs, partners, and projects!

Congratulations Farm to Table and we're all looking forward to an exciting 2013. 

Click here to learn more about Farm to Table's projects and programs to improve the food system in New Mexico.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution is running a story about La Semilla Food Center, with excerpts from Ecoliterate. 

It takes a certain kind of person—or, in this case, group of friends—to look at fourteen acres of dry, dusty desert in one of the poorest regions in the country and envision a way for a community to take the food system into its own hands. Meet the three founders of La Semilla Food Center in Anthony, New Mexico, a small rural community near the Mexican border.

Cristina Dominguez-Eshelman is a soft-spoken thirty-four-year-old who didn’t realize how important food was to her until she moved away from her family—or how much she loved growing things until she got her hands in some soil.

Aaron Sharratt is a gentle thirty-two-year-old who, while traveling as an undergraduate in Mexico, became hooked by a deep interest in how a landscape can impact what we eat, what jobs we hold, and even the relationships we have with our families and communities.

Rebecca Wiggins-Reinhard, thirty-one, is a spirited social activist who grew up completely uninterested in her family’s farm—until she discovered that social justice issues were tied to every aspect of the food system.

The three came together several years ago around a modest project focused on engaging young people and their families in creating community gardens in Anthony and nearby towns. In the process, they say, they recognized the potential to inspire changes in eating habits, build awareness of food systems, and unleash the leadership abilities of young people—even in the face of some rather extreme everyday challenges.


Continue Reading at: Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.

La Semilla Food Center is seeking an experienced organic Farm Manager to oversee daily production operations of La Semilla Youth Farm. The Farm Manager will be responsible for ensuring diversified vegetable and fruit production of 3-5 acres in year one, with increasing production in subsequent years.  

The mission of La Semilla Youth Farm is to increase access to fresh and locally grown produce for families, increase access to sustainable agriculture training opportunities, demonstrate the viability of small and sustainable agriculture, and inspire a new generation of farmers, food activists, and engaged community members in the Paso del Norte region.
 
La Semilla Youth Farm is located in Anthony, NM on 12 acres of farmland. The Farm Manager will be responsible for ensuring diversified vegetable and fruit production of 3-5 acres in year one, with increasing production in subsequent years. In addition to managing production, the Farm Manager will collaborate with staff to provide educational workshops and identify marketing opportunities for distribution of farm products within the region. The Farm Manager will help create long term strategies and goals to develop La Semilla Youth Farm into an economically viable, sustainable education and demonstration farm. Ideal candidates will also have experience working with diverse populations and help to teach beginning farmers.

For more information, please see the full job description here. Applications accepted through Dec. 14, 2012.

La Semilla Food Center is an equal opportunity employer.

LAS CRUCES (LCSUN-NEWS) — Students, parents, community members and staff celebrated International Food Day with a special Foods and Farms Around the World Food Tasting Day at Conlee Elementary School Nov. 20.

Students explored the connections between culture and food and the important roles that food and farmers play around the world in conjunction with La Semilla Food Center.

They learned about food in its natural state, types of foods that are grown in other countries and how that food is incorporated into the community.  Continue reading...

REBECCA WIGGINS-REINHARD (La Semilla Food Center, Anthony, NM) -- Imagine walking through the lunch line at school, your tummy rumbling as you watch your tray being filled with steaming enchiladas, beans and salad. You can’t wait to start eating, but as you reach the end of the line, someone reaches out and drops a healthy dose of sugar coated dried fig pieces all over your tray. “We’ve got to use the figs,” said a food service director at a training on new federal school food guidelines I recently attended, “sprinkle them on everything you can think of.” 
[...]
The figs had been purchased and distributed to the school district through the USDA’s Foods program, which supplies agricultural commodities and surpluses to schools across the nation. Schools choosing to take part in the National School Lunch Program, established in 1946 to provide nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children unable to afford the full cost of a school meal, are eligible for cash subsidies and foods from the USDA Foods program for each qualifying meal they serve.

To continue reading Rebecca's article in the IATP Food & Community Fellows Digest, click here.

Based in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the Institute for Community Engagement (IFCE) was created to enhance the ability of elected officials, the nonprofit sector and the community to work together to build healthy communities and to address issues that affect vulnerable populations in southern New Mexico. The threefold mission of the IFCE is to: 1) research and facilitate policy development, 2) educate and network formal and informal community leaders, organizations and agencies to help implement positive change and 3) support the development of new organizations and new initiatives that align with IFCE's mission and vision.

IFCE is now seeking its first Executive Director with an established track record in leading and scaling an organization, developing and executing growth strategies, and building partnerships to lead the continued development and growth of this organization. The Executive Director will have a deep appreciation and passion for the importance of collective action to achieve sustainable systemic change. To view the complete job description visit www.ifcenm.org