Wednesday, January 14, 2009

So Why This Blog, Why Now

What are we going to Blog aobut? Here are some ideas, you may have more... Family news and history; family recipes; words to live by/life lessons; prayers/answers; practical information on parenting, home schooling, farming; creative works - stories, poems, music; links to personal Blogs. If you received an e-mail inviting you to be an author, please feel free to be one! Also if you have other family members who want to be authors, let me know their e-mail address and I can add them.

We have all been trying to communicate by e-mail, phone, U-Tube, Face Book, and other ways. This will give us an tool to communicate that we can all access and use.

Love, Steve

5 comments:

  1. Jeanette has a blog: http://jeanettetaylor.wordpress.com/ You should probably ask her before you add it though...She is very good at expressing her feelings with words! I'll try and think of something interesting to post about. :o) Maybe our homeschool proposal or cloth diapers...ohhh, that would be exciting! I LOVE cloth diaper! :o)
    Thanks Dad! And Hello to extended family!
    hugs!

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  2. Dad, The Poet was trying to leave a comment but it doesn't look like you've enabled the annonymous tag. It's okay if you don't want too, she can use my google account, but you may want to know...

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  3. OK…this is a first for me…blogging!

    Thought family members may be interested in what is going on in public school food service. Our school district, San Juan Island School District, is similar to most districts in WA state…we are running a deficit food service program. Because our district is small…less than a 1000 students in the entire district…our deficit has been running at about $35,000+/- per year. Larger districts run a deficit of up to $400,000 per year…our tax dollars. Those deficits accrue even with using some “free” commodities from the federal government. Our district could no longer afford to run a deficit program…so our food service program was cut! It just happened that we were working with a chef from a non-profit organization in Seattle that wanted to implement some new programs. When he discovered our food service program was totally cut, he said “GREAT,” now we can get to work. His group is totally funded by the Bill Gates Foundation and the Paul Allen Foundation…the founders of Microsoft. So…we now have a food service program that does not cost us a dime…and is working to help us be fully sustainable within our LOCAL community…that is…by local farmers! Chef Tom is totally changing the culture of our food service program…using local farmers, setting up the tables in our lunch room to be more family-like, creating amazing healthy, gourmet meals by a local chef, stream-lining the lunch line process, getting entertainment to perform at lunch time (our jazz band, our teen Latino dance troupe, etc.), basically, encouraging kids to stay on campus to eat and enjoy each other’s company. We have an open campus and kids can easily walk/drive the 2 blocks to town to eat…even though we only have 35 minutes for lunch they have enjoyed the freedom leaving campus has brought them. We now have most kids staying on campus, eating, and talking to each other. We are one of 17 districts in our state that is being funded by the foundations mentioned earlier, as they are working with us and gathering data to initiate legislation to make some radical changes both state and nationally. UC Davis has contacted their group to find out more about what they are trying to accomplish…UC Davis has a “sustainability department.” Our school district is the one they have chosen as their model for change!

    Here are some pertinent websites if you are interested in exploring further:
    http://www.sjisd.wednet.edu/sjisd/food-service/foodserv.html
    http://cheftomfrench.com/default.aspx
    http://www.thefoodproject.org/default.asp

    Why am I writing about this on our family blog? Well, we have family members who are farmers and who could contribute to their local school districts’ some healthy food…and earn a living doing it! They could also “sell” healthy, cost efficient recipes. Public schools are hungry (sorry about the pun) for low-cost ways of doing things. Tax payers deserve to have their dollars spent wisely. Contact Chef Tom via the website above if you want more info.

    “Find a need and fill it!”

    Love ya bunches…Barb

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  4. That is really exciting to see how a problem can find a solution. I did have a question? The kids preforming...When do they eat?

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  5. The kids who entertain eat either before or after their performance...stealing a bit of time from a class on that day or they finish up their performance before lunch is over and eat the last 10 +/- minutes before class starts. No group has performed more than once, so far, so I don't think any student has gone hungry! :-)

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