On a beautiful fall evening in October, over 135 Lyons community members came together to celebrate the bounty of the Lyons community garden and National Food Day 2012.
The gardens, planted at the Lyons Community Center, were cared for by children in the Lyons middle school LEAP program and the Lyons Community Center Program. Throughout the spring and summer youth learned how to plant and care Community Center students making tossed salad for the gardens, and found this hands-on approach to be a powerful learning tool.
To celebrate this year’s garden, the expansion of the Trail of Hope, and National Food Day, a pasta party was planned for Oct. 22. Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Creating Healthy Places Program, a grant funded by the NYS Department of Health, assisted youth from the Leap program who worked in the garden over the summer to learn how to make homemade tomato sauce from the tomatoes, garlic, peppers and herbs that were grown in the garden.
During the event, the pasta sauce was served as well as salad that had vegetables picked fresh from the garden. Not only the Creating Healthy Places staff, but Cornell Cooperative Extension educators from Eat Smart New York, the Wayne County 4-H Horticulture club and Master Gardener’s program helped serve the community.
Besides the wonderful dinner, activities included during the event were a trail walk lead by Trail Works Inc., a pasta making station lead by Lyons Central School Food Service Director Vince Beltrone, a “Be a Chef” picture taking station and a night launch of Chinese sky lanterns.
Through gardening, a sense of accomplishment and a community service component are instilled in children. They are taught that there is a way to have Prepping tomatoes for saucesustainable food and basic ways to prepare and eat what they glean. Food Day is a nationwide celebration and a movement for healthy, affordable and sustainable food.
For more information about Creating Healthy Places, call 331-8415 or visit www.waynecreatinghealthyplaces.org.
On a beautiful fall evening in October, over 135 Lyons community members came together to celebrate the bounty of the Lyons community garden and National Food Day 2012.
The gardens, planted at the Lyons Community Center, were cared for by children in the Lyons middle school LEAP program and the Lyons Community Center Program. Throughout the spring and summer youth learned how to plant and care Community Center students making tossed salad for the gardens, and found this hands-on approach to be a powerful learning tool.
To celebrate this year’s garden, the expansion of the Trail of Hope, and National Food Day, a pasta party was planned for Oct. 22. Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Creating Healthy Places Program, a grant funded by the NYS Department of Health, assisted youth from the Leap program who worked in the garden over the summer to learn how to make homemade tomato sauce from the tomatoes, garlic, peppers and herbs that were grown in the garden.
During the event, the pasta sauce was served as well as salad that had vegetables picked fresh from the garden. Not only the Creating Healthy Places staff, but Cornell Cooperative Extension educators from Eat Smart New York, the Wayne County 4-H Horticulture club and Master Gardener’s program helped serve the community.
Besides the wonderful dinner, activities included during the event were a trail walk lead by Trail Works Inc., a pasta making station lead by Lyons Central School Food Service Director Vince Beltrone, a “Be a Chef” picture taking station and a night launch of Chinese sky lanterns.
Through gardening, a sense of accomplishment and a community service component are instilled in children. They are taught that there is a way to have Prepping tomatoes for saucesustainable food and basic ways to prepare and eat what they glean. Food Day is a nationwide celebration and a movement for healthy, affordable and sustainable food.
For more information about Creating Healthy Places, call 331-8415 or visit www.waynecreatinghealthyplaces.org.
