Starmont FCS Teacher, Jan Murray approached FFI AmeriCorps Resource Contact Elizabeth Makarewicz, about teaching a dessert lesson for her Foods I class. With a touch of creativity and advice from Mrs. Murray, Makarewicz chose two recipes that would utilize veggies— beet chocolate cake and squash quick bread. See how they went over.

What started as a distant dream of an active school district has now blossomed into a lively afterschool program. Four Decorah High School seniors, Abby Meirick, Liz Hovden, Bre Pierce, and Rachel Haindfield, created the idea of a weekly wellness driven program for students kindergarten through fourth grade. This program was made possible with the money earned from the "That was Easy Fun Run" the students held on November 5.

FoodCorps Leah Chapman recently conducted a cafeteria taste-test at West Union Elementary. Chapman worked with Food Service Director, Carol Stanbrough to find a creative use of excess butternut squash. Chapman made "squash fries" for students to sample.

The holiday season came early for food service staff in northeast Iowa! Several cooking kits were donated to schools working with chefs to improve school nutrition programs.

Luther Gardens produced 75 percent more produce in 2011 than during the previous growing season, reports the Luther environmental studies program. The four garden operations in the Luther Gardens project provided a significant increase in the locally grown foods prepared and served by Luther Dining Services.

Members of youth FFI 4-H teams recently attended a workshop focused on the concept "Food has Value." Youth, youth coaches and 4-H County Youth Coordinators participated in three interactive stations: Would you Rather?, Face Your Plate, and Share the Wealth Shopping Drama. At each station students explored a variety of scenarios and questions. Participants were encouraged to think about the value of consuming whole, fresh foods and shopping locally.

Growing in the Garden, includes over forty classroom and after-school program lessons and more than one hundred hands-on activities intended to engage youth in ways to improve their health, their ability to learn, and to share what they learn with their families and communities.

Beginning in 2012 the Iowa Safe Routes to School Program will be launching a statewide partnership for individual schools throughout Iowa. The partnership will seek to bring together the many practitioners, coordinators, and champions of Safe Routes to School and to provide an open means of communication and sharing between the many school level programs in Iowa.

Friends and benefactors have recently established an endowment to support the work of the Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative (FFI). The endowment is a way for citizens to invest in the ongoing work of this initiative, which will make the healthy choice the easy choice for generations to come.

New Hampton's Farmers Market will not only change its hours next summer but it's also switching days and moving to a new location. The changes were announced last week by a five-member committee that will run the market next summer after Market Manager LaVonne Zimmerman said she wouldn't return in the summer of 2012.