Happy Thanksgiving!

While you're celebrating the holiday with family and friends, give some thought to submitting a project proposal to DISHES. You don’t have to be associated with an organization or a group of dedicated volunteers – you just need a compelling idea.

We can't wait to hear from you!

New Team Member - Mike Intaglietta

We've added another member to our team! We're very pleased to introduce Mike Intaglietta, who'll act as "Presentation Coach" for the DISHES effort.

Mike is an arts administrator and performer from Liverpool, NY. He has been performing and teaching improvisational and stand-up comedy since 1994. Mike co-founded the Thumbs UPstate Improv festival, one of the inaugural DISHES project proposals in 2011, and has since gone on to co-found the Syracuse Improv Collective.

Q. Why did you decide to get involved with DISHES?

Mike - DISHES was a key motivator for the creation of the Thumbs UPstate Improv Festival, which gave birth to the Syracuse Improv Collective: my two chief creative outlets in Syracuse. And we didn't even win. I would love to help more people visualize and realize their own projects.

Q. What is your favorite thing about DISHES?

Mike - The fact that no matter what project gets chosen, the community will be improved because of the ideas generated during the process.

Ready to hear your ideas!

Let's get cracking, Syracuse, and make things happen! We have $1,000 burning a hole in our pocket and we'd love to give you the opportunity to win it.  We are currently soliciting project ideas now through Friday, December 6th at midnight.  For more information and to submit an application, visit our 'Request for Proposal' tab.  Looking forward to hearing your ideas!!!!!

We feel the love!

We have some wonderful news to share with you all! Currently out on newsstands is the November/December issue of the Central New York Magazine: The Good Life, and Salt City DISHES graces the cover and has a lavish eight-page spread. We hope that this issue reaches many new people and encourages fresh thinking about our city. The piece also boasts a lovely assortment of photos, including our team members, past winners, and moments from our dinner events. Grab your copy today and check it out!

Many thanks to the magazine team including freelance writer, Renee Gadoua, for putting this all together.  We are truly honored!

Love, the DISHES team

 

 

 

 

New season, new plans!

Yay!  Plans are underway for the next DISHES dinner, slated to take place in February 2014.  In just a short couple weeks, we'll launch details on when/how you can submit your community project idea to pitch at the next dinner event!!!  We're sooooo excited to hear from you.

More soon!

~DISHES team

Growing Food and Self-Sustainable Citizens: An Update from the Cooperative Permaculture Garden

by Mary Beth Schwartzwalder

In back of Nottingham High School, right outside of the Technology Lab where students study robotics during the school year, are three beds that house lentils, jalapeños, and pumpkins. These are the beginnings of the Cooperative Permaculture Garden created by Reina Aparez, an alum from Nottingham, and now former students, Symone Campbell and Sterling Lowry. You will remember Reina from her presentation at Salt City DISHES this past May, where she introduced the Cooperative Permaculture Garden and ultimately won the micro-grant to begin the project. The garden will serve the Nottingham community as a hands-on learning site for healthy skills and the sciences. It will also help feed students and family members in need.  So far, Reina, and her student volunteers, are growing zucchini, tomatoes, broccoli, kale, lentils, jalapeños, bell peppers, pumpkins, parsley, and chives. Eventually summer annual plants will be phased out and fall plants will be added.

Gardening is still relatively new for Reina. While a student at Nottingham she explains, “I didn’t really have any exposure to it.” It wasn’t until she attended Hobart and William Smith College and got wrapped-up in the farm-to-table movement that she began thinking about food and where it comes from. Once she was done with school, she moved back to Syracuse and began working at the Syracuse Real Food Co-op. She eventually enrolled in the Community Training and Ecological Design class taught by the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute and Alchemical Nursery. She learned more about gardening and sustainability and eventually she created the proposal for the Cooperative Permaculture Garden. “I’ve always been interested in community works,” Reina explains, and the garden was a way to combine her passion for the community with her love of fresh, homegrown food.

Still, Reina is the first to admit that she’s not an expert. The staff, teachers, and students at Nottingham are incredible sources of knowledge and have gone out of their way to help. Some have put together plans for a seed donation program. Others have helped by recruiting student volunteers to help with planting and maintenance. Some of the students have experience with gardening in the United States and in their home countries. Mr. Roberts, Head Custodian, has helped Reina plan out the landscape of the garden so that it does not interfere with the day-to-day needs of the school and warned her about animals in the area. “He knows the deer haven’t come this far into the property. He recommended planting lilies to help keep them out,” Reina explains, adding to her student volunteers busy planting pumpkins, “Get to know Mr. Roberts. He’s the one that knows all about this school.”

There are plans to expand the garden eventually and Reina is busy negotiating with the district to find out exactly what she can and can’t do. She’d like to build sub-irrigation planters to be able to grow annuals that can be rotated out quickly, but she may have to resort to simple lumber beds. Once the food is ready to harvest, items will be distributed among the student volunteers and, once the school year resumes, to different classes, as well. Some of the plants and much of the compost has been donated, but funds from the micro-grant will be used to purchase other plants (for example, maybe some seaberry bushes) and the materials needed for more beds and possible fencing. 

Reina hopes that the garden will give students “experience for the future,” that the work will help mold them into hardworking individuals with knowledge about growing their own food. “This is the best way to empower them to live a sustainable life,” she proclaims, “to eat things that aren’t expensive and are good for you.” One of the volunteers, Laxuman Sanyasi, who will be entering the 10th grade next year, smiles when he describes the work as “interesting” and says he’s most excited to eat the “broccoli, tomatoes, and hot peppers.” Syracuse seems to understand this excitement, too. Many restaurants, cafes, and food trucks are using local produce when possible. Individuals are starting gardens in their backyard and attending farmers markets. “It’s not hard to see that more people know someone who is a farmer these days,” she explains, making the world feel both wonderfully plentiful and small. The student volunteers, however, are no longer listening to how the world has grown. They’re engrossed in directing the wheelbarrow brimming with soil, bearing large shovels, and preparing the soil for seedlings that will eventually grow into brilliant, substantial pumpkins.

Syracuse Gathers to Eat, Vote, and Innovate

by Mary Beth Schwartzwalder

Growing up in Auburn I spent little time in Syracuse until I moved back to the area last fall and began an internship at Northside Urban Partnership. During my time here, I’ve found this much to be true: we who live and work in Syracuse love our city. This past Saturday I attended DISHES for the first time and couldn’t wait to demolish a Mexican feast and vote for my favorite innovative public project. Under the soft glow of strung lights, the rows of long tables were filled with people who wanted to enrich their city by voting for one of five projects: Salina St. Refreshed, the Cooperative Permaculture Garden, Trees: Symbols of Powerful Experiences, Noexcuses: LOWdowns, and Syracuse in Print. The presentation content touched upon a number of topics; some presenters promised to preserve Syracuse’s history by hand painting faded signs that boast of the city’s past or by recording the personal histories of Syracuse’s residents. Others focused on art as a way to bring the community together and celebrate the talents within our city through an art competition showcased on the walls of the Tech Garden and a series of print-related workshops culminating in a small press festival. The project that won the $1,000 grant, however, enacts change through the youth of our city. An alum and two current students at Nottingham High School presented their community garden initiative called, the Cooperative Permaculture Garden. The garden would be a hands-on opportunity for students at Nottingham to learn about healthy eating, the sciences, and how to work together to produce food for families in need. The project will bring together the Nottingham community and give students and their families a connection to Syracuse through food and gardening.

Before the presentations began we were reminded of the generosity of Syracuse and the surrounding community. Much of the food and drink were donated by local businesses and farmers, allowing the chef to create a variety of delicious dishes, including an assortment of enchiladas, black bean soup, and Spanish risotto. As volunteers served food and drink, it became clear that the dinner was for the community, by the community, in order to improve the community.

After all the lemon cookies were eaten and the coffee poured, the winner was announced and the Cooperative Permaculture Garden appeared on stage to accept their grant and a porcelain Syracuse China dish which served as the group’s trophy. The excitement was palpable and we rushed to add our names to volunteer lists for all of the projects presented that night. Like many presenters in the past, we look forward to seeing these projects succeed and find support through other initiatives. We still want to hear the histories of Syracuse and we still want to see historic advertising signs refreshed, art on the walls of the Tech Garden, and Syracuse in print. There is no absence of support in our city. There is no absence of cool and innovative projects. There is no absence of talent. Perhaps most importantly, there’s no absence of pride in calling Syracuse “home.”

 Photo by Allison Gates, allisongates.com

 Photo by Allison Gates, allisongates.com