Author Archives: mechase

Master Food Volunteers Promote Local Produce at Arlington Green Living Expo

More than 60 exhibitors took part in the Green Living Expo and Arlington Earth Week Community Fair, sponsored by Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment (ACE) and George Mason University, and held at the university’s Arlington campus.  Visit the VCE Arlington blog for more interesting information about this event featuring our Master Food Volunteers:

http://blogs.ext.vt.edu/arl-alexvce/

Master Food Volunteers in Arlington/Alexandria spring into action with FAN Camp

Following is a link to a great article written by Master Food Volunteer, Lisa Metzger, from Arlington/Alexandra about a recent program, FAN (Food and Nutrition) Camp held for children enrolled at Barcroft Elementary School in Arlington.  Master Food Volunteers work with FCS Agent, Katie Strong, to teach  nutrition using some fun games and hands-on cooking experiences to make banana pudding in a bag, salsa, and apple wraps.

This is a great example of some wonderful programs our FCS Agents and Master Food Volunteers facilitate with all age groups and provides inspiration to think of new ways to teach these important skills that promote a healthy lifestyle.

Please keep sending us these great stories to share!  Email your stories to Melissa Chase, mechase@vt.edu.

Click here to read the entire article:  https://blogs.ext.vt.edu/arl-alexvce/

Roanoke Valley Master Food Volunteer Training featured on local TV station

Recently, the Master Food Volunteer Program in the Roanoke Valley was highlighted during one of their volunteer training sessions on one of our local TV stations, WSLS-10.  Deb Chappell, the Family and Consumer Sciences Agent for Roanoke, Dr. Renee Boyer, our Extension Specialist for Food Safety, and several volunteers were featured.  Kudos to everyone!

National Center for Home Food Preservation Center Blog now available

The University of Georgia’s National Center for Home Food Preservation now has a blog with great ideas and recipes for preserving at home.  The Center is your premier source for tested, research-based recipes for canning, freezing, dehydrating, and many other methods for preservation.

For example, the blog has a great idea for making orange jelly from frozen juice.

Check it out:  http://preservingfoodathome.com/category/home-food-preservation-methods/ 

Getting Your Kitchen Organized

It seems as though many of us are continually searching for ideas to de-clutter our homes and re-organize our kitchens.  With spring rapidly approaching, you may already be looking for ideas for prepare for your annual “spring cleaning.”   According to Iowa State University’s Extension and Outreach “Spend Smart. East Smart.” blog, http://blogs.extension.iastate.edu/foodsavings/ …kitchen re-organization can also help consumers save money.    The blog  suggests three common themes for kitchen organization:  1) Create “centers” in your kitchen around common activities; 2) Get rid of items you are not using; and 3) Store the items you use the most between your shoulders and knees and in the front where you can most see it.  Tips and ideas for kitchen reorganization can easily be incorporated into your Master Food Volunteer trainings and community classes.  You might even consider having a cooking utensil “swap” activity with your Master Food Volunteers and add needed utensils and tools to your classroom cooking/teaching kits while helping each other get rid of items not being used at home.   Stay tuned to the Spend Smart. Eat Smart blog weekly entries for the month of January 2013.  The blog will feature a new entry each week to focus on kitchen organization.

Welcome to Master Food Volunteer Insights

Welcome to our Virginia Cooperative Extension Food Volunteer Insights blog.  The purpose of this blog is to share research-based and unbiased ideas, resources, and information for Extension faculty and Master Food Volunteers.  If you are a VCE faculty member or Master Food Volunteer and would like to contribute entries to this blog, contact Melissa Chase by email, mechase@vt.edu, to submit your blog request.  Once approved, Melissa will post to the Insights blog page for public viewing.  We look forward to learning more from each other and sharing new ideas and resources to enhance our program efforts.

Please note we also have a link for Agents to add information about upcoming trainings.  Agents should send this information to Melissa Chase so that it can be added to the blog.

For Master Food Volunteer continuing education opportunities, visit the University of Maine’s Extension web site.  They now have YouTube training videos with many of their publications.  These videos range from 5 minutes to 10 minutes each and can provide great discussion at MFV meetings and trainings:  http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8D1C914E1E1FEA69&feature=plcp