Working on Wellness Environments
Working on Wellness Environments (WOW-E) is a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension multidisciplinary community development program

Welcome to the Funny Farm!

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In Roma, TX, the Funny Farm is the pride of R.T. Barrera Elementary. Spearheaded by physical education teacher Mr. Rolando Munoz, the Funny Farm has expanded from a small garden to a 105 by 150 sq ft “farm”. The Eagle’s Orchard is the newest addition to R.T. Barrera’s Funny Farm.

The orchard was established in January 2020 as part of a Starr County Farm to School initiative with the Working on Wellness Environments program and the Farm to School program. Partners such as Roma ISD, the students and staff at R.T. Barrera Elementary, Texas A&M Agrilife Extension, and the local community have helped sustain and move the orchard forward. The orchard includes 43 trees with 8 varieties of grapes, peaches, pineapple oranges, mandarins, limes, figs, grapefruits, and guava trees. Everyone at the school has a role, from food service staff to principals, and down to the students.

The Funny Farm began 9 years ago as a small school garden with just a few plants. The same practice of involving staff, parents, and students has been held to this day. The school attributes this, and constant support from administration as a way the garden has been sustained throughout the years.

Students are especially involved in the farm. They make sure the animals are well taken care of, feed them using measuring cups to make sure they get the right amount of food, harvest produce like lettuce and cucumbers, and make sure that produce goes back to the cafeteria. Additionally, students are allowed to take some of the produce home, where they can prepare a meal and bring it back for show and tell.

Through the farm, students learn agricultural and nutritional practices and introduces them to new fruits and vegetables. Trees in the orchard are watered through a drip irrigation system, and the amount of water depends on the season. The school allows visitors to visit the Funny Farm, where they can learn sustainability practices.

Volunteer involvement has been immense from planting trees to digging holes to pulling weeds. Surplus fruit will be sold at festivals, farmer’s markets, and ag clubs in order to ensure longevity. The farm is looking to adapt an adopt-a-tree program to help sustain the the orchard for many years to come.

With COVID-19- the “farm” has seen its challenges. With students not physically in school, garden maintenance has been done through school administrators themselves. The next phase for the farm is to add pollinator garden beds, and a high tunnel which have all been approved. The farm has also recently been awarded an NRCS grant to help cover costs. The main goal of this project is for Roma ISD to expand to other schools in the district. For more information, check out the video below!

 

What is Farm to School?

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The Eagle’s orchard at R.T. Barrera has been partially funded by donations and most recently, as part of a Starr County Farm to School grant. The National Farm to School effort sprouted in 1996-1997 from the desire to support community-based food systems, strengthen family farms, and improve student health by reducing childhood obesity. In 2004, the National Farm to School Program was officially authorized, and included 400 programs in 22 states. The Farm to School Network was founded in 2007. The National Farm to School network’s first 

decade of efforts focused on developing a strong network of partnerships across sectors, building awareness about farm to school and increasing activities at the state and regional levels through training, capacity building, and policy advocacy.

Farm to school enriches the connection communities have with fresh, healthy food and local food producers by changing food purchasing and education practices at schools and early care and education sites. Like at R.T Barrera, students gain access to healthy, local foods, as well as education opportunities such as school gardens, cooking lessons and farm field trips. Farm to school empowers children and their families to make informed food choices while strengthening the local economy and contributing to vibrant communities

Farm to school implementation differs by location but always includes one or more of the following:
– Procurement: local foods are purchased, promoted and served in the cafeteria or as a snack or taste-test.
– School Gardens: students engage in hands-on learning through gardening; and
– Education: students participate in education activities to agriculture, food, health or nutrition

Today, there are 42,587 schools involved, 42% of US schools, 23.6 million students engaged, $789m spent on local food, 46 states with supportive policies, and 20,000+ nfsn members. To learn more, you can go here.

Team Member Spotlight

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The Working on Wellness Environments team would like to extend our best wishes to our own Kelsey Coats. As an Extension Assistant of Program Outreach PSE, Kelsey has been involved in every aspect of the WOW-E project from providing technical assistance for community planning efforts, logistical support for site visits and workshops, to contributing to the communication efforts.

Kelsey began her career with Texas A&M Agrilife Extension as a student worker with the Urban and Municipal Parks program, where she excelled in this role for a year and half. After graduating, Kelsey transitioned into a full-time role with WOW-E and Texas A&M Ag

rilife Extension’s Urban and Municipal Parks Program. Kelsey’s background and experience in Recreation, Park, and Tourism Sciences and her previous work in community planning, allowed her to succeed as part of the physical activity subject matter expert team, as well as the communications team.

When the RFA process was introduced, Kelsey had a key role in guiding communities through readiness assessments, asset identification, and setting clear goals and action steps. As projects progressed into planning phases, Kelsey’s involvement included leading walking audits in Rio Grande City and Sierra Blanca, TX, planning pop-ups with the downtown Rio Grande City, TX group, planning story walks with the Rio Grande City Library in Rio Grande City, TX, and guiding all groups through various site inventories. Additionally, Kelsey shared these best practices with other communit

y leaders at two state conference presentations and in her article for NRPA (see below).

Instrumental to the communications team, Kelsey has been involved with social media, newsletter and blog creation, and has taken lead in creating videos that highlight the dedicated community champions of our 4 counties. With strong writing skills and a bird’s eye view of best practices, Kelsey was invited to write an article for the National Recreation and Park Association magazine, where she highlighted community engagement in relation to the WOW-E project. Kelsey participated in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel, where she was invited to speak about the communication efforts of WOW-E and our local coalitions who are active followers of the communication pieces.

Kelsey’s favorite part of being in this role is working with a multidisciplinary team. She enjoys looking at issues from a health standpoint. She also enjoys getting to know our four counties and seeing local groups get excited about making change in their counties.

 

As for her steps, Kelsey will be attending Cornell University in Ithaca, New York where she will be pursuing a master of Regional Planning. She is excited to not only approach planning with her background in parks, but with health in mind.

The WOW-E team would like to thank Kelsey for her dedicated contributions to WOW-E. While we will not see her as much, we are looking forward to continue working with her on a part-time basis.

Meeting Digitally

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The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many of us to work differently. Whether it’s taking on a new or additional job or household responsibilities, quarantining at home or wearing facial masks and protective gear, we’ve all had to adapt to these unprecedented times. This also includes adapting our outreach for WOW-E and working with many groups to meet online.

After some initial time to adjust to COVID-19, some local coalition groups and the WOW-E team have been able to engage in planning meetings and coalition meetings online. Victorino Cantu, in Starr County, and the counting experts from TTI (Texas Transportation Institute) were able to “visit”, plan, and troubleshoot pre-use counts using Zoom, Google Earth, mapped cell phone images, email, and good old fashion phone calls.

Of course, these new changes come with challenges. Most of our coalition members are involved in frontline COVID-19 response efforts. Additionally, internet access and access to computers prohibited some from being a part of the efforts as mentioned by one of our groups in Webb county. Finally, some members may have no experience with zoom. While some have found asking their children and grandchildren for help has been helpful, and are on their way to becoming zoom professionals, others do no see this as the solution for themselves!

Please be reassured that we continue to work with our local agents and team members are listening to you all as we work together in responding to and adapting our outreach to continue to support local coalitions in the efforts to continue to push for healthier infrastructure and systems in your local communities. Know that you can reach out to me with questions, ideas, or concerns through my email valeria.jauregui@ag.tamu.edu or my direct phone line (956) 821-1476.

Agent Spotlight: Ashley Gastineau

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Photo of Webb County Family and Consumer Health Agent, Ashley Gastineau

Ashley Gastineau has been with Prairie View A&M University Cooperative Extension Program for three years. She is a Family & Community Health (FCH) agent for Webb County. From the time Ashley was in college, she knew whatever career path she chose, she wanted to help others and after taking a Nutrition course as an elective, she knew she wanted to provide health education. Ashley began her career with Prairie View Extension as a Better Living for Texans (BLT) Program Assistant. Through her initial work on BLT, she saw the need and benefit of serving the underserved community. Because of that early experience, she knew she wanted to continue that throughout her career.

Ashley’s favorite part of her job is that her work allows her to reach multiple generations. She teaches and provides programs on various topics such as nutrition, mental health, finances, parenting skills, and food safety. This flexibility allows her to reach people of all age levels and help them improve their quality of life.

For Ashley’s Policy, System, and Environment efforts, she says marketing and networking are really important. The Webb County Cooperative Extension Coalition she works with is one crucial component of connecting the right people to programs and initiatives throughout Webb County. The coalition members are key as well as their partners outside of the coalition. Many organizations in Webb County are already working to make Policy, System, and Environment changes. By networking and working together Webb County can make these changes.

While the coalition cannot meet in person during COVID-19, the support of the coalition is still there. Ashley says the coalition has grown even stronger during COVID-19. Meeting online allows them to meet more often than when the meetings are held in person. Everyone has to adjust their service offerings during COVID-19. The coalition members have been able to help each other make this adjustment and share ideas and information.

Ashley is excited for Webb County to continue working with the WoW-E program. She is proud of the initiative coalition members and youth groups she works with have shown to lead WoW-E initiatives throughout the community. One possibility she is particularly excited about is the prospect of making the community more walkable. While many in the community would like to walk more, there are areas where Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design efforts could make the area safer and, therefore, more walkable.

Ashley recently received a Texas Extension Specialist Association award for being an outstanding FCH/Community Development agent. When talking to her, the passion and love she has for her job is clear in her words and how she speaks. Ashley is a key contributor to the WoW-E team. We look forward to continuing to work with her and the coalition on Policy, System, and Environment efforts in Webb County.