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LinkedInPosts Tagged: Master Food Preservers
UC ANR to boost 4-H and MFP county support, better integrate YFC programs
The extended vacancy of the Youth, Families and Communities Director position (vacant 17 months) has given us time to consider program needs and how we, as a Division, can best meet those needs moving forward. After reflection, collecting recommendations from the respective Statewide Directors and gathering input from the broader ANR community, I have decided not to fill the YFC Director position. Interim Co-directors Shannon Horrillo and Katie Panarella have provided excellent leadership and afforded the Division an opportunity to invest the unused salary provision to further strengthen and support the YFC program.
Funds designated for the YFC Director position will be reinvested into YFC programs to support growth and new opportunities. The statewide program directors identified program integration among 4-H Youth Development, Nutrition, Family and Consumer Sciences, Master Food Preserver and Master Gardener programs as a key priority. In support of their vision, we will hire a Program Integration Coordinator who will support efforts to integrate across programs and disciplines to maximize extension efforts and identify new multidisciplinary funding opportunities. This is consistent with the original intent of having a YFC program and a goal within the UC ANR strategic plan to better integrate and focus our efforts. The position will be released in the coming months with interviews anticipated in May.
Subsequently, based on the directors' recommendations, we will invest in hiring a Master Food Preserver and Food Entrepreneurship Academic Coordinator. This position will bring together our existing work with home food preservation, cottage foods and innovation in agriculture to best address the food security needs of California and to pursue funding opportunities to implement programming. Additionally, we will hire a part-time 4hOnline Data System Administrator to centralize some 4hOnline administrative functions at the state level, reducing the administrative workload on 4-H county-based staff and increasing technical assistance and support.
We believe this plan will provide the needed support to position YFC for growth and to meet future needs. Shannon Horrillo will continue permanently as the Statewide 4-H Director and Katie Panarella as the Statewide Nutrition, Family and Consumer Sciences Director and Co-director of the Master Food Preserver Program. They will continue working in partnership with Missy Gable, the Statewide Master Gardener Director and Co-director of the Master Food Preserver Program to lead these high-priority ANR statewide programs and integration in ways that leverage their assets for greater collective impact.
Best regards,
Wendy Powers
Associate Vice President
View or leave comments for ANR Leadership at http://ucanr.edu/sites/ANRUpdate/Comments.
This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.
Master Food Preservers demonstrate canning at LA fair
With annual fairs getting plenty of publicity for their outrageous unhealthful food concoctions - think deep fried cereal, Twinkies and Oreos - instructions for converting summer's bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables to healthful winter staples is "a welcome addition," writes the author.
During the fair's run, visitors will learn how to make jams and jellies, the art of pickling and fermenting and how to preserve tomatoes. In addition to the demos, Master Food Preservers will take questions and offer food safety tips.
'Master Food Preserver' blogs on Huffington Post website
"It's a rigorous program. But there was the promise of fresh fruit preserves, home-made goat cheese and perfectly canned green beans. I wanted in," she said of the intense 12-week course.
The most surprising discovery, Lutz wrote, was that the reference materials MFP trainees use in class are available to anyone who's interested. Lutz' favorites include The National Center for Home Food Preservation and the L.A. County Master Food Preservers blog.
"If I pass my final exam, I will be rewarded with the title of 'Master Food Preserver' and you'll see me and my classmates talking about food preservation techniques at local farmers markets and at the Los Angeles County Fair," she wrote.
What to do with too many tomatoes
Many parts of California offer the perfect summer climate for growing tomatoes. In fact, it's so good gardeners often find themselves with more tomatoes than they can eat fresh on salads and burgers.
To manage this bounty, UC Cooperative Extension Master Food Preservers offer classes that teach Californians the "lost art" of canning, a process which keeps summer in a jar to enjoy all year, according to an article in the Sacramento Bee.
The story, written by Debbie Arrington, featured 12-year veteran UCCE Master Food Preserver Lillian Smith, who teaches canning and other preservation techniques in Sacramento County.
"Starting two years ago, we saw many more people coming to our classes," Smith was quoted. "We saw attendance double, even triple or more. When we used to get 10 people, now we get 30 or 40 in a class."
She said food safety concerns and economics are driving the interest in food preservation.
"People want to know how to do it themselves," Smith said.
Smith has 25 tomato plants growing in her Rio Linda backyard, according to the article. She experiments with different ways to preserve her crop. Last summer, she tried pressure canning and making tomato leather.
The Master Food Preservers handle all sorts of fruit and vegetables, but tomato processing is always the No. 1 request.
Free publications about home food preservation are available in the UC ANR online catalog, including:
- Tomatoes: Safe Methods to Store, Preserve, and Enjoy
- Olives: Safe Methods for Home Pickling
- Peppers: Safe Methods to Store, Preserve, & Enjoy
Can tomatoes to keep summer in a jar.
California Heartland profiles Master Food Preservers
The half-hour public television program California Heartland, produced by KVIE in Sacramento, included a brief segment on the UC Cooperative Extension El Dorado County Master Food Preserver program in its most recent episode.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to view the segment online. I have a pretty powerful computer with up-to-date software, but the KVIE video segments played for a few seconds, buffered slowly, then quit. (If you have better luck with the video, please post a comment.)
California Heartland also provides a transcript of each segment, so I know that the show featured Master Food Preserver Jane Alexander teaching a class on marmalades, conserves and butters.
"Oh we have fun and we get to make some wonderful different kind of preserves and we do jerky, we do olives, we dry things, we freeze things - we cover the whole way that you can store food at home," Alexander is quoted in the transcript.
Host Chris Burrows noted that the Master Food Preservers offer a monthly canning class, which allows local residents to help preserve a lost art, gain awareness of salt and additives in commercially preserved products, learn how to preserve food safety and create homemade gifts from the kitchen.
California Heartland
