Institute Loaiza Cordero School & Slow Food Boricua

The Institute Loaiza Cordero School and Slow Food Boricua have formed a partnership to achieve a valuable children’s organic garden. Here are some major accomplishments they have achieved and projections for the new year.

2009-10 Accomplishments:

1. We participated in the visit of Dr. Jane Goodall to Puerto Rico and presented our group and our projects:
• Organic Gardening
• Share the harvest with people in need
• Trash removal and recycling
• Awareness of needs and appropriate care of animals
2. We conducted a school organic garden with the help and under the guidance of three farmers. Students participated in all phases:
• Land preparation
• Sowing
• Garden Maintenance
• Harvest
3. Foods that were harvested were donated to nonprofit organizations that serve people with social needs such as Julia de Burgos Protected House & Home Father Bernard, home to assist the homeless.
4. In turn, the students received lectures related to domestic violence and the needs of the homeless.
5. Crops were also shared with the school canteen and were used for preparing food for children and young people from school.
6. The students showed great sense of responsibility, enjoyment and commitment to the care of the garden and the share of the harvest.
7. They knew the names of the plants sown as seed and grow them, and the care they need.
8. We visited a farm where they learned about different animals, their characteristics, needs and care required.
9. We received the visit of a bee-keeper and the children learned about the life of bees, their work and contribution to our lives.

Projections for the year 2010-2011

For next year we plan to:

1. expand the organic garden
2. prepare compost for the garden with organic material from the school (dry leaves, grass, shells, raw food in the dining room).
3. use the nursery to germinate seeds and planting on benches.

To achieve these projects we need the cooperation of the whole school. We propose the following:

• Pre-school through third grade will continue in charge of the garden.
• Fourth through Sixth, will be responsible of the composting process
• Middle school will work in the nursery.
• Students with special needs will participate actively integrated with regular groups according to their ages.

During the school year groups will rotate station for a fixed period of time so everyone has the experience of learning the tasks of each stage of planting.

This would be done in stages on selected dates through planned activities.

Tentative dates:

Late August

• start composting
• prepare the ground for planting

Early September

• planting organic garden

Mid-September

• beginning the use of the nursery

The International Slow Food Convivium of Puerto Rico "Slow Food Boricua” has joined our initiative.

They will help us get resources to assist us in farming activities and participate directly in the planting and fundraising activities.

By joining Slow Food Boricua our school garden has become part of the international network of school gardens across Slow Food International organization. This gives us the opportunity to interact with other schools throughout the world, share experiences and receive support. Likewise, our school will receive promotion of our projects at national and international levels.

With this initiative our school had become part of the schools throughout the world that are educating for global consciousness, caring for the earth, healthy eating, peace and multiculturalism. In other words, we are part of the schools that are tempering their education and educating students for the twenty-first century needs. October 20-25, 2010, Maria Caro & Elizama Montalvo will travel to the Slow Food-Terra Madre event in Italy, they were selected as a delegate representing Puerto Rico.

Potassium Bromate in Bread... No no no!!!!

Potassium bromate (KBrO3) is an oxidizing agent that has been used as a food additive, mainly in the bread-making process. Although adverse effects are not evident in animals fed bread-based diets made from flour treated with KBrO3, the agent is carcinogenic in rats and nephrotoxic in both man and experimental animals when given orally. It has been demonstrated that KBrO3 induces renal cell tumors, mesotheliomas of the peritoneum, and follicular cell tumors of the thyroid. In addition, experiments aimed at elucidating the mode of carcinogenic action have revealed that KBrO3 is a complete carcinogen, possessing both initiating and promoting activities for rat renal tumorigenesis. However, the potential seems to be weak in mice and hamsters. In contrast to its weak mutagenic activity in microbial assays, KBrO3 showed relatively strong potential inducing chromosome aberrations both in vitro and in vivo. Glutathione and cysteine degrade KBrO3 in vitro; in turn, the KBrO3 has inhibitory effects on inducing lipid peroxidation in the rat kidney. Active oxygen radicals generated from KBrO3 were implicated in its toxic and carcinogenic effects, especially because KBrO3 produced 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine in the rat kidney. A wide range of data from applications of various analytical methods are now available for risk assessment purposes.