Oakland resident Helen Krayenhoff is a shining example of an engaged citizen putting her talents to use to help Oakland’s local schools.  Her creation, the colorful 2010 calendar called “Celebrating Our Local Harvest/Celebrando Nuestra Cosecha Anual,” is the fruit of her background as an illustrator and publisher combined with a passion for promoting healthy eating.

Krayenhoff is also a co-owner of Kassenhoff Growers organic plant nursery with her partner Peggy Kass, which sells plant starts at Oakland farmers’ markets.  

“It is my effort to bring tools for healthy seasonal eating into the kitchens of our communities. By featuring beautiful photography, coupled with easy-to-follow and delicious recipes (translated into Spanish and Chinese), I have created a calendar that is attractive and a great holiday gift item for supporters, family, friends and co-workers," says Krayenhoff.

Part of what motivated Krayenhoff to create this pilot project was seeing shrinking budgets for worthwhile programs for our schools, especially school gardens.  “I started talking with teachers at the farmers markets and I realized that they were often paying out of pocket to buy plants for their school gardens.”

She saw that many times what keeps these programs alive is simply a motivated and passionate teacher or parent.

“A dedicated teacher would start at school, then leave, and the garden would just fall apart,” Krayenhoff reflects.

She also realized the need for more consistent support. Add to this her dismay at the types of things that typically get sold for fundraisers at schools: magazines, catalogs, plastic toys, and candy. She felt there had to be a way to fundraise that was more sustainable and more aligned with the values of health and environmentalism that are often promoted.

“We felt the need to make the things we promote while fundraising more consistent with the message of local school gardening, health, and our connection to food. Catalogs and magazines are often merely landfill fodder,” she notes. 

As the calendar itself says, “For our children, learning how a carrot grows or where potatoes come from is the beginning of a life long habit of conserving the source of food that passes our lips.  School gardens teach children that they can have a connection with the natural world, as they learn gardening skills and develop a taste for healthy food.”

“Kids need to connect to food early on and become aware of where it comes from,” she says.

So she started networking with schools and teachers.  She found how overwhelmed the schools are, and how little time and resources they have for fundraising.  She was also struck by the disparity between flatland schools and the schools in the hills in terms of not only resources, but parent-teacher associations. She wanted the calendar to help equalize access tunding by being sold for multiple schools.

Helen promotes eating foods seasonally as a way to keep our food local and be more in touch with the natural cycles of the seasons.  Also, she says, “If you’ve never eaten seasonally, you don’t know it taste so much better.  Plus it’s cheaper.” 

She adds: “I was watching all this happen and thought it would be great if schools get appropriate plants at appropriate times of the year, instead of this steep learning curve when new folks step into a garden program.”

The result was an attractive and instructive calendar that can be used to fundraise.

Each month on the calendar features a bright color photo of a growing vegetable that is in season along with a simple recipe and tips for cooking it.  For example, December features Kale (Col Rizada) along with a recipe for ‘Kale Nests’ to be served over mashed potatoes or rice. A box includes other produce that is in season for that particular month.  The back of the calendar contains all the recipes translated into Spanish and Chinese.

Just to whet your appetite, here is the recipe from January, featuring Cabbage/Repollo/Col:

Picante Cabbage Slaw

½ head cabbage, thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, grated
½ to 1 jalapeno or Serrant chiles, seeded, deveined, and finely chopped
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1 cup mixed lemon and lime juice
3 ½ teaspoons salt

Mix cabbage and carrots in a bowl. Mix lemon lime juice, salt, and chiles.  Pour this dressing over cabbage and carrots and toss until well coated.  Add cilantro and toss again.  Taste and adjust the salt as necessary. Serves 4-6.

So far Krayenhoff has pre-sold calendars to several schools involved in school garden programs, as well as a couple of hardware stores (Ace Hardware donates to Lakeview) and Market Hall in Rockridge (which donates to Chabot Elementary).  She said so far Berkeley Bowl West wasn’t interested and she is waiting to hear back from Whole Foods. 

"But what I’d really like to see is PTAs and other groups and individuals see these as a way to raise money for great programs that are underfunded.  And the community needs to get behind the schools.  In a way we already do, like when there is a bond up, it always passes.  But sometimes you don’t always know where that money goes to.  This is a direct way for a small amount to go a long way--you know where it is going.” Helen says.

Oakland parent Sarah Stephens is someone who has seen the benefits of fundraising with the Celebrating Our Local Harvest calendar.  Stephens is a parent of children who attend Cleveland Elementary.  She is also the school’s Eco-Literacy Coordinator.

“We’ve been working hard to get a school garden.  Then keep it going," says Sarah.

Agreeing with Helen’s view, Stephens said, “Instead of plastic throwaways or junk food [for fundraising], I like using something consistent with the mission of healthy food and gardens.  Plus these calendars are beautiful.”

Stephens said they raised a total of $1,200 through calendar sales so far.  “This is huge,” Stephens exclaimed.  “And Helen gives much more than the typical fundraiser."

“The other thing I loved about the calendars was that they were multi-lingual, in Chinese, Spanish, and English. “  She adds that Cleveland is a school that has a high percentage of Chinese speaking students and parents.

When asked about where the money will go, she replied, “We’re going to buy plants, soil, tools, and just maintaining the garden program. We just put in our winter crops.” 

As far the calendars that Krayenhoff still has on hand, she said wanted to “cast the widest possible net.”  While the calendars feature seasonal vegetables, nothing on it specifies its use for a specific cause, so they can be used to fundraise for any project or program.

“As I connect with more and more people it is becoming clear that this calendar can be used by more programs than I had originally imagined,” she says.

Get the Calendars:

Oakland Local readers can get a 10% discount here: Oakland Unwrapped

You can also purchase as a Will-call at Fernseed in the Laurel (if you want to avoid shipping); check with www.fernseed.com for hours and location

 Stores that are carrying the calendar:

Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary & Garden Arts

2904 College Ave, Berkeley 

(to raise funds for Emerson Elementary, Berkeley)

 Grand Lake Ace Hardware and Ace Garden Center

4001 Grand Avenue, Oakland

(to raise funds for Lakeview Elementary)

The Pasta Shop at Market Hall

5655 College Avenue, Oakland

(to raise funds for Chabot Elementary)

Or order online at  Oakland Unwrapped