Magic Mama’s Waste-Less Message

Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers!

Did you miss us? Since our last Kitchen Confessions, we've been keeping busy at our local Farmers' Markets and bringing our Eco-Edutainment videos into wider circulation. In November, we held our first public event in years, "Food: Too Good To Waste!" -- a family-friendly, active-learning presentation of those videos, along with educational resource tables, prize drawings and local, fresh veggie/fruit Tasting Tables, at the Corvallis Community Center.

It was the first public presentation of the videos -- three short but information-packed episodes (in Spanish & English) -- created, directed and produced by NFLB Educational Specialist Kjersten "Magic Mama" Hallin during the first two years of the pandemic.

We announced them last year in "Kitchen Confessions," and during the summer of 2022, the finished work received some nice publicity in our local paper.

Magic Mama's Waste-Less Message is delivered in the videos with catchy songs, rhythmic beats, animated sequences and easy-to-remember takeaways, interspersed with fun explorations of such important concepts as the carbon footprint or "foodprint" of your diet. We visit a local organic farm, meet some of the people who work there and learn some new connections about the resources involved in food production, "from seed to plate." 

Local kid actors in many of the scenes help to make Magic Mama's message more relevant for younger viewers. And while kids of all ages -- as well as adults -- can benefit from viewing the videos, the material was developed to help meet school curriculum standards for grades 4-6.

Sing Along with Magic Mama! "Don't throw it away! ... Food Too Good To Waste!"

At our video premiere event, we had a lot of fun engaging our all-ages audience in singing, moving, snacking and learning new ways of relating to the food we eat -- and possibly waste -- every day. This included a couple who drove up from Springfield for something different to do on pre-Thanksgiving weekend!

Here's some of the great comments we received afterwards:

• Everyone should see this!
• Fun and inspiring!
• Very impressed by the diversity represented by the actors
• It's good to see the faces of the people who grow our food

  

• Our kids loved the Claymation scenes
• How did you make the turnip-top pesto?
• Can you bring this to our school/community?

Haven't seen our Eco-Edutainment videos yet? You and your family are in for a treat! Take a break from Netflix or the latest movies, and have fun learning together. Kids of all ages love them!

Seen 'em before? Share with others in your network and help Magic Mama and NFLB spread the message: "Food is Too Good to Waste"! You can also share your thoughts with us in the comment section below. Muchas Gracias!

If you'd like to bring Kjersten/"Magic Mama" and the Eco-Edutainment experience to your child's school, please let us know by using our handy Contact Form. A teacher's companion guide for 4th, 5th and 6th grades is also in the works.

We'd like to thank our community volunteers and event partners who helped make our video premiere on November 19th such a success:

• Corvallis High School's Green Team, for several pairs of nimble hands, great attitudes & nearly-zero waste kitchen prep of our beautiful fruit/veggie "food mandala" trays & refreshing agua fresca beverages. See a time-lapse of Calla, Emma, Eddie, Farren, Eliza and Kjersten in action!
  
• Tina Dodge and the OSU Food Hero program, for providing wonderful giveaways and informative materials (in Spanish and English) for our event attendees. If you've got kids at home during school breaks, set 'em loose in the kitchen with easy recipes and videos for dozens of kid-approved dishes from this chock-fulla-resources site! (We've mentioned Food Hero a number of times in Kitchen Confessions.)
• Corvallis Community Center (C3) staff -- especially Carl and Rue, for going above and beyond with technical assistance;
• Chris, volunteer with Benton To Go and the Waste Prevention Action Team;
• Lauri at Green Girl Reusable Partyware;
• The rest of our stellar volunteer crew, who helped with set up, compost pails, food running/serving, and cleanup: Macy, Cole, Kelli, Sydney, Bethany & daughter, Kate and Kalesh.

SCENES FROM OUR COMMUNITY EVENT!