May 15th, 2013 
Carrot Singers
When: May 18, 2013 9am-12pm
Where: City Island Farmer’s Market (near Jackie Robinson Stadium in Daytona Beach, FL)
What: Juice-A-Thon (Learn to create your own healthy juices and smoothies with some equipment we bought specifically for teaching classes with.)
Cost: Free Juicing (Vegan Food on Sale)
Win prizes like juicing books, T-shirts, blenders, juicers
GET YOUR JUICE ON. . .
first 100 people get a free 16oz Smoothie
May 8th, 2013
Karina Rains, a fourth-grader at Chiles Academy, pulls scallions with other students and Omar Brown at the school’s garden.
News-Journal/DAVID TUCKER
Sewing seeds with the Reign Homeschooling Academy
Dajon Newton, 12, holds on to some of his seeds.
“I’m going to take some of these home and plant them in my yard so I don’t have to go to the store and buy food,” he said.
The garden at the charter school in Daytona Beach is part of a new chapter recently started when Omar Brown, Camille Holder-Brown and their four children moved into a trailer on the school’s campus. The Browns are founders of Midtown EcoVillage, a not-fo
Explaining spacing and germination time
Chiles Academy Executive Director Anne Ferguson said that Midtown EcoVillage’s presence will help provide children and teens with healthy role models. Chiles Academy is a charter school for pregnant and parenting teens, grades six through 12.The campus also provides on-site child care and houses students from Reign Homeschooling Academy.r-profit education and advocacy organization that works to improve health and wellness in Daytona Beach’s midtown neighborhood.Midtown EcoVillage is managing the campus’ community garden, leading nutrition education programs and has plans to launch a smoothie and vegan cafe on-site that will be open to the public in the fall.”We want this
Cutting herbs with the children for chef Sean
to be an epicenter for health,” Holder-Brown said.That mission continues in the kitchen where Chiles Academy Chef Sean Henderson uses produce and herbs grown in the garden or bought locally to prepare breakfast and lunch for about 200 students and staff members each day.
The goal is for the school to sustain itself by expanding the garden, which is open to community members. Recently, Omar, 41, and Camille, 34, planted several apple trees and a peach tree with students.
“We are introducing the garden into our curriculum and making it the education plan of our school to introduce it to students,” Ferguson said. “We want to bring what we do in the garden to the kitchen.”
A grant that Midtown EcoVillage received through the global nonprofit GenerationOn allowed them to purchase a juicer and blender last month for their own juice bar in the school’s cafeteria. Holder-Brown said classrooms will be able to bring in their own fruit and vegetables to make healthy drinks anytime.
Camille in the cafeteria juicing with students
During an unveiling of the juice bar in April, students sampled smoothies made with kale, cucumber, apples, carrots, bananas, pineapples and collard greens. Most of the children finished their samples and held their cups out asking for more.
“This is all about exposing them to new foods,” Holder-Brown said. “They can’t like or enjoy what they haven’t been exposed to.”
Chef Henderson, who also cooks at Cress Restaurant in DeLand, regularly conducts cooking workshops with children and their mothers. Recently, the teen mothers made baby food from produce in the garden. For lunch, Henderson also bakes chicken and fish instead of frying. The goal is to move away from processed foods,
“It costs us a little more to do what we are doing but in the long run it’s a plus because it improves the health of our kids,” Henderson
Chef Sean preps food from the Garden
said, as he prepared shrimp alfredo with whole grain pasta and sauteed squash for lunch last week. “But our long-term goal is to be self-sustaining and not have to buy produce. We have applied for grants to make that happen.”
In a neighborhood where fast food chains and convenience stores outnumber grocery stores and farmers markets, Ferguson’s goal is to change unhealthy habits by starting with children.”
Box of seeds donated by Cam
A lot of folks are sitting around talking about doing the things that need to be done, but we are in the trenches,” she said. “You have to make change one palate at a time. The children are eating foods like baked tilapia for lunch and when they get used to that taste, a Chicken McNugget doesn’t taste that great because they’ve had the real thing.”
Tandiwe sunflower
For information about participating in the community garden, contact Ferguson at 386-322-6102. Midtown EcoVillage will host a juicing and kale salad demonstration at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday at Allen Chapel AME Church’s Health Fair, 580 George W. Engram Blvd., Daytona Beach. Admission is free. For more information, call 386-227-7393.
April 17th, 2013
Spring is here and I think the temperature is not going to drop anymore, which means no more wood for our fireplace will be needed. Yes we do have a fireplace in Daytona Beach, why, because it is cozy and for those ten days that it got into the forties, turning on the heater is just too boring.
2nd St Farmers Market Holly Hill
“Kids in the Kitchen” event, which was amazing. I taught a family cooking class and what was supposed to be one interactive demo turned into 4 because people kept wanting to make the tofu, tabbouleh, and hummus wraps. An entire kid-friendly vegan meal had the parents in shock and lining up and begging me to teach cooking classes. More on that later. Of course my husband and Mamma Barbara were turning out the smoothies left and right as usual. Goodbye milk mustache and say hello to a yummy and nutritious green mustache.
The Zora Neele Hurston Festival was not what we expected and did not have the previous huge turn out as it had in the past, but we still had a great time and considering we were the only really healthy food option there, we exposed people to green smoothies. Mission Accomplished!
European Bikers
We have spoke at a cancer support group at a church and will be doing an event at Halifax Hospital for Lab week next week.
We also recently teamed up with Florida True Blue to present another free Smoothie Mammas workshop at the Chiles Academy, where we happen to live if you did not know, which is also where the community garden is that we always tell you about is located. Nope, it’s not Disney world folks, you gotta take I-4 West to go there, but it’s Utopia, or the closest thing to it. We introduced a lot of young ladies and homeschoolers to juicing and green smoothies. We gave away 3 blenders to get those girls making smoothies at home, and gave them produce to go with it. HOORAY, I love giving away blenders. Then as if that was not exciting enough, we threw in a free vegan lunch sampler plate with all the goodness that had folks saying. “this isn’t real meat?” CLASSIC, I love that response.
Additionally, we did BIKE WEEK!!! It was crazy, bikers on the whole are beer and burger types, you know BBQ and brew. However, we managed to still be a beacon of light in a food desert with or loud Blendtecs cranking out three amazing smoothies, while we jammed to Sly & Family Stone and Bob Marley. Somehow, there were an abundance of European tourists that loved our smoothies, having lived in Glasgow, Scotalnd with not much vegetarian food, I understand the smoothie addiction they were getting. It was fun, it was ten days in a row, it was freezing and raining some days, and I told Omar that if we still wanted to make smoothies after bike week and open up a place, we were truly born to do just that. LOL
Recycled Art Class is an ongoing collaboration with the Reign Homeschooling Academy that takes place at the Chiles Academy that I teach. My children in tow, we love making beautiful creations. We also just finished up another successful run at the Wholistic Health Fair that was at the Sunshine Mall. Again, “this is not chicken??” comment is my favorite thing that people say when they try our food for the first time. Other comments include, “are you from Jamaica, I been there” and “Do you all have a place?”
DO WE HAVE A PLACE?
Dream Shipping Container Store with Windows
Yes and no, we have a place that we live and that same place is where we will open our juice bar and cafe sooner than you think. Have you ever seen those shipping containers, well, we are going to convert one of those into a hip swanky juice bar, tricked out with all the eco-friendly stuff you can think of. We are currently needing to raise $15,000 to get it up and going. We are a non-profit and your donations are tax deductible. Just think if 150 people can donate $100, it is a done deal.
WE ARE AT 2 MARKETS A WEEK!!!
We are still going strong at the Daytona Beach Farmer’s Market mostly every Saturday from 8am-1pm. We will be introducing our new Spring/Summer menu in May. So long heavy foods, and hello more light and raw foods. Yes, of course we will continue with our smoothies and will begin doing more juices as well as raw nut milks so be excited.
WHERE :
THURSDAYS 4pm-7pm
SATURDAYS 8am-1pm
How do I know if you are going to be at the farmer’s market? If in doubt call us, our regular customers, you know who you are and we love all of you and just about know everyone’s name, be patient (we have 4 little kids and we call them each other’s names, LOL)!! Call us the night before, no worries or anytime that week and we will let you know. My personal cell is 347.661.7179 and office phone is 386.227.7393.
Check us out at the following events, which means we will not be at the Saturday market. These are activities we enjoy brining our family to, you know we homeschool, so we gotta branch out of Daytona from time to time. We learn a lot and only get better for you!!
UPCOMING EVENTS :
CENTRAL FLORIDA EARTH DAY April 20, 2013 10am-6pm
Lake Eola (East Side), Orlando Florida 32801 Free Admission
Halifax Oyster Festival April 27, 2013 11am-9pm
Manatee Island Park Downtown Daytona Beach
Admission $6 (Children under age 7 free)
I know what you are saying, but wait. . .your entry fee gives you a $5 voucher to spend at any restaurant, therefore, voila, you paid a buck to get in and bought your smoothie. HOORAY!!! Also, the entry fee proceeds go to restoring oyster beds, yadda yadda. So it’s for a great cause, so see you there folks.
http://www.halifaxoysterfestival.com/
SCHOOL CARNIVAL May 10, 2013 a Friday evening 4:30-7:30 we will be at Turie T. Small giving away free smoothies at the school carnival again, tons of fun, bring the kiddies. We will have ours there too.
HEALTH FAIR May 11, 2013 Allen Chapel AME Church in Daytona Beach on George Engram at 9:30am I will do a juicing and kale salad demo, free admission.
Last but not least we want to say a special shout out to our volunteers, young and seasoned. You all are fantastic, each person so kind and committed to helping us get our community healthier. Do you know how many people tell us what a big difference we have made in their lives? How many people make my famous kale salad at home, or how many folks juice and make green smoothies because of meeting us? Well, lets just say this., raising four children and homeschooling is hard enough. Working from home and running a non-profit is not simple either, but it the great folks we meet and our customers that fuel us to not only keep this going but to dream even bigger.
We love you and see you soon with a green mustache .
Camille Takes Green Smoothie from The Baby
Love The Browns & Midtown EcoVillage Family
November 27th, 2012 As we think about how grateful we are for our family and friends and a roof over our heads and food to eat, and all the many things we give thanks for this season. I am so thankful for my health and the health of my family. I am thankful for Midtown EcoVillage and helping to get people more healthy!
I want you to join my family this weekend for another “Smoothies & Movies” as we wind down an amazing health fair with free smoothies and a screening of the legendary film, “The Wiz”. Come on and ease on down the road as we dance and sing to all the songs that Quincy Jones wrote and Michael Jackson and Diana Ross sang. Personally, it is one of my favorite movies hands down. I may even dress up as a character from the Wiz. So here is the line up folks. . .
Smoothies and Movies 2012
2pm The Health fair begins which will include free health screenings (blood pressure, etc.)
There will be about 30 vendors and children activities for them to make arts and crafts. The Daytona Beach Vegetarian Society will be there passing out free samples. A bounce house and I may even bring out the potato sacks for a race like we did last year.
3pm Free cooking class where we will have 20 folks making my famous kale salad and then another yummy salad. Also the rest of the activities will be ongoing.
4pm Another free cooking class with more raw food!
Just by participating in the free cooking class, you are going to get entered in a raffle to win a blender, we will give away a couple that day. Are you smiling yet. BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE!
FREE SMOOTHIES folks from two to five. If that does not give you energy to join the SOUL TRAIN LINE before the movie starts, then I do not know what to say. LOL
Yes so around 5:30 when it gets dark, we are going to watch Midtown ‘s Christmas tree get lit up as we also reflect for World Aid’s Day. Then immediately after, we are going to get started with the movie.
I guess you can say it will just be another amazing day. I look forward to seeing you there, bring a friend, bring a blanket, and get ready to party!
November 27th, 2012 I wish Vegfest was every day! Honestly, living in Daytona Beach, I often miss the many options for vegan food that my family had living in Brooklyn, NY. There was one of the largest food co-ops in America in Park Slope that we were members of, then there was at least a dozen vegan places. VEGAN, I mean no pots shared with meat cooking or dairy and that is amazing.
Central Florida Veg fest 2012
We need a place like that here, at least one and I know my family can do it!
Our menu for the last weekend was our standard vegan West Indian fare. For those of you who may not be familiar , that includes Jerk Seitan, Brown Stew Chik’n and Tofu, Brown Rice, Curry Chana & Potatoes, and Cucumber Salad with mango and tomatoes. Of course there was our famous Kale Salad that is
Vegan Food crew
just from outer space that we made up. LOL. I said all of that to say this; we sold out of food 4 hours before the event ended. We were there from 10am to 6pm.
I did a demo and talk about preparing raw baby food and also raising children as vegetarians that eat a high raw diet. FUN! As you all know I am wanted to be Food Network Hostess so I get hype when I am doing demos and teaching classes. I made cucumber apple sauce.
CUCUMBER APPLE SAUCE RECIPE
1 organic cucumber
2 organic apples (gala, honeycrisp, etc.)
(or conventional wit h waxy pesticide skins removed)
Northern Florida Veg Fest
In your blender or food processor add the above ingredients. No water needed, but if your blender is not powerful, a little breast milk or water to get it going may do the trick. Puree and VOILA.
Very simple and nutritious, it’s a good thing to not get your babies addicted to really sweet stuff. Avocados are also a great first food. As the day progressed and we ran out of everything, I had
Conner Helps Out Big Time at Veg Fest
a little parsley left and what do you think was the fate of that little green herb? Well, it ended up being the star of some smoothies, as did some shots of spirulina (an algae which is a nutrient powerhouse, yes the stuff that grows on swamps!!) And we did that because our kale smoothies were on fire and we could not make them fast enough.
Omar and Chef Flames
Then Vegfest in Jacksonville was equally awesome, not to mention the following weekend we did another event called Harvest Fest back in Orlando! Everyone was begging us to open up a place in their town, LOL.
There is the consciousness and peacefulness about being around so many people that value the life of animals and eat a plant based diets or is learning to do so. It’s POWERFUL because not only is it the best for the environment and your body, it is also best for the animals who love to frolic and not be taken away and slaughtered 
Omar and I plan on teaming up with some local organizations and having our own Vegfest in Daytona in 2013 so watch out Daytona Beach, a vegfest is coming very soon!!!!
November 22nd, 2012 No it is not a new dance, it is the future. We tend to buy, buy, buy, and waste, waste, waste. However, we fail to realize how many things can be swapped or bartered if you will. I have been doing it for years, especially with children. Shoot , children can be expensive if you let them be, but I know better. Whether I am bartering for a piano lesson for my children or swapping
I Love Seed Swaps
clothes with my homeschooling friends, I gets my swapping in folks. Sometimes things are perfectly good, but you either don’t use them or stop liking them, or never liked them in the first place, LOL, but bought it because it was cheap. Ahhh.
We gotta stop buying and start swapping. Enjoy craiglist, I have bought bunk beds, cloth diapers, Volvos, and many other things on craigslist. It’s amazaing, beware of scammers in other countries with deals too good to be true, LOL.
Free Seeds
So the most recent swap we got to attend was a seed swap. REWIND. Yes, I said it a seed swap, all the farmers and want to be farmers took their seeds that they saved from last season or extra organic seeds they bought and wanted to share to the swap. There were people that had no seeds too, all were welcome in the name of growing your own food. Farmer Brown was elated and had tons of tiny collard green seeds floating around in his pockets for days after. Mental note, bring jars for the seeds next time Camille.
NO MONSANTO here in Daytona, just good old fashion organic farming and seed sharing. Check out the video of the amazing people that put the seed swap on. Thanks Cory and Kim!
Remember : One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Check out SFG garden
October 16th, 2012 I hope you had a fabulous summer and are planting your fall crops as you gear up for the holidays. As for us, we are fantastic and adjusting to Our summer was busy, hot obviously living in Daytona Beach, and filled with lots of family time, soccer camp, vending, and farmer’s market fun! We even headed up to Brooklyn to visit all of our family and friends and enjoyed Hippiefest at the Peadbody.
Omar,Camille, and Menelik at the farmer's market
Produce to the people
Today we just left a seed swap and Farmer Brown is so happy about the organic kale, carrots, swiss chard, herbs, and collards he just planted. He told me he is going to more than double the amount of food he grew last year!! A couple of exciting things are happening this fall that I want to let you know about and perhaps get your assistance with. But first I want to give a shout out to one very special volunteer, if you ever see us, you see her so you know who she is. She is shy so will not put her on blast, but we LOVE YOU!!
Well, time to experiment with fresh home-made vegan millet bread, drink plenty of teas and enjoy the cool evening reading stories to our children. But, rewind, as you all know, I have been out an about at
events with the baby strapped on me and as soon as he wants to nurse, all bets are off!! Therefore, we need some extra hands on deck. Did I
Charley, Jordan, Elayne and John from England enjoyed a MEV smoothie
mention we use cloth diapers, just thought I would brag about it because I am doing my part to not contribute to the millions of diapers that end up in landfills for years and years.
The following are some fall events we are doing and need help with. For those of you that are students and needing community service hours, no worries, we can sign off on that. What can a volunteer expect to do? Cut pineapples and apples, juice carrots and ginger, smile and laugh with us, serve food, help set up and pack up, learn a lot about vegan food, eat and drink and be merry! We ask that
Farmer Brown,Tandiwe and Amali in the Garden
volunteers be at least teen agers because we have enough little ones running around on scooters behind us and all the big equipment and knives can be dangerous to younger folks.
Ongoing help is needed at the Farmer’s Market at City Island on Saturdays because I am at soccer with the children, which means Amali who normally takes the money is not there, LOL. Omar & Mamma Barbara are there from 7am to 1pm. It is okay if you can not be there the entire time, just give us a heads up your availability. STUDENTS, maybe Saturdays are best for you all. We can also provide transport for out of town events. We also normally treat for dinner after the really long events to unwind and discuss the day. We have so much fun!
BIG EVENTS that last all day are:
Friday-Sunday ,October 19-21st Bunnell Fall Festival all day from 9am-10pm (THERE IS A CORN MAIZE, MAZE, get it?)
Saturday, October 27th VegFest Orlando 8am to 6pm
Sunday, October 28th Hallogreen at the Chiles Academy (Cancelled)
Wednesday, October 31st Fall Festival Derbyshire Park
Saturday, November 3rd Northeast FL Vegfest in Jacksonville at Riverside Park
Sunday, November 18th SolFest 9am-6pm Port Orange Amphitheater
Saturdays in December stay tuned for Light up Midtown Events including “Smoothie & Movies” at Daisy Stocking Park again!!
Ongoing assistance is also needed at the garden. Additionally, any folks that are good at writing business plans, grant writing, bookkeeping, and babysitting (SMILE) please feel free to help us out in those areas as well. We are always looking for great folks who want to be healthier and have fun with us. These are our scheduled events thus far, we also do spontaneous volunteering at various places.
Thanks for being awesome and thanks to all our regulars that come and get SMOOTHIES, scrambled tofu, kale salad, and garlic roasted potatoes each week.
Don’t forget we do catering so keep us in mind for your vegan holiday meals and also we teach classes so you can prepare your own healthy food too.
Give us a call anytime 386.227.7393 (office) or 347.661.7179 (Camille cell), 347.423.8668 (Omar cell)
Happy Planting, Peace & Blessings,
Love The Browns
October 16th, 2012 DAYTONA BEACH — After Omar Brown lost his job as a computer network engineer last year, he and his wife, Camille, realized how difficult it was to maintain a healthy diet on food stamps.
“We were used to going to farmers markets and buying fresh produce and that’s where it’s the cheapest, but you can’t use food stamps at farmers markets,” Camille said.
The couple began growing their own food and making cost-effective meals from scratch without preservatives.
Now the Browns are sharing their tips through their nonprofit organization Midtown Ecovillage, which promotes healthy living and sustainability.
Camille grew up in Daytona Beach but spent several years in New York where she worked as a filmmaker. After her husband was laid off, the family moved back to Daytona Beach with their three children. As vegetarians the couple has always promoted a healthy lifestyle but when they moved to Daytona’s midtown neighborhood they noticed a scarcity of locally grown foods and resources.
“We realized that we were living in a food desert,” said Camille, who is seven months pregnant.
The midtown neighborhood, just east of Nova Road, located in the 32114 zip code, has some of the highest rates of poverty and health disparities in the county, according the Volusia County Health Department.
The couple had initially set out to open a vegetarian restaurant in the area but learned they could help educate children and families by getting out into the community. During Daytona Beach Mayor Glenn Ritchey’s backpack giveaway last August the couple gave out free smoothies. Over the past year, their passion for blending fruits and vegetables has evolved into an educational venture. The couple travels with their blender and industrial juicer to area schools, churches, community events and the Daytona Beach farmers market.
But turning smoothies into a full-time career doesn’t come without challenges. Omar, 40, often spends most of his days planning recipes, prepping produce and attending back-to-back events while working another job as an Internet marketer. Camille, 33, continues to work on films, including “Soul Food Junkies,” a documentary about the history of diets in the black community that will air on PBS later this year. The couple often donates their time and resources during events in the community.
“We want to help the community, but we also are trying to make a living,” Omar said.
During the couple’s “Smoothies and Stories” program at the John H. Dickerson Heritage Library in Daytona Beach last week, 12-year-old Vanity Brown (no relation) tried avocados and blueberries for the first time. She also had the opportunity to sample a smoothie blended with collard greens, bananas, carrots, apples, blueberries and pineapples; lettuce wraps with the wheat gluten seitan, and won a large pineapple prize in a raffle.
Most of the foods weren’t part of Vanity Brown’s regular diet.
“I’d eat these at home if my mom bought them,” she said.
Omar and Camille said that they don’t have to trick kids into liking healthy foods, especially when they have discovered ways to make them taste so good.
Camille began the program by getting a group of children to stretch and do exercises in a small room located inside the library. She then taught the children how to read food labels by calling on a volunteer to read the back of a juice drink. The volunteer had trouble pronouncing chemicals such as sodium benzoate.
“I want you to promise me that if you can’t pronounce it, you aren’t going to eat it,” Camille said. “This stuff is poisonous. They don’t put it in to kill you, they do it so that the food can stay on the shelves for a long time.”
Cortrilla Otey and her 2-year-old daughter, Nylah, watched as a group of children eagerly stuffed carrots and apples into the Browns’ juicer and transformed them from solids into liquids. Since meeting the Browns earlier this year, Otey has bought her own blender and juicer to replace snacks and breakfasts with smoothies. As a result, she has lost 20 pounds.
“I realized it was time for a change and now we make smoothies two or three times a day,” Otey said. “Before this we were eating junk.”
Getting children excited about nutrition is a step in the right direction but Camille and Omar want to do more to reach parents. Only two mothers, including Otey, attended the “Smoothies and Stories” program.
“Moms, you can buy fruits like bananas and apples on sale and freeze them before they go bad. Then all you have to do is throw them in the blender,” Camille told the parents. “It’s the new fast food.” The couple is hoping to obtain grants to teach cooking classes to parents, give away blenders and possibly open a facility for their program.
“We want to bring more resources to our community,” Omar said. “We could to go in other areas with more money but there is a huge disparity in the community and need for this.”
Omar’s Midtown Mix
In a blender add:
juice of seven carrots and three apples
1 cup fresh strawberries
1/2 cup fresh pineapples
1/2 cup of ice
1 cup raw greens such as kale, spinach or collards
Blend on high to make 96 ounces of smoothies.
For more recipes and events visit midtownecovillage.org
May 16th, 2012 This is a video that Cinemomma Pictures created with Midtown EcoVillage to promote Ms.Bee, an amazing series of music CDs, DVDs, and activity books for children created by our friends in New Jersey. When I think of my children that have been to Carenegie Hall multiple times, have seen Alvin Ailey perform year after year, Harry Belafonte, Sweet Honey and the Rock, Prince Live, and that is just a few folks, I feel they have a little culture. After all they were raised in Brooklyn and have a mom that is an artists and surrounds them in all mediums of art, which is so important for children’s development. So when I bumped into Eddie Saunders in Newark one day as I was leaving a meeting with fellow filmmaker Byron Hurt (google Soul FOOD JUNKIES, his upcoming film I worked on that will air on PBS later this year) I was ecstatic as I jammed to Ms. Bee’s music in my car the whole way home and many weeks after, months and years even. Talk about hip! Talk about hip hop, talk about jazz and reggae music that was not cheesy like a lot of the music played on Nick Jr. that shall remain nameless, by the way I hate that music.
I adore that they do not insult the various genres of music that children can jam to and simultaneously learn from. It does not take a rocket scientist to make great music, but is does take a qualified audio engineer, musician, and recordist. See for yourself by visiting their website today and previewing their music, I guarantee you that you will fall in love with Ms. Bee the way my family did. My favorite song is all the songs, LOL. But especially the ones about fruits and veggies and the one about growing up and being smart. Hats off to the dynamic team of created individuals that bring Ms. Bee to life.
Also I just want to say that Ms. Bee came down to support our first Smoothies & Movies event last December and performed for our community here in Daytona Beach without asking for a dime. They came to support Midtown EcoVillage because they too love children and believe in what we are doing. God Bless them and all their talents and I can not wait to work with them again. Buy some of their work for a child you love today!!!
May 16th, 2012 For some strange reason because I make smoothies and my husband looks like he just came from Jamaica, people do not realize that I am a product of this community I live in and serve. I went to Turie T. Small for elementary school, then Campbell Middle, and finally Mainland. I was always in this neighborhood, before it was called Midtown and MMB was called 2nd Ave. I went to summer programs at Bethune Cookman and church at Allen Chapel AME church.
So it is safe to say that I feel most comfortable here, although I have travelled to Africa, Scotland, Jamaica, Iceland, and many far away places, Daytona Beach is still home and will always be home. If no one cared about me and teaching me about art and literature, nurtured and loved me, disciplined me, and taught me how great I was, I would not have had the confidence to do all the things I have done to date. Stepping back on campus at Turie T. was so inspiring!! Now joined by my husband and children, and tons of strawberries, kale, carrots, and blenders and juciers, we got busy with what we had to share.
The wisdom of eating healthy. Yes children love CANDY, but candy is poison and there is nothing nutritious about artificial colors and flavorings and high fructose corn syrup.
As usual we had a crowd around us, we volunteered to make smoothies for their end of the year Field Day. Well, after the kids watched us make smoothies and tried some, we won them over, all 360 of them on that Friday afternoon. Yes siree, I even got to do the wobble with the kids in the cafeteria and my children got to do the field day games which they loved and did not want to leave.
The principal of Turie T. is Dr. Johnson, a very easy going, intelligent, and progressive man who adores the students and it shows in the way they respond to him and how he moves around the campus. He knows he is suppose to be there and it shows. After such a great response from the children, he asked us to come back and participate in the school carnival the following Friday and you know we could not say no. So not only did we get to keep giving smoothies to the kids, we got to show their parents how to make them and even give them some raw vegan kale salad. We had volunteers from Embry Riddle helping us prep and we just had a blast.
See for yourself, now that is only the beginning, I will say this. . .I can not stay away from that school, it is my old stomping grounds and there are so many things I can give to the students there. Once a bulldog, always a bulldog. Thanks for the warm welcome back home students and faculty, you made me feel like I still belonged there. I see us making a big garden together, having a smoothie bar in the cafeteria, and so much more. We have a lot of work to do bulldogs, you up for it? Okay thats what I thought, lets get busy. ROOF ROOF.
I LOVE YOU TURIE T. SMALL
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