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Guest article by Erin Tiesman, Muscatine Journal

Grower wants to donate some valuable heirlooms

MUSCATINE, Iowa — Karen Dohrn knows a lot about gardening. She should; she made one out of a parking lot in Rock Island.

Now, Dohrn is bringing her experience in gardening and vegetables to Muscatine for a special workshop and seminar on Wednesday, April 28, at the Riverview Center. The workshop, Dohrn said, will be a healthy, clean and affordable alternative to supermarket produce and organic food prices.

Dohrn said Hy-Vee donated plants for a bed she will give to a resident, hopefully a single mom, she said.

“The workshop will be for people that really don’t like all that back-breaking work involved with traditional row-crop gardening,” Dohrn said. “You can grow $500 worth of gardening right outside your door.”

Dohrn’s crusade for affordable, safe vegetables stems from the loss of several loved ones to cancer, which she said can be attributed to processed food.

“If it comes out of a box or out of the freezer, it’s not good for us,” Dohrn said.

Dohrn’s workshop will feature the planting and production of the heirloom vegetable, a natural non-herbicide or non-pesticide vegetable that can cost a lot less than organic foods. Dohrn’s organization, the Heirloom Foundation, is aimed at growing natural vegetables.

Dohrn has been doing raised bed gardening for nearly 15 years, which involves gardening in a raised box or barrel.

Last year, Dohrn turned and old corner parking lot into a fresh, raised bed garden in Rock Island, featuring tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and more, which has spurred interest in properties around the Quad-Cities, she said. Thanks to her previous work as an engineering inspector, working with a parking lot was a familiar territory, she said.

“I want people to realistically afford them,” Dohrn said of vegetables and produce. “We believe in reduce, reuse and recycle.”

The vegetables Dohrn’s workshop can provide include the South African zebra-striped tomato, a sweet tomato that can be used in a variety of ways, Dohrn said. Also, the Cherokee purple tomato, which is actually a dark purple Native American tomato that Dohrn said tastes great with salsa.

Dohrn, who hails from Rock Island, said if the workshop is successful, she’d like the Heirloom Foundation to be part of Muscatine for good. She hopes to teach canning, gardening and provide information for parents on the value of nutrition in children’s diets, especially for school.

“I prefer to get my nutrient value from my food,” Dohrn said, adding that heirloom vegetables have a higher nutrient content than supermarket produce. “We want to bring people and get them back to healthier styles of eating, more traditional style of eating.”

Erin Tiesman is a graduate of The University of Iowa's Journalism and Mass Communications Master of Arts Professional program. She is currently a reporter for the Muscatine Journal and an adjunct instructor at Scott Community College teaching journalism.

Guest article by Erin Tiesman, Muscatine Journal

New exhibit teaches Iowa kids about nutrition

MUSCATINE, Iowa — It's not every day kids are encouraged to play with food.

But at Musser Public Library that's exactly what Betty Collins wants them to do through the exhibit, "Every Body Eats," which will be at the library through May 1.

Valued at more than $1 million, the bilingual traveling exhibit comes from the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, where it opened in 2007.

Collins and library employee Julie Lear have been dressing up as "evil lunch ladies," from the popular children's potty humor book series, "Captain Underpants" by author Dav Pilkey.

The two evil, red apron-and hair net-wearing lunch ladies from the book, Zorks and Klax, are plotting an evil scheme to turn all the children in the world into "evil zombie nerds."

"When you say nutrition (to kids), right away you hit a wall," Lear said. "But this makes it fun."

With interactive computer games, videos and trivia, kids and adults learn about portion sizes, hunger signals and what their bodies need to stay healthy.

To avoid becoming "evil zombie nerds," the kids are encouraged to take one new piece of knowledge away from the exhibit.

"One boy said, 'We like to eat not only just because we're hungry, but because we're sad and lonely,"' Collins said. "I was so happy when someone pointed that out."

Through a game called "Hunger Signals," kids control when the game characters eat based on their mood.

Another game, "Advertising Detectives," debunks misunderstanding in some favorite foods, like Lunchables or pizza.

The 12 stations are set up sporadically throughout the first and second floors of the library. Children and adults can interact with videos and games. For toddlers, a "Dinner Theater" is tucked behind the stairs in the children's section, equipped with plastic fruits and vegetables and hand puppets.

Recently, 4-year-old Caden Brown was identifying all the fruits and vegetables he knew. When other children came to the table, they all started talking about food.

"It's so great to see them interacting," Collins said, adding that many kids will pick up the puppets and offer them the plastic food.

Library director Pam Collins said the new exhibit has been especially appealing for Muscatine fifth graders, who are emphasizing nutrition in their curriculum.

"We didn't realize they'd be focusing on it so much," Pam Collins said.

Betty Collins and Lear said "lunch ladies mean something to kids," and for Lear, the experience has been fun.

"This wouldn't mean anything without the kids," she said.

Erin Tiesman is a graduate of The University of Iowa's Journalism and Mass Communications Master of Arts Professional program. She is currently a reporter for the Muscatine Journal and an adjunct instructor at Scott Community College teaching journalism.

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