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November 22nd, 2016|Tags: corporate partners, eddie bauer, origins|0 Comments

The post 18 Green Gifts to Get This Holiday Season appeared first on American Forests.

Approximate Turkey Roasting Times

As with many things in life, when cooking a turkey you can do it the easy way, or you can do it the hard way.

Traditional Roasting (Easy)

The easy way? Pop that turkey into a roasting pan, set the oven to 325˚F, and check back in a couple hours. When your food thermometer registers 165˚F in the innermost part of the thigh, the innermost part of the wing and the thickest part of the breast, the turkey is ready. Let it stand for 15-20 minutes so the juices can settle, then it’s ready to carve.

Traditional Stuffed Roasting (Easy)

This method it still easy, but requires a little more work. Shortly before you plan to put the turkey in the oven, prepare your stuffing, and stuff the turkey. When your food thermometer registers 165˚F in the innermost part of the thigh, the innermost part of the wing, the thickest part of the breast and the center of the stuffing, the turkey is ready. Remove the stuffing immediately and cover. Let the turkey stand for 15-20 minutes so the juices can settle, then it’s ready to carve.

Oven Bag Roasting (Easy)

If you want to cook your turkey the easy way, but a little faster, use an oven bag. The oven bag will save cooking and cleanup time. Follow the cooking directions on the box; add 30 minutes to the recommended cooking time if you choose to stuff your turkey. Your turkey is safe to eat when the thermometer registers 165˚F in the innermost part of the thigh, the innermost part of the wing, the thickest part of the breast and the center of the stuffing.

Grilling or Smoking (Moderate)

Cooking the turkey outside leaves more room for other dishes in the oven and also results in a delicious turkey. Grilling is cooking food over direct heat on a rack set over charcoal, wood or special rocks heated by a gas flame. Allow 15 to 18 minutes per pound when cooking a turkey on the grill. When the weather is cold it could take longer. Smoking is cooking food indirectly and slowly over a drip pan in a covered grill or smoker. Cooking time depends on many factors: the type of meat, its size and shape, the distance of food from the heat, the temperature of the coals and the weather. It can take anywhere from 4 to 8 hours to smoke a turkey.

Turkeys that are grilled or smoked should not be stuffed. Smoked or grilled, your turkey is safe to eat when the thermometer registers 165˚F in the innermost part of the thigh, the innermost part of the wing and the thickest part of the breast. For more information on grilling, see: Barbecue and Food Safety . For information on smoking, see: Smoking Meat and Poultry .

Spatchcocking (Advanced)

“Spatchcocking” is a fancy term for cooking a whole turkey or chicken by removing the backbone and splaying the bird out flat. Among the benefits of spatchcocking are a quicker cooking time, easier carving and a moister turkey. The turkey also takes up less room in the oven since it is flat.

To spatchcock your turkey, use sturdy kitchen shears to cut along the both sides of the turkey’s backbone and remove it. Flip the bird over and flatten it by breaking the breast bone. Brush your turkey with olive oil, salt and pepper (if desired). Roast at 450˚F for approximately 70 minutes for a 12 pound turkey. Your turkey is safe to eat when the thermometer registers 165˚F in the innermost part of the thigh, the innermost part of the wing and the thickest part of the breast.

Fried Turkey (Advanced)

Although a whole turkey can cook in less than an hour using this method, there are safety concerns when working with such a large amount of hot oil. A whole turkey can be successfully cooked by the deep fat frying method, provided the turkey is not stuffed and has been completely thawed. The turkey should be 12 pounds or less in size. For more information about deep fat frying a turkey, please see: Deep Fat Frying and Food Safety .

After Cooking

When dinner is over, carve the rest of the turkey from the bone and refrigerate it immediately. For safety, make sure the turkey is refrigerated within 2 hours of coming out of the oven. To make using those leftovers easy, divide the turkey up into meal-sized portions. Use leftovers within 4 days or freeze them. If there is gravy left over, you can freeze that too. Although this future dinner will be safe indefinitely, it will taste best if you eat it within 4 months.

If you have questions about roasting your turkey, call the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854), or chat live with a food safety specialist at AskKaren.gov , available from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, in English or Spanish.

SNAP E&T helps participants develop skills to find better jobs.

The vast majority of jobs in the future will require some level of education beyond high school.  Unfortunately, these jobs are out of reach for the majority of SNAP participants, who often lack the skills they need to compete in today’s job market.  To combat this challenge, USDA offers the SNAP Employment and Training (E&T) program. SNAP E&T, which is available in all states, is a skills and job training program designed to help SNAP participants prepare for and secure jobs that lead to economic self-sufficiency.  SNAP E&T programs provide SNAP participants the opportunities to gain skills, training and experience, which increase their ability to qualify and get hired for jobs with earnings high enough to transition off of SNAP.  A newly released SNAP E&T Best Practices report provides new insights into how states can strengthen SNAP E&T programs and make them more effective at helping SNAP participants gain the skills employers are seeking and support long-term self-sufficiency for SNAP participants. 

As USDA’s Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, I’m encouraged by the findings of this new study, which drew from 160 studies on effective practices in SNAP E&T, workforce development, career pathways and adult education. This study identified several notably effective strategies including: 

• Serving individuals who volunteer to participate, rather than mandating participation as condition of eligibility 
• Using initial skills and barriers assessments that can be used to create a personalized employment plan that addresses participants’ individual strengths and weaknesses  
• Taking a comprehensive approach to supporting participants overcome their specific barriers to employment  
• Developing partnerships across SNAP E&T programs, community colleges, state workforce development programs, basic skills programs and community-based organizations  
• Focusing on  developing skills closely linked to labor market demands in the local area  
• Encouraging programs that lead to industry-recognized credentials, including certificates and academic credentials 

 Finally, stand-alone basic skills instructions and job search assistance programs fall short of helping participants achieve lasting self-sufficiency.  Programs that combine several components are more likely to help participants achieve improvements in employment and earnings.  For example, combining basic skills training with vocational education is more effective.

USDA is committed to strengthening SNAP E&T nationally to ensure SNAP participants develop the skills and get the training they need to obtain and retain employment. FNS has funded a $3.6 million technical assistance effort – the SNAP to Skills Project – that is designed to provide states the technical assistance, tools and resources they need to build more effective and job-driven SNAP E&T programs. These resources combined with the best practices identified in the recent report will help SNAP E&T providers implement programs that will help SNAP participants achieve economic self-sufficiency.

For more information about the study, see the full report on our website: http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/snap-employment-and-training-et-best-practices-study-final-report

Historically a species of the North American plains, coyotes now occupy much of the Southeast. (Photo by Rebecca Richardson, courtesy of Wikimedia.org.)

Coyotes began migrating eastward throughout the latter half of the 20^th Century. Once restricted to the western plains, they now occupy most of the continent and have invaded farms and cities, where they have expanded their diet to include squirrels, household pets and discarded fast food.

Land-use changes in the U.S., the disappearance of wolves, a growing human population, and a remarkable ability to adapt to new environments and conditions encouraged coyotes to expand into new habitats and thrive, while other predators faced with similar pressures dwindled and faced extinction.

John Kilgo, a research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service, said humans transporting coyotes to the Southeast as hunting stock also sped up coyote establishment in that region. Some escaped into the wild, survived and reproduced. The purpose of Kilgo’s research is to better understand the abundance, population dynamics, and ecology of coyotes in the Southeast, as well as the magnitude of coyote predation on deer fawns and the potential for this predation to affect deer population size.

“Bottom line, the coyote is here to stay in the Southeast,” Kilgo said. “Before they migrated into the Southeast, hunting was barely able to keep up with expanding deer populations.” Coyotes rarely attack adult deer, but they prey on fawns.

“Trapping is probably too time consuming and labor intensive for private landowners to adopt, especially when the results are uncertain,” Kilgo said. “The best way to ensure that more fawns survive is to shoot fewer does during hunting season because that means more fawns will be born in the spring.”

Deer hunting is a very popular activity in South Carolina, generating about $200 million in direct retail sales annually. The 2015 Deer Hunter Survey documents a decline in the state’s deer population since the 1990s that coincides with the increase in coyotes. The report also noted Kilgo’s research at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. Findings from the study, along with declines in deer numbers, prompted the state of South Carolina to implement stricter bag limits for deer as a result of the documented reductions in fawn recruitment.

Only time will tell if the stricter rules on deer hunting are effective in reducing their downward population trend. One factor could be whether the now-established coyote population continues to swell in South Carolina and elsewhere in the South. They are highly adaptable to new conditions and appear to be thriving in the South. Coyotes eat almost anything, vegetation as well as meat. They eat everything from roadkill to rabbits to wild fruits.

Given their fecundity and adaptability, do coyotes have a natural nemesis?

“When it comes to canines such as wolves, coyotes or foxes, the big dog wins,” Kilgo said. Their numbers declined in Yellowstone National Park after the wolves were re-introduced there. With no current plans to bring wolves to the Southeast, Kilgo said wildlife managers need to accept coyotes as a permanent presence and researchers need to get a better understanding of their effects on other species and the ecology of the region.

Students at Loneman Day School on Pine Ridge Reservation (S.D.) enjoy buffalo gravy over rice.

An ancient belief held by tribal communities is that the soil is cared for by Mother Earth, the nurturer and the protector of the land. This idea speaks to the importance of farm to school efforts in tribal communities.  And many tribal communities are reconnecting children with their rich history and cultures by establishing farm to school programs.

Tribes are integrating traditional foods into the Child Nutrition Programs, sourcing foods locally, incorporating multicultural nutrition education into classroom curriculum and providing hands-on lessons in school gardens. USDA’s Office of Community Food Systems supports tribal communities through the USDA Farm to School Grant Program, assisting tribes across the nation to connect with local producers and teaching children about where their food comes from.

Based in Rapid City, S.D., the Inter-Tribal Buffalo Council  (ITBC) received a farm to school grant to assist schools on Indian reservations in South Dakota in increasing access to local and regional foods, including bison. Incorporating traditional foods into tribal schools is complex due to limited access to local foods, student and staff acceptance and the unique ways in which tribal school systems are structured. Many reservations are located in rural and remote areas with existing food systems challenged by a lack of infrastructure. Jim Stone, Executive Director of ITBC, said, “The USDA Farm to School Program helps tribes navigate the sometimes murky and complicated pathway from nutrition education to plating healthy, traditional foods for the youth. Education is important, but procurement is crucial to improving the dire health situation of Indian Country.” 

Stone and Dianne Amiotte-Seidel, Project Director/Marketing Coordinator for ITBC, partnered with 13 school systems to incorporate buffalo meat into school lunch programs. ITBC experienced several challenges, including the lack of certified processing plants located near tribal reservations, the price difference between beef and buffalo and students’ acceptance of buffalo meat. ITBC overcame these obstacles by utilizing the USDA Farm to School Toolkit, which guides practitioners through questions to consider and helpful resources to reference when growing a farm to school program.

By connecting a variety of stakeholders, like school board members and tribal council members, and explaining how the tribes would benefit, ITBC was able to incorporate buffalo meat into the school systems. ITBC also discovered that buffalo meat had a bad reputation among students and staff. By providing nutrition and cultural education, conducting taste tests and incorporating school garden activities, ITBC persuaded the students and staff to try the meat, and it is now widely accepted among the school community.  Amiotte-Seidel said, “The grant has helped to decrease health risks through the incorporation of buffalo meat into children’s diets, which has a positive impact on helping to combat diabetes, heart disease and other health issues.”

For more information on serving traditional foods in schools, check out these resources:

• Bringing Tribal Foods and Traditions into Cafeterias, Classrooms, and Gardens
• Procuring Local Meat, Poultry, Game, and Eggs for Child Nutrition Programs

 Inspired by the Inter-Tribal Buffalo Council and their innovative farm to school programs? USDA is currently accepting applications for the Farm to School Grant Program, which assists eligible entities in implementing farm to school programs that improve access to local foods in eligible schools. Consider applying for a grant to bring more local food into school meals, promote healthy eating habits and expand markets for American farmers and producers.

Don’t trash that turkey! Discover 5 new and exciting ways to use leftovers with these delicious recipes from MyPlate.

This week, many Americans will gather together with friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving. When the fun is done, you may be left with more turkey than you anticipated. MyPlate is here to help with these unique ways to use up those leftovers!

MyPlate encourages you to choose lean sources of protein. Selections from the Protein Foods group, including meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, beans and peas, provide nutrients that are vital for the health and maintenance of your body. Turkey is a versatile food and an excellent source of lean protein!

Check out these recipes featuring turkey five different ways to use up leftovers, or to simply try something new!

• The Twist on a Classic: Shepard’s Turkey Pie
  Mashed potatoes top this delicious layered casserole that makes great comfort food.
• The Fun Family Favorite: Turkey Tostadas
  Take a new spin on Taco Night with this entrée that is sure to please the whole family. Get kids involved by letting them spread the refried beans or sprinkle on the cheese!
• The Weeknight Warm-up: Turkey Roast and Rice Soup
  Whip up this hearty soup for dinner! Carrots and celery add robust flavor.
• The Savory Side: Turkey Potato Salad
  Looking for something different?  This easy dish can be served as a side, or on top of mixed greens for a tasty lunch.
• The One-dish Meal: Eve’s Tasty Turkey Tetrazzini
  Food group fantastic! One serving of this tasty dish provides 1/2 cup of vegetables, 1 1/2 ounces of grains, 2 ounces of protein, and 1/4 cup of dairy!

For more healthy recipes, check out www.WhatsCooking.fns.usda.gov, and learn more about the Protein Foods Group at ChooseMyPlate.gov. Check back with us in December for our next featured ingredient, oranges, five different ways!

Click here for larger image.

USDA Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) microbiologist Monifa Peterson demonstrates the addition of reagents for an E. coli non-O157:H7 analysis.

Food is necessary and can be quite enjoyable, but it must also be safe to eat. Unfortunately, about one out of six Americans gets sick from eating contaminated food at some point during the year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Scientists from USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) work for one of the federal agencies that conducts research to help make the foods we eat safer. To help the public more easily access USDA food safety research information, the department’s National Agricultural Library’s Food Safety Research Information Office (FSRIO) has launched a new “Meet the Experts” online video collection available on the NAL website.

FSRIO has collected videos from a variety of sources and organized them in one repository. Current videos highlight ARS food safety research. FSRIO will add other videos to the collection that highlights research and food safety efforts from across USDA agencies.

Many foods must travel through different points between the farm and your plate.  Lettuce, for example, is harvested from the field, cooled, processed and packaged, then transported to your grocery store where it is displayed in a cooler waiting for someone to buy it, transport it home or to a restaurant where it finally gets prepared and eaten.  ARS scientists in the produce-safety videos discuss how their research is improving the safety of that lettuce all through its journey to the grocery display cooler. 

Stay tuned as additional videos are added to the “Meet the Experts” website.

November 21st, 2016|Tags: End-of-Year Campaign 2016, wildlife|0 Comments

The post Home for the Holidays: Protecting & Restoring Homes for Wildlife appeared first on American Forests.

November 18th, 2016|Tags: Forest Digest|0 Comments

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Find out the latest in forest news in this week’s Forest Digest!

Alaska. Credit: Chuck Fazio, our Artist-in-Residence.

• Scientists have discovered the tallest tropical tree in the world — ScienceAlert.com
  Measuring a towering 309 feet tall, the tallest tropical tree in the world has been discovered and documented by researchers, who found the giant in a forest in Borneo.
• Climate, and the Dividing Line Between Forest and Tundra — National Geographic
  Scientists are studying an 8,300-mile treeline stretch in Alaska to understand what allows trees to survive or not in this borderline environment, beyond which the climate is too harsh for trees to grow.
• Destruction of kelp forests by tropical fish shows impact of ocean temperature rises — The Guardian
  Even underwater forests are being threatened by climate change! A recent study reveals that a slight increase in ocean temperatures is drawing herbivorous fish in vast quantities, and it’s destroying kelp forests.
• Avocados Imperil Monarch Butterflies’ Winter Home in Mexico — New York Times
  Due to increasing demand for avocados, Mexican farmers are replacing vital forest habitat, that are home to monarch butterflies in the winter, with more lucrative “forests.”

The post Forest Digest — Week of November 14, 2016 appeared first on American Forests.