SCHOOL GARDENS

[Amy Kalafa]

A GARDEN IN EVERY SCHOOL IN FAIRFIELD COUNTY?!!

On January 8, I travelled to Princeton, NJ with farmer Annie Farrell to meet the moms of the Princeton School Gardens Cooperative. Every school in Princeton has an edible garden on site. We spent four very intense hours with Fran McManus, Diane Landis, Dorothy Mullen and Karla Cook. They took us through their process - from addressing the concerns of school administrators, to finding garden sites, to forming partnerships with local businesses and foundations for resources and funding. They have done an incredible job of creating and implementing curriculum for every grade level and in every subject area. Not only have they accomplished all this in a few short years, they've also had Princeton University students research the impact of the gardens with very positive results!

Here's a link to a terrific document they've published:
http://www.prs.k12.nj.us/GardenCoop/GardenCoopGuideNov07.pdf

The Fairfood Edible Schoolyard Initiative is calling all would-be gardeners. Plans are in the works to bring the Princeton moms here for a SCHOOL GARDENS WORKSHOP in March. We'd like to invite teachers, administrators, school staff, parents, students and community members from all over the county to the workshop. We're compiling a database of interested people from every district. If you or someone you know would like to be on the workshop invitation list, please send us this important data: Name, email, phone, school district, school name and position (are you a teacher, administrator, school staff, parent, student, business person, volunteer, foundation, etc) Send info to: [e-mail]

[sue]

This is great Amy. Our middle-school health teacher would like to start a garden and a workshop will be very helpful. Thank you for sharing - I'll send an email to Lauren.

Warmly,
Sue Muro

[Annelise McCay]

I am all for this, I started a garden at Sherman Elementary School in Fairfield, We had our first successfull year this past 2008. But there is still much work to be done to get it implemented into the curriculum and cafeteria. I would love to see a garden in every school in Fairfield.

[Rebecca H]

Love this concept. I have thought htis would be a great thing for the Westport,CT school for a long time...Look forward to hearing more and to doing what I can to get on board with this.

[Amie Guyette Hall]

I'd love to get a group together to talk school gardens! I am busy at the middle school level in the Fairfield Public School system getting 2 off the ground, or rather in the ground. Our first student meeting is this Thursday. Can't wait!!!
One key is teaming up with enthusiastic teachers and of course the principal.
As a curriculum consultant to the Family & Consumer Science Department, a school garden is a natural. We are placing whole foods as a most important focus in the new curriculum in our food labs and cooking classes. How FUN and exciting it will be when the students just have to go out the door for some kale, or peas or a few fresh herbs! And they'll be involved, taking ownership from the beginning.
This is essentially an after school club that supports the FCS curriculum...please contact me for more info! [e-mail]

[Amy Kalafa]

Here's a list of available grants for school garden projects. This is my first attempt at attaching a file to this site, so we'll see if you are able to download it. Please note: this is a temporary file, our Fairfield University Intern, Denise LiGreci, will be reformatting and listing the grants by due date. We'll update the file when it's ready.

Some wisdom from those with successful school gardens: look for support from local businesses in the form of lumber, tools, dirt, seeds and PR. Create a solid network of teachers, students, parent volunteers and administrators before you break ground. Looks like the date for the Edible School Gardens Workshop will be March 2, location TBD, so save the date.

[Melissa Parker]

I am soooo behind this and am also in Westport, CT. My children are at Kings Highway Elementary School and this would be a perfect place to implement this important and exciting project! I look forward to the meeting in March...keep us all posted and thank you!!
Be Well,
Melissa Parker

[Rebecca H]

Amy and friends,

I have a friend in Vermont who works at an organic seed company called High Mowing. SHe has offered to donate seeds.for this project. Please contact me if you are interested.

[Amy Kalafa]

Of course! What a generous offer. Let's talk. Wouldn't it be great to give out some samples at the workshop on 3/2?!

Rebecca H said:

Amy and friends,

I have a friend in Vermont who works at an organic seed company called High Mowing. SHe has offered to donate seeds.for this project. Please contact me if you are interested.

[Annelise McCay]

Would be very interested in High Mowing seeds for Sherman's school garden and other school gardens in the area.
- Annelise

Rebecca H said:

Amy and friends,

I have a friend in Vermont who works at an organic seed company called High Mowing. SHe has offered to donate seeds.for this project. Please contact me if you are interested.

[Analiese Paik]

Amy et al,

I'm meeting with Unquowa School's Head of School, Sharon Lauer, tomorrow to prepare a piece for the Fairfield Green Food Guide (www.fairfieldgreenfoodguide.com). They have a school garden, supply their kitchen with organic food from Sport Hill Farm and run a summer Farm Camp with Patti Popp at Sport Hill Farm. Are there any questions I could ask her that would help in this initiative? I will certainly let her know about this group, the initiative and the workshop.

Best,
Analiese Paik

[Amy Kalafa]

HI Analiese,

The Unquowa School is a terrific model -it's featured in the long version of Two Angry Moms, and on the website angrymoms.org in a video clip. If Sharon is willing, maybe we could arrange a tour of their cafeteria / garden program as a follow up to the planned March 2 school garden workshop.

Analiese Paik said:

Amy et al,

I'm meeting with Unquowa School's Head of School, Sharon Lauer, tomorrow to prepare a piece for the Fairfield Green Food Guide (www.fairfieldgreenfoodguide.com). They have a school garden, supply their kitchen with organic food from Sport Hill Farm and run a summer Farm Camp with Patti Popp at Sport Hill Farm. Are there any questions I could ask her that would help in this initiative? I will certainly let her know about this group, the initiative and the workshop.

Best,
Analiese Paik

[Denise LiGreci]

I posted an updated version of applicable grants in its own forum discussion, so check it out!

Amy Kalafa said:

Here's a list of available grants for school garden projects. This is my first attempt at attaching a file to this site, so we'll see if you are able to download it. Please note: this is a temporary file, our Fairfield University Intern, Denise LiGreci, will be reformatting and listing the grants by due date. We'll update the file when it's ready.

Some wisdom from those with successful school gardens: look for support from local businesses in the form of lumber, tools, dirt, seeds and PR. Create a solid network of teachers, students, parent volunteers and administrators before you break ground. Looks like the date for the Edible School Gardens Workshop will be March 2, location TBD, so save the date.