Somerville Farm to School Project

A few weeks ago in this post  we told you about a new holiday: FOOD LITERACY MONTH! We even gave a few suggestions for how to celebrate.  Well, we followed our own advice and did some of these local food activities. What we said: Read a book about food .   What we did: Not only did we read a book about food but we piloted an entire 5 week food and garden based science curriculum in the first grade classrooms at the Argenziano School! On the first day of the unit, students created a garden alphabet book, just like The Farmer's Alphabet and Eating the Alphabet . Content literacy, in action!   Students were assigned a letter of the alphabet and during a visit to the garden they drew pictures and wrote sentences using that letter as inspiration! The creativity was truly astounding. These "e"ggplant and "r"ed tomato pictures are just two of the amazing images these students created. We can't wait to show you "u"nderground roots, "h"an

Last week students in the 4th grade at the East Somerville Community School tasted baba ganoush with peppers and zucchini slices. Baba ganoush is an eggplant puree made with garlic, tahini and lemon juice. The eggplant and garlic were harvest from the East Somerville Community School's garden, planted and tended by students, teachers and parents during the spring and summer. If you would like to make baba ganoush with roasted garlic for you family, you can try our recipe ! Serve with veggie slices or pita bread. Baba ganoush with peppers and zucchini! We are happy to report that 94% of the students tried the baba ganoush and 68% of them said they would eat it again! We are so proud of them for trying new foods.    Some of the students shared their thoughts about the baba ganoush. Our personal favorite is "taste's AMAZING! I want to eat it all day, it smells good too! The pepper is the best!"         Thank you to the 4th grade teachers

Have you heard of hyper-local food? It's a trendy food movement where restaurants, supermarkets or other food businesses cultivate their own food on site. By definition, doesn't that mean a school garden could be considered hyper-local? We think so! Tomorrow students from the 4th grade classrooms at the East Somerville Community School will be eating hyper-local eggplant and garlic grown just down the hall from their classrooms. Both items came from the East Somerville Community School's garden. You can see the garlic in the photos below. The eggplant had just been transplanted and are too small to see. The garlic was harvested in July and the eggplant was picked yesterday! Garlic growing in the front right beds, June 2014. Garlic plant with scape (the little curly q at the top of the plant), June 2014 The students will be tasting baba ganoush, made from eggplant and garlic, with green bell pepper and zucchini slices. For this recipe we used roasted garlic, w

Waiting in the Tot Lot at the Kennedy School for my daughters at the end of the school day, I often looked at the two raised beds that sat empty at the back behind the play structures.  I imagined them overflowing with plants and shook my head at the missed opportunity for a garden.  But then the classroom doors opened and kids start spilling out and before I knew it, I was off with my girls to the grocery store, Porter Square Books or just home to make dinner.  Who has time to start and tend a school garden with young kids to take care of?  Answer: No one person does.  But nine families working together can.  And that is what happened!!   Before Last spring, Dr. Foley told me about Karyn Novakowski, the new Farm to School Project Director for Somerville Public Schools.  Karyn had great ideas (and a little bit of money) to put those raised beds to use.  Over April vacation, we met at the Tot Lot and weeded and planted seeds.  Three adults and 5 kids started a school garden i

Did you know that September is food literacy month? This month long holiday might have started in California but there are plenty of events right here in Somerville for you to celebrate locally! Are you curious about where your food comes from? Have you ever visited a farm and met a farmer? Do you cook food at home? Are you interested in making more informed decisions about food? Then this holiday is for you. Here's a list of ideas to celebrate FOOD LITERACY MONTH! ~Read a book about food : " It's Not About the Broccoli: Three Habits to Teach Your Kids for a Lifetime of Healthy Eating" Image via Amazon.com    ~Visit a local orchard  to pick your own seasonal fruits! ~Every Saturday from 9am to 1pm, you can visit the Union Square Farmers' Market . ~Every Thursday and Saturday you can visit Shape Up Somerville's Mobile Farmers' Market . Thursday markets are held at the Council on Aging at the TAB Building (167 Holland St) 1-3pm and Nor

Sometimes you need a little Farm to School inspiration from around web! So take a break from your busy day and enjoy these interesting articles, videos or photos! Check out Denver's innovative school lunch program that uses food trucks and smart phone apps. Read about food access organizations in Western Massachusetts. Learn about the benefits of outdoor play and exploration from the "Facilitator of Wonder" at Shelburne Farms. Enjoy this beautiful image and tutorial about how to compost . (Despite what she says, you can compost in ANY city. Somerville, and surrounding cities, even sell compost bins through their city offices.)   Image via Pretty Handy Girl   Check out this infographic from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation explain why healthier school meals matter.   Infographic: Healthier School Meals Matter by RWJF on RWJF.org

  The Somerville Farm to School Project has a new logo! This design was inspired by our tagline:  EMPOWERING MINDFUL EATERS ! As a project of the Food and Nutrition Services Department of the Somerville Public Schools we work closely with kitchen staff, educators and community based organizations to provide good food inspiration and education to students and parents so that Somerville's youth can eat well all day long- both in school and at home. GROW, COOK, EAT, REPEAT Through food literacy programs in our cafeterias, classrooms and communities, students will acquire the tools to make informed decisions about personal and environmental health. From the garden to the table to the compost pile, students will have opportunities to interact with food at various levels. CULTIVATE A SENSE OF PLACE By purchasing locally produced food when possible, we will connect students to their immediate urban surroundings and the larger Massachusetts rural farming environs. These c

Sometimes you need a little Farm to School inspiration from around web! So take a break from your busy day and enjoy these interesting articles, videos or photos! Salmon tamales for school lunch? They are doing it in Alaska, where local can also mean wild. Read about how they are making the best of their short growing season. Enjoy this article in the NYT about Sam Kass, "blazing a trail of cruciferous vegetables into the first lady’s heart." Five high schools within the Bayfield Peninsula area of Wisconsin receive high tunnels as part of a USDA Farm to School Grant, awarded to Bayfield Regional Food Producers Cooperative. Read the full story here . "Fresh, healthy meals are good for students, good for learning, good for the environment, and often good for school finances." Check out Making the Case for Healthier School Meals from the Center for Ecoliteracy for more information. Image via Center for Ecoliteracy

Members of the Somerville Farm to School Implementation Planning Team had an opportunity to spend a day on a farm and work alongside each other outside of the traditional office setting.  The team was comprised of school staff, members of community based organizations such as Groundwork Somerville , Shape Up Somerville , and UMass Extension , and other key members.  Welcome to the farm!   Introductions and goals for the day The trip was organized and led by Tamika Francis of theMOVE . TheMOVE "organizes reflective farm-volunteer workdays for diverse urban groups across Metro Boston, to connect folks hands-on with fresh food, and with the labor and land that sustain us." It sounds lovely, doesn't it? It was lovely; a beautiful late summer day. Flowers in the labyrinth were in full bloom and the tomatoes were at their height of ripeness. Some of them were so ripe that they were nearly falling off of the plants!  Flower labyrinth Farmer Elizabeth Alm