Somerville Farm to School Project

According to the USDA Americans waste enough food every day to fill a 90,000 seat football stadium! Check out the full story on the USDA blog .

Cooking with kids can seem daunting. Will they make a  mess? YES! Will it be time commitment? YES! Will it be fun? YES! Don't let the mess stop you! Cooking and baking are one part chemistry experiment and one part art project. When making vegetable soup, teach your children safe knife skills ( the claw and the tunnel) but let them choose the shapes to cut. When making homemade pizza dough explain how yeast works but let them shape the dough and arrange the toppings.    Don't let the time commitment stop you! Pick one day a week to cook with your kids - a Friday night pizza and salad or Saturday morning pancakes. Here are some of my favorite cookbooks to get you cooking with your kids! It might seem silly to start with an alphabet board book but why not challenge your kids (and yourself) to eat each of the fruits and veggies found in Eating the Alphabet . I love every Mollie Katzen cookbook and this one is no exception, Pretend ...

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! This Medford High School student's experience with the Hike and Seek and Babes in the Woods Programs at the Middlesex Fells Reservation reminds us that one can often find much needed peace and clarity of mind just by taking a walk in the woods. We are feeling inspired by the Berlin/Boylston Tahanto District's student-tended garden program! Celebrate National Farmer's' Market Week by taking your family to a local market! Read about sustainable food programs and FoodCorps in Martha Stewart Magazine .

Nature art is trending on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. These Face the  Foliage images are all over the web! Face the Foliage Art Series, Justina Blakeney We can't get enough of Ker­stin Hiester­mann's nature inspired art and this post  which inspired our post title. Collaborating with Nature, Playful learning     Drop, Ker­stin Hiester­mann So, when we were invited to participate in the Healey School's Adventure camp, we thought a nature art activity would be perfect! The Healthy Eating Active Time (HEAT) Club at Adventure Summer Camp at the Healey School focuses on eating healthy, nutrition and exercise. An art project might not seem like a natural fit for this club, but there is nothing healthier for the mind and body than getting outside and exploring nature, looking closely at the things growing beneath our feet, breathing fresh air and stretching your legs while hunting for interesting leaves, rocks and stick...

For two weeks in July, Chef Guy Koppe from Project Bread , visited two Somerville Schools as part of the Healthy Summer Harvest Program. This collaborative program among Project Bread , Mass Farm to School and the Somerville Farm to School Project focused on eating different plant parts. Did you know that broccoli is a flower and asparagus is a stem?   Now you do and so do 94 students from the Somerville Public Schools! Guy Koppe demonstrating knife skills Each lesson built on topics from the previous day. Some had the students identifying plant parts or discussing Lois Elhert’s Growing Vegetable Soup. One day they even planted cucumber seeds to take home with them. They also learned about MyPlate and make sure they are eating foods from each of the food groups.   Identifying parts of the plant and what plants need to grow   Each cup holds a single cucumber seed for the students to take home.   Each day’s lesson and recipe highlighted a diff...

At the beginning of June, two adventurous teachers, Charlene O’Neill and Fran Carino, welcomed Groundwork Somerville staff, Sadie Richards and Andrea Tentner, into their 4 th grade science classrooms at Winter Hill Community School .    The classes test drove a 3 day pilot Farm to School Curriculum called “Growing Skills in the Garden”.   The lessons are meant to turn the garden into an exciting classroom for learning 4 th grade core curriculum skills; students used multiplication, fractions, and other math skills to solve real world math problems, read books and articles to find information, used and made maps, and more.   At the same time, students got out into the garden, learned about what it takes to grow food, where their food comes from, and why you might want to grow your own food. This curriculum was developed by Andrea Tentner while working at Groundwork Somerville , and was funded by the SPS Farm to School Project USDA Planning Grant. Over the cours...