Skip to main content

In the news

By Karyn
Every once in a while we like to feature inspirational Farm to School work from around the state. Patricia DiPasquale, Paraprofessional for Somerville Public School, recently visited the Life Skills class at Haverhill High School. Below she shares her observations.


Students in the Life Skills class at Haverhill High School are now learning more about how their food gets from the farm to their table.

Handicapped accessible garden bed

This year Nancy Burke, one of the paraprofessionals working with Haverhill High’s Life Skills students, received funding from a Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) Farm to School grant. Through the grant, the Life Skills students now have a school garden where they can grow their own vegetables, harvest them, and cook delicious recipes in their classroom.
 
Using a plot of land outside that was covered with weeds, Burke helped to create a handicapped accessible garden for her students to use. There is a handicapped ramp, along with a raised garden bed to allow the students in wheelchairs to have access to the garden and be able to help plant the seeds, and harvest them in the spring and the fall.
 
Using every inch of available space
The raised garden bed and some benches were built for the students by a local boy scout group. All the soil for the garden was donated by the High School when they decided to replace the soil on the football field with Astroturf. The shop instructor, Dan Hickey,  is now in the process of building a small shed so the students can store their garden tools in it.
 
Harvesting a carrot

Another raised bed
I was lucky enough to be able to visit their classroom on Tuesday, September 30th. I had the chance to meet many of the students. On the day I visited, they were getting ready to make Texas Caviar using ingredients of fresh herbs and vegetables that came from their garden. I watched one student do an outstanding job chopping fresh peppers to add to the caviar. Many of his other classmates were also busy chopping the remaining ingredients that included tomatoes, jalapeño peppers, and cilantro.
After all the vegetables and herbs were chopped, it was time to open up some cans of black eyed peas and shoe peg corn to add to their caviar. The students did a great job working together to get their Texas Caviar made so that everyone could sample some of it. Everyone who had the opportunity to taste the caviar, myself included, thought that it was delicious! I even suggested to Nancy that the class invest in some mason jars and bottle it to sell! The funds from the sales could go to maintaining, and expanding the garden.
 
These students are very lucky to have a learning garden they can call their own, which will certainly help them learn more about farming and where their food comes from before it gets to the supermarket. Kudos to Nancy Burke for getting this underway for her students. For more information and photos about this program read more here and here.
 
 
Content provided by Patricia DiPasquale, Paraprofessional Somerville Public Schools

 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mindful Eating: Part 1

By
In order to digest your food properly, your body must be in parasympathetic mode, or in a state of non-stress. Kindergartners know this. Well, they might not know the scientific term yet, but during lunch they participate in 6 minutes of silence; a period they call "Mindful Eating". When asked why they like mindful eating, the children replied, because "it’s quiet”, “I can enjoy my food better”, “I get peace and quiet”, and "it’s calmly”. Kindergartener teacher Ms. Scrima, and other Kennedy School teachers have been implementing mindfulness in the cafeteria and their classrooms since last year. They are proud to have a lunch period that looks and sounds quite different from the chaotic cafeteria rush other classes often experience. While the students sit silently at the lunch table checking in with their emotions, their digestive systems are also benefitting. Physiologically, only when our bodies are in rest mode can the brain trigger the release of digestive ...
1 comment
Read more

Put your best FORK forward during National Nutrition Month

By
March is National Nutrition Month!  Each year the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics develops new topics to celebrate National Nutrition Month. This year's theme, Put your best fork forward, encourages us to consider that every bite counts. Even "small shifts in our food choices, can add up over time." Here in Somerville we are celebrating National Nutrition Month in a few ways. ~ We are releasing Veggie of the Month kits in each school's library! The kits contain books, taste testing supplies, and a binder with lesson materials for each month!  ~ We are visiting a few PreK-2nd grade classes to "taste-test" the veggie of the month: leafy greens!  In the classroom, we are reading Sylvia's Spinach and making a simple salad dressing to drizzle over spinach! (Be sure to check back later for the results of our visits!)   ~  Our  Wellness Champions and Farm to School Staff are posting bulletin boards and fliers around the schools! ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How do we get kids to eat their leafy greens? Try these 2 recipes...

By
For this year's National Nutrition Month, we are "Going Further with Food!" It's an assumption that getting our kids to eat their leafy greens is always a colossal battle. It's true--salads aren't easy to convince a kid to try when they're staring at something that resembles rabbit food. But by assuming they won't try it means you've already given up, and that's not what we're about here at the Somerville Farm to School Project! So how do we make salads desirable? For one, we can provide a space for children to grow their own food, to learn the parts of a plant, and to nurture something from seed to harvest. We've learned that, "if they grow it, they'll eat it". It's empowering to be hands-on with food! Even if you don't have outdoor garden space, leafy greens are easy to grow indoors or in small pots as long as you have a sunny window or space. Secondly, you can involve kids in the kitchen by making fun salad ...
Post a Comment
Read more