The National Farm to School Network is broadly defined as a program that connects K-12 schools and local farms with the objectives of serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing agriculture, health and nutrition education opportunities, and supporting local and regional farms. Now, the organization is teaming up with edWeb.net to bring educators, students and parents the school garden community.
School gardens are a growing initiative to help children understand where their food comes from and how their food choices impact their bodies, the environment and their communities at large.
Pioneered by Dorothy Mullen, who started a school garden for Riverside Elementary School in Princeton, NJ after 9/11, school gardens can have an impact on the entire life and educational program of school and the surrounding community. Even better, gardening activities can be incirporated unto nearly every curriculum subject to enhance the appreciation of the natural world, and can provide hands-on learning activities for students.
edWeb.net and the National Farm to School Network are co-hosting an online learning community where educators, gardeners, parents and community volunteers can come together to share information and resources on how to start and maintain a school garden, and integrate it into the curriculum and the life of a school.
The online community also hosts free monthly webinars and live chats with leaders in the field! If you're interested in joining the community or learning more, click here.
Tomorrow, Jessica Cuevas, teacher and coordinator of the Margate Schools Garden and winner of the inaugural New Jersey School Garden of the Year Award, will present "Garden to Plate" at 4 p.m. ET. The connection between the plants we grow and ideas for how to serve bounty to students and children will be explored throughout the webinar and Cuevas will talk about the Garden Gourmet tasting program, which allows hundreds of students to taste a variety of dishes prepared with the very produce they have grown. Register here.
