Month: January 2011

Congressman celebrates Farm to School at CP

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Congressman Rush Holt's visit to Community Park Elementary School was a delicious way to celebrate the passage of the child nutrition reauthorization bill and Mr. Holt's farm to school funding within that legislation.

With that modest beginning, our lawmakers have begun to reconnect our nation's children to the land, the farmers, chefs, the local economy – and to their own palates. Now, it's up to teachers, administrators, parents and community members across the country to apply for those funds and build their own programs that teach academic subjects, critical thinking skills, and a vocabulary of flavor beyond "awesome," "really good" and "nasty."

Garden artist in residence

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Dorothy Mullen, co-founder of the Princeton School Gardens Cooperative, was named “garden artist in residence” at Riverside School.  Her new program “Healthy Children, Healthy Planet” represents a policy shift in school garden participation at Riverside. For the first time since she started the program in 2001, every child in the school pre-K to 5 will participate in six to 12 classes per year (and more for the younger children).  She’ll be training Master Gardeners and community volunteers who want to learn gardening in the school setting.  Teacher workshops, garden lessons and free tours will resume in March.  Call Dorothy to schedule: (609) 683-8309.

NYT: High school gardening – for credit

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Screen Shot 2018-01-04 at 10.30.31 PMFrom the piece: Starting this week at Princeton Public High School, students can take gym class in the garden.

“I think it’s strangely enjoyable,” said Tim Vasseur, a Princeton sophomore, shovel in hand. “It’s definitely not easy to do or anything like that.”

Advocates for greener schools believe this is the first time public school students will receive physical education credit for garden work. The idea was conceived by Matt Wilkinson, a physical education teacher and a former wrestling coach who also has a background in horticulture.

“We’re giving students another option to mainstream physical education,” Mr. Wilkinson said. “How long is somebody going to play basketball or soccer? Gardening they can do their whole lives.”

Last fall, members of the community raised $1,500 and constructed 16 raised garden beds on school property. Now that it’s spring, students will get to work planting seeds, weeding, and turning compost.

“It gives people who aren’t that athletic — and I feel like I’m not — it gives them an opportunity to do something else,” said Kruthi Isola, a sophomore. “You learn how to do more than just play a game.”