Edible School Gardens
Edible school gardens can be a great link into farm to school programs. Edible gardens shouldn’t necessarily be created to provide school meals with fresh veggies—this can be an overwhelming task for teachers, parents and students.
However, edible gardens are great ways to teach children about how food grows, and make excellent learning labs. Garden-based nutrition education is a strong tool for getting kids to try and prefer fresh fruits and vegetables—so by the time they reach the school cafeteria, they will be requesting and choosing these foods.
Sign up for the Georgia Organics monthly Farm to School e-Bite for an updated list of grants, upcoming events and articles here.
Tips for creating an edible school garden
Wooly School Gardens Go out in the sunshine and play in the dirt. Sounds like recess, but it's a Woolly School Garden, an outdoor classroom and a chance for students K-12 to grow while learning about gardening and nutrition
Check out this video about rasied beds from David Berle an associate proffesor of horticulture at University of Georgia. It is a quick and dirty version of the entire proccess.
Here are some written instructions for you to follow when creating your own raised beds.
Funding a school garden
Sign up for the F2S e-bite for the latest farm to school and grant information
Environmental Education in Georgia also provides resources for grant information.
Check out grants.gov for additional possible grants that the government funds
A Guide to Purchasing and Serving Local Foods in Schools. A guide for schools interested in participating in farm to school programs. This would be most helpful for schools in the Washington, DC area as it includes several local farms and vendors but anyone can benefit from it.
Want an herb garden? Apply for the Donald Samull Grant from the Herb Society of America.
Green Education Foundation and Gardener’s Supply Company have teamed up on an exciting funding opportunity for established youth garden projects nationwide! The organizations are calling on schools and youth groups to submit chronicles of their garden projects. The award is designed to support the continued sustainability of an exceptional youth garden program that has demonstrated success, and has impacted the lives of kids and their community.
Fuel Up to Play 60 is a nationwide competitive funding program to help K-12 schools jumpstart and sustain school wellness activities and initiatives. The program provides seed money to help Fuel up to Play 60 educators make their schools a healthier place!
Sustaining a school garden
How to Integrate Farm to School into a Wellness Policy. Farm to School activities dovetail perfectly into the federally mandated wellness policies that each district needs to write and implement. This sample policy provides helpful suggestions and wording.
Here is a sample budget for schools and cafeterias to use as a guide to when trying to source fresh, local proudce.
What to plant in the school garden
Check out Georgia Organics planting and harvesting guides. Many Georgia farmers and growers were consulted when creating these guides.
Connecting the edible school garden to classroom activities
Georgia Organics has created a F2S sample curriculum for elementary students. There is also curriculum geared for highschool students.
Farm to School and Educational Garden Programs Guide. This resource guide created by Georgia Organics and PLACE, provides tips on how to get started, suggested classroom readings, garden themes, sample kid-friendly recipes and tips on growing and maintaining a school garden.
The edible schoolyard program began in Berkley, California. Now there are countless edible schoolyards including one in Atlanta! Check out the vaulable resources from the orginal edible schoolyard program.
Join us for our next farm to school for Educators workshop! To find out when the next one is offered, contact Erin@georgiaorganics.org
Eating out of the school garden
This Chef to School Toolkit was created by Georgia Organics and The Mendez Foundation.This guide provides cooking activities that were designed for kids of all ages and skill levels. Additionally there are grade appropriate lessons which connect gardening to curriculum. Finally there is a section devoted to research supporting the benefits of edible gardens in schools.
This resource was created by the National Farm to School Network to serve as a guide for food safety for those involved in edible school gardens.
University of Connecticut came up with this quick guide for food saftey issues in school gardens.
Eating for Education is a grassroots effort to create national awareness about school garden and school lunch programs. Check out what they are doing!
Research on edible school gardens
An edible school garden located in Durham, NC is making big news. Check out what they are
doing here.
National chef, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution has created quite a stir in the school food world.
California edible schoolyard created by chef Alice Waters.