Common Ground School Resource Center

Hi Gardeners...
Wanted to let you know about an organization/school in New Haven, Common Ground.
In partnership with the Newman's Own Foundation and the Green Village Initiative, Common Ground is in it's first pilot year to offer support and training for school garden coordinators and teachers through the new Common Ground School Resource Center .
It is geared toward  Bridgeport and New Haven inner city schools, but we could do a similar thing in Darien if you think there is an interest. Please let me know...thanks!

Webinar Jan 23rd/ USDA's plans to connect schools to local food producers

Jan. 23, 2013, 2-3 p.m. Farm to School Program (USDA)

Learn about USDA’s efforts to connect schools with local or regional producers in order to serve local or regionally produced foods in school cafeterias. In addition to procurement activities, food, agriculture, and nutrition-based educational efforts that span a host of hands-on experiential activities, the session will also discuss school gardens, field trips to local farms, and cooking classes, and standards-based curriculum centered on food, agriculture, and nutrition. The webinar will discuss how farm to school fits in with the new meal pattern for school lunches, as well as the farm to school grant program.

Click here to connect with the webinar.

Ridgefield/GVI Meeting Recap

Hi Everyone,
Avery Costigan is the garden leader in Ridgefield and held a meeting to review garden practices and plan for any changes this spring. She created an amazing recap that I would like to share with you...

Thank you all for your time on Thursday.  We appreciated the participation of Monique Bosch, GVI and Bridgeport school garden leader, she added so much value!  We hope the discussion was useful for your development plans.  Also, be sure to note the Chartwells GRANT information below and the attached. 

Here are the highlights.  We started off by voicing our garden challenges:

• Success of Garden Activity Guide is based on voluntary teacher participation.  Not every teacher meets the effort with the same interest, therefore a lack of parody exists amongst grades, within and between schools. 
• Time and volunteers to lead the activities are at a minimum.
• Every student seems to need a role and often the lesson plans do not provide that.  

NEW IDEAS & THOUGHTS - We must keep in mind the Common Core State Standards, as well as, CT State Core Science Standards be bridged with our garden activities.  This provides layered curriculum-based learning that can deeply enrich the overall learning experience and make the garden the teaching tool it is meant to be.

General:

• Bridgeport School District:
• Garden Coordinator - In Bridgeport, there is a Garden Coordinator at every school.  They receive a $500 stipend and are responsible for an After/Before School Enrichment for 1 hour per week plus maintenance and scheduling of garden related activities.  The Board of Education budget supports the stipend at 34 schools. 
• Food Corps - In Bridgeport, the school system utilizes Food Corps; https://foodcorps.org.  They are a nationwide team of leaders that connect kids to real food and helps them grow up healthy.  They place motivated leaders in limited-resource communities for a year of public service, working under the direction of local partner organizations, they:  1) teach kids about what healthy food is and where it comes from, 2) build and tend school gardens, and 3) bring high-quality local food into public school systems.  
• We are reluctant to say this would be available at most locations in Fairfield County based on demographics but they are an expanding organization.  There could be other organizations that offer a similar services via USDA; such as http://healthymeals.nal.usda.gov/chefs-move-schools-2
• Crop Plans - Have students complete.  This is a great way to bring in math, knowledge of particular crops and management. 
• Next step:  Monique to distribute lesson plan.
• Katonah-Lewisboro School District - From last June's Ridgefield GVI meeting with Denise Martabano, here is the focus of their K-5 garden:
• April-June:  salad for 500 students utilizing seedlings
• After that:
• K:  5 Senses Garden
• 1:  Caterpillar Topiary
• 3:  Butterfly Garden
• 4:  Colonial Herbs
• 5:  Weather Station

Kindergarten:

• Potatoes in a barrel should be renamed "Potatoes in the Ground" since we most had some trouble growing and maintaining in the barrel, and have had great success with the ground. 
• Others have simply picked up curriculum activities - seeds in the classroom or growing Lima Beans - instead of the Mother's Day Marigolds. 
• SES is the only school to have completed Harvest the ABCs.
• NEW IDEA:  St. Patrick's Day Peas.  VPES has implemented this lesson based on tracking growth in time for the end of school year harvest. 
• Next step:  VPES to provide lesson plan.

1st Grade:

• FES successfully completes Stone Soup in the Fall having the students plant their ingredients for it the Spring before.
• If anyone would like a Worm Composting lesson plan review or kit, please contact Delphine Robbe, delphinerobbe@mac.com, who has been working with worms for a long time!
• We piggy backed the Worm Composting discussion with a project from Bridgeport - Creating Compost Tea; build the compost tea bag, let it soak, further demonstrates that "this" becomes "that".  See below in 4th Grade. 
• Next step:  Monique to provide a lesson plan.

2nd Grade:

• SES adds onto the Composting in the Classroom with further developing recycling concepts with larger ideas and facts.
• VPES has their 2nd graders plant and harvest ingredients for a Pizza Garden. 

3rd Grade:

• RES using the Forcing Bulbs project as a pre-holiday project so that the forced bulbs can be part of the holiday celebration. 
• We discussed the potential for new projects.  Our efforts need to support the curriculum:
• NEW IDEA:  Viability of Seeds - a sink/float test
• CT State Science Standards:  Supports Properties of Matter - how does structure of matter affect the properties and uses of materials?  3.1 Materials have properties that can be identified and described through the use of simple tests

4th Grade:

• We all agreed that Water Conservation project was overkill since River Study is a huge focus in 4th grade.
• Update the Garden Scavenger Hunt worksheet
• Next step:  VPES to provide worksheet
• NEW IDEA:  Inoculation of Seeds - http://groworganic.com/media/pdfs/legume-l.pdf
• CT State Science Standards:  Matter and Energy in Ecosystems - how do matter and energy flow through ecosystems?  4.2 All organisms depend on living and non-living features of the environment
• NEW IDEA:  Creating Compost Tea
• CT State Science Standards:  Matter and Energy in Ecosystems - how do matter and energy flow through ecosystems?  4.2 All organisms depend on living and non-living features of the environment
• NEW IDEA::  Cooking with a Sun Oven - http://www.sunoven.com and is appropriate for use beyond Grade 4
• CT State Science Standards:  Energy Transfer and Transformation - what is the role of energy in our world? 4.4 Electrical and magnetic energy can be transferred and transformed

5th Grade:

• We all agreed Tracking the Sun is too timely to execute and should be removed.
• FES has completed a few other projects in addition to Salad Days. NEW IDEAS:
• Drying herbs and making sachets
• Greenhouse affect over Winter months
• Pizza Days
• Next step:  FES to provide lesson plans.

NEXT STEPS - 

Interns: - BES has been very successful with the Interns.  Tracy has the Interns be her assistants, in lieu of parent volunteers, and utilizes 1 or 2 days a week in their 5 week internship, starting the week of 5/13/13, to execute the Garden Activity Guide. 

WHO WOULD LIKE RHS INTERNS THIS SPRING?  Please provide how many you seek and requested day(s).  Respond to Amanda and Avery by Friday, January 25th. 

Seedlings: - Avery will work with Dina to create a seedling request form.

Grants: - We were hearing requests for fencing, sheds, greenhouses!  We love your plans! Grants will be forwarded onward as they come to us and feel free to share what comes across your computer too!  

In addition, please find the CHARTWELLS Grant worksheet.  Please fill out and return by Friday, February 1st to the name and address listed. 

The Winter Garden

Though gardening doesn't spring to mind during these cold dark days of winter, a table top garden is something that keeps me going until I can get back out there.
In order to keep up interest in gardening in the classroom, consider :

1/Forcing bulbs - many of our local nurseries have narcissus (paperwhites) and amaryllis bulbs at  half price.
link: how to force bulbs
2/Forcing blooms from budding branches ie forsythia
link: how to force blooms
3/Growing sprouts for a delicious, nutritious snack. See link for an inexpensive device and seed.
link: sprout germinator
link: Why sprouts are so nutritious
And it's always fun to start pouring over seed catalogues!

GVI Garden Builds

 

green village initiative

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Volunteer

Donate

Upcoming Events

Hallen Elementary    68 Omega Street, Bridgeport, CT

10am-2pm

Join students, teachers, and Builder Beyond Borders at GVI’s edible school garden build. Stay for an hour or come for the whole day!!! Please bring shovels, rakes and WHEELBARROWS! — but mostly, just bring yourselves.  Any questions, contact Monique at moniqueb@optonline.net.

Live Green Connecticut    Taylor Farm Park, Norwalk, CT

Saturday  10am-4pm / Sunday  11am-4pm

Connecticut’s premier, green-living festival. Featuring local green initiatives and porjects going on in the communities across the state. Over 200 exhibitors. Music. Fun activities for the kids. Free admission.

Discovery Magnet   1450 Park Avenue, Bridgeport, CT

10am-2pm

Join students, teachers, and Builder Beyond Borders at GVI’s edible school garden build. Stay for an hour or come for the whole day!!! Please bring shovels, rakes and WHEELBARROWS! — but mostly, just bring yourselves.  Any questions, contact Monique at moniqueb@optonline.net.

September 2012

September 15th

September

15th and 16th

September 29th

Batalla Elementary    600 Howard Avenue, Bridgeport, CT

10am-2pm

Join students, teachers, and Builder Beyond Borders at GVI’s edible school garden build. Stay for an hour or come for the whole day!!! Please bring shovels, rakes and WHEELBARROWS! — but mostly, just bring yourselves.  Any questions, contact Monique at moniqueb@optonline.net.

Reservoir Urban Farm     1469 Reservoir Avenue, Bridgeport, CT

9am-4pm

Join us as we BREAK GROUND at the much anticipated Urban Farm on Reservoir Avenue. We will start building what will soon be over 100 32 ft. garden beds. The food grown there will help feed the local community and provide nutritious food to the Bridgeport School cafeterias. The farm will also act as a HUB for the edible gardens we have built at schools around Bridgeport. We'll supply the tools and hope you can bring your enthusiasm and helping hands to make this a wonderful beginning to an ambitious pioneering project. 

Any questions, contact Monique at  moniqueb@optonline.net.

Fixing The Future      Westport Public Library,  Westport, CT

7 pm

Fixing The Future, hosted by David Brancaccio, of public radio’s Marketplace and NOW on PBS, visits people and organizations across America that are attempting a revolution: the reinvention of the American economy. For more information, go to fixingthefuture.org

WinterFest 2013      Christ & Holy Trinity Church, Westport, CT

Details to follow. Invite will go out in early December. If you would like to join our host committee or become a sponsor, please contact Deirdre at deirdredp@optonline.net

October

October 13th

October 20th

November

November 12th

January 2013

January 26th

 

GVI Project and Volunteer Opportunity this weekend

This Saturday we will BREAK GROUND at the much anticipated Urban Farm on Reservoir Avenue in Bridgeport.
Hope you can join us as we start building what will soon be over 100 32 ft. garden beds.
The food we grow will help feed the local community and provide nutritious food to the Bridgeport School cafeterias.
The farm will also act as a HUB for the edible gardens we have built at schools around Bridgeport (15 to date).
We'll supply the tools and hope you can bring your enthusiasm and helping hands to make this a wonderful beginning
to an ambitious pioneering project.
We will gather at the site this Saturday, October 20th at 9 am.
1469 Reservoir Avenue, at the corner of Yaremich Drive.
Hope to see you there!!!
questions/more info., 
contact Monique Bosch,
moniqueb@optonline.net
check out our website:  www.gogvi.org

Workshop

Glean Team Update This season, Millstone's volunteer Glean Team harvested approximately 1,000lbs of excess crops, including kale, tomatoes, and summer/winter squash, from our own fields and at The Hickories in neighboring Ridgefield. After each gleaning, our bounty is picked up by food runners from local nonprofit,Community Plates, and distributed to those in need. Millstone Farm is a 75-acre working farm in Wilton, CT. We are helping rebuild our food community through small scale agriculture, educational activities, and events. We raise pastured heirloom breed sheep, pigs, and poultry, and grow vegetables for our CSA, local chefs, and family owned markets. Upcoming Workshops  Pickling & Preserves Sunday, October 21: 1pm - 4pm Cost: $30; RSVP to katie@millstonefarm.org or call (203) 834-2605 Millstone's resident farmer, Annie Farrell, and our good friend and CSA member, Tracy Castelli, will demonstrate several techniques for preserving the harvest. Refrigerator pickles, spicy pickled beans, and sweet berry compote are just some of the recipes we'll prepare and sample. This will be a hands-on learning experience right here in our kitchen, so be ready to get a little pickle juice on your hands!   Nutrient Dense Gardening (2 day workshop) Saturday, October 27: 9:30am - 4:30pm andSaturday, March 16, 2013: 9:30am - 4:30pm Cost: $150; Register at bionutrient.org Presented by Dan Kittredge, Executive Director of the Bionutrient Food Association and the Real Food Campaign, the workshop will help participants grasp and apply Dan's innovative and reliable principles and practices for producing healthy crops, higher yields, and more nutritious fruits and vegetables. The workshop is suitable for farmers, growers, and gardeners of all types.   For a detailed description of the workshop, and to register, visit www.bionutrient.org. Substantial financial assistance is available to farmers and others who wish to attend. Contact the course administrator, Gary Neves, for more information. Thanksgiving Turkeys... Going Fast! Due to an enthusiatic response to our August newsletter, Millstone Farm's pasture-raised Thanksgiving turkeys are almost sold out! Email your order asap to katie@millstonefarm.org and make sure a Millstone bird is the centerpiece of your holiday spread.  forward this email to a friend  Copyright © 2012 Millstone Farm, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you requested information on Millstone Farm's workshops and/or pasture-raised meats. Our mailing address is: Millstone Farm 180 Millstone Road Wilton, CT 06897 Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

Please join me!