NYC Green Schools

The last couple of weeks NYC Green Schools has been talking with Michele Israel, a parent at PS 107 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, about how to grow an edible school garden.  Michele has guided us through the planning stage and has generously shared with us possible sources of funding.  Once you have the funding secured for your garden, it’s finally time to plant and reap the benefits of all your hard work.

The inspiration to grow an edible school garden originates with the children, of course, and the desire to see them learn firsthand about where food comes from and to literally enjoy the fruits – and veggies – of their labor.  As soon as you have funding and your garden is a go, you will want to find ways to bring the children and teachers of your school into the process.  What the garden committee at PS 107 did to initially capture the children’s imagination was hold a garden-naming contest.  140 students submitted names.  Out of those entries the name “The Sunshine Garden,” submitted by a first grader, was selected.  Having a naming contest gave the students a sense of ownership; it signaled to them that the garden was theirs to learn from and enjoy.

Lettuce from Earth School's Garden

PS 107’s science teacher was instrumental in ensuring that the children were involved in the planting of the garden and that the garden became integrated into the curriculum.  As Michele says, “We believe that the parents should provide foundational support and continued resources…but to really make the garden part of the school, it should be in the teachers’ hands.”  This past year Michele decided to approach other teachers at her school about gardening and was able to recruit 12 more in different capacities.  As Michele explains, “When I say different capacities, I mean that some just did hydroponic gardening in the classroom using AeroGrow Gardens, others started seeds in the classroom using grow lights…  And, several used the garden to address a mandated inquiry project they had to do.”  The point is gardening doesn’t just have to take place outside, it can happen in the classroom as well.

Be prepared that with students planting, the garden is probably going to have a haphazard quality.  Here’s Michele’s advice:  “Let the garden be messy…meaning that with students, especially young ones, things might get a bit disorganized…too many seeds in one place, things kind of strewn here and there…for me, that’s OK…things can be thinned, replanted, replaced…nature truly does take its course.”  As students get their hands dirty in the garden, they learn about plants, the natural environment (from weather to water to soil), and healthy eating.  This year students at PS 107 will use their garden to examine environmental conditions that have an impact on gardening.  As Steve Tomsik, PS 107’s science teacher explains, “I see the garden not only as an extension of my classroom, where lab work and scientific inquiry can take place, but also as a novel and engaging place where students can explore.” Here’s a sampling of some of the fruits and vegetables PS 107 grew in 2009:  peas, spinach, corn, raspberries, gooseberries, lettuce, kale, leeks, arugula, beans, sweet peppers, eggplant, sunflowers, chives, three types of basil, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, tomatoes, onions, carrots, and heirloom potatoes.  And remember theirs is a shady garden!

You may be wondering what to do with all this fresh, healthy food once you’ve grown it.  Many NYC schools with edible gardens participate in the Garden to School Café pilot program from the NYC Department of Education’s SchoolFood and the N.Y. State Dept. of Agriculture and Markets.  Participating schools have a “Harvest Day,” when the fresh food grown in their gardens is used to prepare dishes that the students can sample.  The Earth School in the East Village recently had their Harvest Day.  Their menu included roasted potatoes with rosemary, sautéed spinach with garlic, and pasta with fresh basil pesto.  These dishes were served that day as part of the school lunch in the cafeteria as well.  PS 107’s Harvest Day included roasted basil chicken, herbed rice, and kale slaw, which were prepared with the fresh vegetables grown in their garden.

Cooking Demo at Harvest Day

The Garden to School Café program shows students, parents and teachers that meals prepared with fresh ingredients are possible for school lunch.  At The Earth School, students loved the food that was prepared.  “The potatoes are amazing!”  “The spinach is so good!”  At PS 107, students were heard saying at their Harvest Day “This is the best food I ever ate!”  “Do you know why the pesto was so good?  Because we grew it!”  Kids whose favorite vegetable was french fries are now requesting kale and pesto for dinner (according to some parents).

As we stated at the beginning of this series, starting an edible garden at your school is going to take planning, diplomatic skills, research, creativity, resourcefulness, and stamina.  As you consider whether to grow an edible garden at your school, we’d like to leave you with these words from Cynthia Holton, principal of PS 107:

“I view the garden as an important part of the school’s progressive curriculum, in which experiential and collaborative learning are key components. What better way to immerse students in science, as well as in environmental and nutrition education? Our fruit and vegetable garden serves as an outdoor learning lab where students delve into the life and physical sciences and agricultural literacy. They work together to plant and make gardening decisions. They become environmental stewards who grow their appreciation of the natural world. All of this makes for an excellent education.”

Last week we featured Michele Israel, a parent at PS 107 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, who was instrumental in starting an edible garden at her school:  we spoke with Michele about the planning stage and how crucial it is to win the support of your principal, custodial engineer, PTA board, parents and teachers.  This week Michele will help us identify start-up costs associated with a school garden and possible sources for funding.

Michele’s first recommendation is to “start small,” maybe just a couple of beds to see how much work is involved and how enthusiastically the garden is received by the school community.  Michele estimates it will take anywhere from 6 months to a year to research the materials you will need for your garden and find capital.  In the case of PS 107, members of their volunteer garden committee were assigned different tasks, such as fundraising, grant research, community outreach, and vendor solicitation.  Keep in mind that your start-up costs will be where you spend most of your money as they will include lumber for the beds, soil, seeds and tools.  Once you have those materials, the costs for your garden dramatically decrease (unless you decide to expand the garden, which should be part of your consideration when putting together a budget).

The start-up costs for PS 107’s garden were approximately $4,000 and included recycled plastic lumber for their beds, which is significantly more expensive than untreated lumber.  If you start small, your costs will probably be closer to $2,000, according to Michele.  Helpful sites to check out regarding start-up costs are GreenThumb, Ecoliteracy, School Garden Wizard and California School Garden Network.  Some PTA Boards may be willing to contribute funds to the garden, but Michele was determined to keep the garden committee of her school autonomous from the PTA, and so they raised the money themselves.  The first step Michele recommends is registering your garden with GreenThumb.  GreenThumb, holds annual seed and plant giveaways; they will provide compost if you attend one of their composting workshops; they also hold workshops where you can receive resource guides, pamphlets and other useful handouts.  Other organizations you’ll want to look into are the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s GreenBridge Community Garden Alliance, Bronx Green Up of the New York Botanical Garden, Green Guerillas, and GROW NYC.

Michele has also spent and continues to spend long stretches of time at her computer visiting gardening websites and signing up for gardening newsletters to price materials, find great deals and get general tips.  All her research has led her to discover that you never need to buy seeds.  As Michele says, “Get them donated.  Most garden centers unload their seeds in the summer.”  And you apparently don’t need to worry about the expiration dates either:  as Michele explained, “Seeds last quite a while, especially if kept in a cool dry place.”  A source for seeds she recommends is America the Beautiful Fund.  It became obvious from our conversation with Michele that researching and writing grants make up an enormous amount of the “school garden experience”.  Although we can’t spare you the ordeal of writing a grant (maybe someone on your PTA or a grant writer at your school can), we can save you time with the research.  Michele has been generous enough to share with NYC Green Schools a list she has compiled about possible funding sources for school gardens, which you can read here.  The list includes garden, environmental, nutrition, and science grants that are available as well as grant search websites.

In addition to grants, PS 107 also received discounts on materials from local community vendors.  A local lumber company greatly discounted the recycled plastic lumber they used for their planters.  Michele says, “The trick is reaching out, making a good pitch, expressing need if there is one and telling vendors where they will be acknowledged (website, parent e-mail, newsletter, etc.).  In her opinion, most places will help out to some degree.  And she adds, “Always write a thank you note on letterhead!”  Michele also posted on list serves for donations of gardening supplies and received donations from parents at the school as well.  She attributes much of their garden committee’s fundraising success to the website they created.  Michele says, “The website is a very useful tool for fundraising, publicity, acknowledging donors, volunteers…  It is my prime marketing tool.”  A website can inspire people to donate money, time, and/or supplies; it’s also very helpful to have when you have to submit your progress report to your grantmaker.

If you’d love to have an edible garden at your school, but your school lacks the space or you don’t have the time to research and write grants, a couple of NYC Green School parents wrote to us about an organization called Wooly Pockets.  For $1,000, Wooly Pockets offers a vertical wall system that includes 50 pockets, plant and vegetable seeds, organic soil and a curriculum.  And if your school doesn’t have $1,000 for such a project, Wooly Pockets will fundraise for you.  All you have to do is put your school’s name on the list!  Now there really is no excuse for not having an edible garden at your school.

More on planting and harvesting in our next post.

Planting a garden at your school can be as simple or elaborate as your ambitions, financial resources, stamina, and the support of your principal, custodial engineer, and science teacher.  Recently we spoke with Michele Israel, a parent at PS 107 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, to find out how she started a garden at her school.  We won’t lie to you:  the process is going to take planning, diplomatic skills, research, creativity, resourcefulness and, did we mention it already, stamina.  But if you’re willing to dive in and spearhead a garden at your school, you could be rewarded with the sight of your child joyfully eating the lettuce, peas, and purple basil she herself planted in the school’s courtyard while learning firsthand about growing fresh food and healthy eating.

Because there are so many facets to getting a school garden started, we’ve decided to break down the process into three phases:  development/planning, materials/financing, and planting/harvesting.  Today we’ll look at the development/planning stage.  Over the next two weeks we’ll cover the other phases.

There can be no garden at your school unless you win people’s support, particularly that of your principal, custodial engineer, PTA board, and teachers.  So, before wasting any time researching and planning for one, go to your principal and see if she’s receptive to the idea.  At PS 107, the principal was on board; but it was decided that the garden would go in the school’s courtyard, which did not get optimal sunlight.  But as Michele said, “Since the principal supported the garden, we figured out how to work with the space.”  In fact, Michele has identified being “a problem solver” as a key characteristic of being a school gardener, since you will run into many unanticipated obstacles, like getting a space with little to no sunlight.

Once a space had been designated, a small planning team was formed that consisted of three parents and garden designer Bryan Quinn of One Nature Design.  Members of the planning team visited a few school gardens to get ideas and then had experienced people take a look at the space to let them know what was possible.  These people included the then manager of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s GreenBridge and the executive director of GROW NYC, who happened to be a parent of PS 107 at the time.  Another person you might want to consider getting feedback from is an experienced gardener from a local community garden.

Bryan Quinn, who was working for the school on a pro-bono basis, then created several designs of what the garden might look like.  (His work also included a shade study and recommendations for plants.)  Before presenting the agreed-upon design to her principal, Michele first showed it to the school’s custodial engineer to find out whether the proposed design interfered with any fire exits or construction mandates.  Input from your custodial engineer is critical, since they will know about building regulations, possible sources of water, where to store tools, etc.  Once the design received their custodial engineer’s approval, members of the planning committee then presented the design, along with their PTA president, to the principal and assistant principal.  Michele maintains that “the design really helped propel the project,” because helping the principal and assistant principal visualize the garden got them excited about it and convinced them to move ahead.

Accommodating your school administration’s needs and desires will be critical to your garden’s success, as will be your ability to assure them that the garden will not result in any extra work for them.  You need to make it clear that you, the parents, will be doing all the dirty work (although in the case of PS 107, the science teacher got involved as well as the children) and that you will be consulting with your principal and custodian regarding each step of the plan.  As Michele says, “The garden is not for the parents.  It’s for the entire school and the school administrators have the final say…  For example, to get access to the school on the weekend, when we did the construction, we needed a permit.”  And the only way Michele could get that, as well a key to the courtyard, was through their custodial engineer.

With time, as it became clear that the parents at PS 107 would be taking care of the school garden themselves, everyone became more amenable.  Their custodial engineer even took a trip to Home Depot to buy a hose with a gift card that the garden committee had won as part of a grant.  As Michele says, “A school garden is about developing relationships…  I believe in working as a team and working within the parameters that we have.”  In fact, the school administrators are now among the garden’s biggest fans, enthusiastic about ways the garden can grow and be incorporated into the curriculum.

Once you have a plan and the support of your principal, PTA board and custodial engineer, it’s time to form a volunteer gardening committee.  In the case of PS 107, they were able to assemble 20 active and committed members including Bryan Quinn of One Nature Design, their science teacher, a local carpenter (a must for the construction of the all-important planters), and parents.  The first task of the committee was devising a budget for the garden and securing funds.  Next week we will have information about gardening grants, how to secure free tools and seeds, and what materials to consider for your garden.