Lindley Elementary third graders serve pesto pasta to the entire school!

Pesto is popular way to prepare and consume the bountiful basil crop many schools harvest when they grow this warm season staple. There are many varieties of this fragrant herb, the Herb Society’s plant sale at the Greek Orthodox offers quite a few of them. 

The pesto, a combination of fresh basil leaves, parmesan cheese, and olive oil was combined with elbow noodles. This stuff was so delicious that just about everybody that had some after lunch in the cafeteria gobbled it up!  

Way to go 3^rd grade!

These third graders were also able to take all the extra pasta to a local shelter 

that provides food for homeless and people in need!!! Way to go Lindley kids!

Jones Elementary Recovers from an Overgrown Summer Garden

Has this ever happened to your school garden? Summer can be a time when no one is available to tend the school garden. Many of us choose to cover garden beds with attached black plastic to keep weed seeds from germinating. Ideally, community members or school staff maintain a garden in the summer and get to reap its benefits. These before and after photos show how Jones’ gardening committee (parents and school staff) pitched in on two Sunday Gardening Days in September to clear weeds and add amendments. Jones’ is back in the gardening game!

                                          

 

        

       

       

       

Jones Elementary has had an active school garden for at least five years. This year they underwent a change in Garden Committee leadership. At first Jennifer Jacobs (pictured) felt nervous about taking the lead with the garden. We were able to connect Laura Tew, one of our Master Gardener Mentors. She has worked with a number of schools with gardens and answered most of Jennifer’s questions. Please let us know if you know anyone who is interested in this program.

 Here we see kindergartners ready to harvest sweet potato plants and planting radishes. Students stand in the low areas of the rows and plant in high areas because the beds are quite large. Jennifer pulls 3 to 4 students at a time from Ms. Novo’s Spanish class to plant!

IRVING PARK ELEMENTARY’S GARDEN DEDICATION OCTOBER 1^ST

It’s hard to believe that just last February the school garden at Irving Park was just a twinkle in the eyes of parents, teachers and the principal of this diverse campus serving 684 students. We discussed the fact that there had been gardens at the school years ago and how they would need to create a SUSTAINABLE garden for future generations.

 By-in on the part of all stakeholders, adequate training and support, and processes to ensure transfer of knowledge and support to next generations of parents and new teachers are all essential. 

             

A core group of teachers and parents attended our Garden Based Learning workshop at Edible Schoolyard in the spring.  The networking that goes on at these workshops is so valuable. This is where Dana Davis, a parent and a key member of the Gardening Committee at IPE, met Keith Gardener who heads up the Chefs Move to Schools program in Guilford County.

     

Keith and his group of GTCC Culinary School students provided an amazing “Eating the Rainbow” experience for ALL of the IPE students all morning long! Chefs Move to Schools is available to any school in Guilford County who would like to sign up http://www.chefsmovetoschools.org/.

                        

The support and optimism for garden and nutrition based learning at Irving Park Elementary is wonderful to see. Such a celebration makes it very clear to students that these things are valued by their teachers, principal, and parents!

Cynthia Nielsen

GCCE School Garden Network Coordinator