GCS Gardens: Bumper Sweet Potato Harvests!

 Lindley Elementary 4th graders dug 45 pounds of sweet potatoes, purple and orange,out of a 4'x10' garden bed last week!They sold some at the Corner Market Saturday.

Saving the rest for students to taste!

Jones Elementary has its biggest participation yet in their school garden and by far the most from the leadership side. Nearly 400 students are 

directly working in the garden.

Students harvested over 75 pounds of sweet potatoes from one supersized bed!

Irving Park Elementary also had a bumper crop of 

sweet potatoes this fall with their first ever harvest 

of this tasty tuber!

Harvesting sweet potatoes feels like an

Easter egg hunt in the soil! Students love it!

Fairview Elementary is one of 9 elementary schools in High Point where school gardens are supported by energetic FoodCorp service members. They are also enjoying harvesting a bumper crop of sweet potatoes.

Lots of applied math possibilities here! 

Records can be kept to compare different years 

yield vs. temperature and water applications.

 What do all these schools do with their sweet potato harvest? Many things! One of the tastiest outcomes are tastings prepared by teachers, parents, and volunteers working with students to prepare and taste vegetables prepared in many different ways.

Chefs Move to Schools is a great program to introduce students to the many tasty ways

the vegetables they grow can be prepared.

They are members of GTCC’s Culinary program and present programs in our elementary schools.

 A number of schools sell their produce as a fundraiser for their gardening programs. These are done on-site or at various Farmer’s Markets in Guilford County.

Lindley Elementary has led the way in offering this type of setting for their harvests.

More and more schools use their garden harvest for service learning projects. Donations are made to organizations like Share the Harvest, Greensboro Urban Ministry, and other organizations.

A big thank you to all of our teachers, parents, other volunteers, and students who are making school gardens successful in our Guilford County Schools!

School Garden Network Workshop at Irving Park Elementary

On a warm blue sky afternoon last Thursday teachers and parent volunteers, and other community members gathered at Irving Park Elementary for hands-on training by some of our best school garden experts in

Guilford and Rockingham Counties.

Our first presenter, Sarah Crawford, trained as a Master Gardener and has many years of experience training teachers and teaching students. She demonstrated her knowledge of planting, fertilizing, watering, and composting for workshop attendees. Next, attendees took a turn doing these activities themselves. Sarah is currently the garden director at the Cald Cleugh Multicultural Center.

Next, Jenny Kimmel, gardening director at Greensboro Montessori demonstrated the developmentally appropriate garden activities for children from kindergarten through middle school. She also shared specialty garden ideas and Vermiculture bins that are both portable and inexpensive ways to teach about recycle.

Deborah Crumpton was our final presenter of the day. Deborah is a farmer and an educator. She grows herbs at her Running Pine Herb Farm. She taught school for 16 years and is the School Garden Coordinator for Rockingham County Extension. Deborah shared her vast knowledge of growing and using herbs with attendees. She brought lots of perennial and annual herbs for attendees and described how to plant and these plants that are so popular in school gardens.

This was the first day of our two day workshop hosted by Irving Park Elementary. Next Thursday another group of presenters experienced in teaching in school gardens will demonstrate lesson plans teaching school curriculum

 and tastings from the garden.

If your school is interested in hosting a School Garden Workshop in the spring, please contact Cynthia Nielsen, School Garden Network Coordinator at nielsen.cynthial@gmail.com