Food/Service at Oak Hill Elementary

This school year, the FoodCorps slogan is “Food/Service” and can be seen emblazoned on the back of the purple shirt I so frequently wear in the classroom. Oak Hill’s third grade classes have been the embodiment of this message through their year-long Service Learning project. Having used the inaugural year of the garden last year to teach science and nutrition lessons to 70 third graders, teachers felt that the garden would be the perfect way for kids to learn about the meaning of community service.

In the fall Oak Hill sent a vegetable survey to the High Point Food Pantry to assess the need for fresh vegetables. The majority of produce available at the food pantry was canned or preserved in some way, because until last year they did not have the capacity to collect and store fresh produce. Thanks to Guilford County’s Share the Harvest initiative, food pantries across the county can now collect and distribute fresh fruits and vegetables donated from grocery stores, backyard gardens, and now even schools.

The survey, which listed a dozen cool-season vegetables, was given to nearly 200 individuals and families who visit the High Point food pantry. We were able to sort our results, and found that the top 3 vegetables on the list were broccoli, cabbage, and mustard greens. Mmm mmm you gotta love those brassicas! Third grade students were able to plant the most popular choices in their outdoor garden to overwinter for a spring donation. Not only will students deliver fresh vegetables, ready to eat, but they will also be donating seed starts so that folks can learn how to plant their own vegetables. Thanks to grant money received last year from the Whole Kids Foundation, Oak Hill now has a Grow Lab, a cart on wheels with fluorescent lights nourishing the tiny seedlings. The students will care for the seedlings for about six weeks until they are taken, along with the harvest from the garden, to the High Point Food Pantry.

Seedlings under Grow Lab with recycled utensils to mark each one!