Our Project Learning Garden Program Manager, Kyla Van Deusen and Maynard H. Jackson High School students are presenting their great work with the Captain Planet Foundation Garden to Cafeteria Pilot at this years National Farm to Cafeteria Conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Register for the conference here.
Captain Planet Foundation Garden to Cafeteria Pilot
Given the success of Project Learning Garden in APS, the next logical step is to start serving the school garden produce in the cafeteria. So this Spring, Captain Planet Foundation is partnering with APS Nutrition and Sodexo to pilot Garden to Cafeteria in Beecher Hills Elementary, Martin Luther King Middle and Maynard Jackson High Schools. With support from FoodCorps service member Bang Tran and the Jackson High School Urban Ag Club, the gardens at King and Jackson are thriving with radishes, spinach, carrots and peas destined for the school cafeterias. Beecher Hills will start producing for the cafeteria in the fall. All the produce will be served raw on the salad bar, and CPF will collect data to determine the impact of school garden-grown produce on student consumption of salad. We expect to see more students eating salads [from their gardens!] and becoming more involved in their school gardens!
List of events:
Strengthening the Movement for Sustaining Regional-Based School Garden Programs
Thursday, June 2
$30 NOTE: This event is open to all conference registrants and requires an additional registration – please register at www.nationalschoolgardennetwork.org. Breakfast and snacks will be provided.
At no other time in the school garden movement have there been so many support organizations for school garden development. Across the nation foundations, non-profit, school district, state, and university programs are working to institutionalize school gardens in their regions. Join school garden support organizations from across the nation to discuss strategies for building and maintaining multiple gardens, creating sustainable funding streams, program assessment and evaluation, school integration, and training school garden educators.
High School Students Start a Garden: You’ll Never Believe What Happens Next!
Friday, June 3
What do International Baccalaureate, school gardens and school lunch have in common? This session tells the story of how students at Maynard H. Jackson High School in Atlanta started a garden as their sophomore IB project and by their senior year turned it into a production garden for the cafeteria.
Garden to Cafeteria Presenters:
Kyla Van Deusen, Ashley Rouse (Sodexo/Jackmont servicing Atlanta Public Schools), Bang Tran (FoodCorps), and Jackson HS recent grads: Caston Noorulah, Zoe Spencer, Reid Rosbottom, Asa Kramer-Dickie