On November 9th, after two long years with very limited community events due to COVID-19, Newbrook Elementary School hosted its first Harvest Dinner since 2019. This was a beautiful event, showcasing student-made art, donations from the community, soups cooked by students, staff, and community members, a shared meal, and a successful fundraising effort for the Farm to School program. It also started with a beautiful land acknowledgment led by students.
Earlier this summer, Brooks Memorial Library celebrated the grand opening of its Field to Fork Tool Cottage in the adjacent municipal parking lot. The cottage contains a library of garden and food preservation and preparation tools. Any item is available for loan to holders of library cards, which are free to Brattleboro residents, property owners, and business owners.
“Libraries are built on a model of mutual support and the sharing economy,” writes Library Director Starr LaTronica. “This new collection of objects is a natural fit with the Library’s mission to connect people and resources to inspire, inform and empower our diverse community.”
Here is a small sampling of the many useful things you can borrow for up to 8 days at a time from the Field to Fork Tool Cottage:
Air fryer
Food dehydrator
Pole saw
Post hole digger
Wheelbarrow
Weedwhacker
Pasta machine
What an excellent new resource for our community!
Central Elementary School (CES) recently closed out a phenomenal year of Farm to School (FTS) programming, wrapping up 12 months of work dedicated to advancing food education at the Bellows Falls area school.
Selected as a participant school for the 2021-2022 Shelburne Farms Northeast Farm to School Institute, CES won a $5000 grant to jumpstart their FTS programming. While the school already had a garden and dedicated food service staff, the funding and coaching provided by the Institute helped to formalize the FTS program and integrate it more fully into the school culture and environment.
A thriving Farm to School program usually involves three key components: the classroom, the cafeteria, and the community. Often, it takes years for a school to be active in these areas, but Central’s team has grown its program from the beginning and has a comprehensive program that reaches into each of these areas.
In the classroom, Farm to School came alive in the 2nd-grade classrooms. Teachers Kate Kane and Judy Verespy worked closely with librarian Jody Hauser to devise monthly programming that included everything from art projects and read-alouds to food preparation and tastings.
In October, students harvested carrots from the garden, painted carrots with watercolors, and made informational posters about carrots before teaching other classrooms what they’d learned. Food Service Director/Garden Coordinator Erica Frank baked delicious carrot muffins for the entire school. In January, students painted with beet juice and made beet hummus in the classroom. Erica, again tying in the cafeteria, made nutritious and delicious beet brownies for the school food program.
The third “C” of successful FTS programs is community, and Central Elementary was able to connect with its community in impressive and innovative ways. In March, when the Harvest of the Month was maple syrup, the students visited a neighborhood home that ran a sugaring operation! They also tasted some “sugar on snow” made by a local (teacher’s!) family. In the spring, local farmers John and Teresa Janiszyn of Pete’s Farm Stand in Walpole, NH, visited the classroom. The farmers taught students about soil and composting, and students planted cucumber seeds. Weeks later, they transplanted these same cucumbers into the fields at Pete’s! What an amazing circular connection between students and the farmers in their communities. It has been a mutually beneficial relationship between the community and Central Elementary this school year, with each gaining and giving benefits to the other. The Rotary Club of Bellows Falls came to help with a Garden Volunteer Day and donated garden supplies. Students received gift cards to buy something at Pete’s, funded by the FTS budget.
Central’s story is one of success, but it’s only the beginning of their journey, and it has been possible through many dedicated staff members and community support. The Institute helped the team shape an action plan for their program. Principal Kerry Kenedy has supported FTS from the beginning and plans to integrate the program more deeply into the school culture over the years. One step in this process is that next year, the third grade will join the second grade in receiving monthly programming. Physical Education teacher Peter Lawry was integral in planning, building, and maintaining the garden. And Erica Frank has worked to connect the summer school program to the FTS activities throughout the summer.
If you’re curious about all the amazing things Central has been up to, please check out the inspiring book Librarian Jody Hauser made with the students.
Hubbard Breeders, located in Walpole, NH, is Food Connects' top corporate donor for its Farm to School program the 2021-2022 school year!
Since 1921, Hubbard has been a worldwide reference for broiler breeding stock. While not a producer for the Food Connects Food Hub, their commitment to animal welfare aligns with the organization’s values. Hubbard is CODE EFABAR certified, which “addresses the issues of food safety and public health, product quality, genetic diversity, efficiency, environmental impact, animal health, animal welfare, and breeding and reproduction technologies.”
“With our focus on breeding sustainably, Hubbard shares mutual values with Food Connects for Healthy Families, Thriving Farms, and Connected Communities,” says Anne Hill, Hubbard Breeders Human Resource Manager, “We feel compelled to promote them in their efforts of supporting educators, food service directors, farms, and community members in cultivating healthy farm and food connections in classrooms, cafeterias, and communities across the region.”
The partnership between the two organizations began in late 2021 and goes beyond a donor and recipient transaction. Food Connects and Hubbard took time to connect their teams and figure out how to make a meaningful partnership that would benefit not only the organizations but the community as well. Ideas abounded when the two organizations met including:
Ways that they could impact Farm to School in the region
Supporting school horticulture programs
Helping grow community and school gardens by providing supplies and resources
Presenting in classrooms and job readiness programs to teach more students about the possibilities of agricultural job employment
“Despite the rain, our own April Sears volunteered with Food Connects to donate her time and gave an extra set of hands to Orchard Hill Breadworks to assist with gardening! She helped dig trenches around the community garden and get the plantation freshened up for the spring season! Go to the Orchard Hill Breadworks in Alstead, NH to get some delicious baked goods. If you get an oven brick pizza you can pick your toppings from the community garden that April helped with. Thank you April for helping our community on your spare time, we are pleased to have you as a Hubbard employee. If you come to the main office you will see April as she is our receptionist and you can ask her about her time with Orchard Hill Breadworks. ”
Food Connects is grateful for the opportunity to work with such a strong community partner. Already, Hubbard has supported the growth of the Farm to School program throughout the year and even contributed volunteers to recent Food Connects’ events. The growth of both organizations, in tandem, will surely mean success in the years to come.
Food Connects is an entrepreneurial non-profit that delivers locally produced food as well as educational and consulting services aimed at transforming local food systems. The Food Hub aggregates and delivers from over 150 regional farms and food producers to over 150 buyers in southeast Vermont, southwest New Hampshire, and western Massachusetts. Their educational services focus on Farm to School programming. Acknowledged as a statewide leader, the program supports over 30 schools to increase local food purchasing, school meal participation, and food, farm, and nutrition education. Together these core programs contribute to a vibrant local economy by increasing local food purchases by schools and improving students’ nutrition and academic performance. Food Connects is frequently hired to provide leadership and consulting services for efforts to support food systems initiatives throughout New England and act as a catalyst for change.
Hubbard Breeders is a chicken breeding company, dedicated to improving the communities they work in. If you’ve driven down Cheshire Turnpike lately, you probably saw some fancy chicken houses going up in south Langdon. Those (nearly finished) chicken houses comprise two state-of-the-art farms that Hubbard LLC is starting up. One is called Pleasant Valley Farm after the original farm that was there, and the other is named Centennial Farm in honor of Hubbard’s 100-year anniversary last year. Hubbard’s $13M investment in these farms will bring tax revenue into Langdon and create jobs for the community. If that piques your interest, stop by our office in Walpole and ask for Anne or Lucas!
My grandmother taught me that a thoughtful way to welcome new neighbors into the community is to bake them a pie and deliver it to their front door with a warm smile. Here in Brattleboro, our schools and community are in the process of welcoming approximately 100 new neighbors from Afghanistan. That’s a lot of pies!
In Windham Southeast Supervisory Union (WSESU) schools, Food Service Director Ali West and her staff welcomed Afghan students through her Where in the World are We Eating program. These special meals often take more work for the food service team, so our Marketing & Outreach Manager, Laura, joined the team to help peel potatoes and prepare the meal for the following day.
On a windy, cold Thursday in February, several Food Connects staff joined Ali and Brattleboro Union High School (BUHS) students for lunch to enjoy these delicious new flavors together. On the menu that day for the “Welcome Home Afghan Allies” meal was Borani Banjan (fried eggplant with tomatoes, mint, and garlic yogurt), Bolani (Flatbread stuffed with potato, onion, and peppers), Beef Kafta Kebab, and Lavash. The mix of flavors and spices was outstanding! Here’s what a couple of the students had to say about the meal:
“I like it. I like the naan and the meat has good flavor and seasoning. And the yogurt is good in flavor and texture.”
“Oftentimes the cultural food is a lot better than the other food.”
WSESD’s Nutrition program is not the only way the Brattleboro community is welcoming our new neighbors with nourishing food. The Brattleboro Multicultural Community Center-Ethiopian Community Development Council (MCC) is leading the effort to welcome our Afghan neighbors in many ways, including multiple opportunities each week for community members to provide a fresh main dish for lunch daily through a Meal Train site. Volunteers are encouraged to use a collection of Afghan recipes linked on the site, and feedback from our neighbors so far has been that our locally made versions of their traditional recipes are “somewhat bland.” Therefore cooks are encouraged to “be generous with spices, herbs, salt, and oil in the recipes.” Our neighbors say, “We especially want spicy food when we feel sad.” My coworker Beth and I made a meal a few weeks ago, and my kitchen smelled deliciously spicy afterward, those spices perhaps offering a tiny bit of healing to our new neighbors who have been through so much.
In addition, school garden coordinators at WSESD schools, in collaboration with Food Connects and Wild Carrot Farm, are planning to grow two culturally relevant crops in school gardens this season, gandana and nigella, and Kathy Cassin, the Garden Coordinator at Academy School, is featuring some Afghan dishes in her cooking projects with students. The Brattleboro Community and Food Connects family are so happy to play a small part in helping our new neighbors feel welcome, and we look forward to continuing to support and learn from them as they integrate into our area.
When Food Connects reflects on some of our partnerships throughout the community, one business stands out as one of our top supporters—the Brattleboro Food Co-op (BFC).
A monolith in Brattleboro, BFC has served the community since 1975 by providing high-quality locally sourced, organic, and nutritious foods. Food Connects is fortunate to have BFC as one of our top wholesale customers—purchasing our source-identified New England foods to share with the greater community. And with over 8,000 active members, that means more local food is getting into homes across the county.
Not only is the Co-op a major partner to our Food Hub, but they are also a huge supporter of our Farm to School (FTS) program. Last August, they chose our FTS program as one of their Round Up For Change recipients. Because of the generosity of the Brattleboro Food Co-op and its patrons, Food Connects raised over $7,000! These funds went directly to our programming for the 2021-2022 school year, including coaching for Brattleboro schools and professional development for teachers and garden coordinators.
However, the Brattleboro Food Co-op’s generosity doesn’t end with Food Connects. Between December 2020 and December 2021, the Co-op raised over $84,500 through their Round Up program that they distributed to 13 different non-profits. This year, each month is shared between two different organizations to share the wealth among different causes and organizations. This month’s recipients are Brattleboro Time Trade and our partners at Edible Brattleboro. So, next time you are shopping at the Brattleboro Food Co-op, ask to Round Up your change at the register!
Food Connects is fortunate to have corporate sponsors throughout the region. And one area we are looking to expand our Farm to School (FTS) work in the future, the Deerfield Valley of Vermont, has a Farm to School champion right in their backyard.
Scott’s Clean Sweep is a full-service Vermont Chimney Sweep company based in West Dover, VT. Servicing the Deerfield Valley since 1997, owner Sarah Shippee has gotten to know her community deeply. Her steadfast commitment to improving life in the Deerfield Valley is apparent, and we are excited to step into a new chapter of philanthropy with her.
Sarah shared with us a few thoughts on the importance of Farm to School and giving back to her community.
Why is giving back to your community important to you?
Sarah Shippee (SS): As local business owners, my husband, Roscoe, and I believe strongly that we have a responsibility to give back to the community, without whom our business would not exist. It makes us very grateful to have the opportunity to say “thank you.”
What first interested you in the FTS movement?
SS: My interest was sparked by the opportunity to support Jr. Iron Chef in the Deerfield Valley. I know firsthand what an impact that program has had on our middle- and high-school students—my son participated for several years. I saw it broaden his 'food horizons' and those of many of his classmates, as well as teach teamwork and planning.
Photo from 2020 Twin Valley Jr. Iron Chef.
Why did you decide to support the FTS program at Food Connects?
SS: Food Connects is important, I think, because our children need to have the chance to learn about food and explore things they might not see at home. We are moving away from the time when everyone had a garden out back, and children could see where their food came from. Food Connects helps re-establish that relationship, and I believe that that is a big part of making good choices about what we put in our bodies.
I hope to be able to support Food Connects with this and other programs in the years to come.
Seeds planted during the 2018-2019 school year at Oak Grove School are bearing fruit as a living schoolyard and a vibrant garden featuring native plants take root on Oak Grove’s campus. Over the past two and a half years, a collaborative process between school staff, parents, students, and administration unfolded, making steady progress in spite of several obstacles. Principal Mary Kaufmann celebrates the project’s success, stating that “the schoolyard has developed into a lovely and welcoming space. Kids love to be outside! The more we have worked on the space, the more time we see classes outdoors.”
The visioning process for the project began in 2018 as a conversation between then principal Jeri Curry and a group of parents interested in making improvements to the playground. They identified problems including:
A lack of quiet spaces for students in need of a less stimulating recess environment
Outdated play structures and not enough swings
A lack of shady areas on hot, sunny days
Limited choices for a range of play opportunities across all ages, especially pre-K and older students
Every project needs champions, and there are several champions of Oak Grove’s living schoolyard project. This project weathered a change of administrators, superintendents, and facilities manager, as well as a school district merger and a global pandemic. It’s not been easy, but as the rewards start to emerge, it’s worth it. Some of the champions who helped bring this vision to reality are:
Former principal Jeri Curry. Curry began the project in her final year as principal, acknowledged parents' ongoing concerns about the outdated playground, secured start-up funds, formed a committee, and approved the idea to invest in mapping a long-term, broad scope vision by hiring a designer.
Current Oak Grove principal Mary Kaufmann. Kaufmann has supported the continued progress on the project’s goals through many transitions and prioritized hiring a school garden coordinator.
School garden coordinator Tara Gordon. Gordon led the move of the school garden and is connecting the garden to the classroom through meaningful hands-on learning and curricular connections for all students.
Former facilities manager Greg Frost. Frost supported the garden relocation, built outdoor stump seating and other outdoor classroom spaces, and managed many other project logistics.
New facilities manager Chad Pacheco. Pacheco continues to support the project as he enters into his new role.
Academic support teacher Laura Haskins. Haskins leads the Oak Grove Green Team and has been planting trees with students on the playground for many years.
Fifth-grade teacher Karen DiIorio-Bowen. Dilorio-Bowen has been integrating nature-based education into her curriculum for many years and built part of her curriculum around the living schoolyard this year.
PTO chair and parent Tara Davis. Davis immediately took a keen interest in the project—standing at the crossroads of parent, neighborhood, and teacher perspectives as a former teacher interested in outdoor education and a neighborhood resident.
The project began with visioning, which included surveying students, staff, and parents to get feedback on which playground elements these stakeholders wanted to keep and what new ideas people had that could be expanded on and prioritized. As part of this visioning process, the team brought in Nancy Striniste, a landscape designer with a background in child development, to help create a master plan redesigning the playground and school gardens. Certain elements of the plan have already happened, such as:
Relocating the school garden
Building a footbridge for creative play
Creating a new, wider, curved welcoming pathway at the playground entrance
Building cedar stump seating for the outdoor classroom
A highlight has been the move of the garden. Kaufmann says the garden has “grown and flourished thanks to the work of Tara Gordon and the students at Oak Grove.” Kaufmann notes that students take pride in the work they do in the garden. She sees many benefits in students “being able to be a part of something so beautiful that leads to harvesting and enjoying their hard work.” According to garden coordinator Tara Gordon, “The Oak Grove School garden is developing into a special place abundant with a rich array of perennial and native plantings, garden cultivars and annual florals, vegetables, fruits, and even mushrooms.” These plantings are designed to support and encourage outdoor learning, foster connections to nature, and provide opportunities to learn about the local landscape. Gordon sees garden education as an integral part of the school curriculum and community development. Community engagement has been one of the keys to success—during the fall of 2020, a group of “guerilla gardeners” came together and planted more than a hundred spring bulbs donated by various community members and kept the location of the plantings secret from the students for a spring surprise.
Student involvement is another key component of the project. The school invited all students to participate in the Pennies for the Playground initiative—a program designed to teach the power of the penny. Back in November 2020, tennis ball piggy banks were distributed to all students. As a show of gratitude, students were invited to collect pennies to help support the living playground project. Working with pennies made it accessible for students and families from all economic backgrounds. Collaboratively, the school community has raised $649.34 so far, including $163 raised by a penny challenge organized by Brattleboro Savings and Loan. Students voted recently to spend this money towards another step in the master plan—creating a new digging area won by a landslide. This will be completed over the summer and ready when students return to school.
DiIorio-Bowen’s fifth-grade class has been a key partner in the project this year through participation in the Wild Treasures program, 350 Vermont’s Rewild Vermont project, and a collaboration with Edible Brattleboro to plant additional trees on the campus. Kaufmann says, “The work the fifth graders did this year to learn about the carbon cycle and the environment led to an amazing culminating activity in which plants and trees were added to the playground, bringing more beauty and function to the space.” Karen’s students worked and consulted with Gordon to develop a plant list and placement throughout the school grounds following the master plan. Plantings included a whole array of native perennials, including trees, shrubs, and herbaceous pollinator plants. The project's budget also includes an extensive signage collection with artwork and research by the students displayed throughout the gardens. The fifth-grade planting day culminated with a closing circle around the new sugar maple tree. Students placed handfuls of soil around the tree roots along with special wishes they had written on pieces of paper to place into the hole. Together, everyone recited the Earth Pledge and sang the official state song of Vermont, “These Green Mountains.”
Jen Tourville's pre-k class has also been involved in lots of garden work this year, setting aside time weekly for planting, harvesting, and cooking together with Gordon. They are also enjoying an infusion of local produce into their snack program thanks to a CSA grant from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture.
All classes took part in the project in one way or another, thanks to Gordon’s ability to engage all classrooms in food preparation with garden produce, foraging education in the neighborhood, and a dedication by all staff to get students out in the gardens and onto the living schoolyard regularly.
This project has relied on the incredible generosity of spirit, time, resources, and skills coming from the community. Many thanks to:
Edible Brattleboro for donating fruit trees and a hickory sapling,
Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center (BEEC) and local arborist Bob Everingham from All About Trees for donating large cedar stumps for stump seating,
numerous neighbors and community members who donated supplies for a mud kitchen playspace for preschool students, bird feeders for classrooms to feed birds throughout the winter, and permission to tap maple trees in the neighborhood,
Heritage Maple Farm for supporting the first school sugaring operation by supplying buckets, taps, and other resources,
Hamilton Lumber for providing firewood for the wood-fired sugaring operation,
and the Food Connects Farm to School team for their continued support throughout the garden move, providing professional development opportunities, and a matching donation to the Pennies for the Playground initiative.
Davis made a point of reaching out to the community via Facebook, Front Porch Forum, and casual conversations with neighbors. She believes in creating connections, “especially as we emerge from the pandemic—connection is vital in bringing joy and meaning not only to Oak Grove students but our community at large. Everyone benefits when we work together for the collective good - in this case, the creation of a vibrant living schoolyard that also happens to lie in the heart of the Oak Grove neighborhood.”
Looking ahead, there are several next steps in the process for the living schoolyard:
The creation of a sensory path around the playground’s perimeter, funded by a grant from RiseVT, This path will build upon the new bridge, incorporating a living tunnel and a balance trail.
The construction of an edible mushroom garden along the north side of the building will feature shiitakes and oyster mushrooms.
A digging area, funded by the Pennies for the Playground initiative, some mounds for climbing, and some cob construction structures.
Kaufmann sums up the success of the project, saying, “our school grounds are something we take pride in, and the work of the living schoolyard team, the community, and the students and staff at Oak Grove School have made it a wonderful place to be and to learn!” The living schoolyard project actively seeks support from local businesses and community members who want to be involved. For more information, call Oak Grove School at (802) 254-3740 or email principal Mary Kaufmann at mkaufmann@wsesdvt.org.
What does it take to make a successful Farm to School program? At Guilford Central School (GCS), a big part of the answer is community partners.
Kindergarteners Jared and Jimmy plant a peach tree near the K/1 outdoor classroom.
“The community support that we see at Guilford Central School is amazing. From the dedicated parents on the Leadership Council to parents who donate mulch for our blueberry plants and excavator time to site a shed, it’s really inspiring to see. Our families and community members clearly value the outdoor experiences that our students are having, and they give a lot to support our programming. Our Farm to School and Nature-Based Education programs are thriving and couldn’t have gotten to this point without community involvement,” said Sarah Rosow, the Farm to School Program Coordinator at GCS.
School principal, John Gagnon, agrees, “the success that we have experienced at GCS is due to the remarkable contributions and efforts of our community partners.” He also points to the deeper connection the community has, “capital improvements to our campus and professional development for our staff in best practices in nature-based learning demonstrate the direct result of the support that our parents, community and local non-profit organizations have provided.”
Guilford Central School is a regional leader in Farm to School—its over 7-year-old program is a shining example of how Farm to School can grow well-grounded students and connect communities. Before the pandemic, students used school-grown vegetables for taste tests highlighting local dishes for the school to try before adding them to the cafeteria's menu. GCS hosted the Holiday Market, where each grade made garden-based crafts and food items to sell to the community. The staff’s gardening and nutrition education experience meant that they were ready to move learning outdoors and get creative about cooking lessons when the pandemic hit.
Fourth grader Arabella chops rhubarb harvested from the school garden for rhubarb muffins.
“We love to cook in Pre-K and try to do at least one cooking project every week. In pre-COVID times we would prep our ingredients inside and then bring them outside to cook over the fire,” reflects Pre-K teacher Emma Hallowell. “This year, we found that preparing food outside was challenging during the cold winter months—those little fingers! But now that it’s spring, we simply set up a cooking station in our outdoor classroom and are having a great time cooking over the fire again.”
The past year has brought communities together in mutual aid and collaboration. This is no exception at Guilford, where countless community partnerships help elevate and grow the gardens, classroom lessons, and nutrition education.
The gardens continue to grow throughout the school campus, creating new learning spaces for classes and more produce for students to try. The Guilford FTS Program purchased two new raised beds built by Three Trees. Soil donated by Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD) and D&E Tree Company filled the beds. Apple trees donated by Scott Farm and plants from Walker Farm and Lilac Ridge Farm will help fill all this new growing space. More trees, berries, and crops also require more maintenance! A rotating cast of parent volunteers supports the Farm to School Coordinator, Sarah Rosow, by weeding the beds, fertilizing the blueberry bushes on weekends, or stopping in with a skid steer to move soil and mulch. Guilford also participates in Food Connects’ Summer Garden Program, which keeps families involved and ensures that the gardens are weeded and watered throughout the summer months. Valuing the importance of the program, the Guilford Country Store has donated additional funds to support the summer garden program.
A grant from RiseVT allowed the school to install a StoryWalk to encourage classes and community members to get outdoors, take a walk, and enjoy a story. The school purchases books at a discount from Everyone’s Books for the storywalk, on themes ranging from diversity to nature to food and farming.
Food Connects sent sprouting kits to interested classes at the start of spring, getting students excited about the growing season and enabling them to try sunflower and pea sprout taste tests. All the students’ cooking endeavors, from bread on a stick to sweet potato tots, are chronicled in a community cookbook. With more help from Food Connects and printing from C&S Print Shop, every family will be able to take home a cookbook plus a cooking kit thanks to funding from VT Fresh. The hands-on curriculum has proved invaluable during the pandemic, encouraging student engagement and helping build excitement about returning to school after a year of remote and hybrid learning.
Thirty pounds of salad greens from Milkweed Farm, ready to be bagged up and distributed to families along with salad dressing recipes for the May Harvest of the Month kit.
The school has highlighted local food in meals for students. Recipe kits were sent home with students that featured local ingredients such as salad greens from Milkweed Farm and maple syrup donated by Franklin Farm. Students get to enjoy Franklin Farm beef year-round in the cafeteria, thanks to their partnership with the school.
Each contribution from the community helps build up the robust Farm to School program students currently enjoy. As Guilford looks towards the future, there’s excitement for more to come. “As COVID restrictions are lifted,” says Sarah Rosow, “we’ll be looking to get families even more involved in the gardens, to generate more community involvement around our new sugaring program, and to re-establish our Winter Market.”
John Gagnon only sees growth in the future for the program, “we are very grateful and excited to continue this journey with our community partners in an elementary school that nurtures a love and respect for our natural environment.”
Guilford Central School is a small elementary school in Southern Vermont serving 120 children from Pre-K - sixth grade. The Guilford Farm to School program enables students to regularly spend time working in the school gardens, cooking, composting, and visiting local farms. From monthly taste tests of healthy, locally sourced foods that are prepared and served by students in every grade, to tapping trees and boiling sap, GCS students are connected with Guilford's farming heritage.
Brattleboro Area Middle School (BAMS) teachers Jess Montenieri and Elyse Wadsworth wanted to see more opportunities for students to engage in outdoor learning. Reflecting on the past year, Elyse noted that “it's been difficult to see students spending so much time on Zoom with very little opportunity to move around, go outside and just be kids. We saw the raised beds as a great way to get students outside, even if it's just for a daily watering and check-in.”
Jess and Elyse found energetic partners on the newly formed BAMS Leadership Team. Parents Amit Sharma and Sheila Humphreys were thrilled to see some of the strong Farm to School programming present in the elementary schools make its way into the middle school.
More BAMS parents, Jacob Leach and Sam Schneski, offered to pitch in with some carpentry know-how, connections with local sawmills, and some donated supplies. Quickly, this team formed a plan to build new raised beds on the campus, the first step towards a more robust outdoor education program for the school.
Parents, staff, and a few students gathered on a cool spring day, ready to get to work. Over the next couple of hours, they built four new raised beds, filled each with compost donated from Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD) and Renaud's Tree Care, and planted starts donated from Walker Farm. A couple weeks later, 7th-grade students decorated the beds with their artwork. The beds now feature kale, brussels sprouts, beets, carrots, and many different types of herbs.
The team planted primarily fall harvest crops—meaning easy summer maintenance and a bountiful garden ready to welcome students back in September. Jill Kelley, the Brattleboro Enrichment Activities for Middle School (BEAMS) Director, also joined in the build day and plans to incorporate maintaining the beds into student activities during summer camp. Next year, students will try to prepare the vegetables a few different ways, experimenting with the new foods and finding the dish that is just right.
BAMS Principal, Keith Lyman, helped construct the beds and is excited to see more opportunities to get kids learning outdoors in the coming years.
“We are always looking for new ways to engage students and families in our school community, and I am so proud of the work everyone has done to begin this work,” Keith said. “The more we can get kids outside learning through the world around them, the more likely we will have happy and engaged students. The gardens are beautiful, and the student artwork made the plain wooden walls come to life! I look forward to the fruits (or vegetables) of our labor!”
In the meantime, keep an eye out for the new raised beds next time you're driving by BAMS. They’re a hopeful sign of more to come!
