Welcome to our monthly E-Newsletter supporting a network of school garden advocates. We will keep you updated on the latest news and work being done across school gardens programs here in Newark, New Jersey and the best resources from across the country.   

Looking for a specific resource? Interested in having your own resources published? Reach out to us to discuss more at pevans@citybloom.org and we would be more than happy to help.

Families gathered at our Outdoor Learning Center for a Wild Walk

Through Winter as they learned how animals adapt to the cold. They ended

the day making pinecone bird feeders to hang around their communities.

Register for our upcoming Second Saturday on January 14th here!

Second Saturday Family Adventures

In-Person

Saturday, January 14th @ 11:00am

Gathering around fire....it's part of what makes us human. We will tap into our oldest roots by making a fire (safely) in the garden. Our sundial circle is the perfect spot for a firepit where we can learn the science of fire and try our hand at campfire cooking. 

RSVP HERE

ANJEE 38th Annual Winter Conference

Growing for Change: The Impact of School Gardens

Virtual 

Wednesday, January 18th @ 5:00pm

In this session, we will hear stories from the FoodCorps Service Members serving at Greater Newark Conservancy in Newark, NJ. In their role, they make a difference by educating their school community on the power of food. Through their school gardens, they are able to educate where our food comes from, how it grows, and provide nutritious taste test opportunities for their students to try new dishes.

RVSP HERE

GSG Summit Webinar Series

Music in the Garden

Virtual

Wednesday, January 18th @ 2:00pm  

This session will demonstrate how to incorporate multi-sensory musical experiences into your school garden curriculum. Symon Hajjar of Hot Toast Music Co. will share songs and lesson ideas, lead activities, and facilitate discussion about how to take advantage of the integrated learning opportunities found in a garden. You will even find out how to turn vegetables into real instruments! The session will be interactive and cover a wide array of topics connected to teaching from the garden including: composting, entomology, how to plant a seed, the food web, and more!

RSVP HERE

Nuts & Bolts School Garden Workshop

Virtual 

Wednesday, January 25th @ 4:00 PM

We continue our series on creating and sustaining a school garden with this workshop that will focus on the mechanics of growing (mostly edible) plants within the school garden context. Even if you are an experienced home gardener this workshop will help you plan and grow a productive, organic, bountiful garden during the school year. 

RSVP Here

NOFA NJ 33rd Annual Winter Conference

In-Person

Saturday, January 28th @ 8am

The NOFA NJ Winter Conference is not just for farmers and gardeners…our community and audience also includes students, educators, agriculture industry professionals, chefs, land stewards, conservationists, foodies, brewers, and more. This year, we aim to galvanize our community in a time when cooperation is needed most, focusing on local connections and collaboration that carries on into the growing season.

RSVP HERE

Shortly after the new year, we will be having a Seed Share for community members to pick up FREE packets of seeds for your gardens! Stay tuned for more details. 

The Nourishing Newark Community Grants Program, supports community-based growers, urban farmers and gardeners in Newark to 1) expand or significantly improve their production of fresh healthy food; and 2) make it available to families experiencing food insecurity, either directly or through partner relationships with pantries and other free or low-cost distribution entities.

Check out what the Seeds of Change Grantees have been up to the past year in 2022. Looking forward to another successful year for these Newark schools! 

FoodCorps lessons are for service members to use with their ongoing classes to meet the hands-on lessons requirement.

Sprout Scouts is a kids club for elementary students aimed at helping them learn what healthy food is through hand-on activities. This resource was developed in partnership with Life Lab.

It’s great for a farmer to figure out how to successfully grow daikon radishes but how do we get people to buy them? How do we make lesser-known vegetables that grow well for farmers in our communities marketable? Check out this article to hear how Lane Selman's "Eat Winter Vegetables Project" increased production and consumption of locally-grown winter vegetables.

Every year, Jersey Fresh celebrates the Garden State's fruits and vegetables through the Jersey Tastes Harvest of the Month! For the month of January, we celebrate bountiful blueberries as New Jersey ranks 5th in the nation in blueberry production. Click this link to check out the activity sheet for the month. This sheet includes videos, fun facts, recipes, and activities for all ages from Pre-K all the way through High School! 

Register your school garden to be a part of our Newark School Garden Support Network and see where other school gardens are located near you!

Interested in bringing your students to the Outdoor Learning Center at Greater Newark Conservancy to experience the joy of nature-based education? Fill out this Field Trip Interest Form! We offer a variety of field trip programs that will spark the interest of any youth. Whether they are learning about urban habitats, diving into the world of bugs and insects, or seeing how worms can break down our food into a valuable soil amendment, your students will leave our site with a host of knowledge! For more information reach out to soleary@citybloom.org.

The Cooperative Market emphasizes food sovereignty and empowerment in agriculture by prioritizing products supplied by Newark based food producers, with an emphasis on small lot urban growers, BIPOC and women-owned farm businesses, and family farms with demonstrated commitment to urban food access for our City of Newark and the greater region.

Their seasonal products include fruits, veggies, flowers, herbs, baked goods, eggs, and some specialty items. More products are coming, like honey, mushrooms, hot sauce, pickles, and sauces that can be purchased all year long. Open Thursday through Monday where preorders can be picked up at select locations in Newark including Greater Newark Conservancy. 

Each year, the Conservancy hosts a group of FoodCorps Service Members who serve at various Newark Public Schools in New Jersey. As a FoodCorps service member, you’ll teach kids to grow, cook, and love the nourishing foods that celebrate their cultures and communities—and help schools serve more of those foods, too. FoodCorps recruits talented leaders into full-time, paid public service, where they grow healthy school food environments in diverse communities through hands-on, experiential food education. Service members commit for a year at a time, but for the greatest impact on kids and on your career, we encourage you to come back for a second year. Interested in applying, find more info here! 

The work that we do would not be possible without the generosity of our donors. While we had to put some of our on-site programs temporarily on hold during the COVID-19 crisis, we are back to normal operations and ramping up a number of programs and activities at our Outdoor Learning Center, the Hawthorne Avenue Urban Farm, school partner gardens, as well as various virtual workshops.