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.

March is National Nutrition Month where we celebrate the importance of a balanced diet and exercise. Last year, students at Lincoln Elementary School participated in their inaugural Nutrition Month Pep Rally! We awarded 10 students grand prizes as they won the Nutrition Month Kahoot Challenge.  

We all gathered afterwards to rejoice about fruits and vegetables and ended with a Kale Pesto taste test. Many students never had Kale Pesto before, but that did not stop them from coming back for seconds and thirds. A very successful taste test for a very successful pep rally around nutrition! 

Second Saturday Family Adventures

In-Person

Saturday, March 11th @ 11:00am

Explore the science of Balance and Gravity through hands-on activities and children’s books. Have fun while learning to think like scientists!

RSVP HERE

Non-Linear Garden Design As An Identity Affirming Garden Practice

Virtual

Wednesday, March 15th @ 2:00pm                                   

From the chinampas of Mexico, to the terraced gardens in Asia & companion planting practices around the world, our ancestors point the way to designs that circumvent tidy row cropping most common in gardens. By exploring nonlinear designs we can re-center the practices of ancestral growers and invite conversations about identity and heritage into our garden programs. Hosted by the Academy for Global Citizenship in Chicago, IL, this session will move through different garden and nature space designs to discuss how these spaces impact our ability to teach and learn outside. 

RSVP HERE

Family Fun in the Kitchen

In-Person

Saturday, March 18th @ 11:00am

Join us for Chef Afi's Family Fun in the Kitchen! This month, we will be making yummy Jackfruit Empanadas! Register below to reserve your spot to learn personally from Chef Afi. All ingredients are supplied and included in the registration price..

RVSP HERE

Greedy Gardener School Garden Workshop

In-Person 

Wednesday, March 22nd @ 4:00 PM

Get comfortable preparing, cooking and eating with your students. Learn the basics of good nutrition to get students started in a lifetime of good health. Hands on cooking and tasting.

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. 

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! 

Not too long ago in January, our Farm to School Coordinator, Patrick Evans, hosted a panel for ANJEE's Winter Conference with our fellow FoodCorps Service Members. Julia Sienkiewicz, Pablo Verissimo, and Bridgette Byrd talked about their experiences of empowering youth to know where their food comes from and to teach them how to grow it themselves. After a successful program, Patrick Evans was interviewed to show everyone more insight in the work we do around Farm to School. Check out that interview below on ANJEE's Winter Newsletter! 

The latest issue of the ChopChop Kids Club Newsletter from ChopChop Family welcomed their newest recipe! This month they are featuring harira, the soup traditionally eaten to break the daily fast during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. Ramadan starts on March 22, but even if you don’t celebrate, this soup is a delicious way to keep warm and nourished during the last of the cold days. Click here for the recipe! 

ChopChop Family includes a diverse and inclusive collection of products for children, parents, and older adults. In addition to magazines and cookbooks, the ChopChop Family brand includes the Eatable Alphabet, digital content, and cooking curricula, reaching over three million families worldwide.

After moving to Paris in September 2011 with her husband for his job, she found herself without a job and surprisingly without kale. Deciding to take action and also because she did not want to live in France for five years without a vegetable that was like her comfort food, Kristen launched The Kale Project in April 2012 to re-introduce the heirloom vegetable or légume oublié (lost/forgotten vegetable) to the French.Within six months, the French press was hailing “le chou kale”, as the vegetable of the year. Click here to learn more about the Kale Project!

Every year, Jersey Fresh celebrates the Garden State's fruits and vegetables through the Jersey Tastes Harvest of the Month! For the month of March, we celebrate kale! 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! 

What do vegetables use to defend themselves

“Pepper spray!”

Source: Wisconsin School Garden Network

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.

Dear Volunteers,

We are currently looking for volunteers who can assist with separating seed packets and potting up seedlings for distribution to Plot-It-Fresh members and the community.

We are appreciative of any time that can be devoted to our mission!

To sign up, register at this link here.

Students a part of the Garden Club and Behavioral After School Program attended a workshop on Seed Starting led by our Farm to School Coordinator, Patrick Evans. Students learned everything from the difference between cool and warm season crops, soil mixes, basics of starting seeds, and growing tips for microgreens!

Students ended the workshop with starting their own seeds for the school garden as well as taking home microgreens to grow on their own.

Lincoln Elementary School continues to expand their Farm to School Program with even more LettuceGrow Towers for hydroponic growing. These vertical units only use water and nutrients to turn our plants from seed to edible produce. Students are heading out to this Hydroponic Lab weekly learning from both staff and our FoodCorps Service Member, Julia Sienkiewicz. 

The goal for Lincoln is to be able to provide fresh produce for the school salad bar! 

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.