Welcome back everyone to our monthly E-Newsletter supporting a network of school garden advocates. We hope everyone enjoyed their summer and are ready to back into the groove for the new school year! 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.

Our Newark Grows School Gardens Mini-Grant is still open until October 31st! Our final Grant Informational is set for Tuesday, October 10th from 5-6pm. Please reach out to grants@citybloom.org for any questions or concerns. 

Fall is here and we all know what that means....Fall Harvest Festivals have begun! Our FoodCorps Service Members have started working with their classes teaching them all about nutrition and gardening through hands-on lessons. One aspect of their service is the planning of Fall Harvest Festivals for the school community to get out in the garden for a Farm to School event featuring local taste tests, garden activities and scavenger hunts, and more! McKinley School was a success and we are looking forward to many more to come! 

Newark Grows School Garden Mini-Grant Informational

Virtual

Tuesday, October 10th @ 5-6pm

Join us to learn more about our Newark Grows School Gardens Mini-Grant Program and how you can apply to help enhance an existing school garden or build a new one from start! 

RSVP HERE 

So You Want to Start a School Garden Workshop

In-Person

Tuesday, October 17th @ 4-5:30pm

We will discuss how to plan and design your garden, basic gardening skills, necessary resources, outdoor classroom management, and how to connect your garden to your goals!

In person and virtual! Zoom link will be provided before workshop!

RSVP HERE

Greenfest Newark

In-Person

Saturday, October 14th @ 12-4pm

Join us at Greenfest Newark in lieu of Second Saturday for a full day of family-friendly activities featuring an electric vehicle display, healthy food activities, eco-friendly products, interactive exhibits & workshops, music, yoga, sustainable vendors, delicious food and more!

MORE INFO HERE

Check out this school year's Newark Grows School Garden Workshop schedule below!

This year, we are hosting 4 FoodCorps Service Members to serve at 7 Newark Public Schools as they teach students about nutrition and gardening through hands-on lessons. Students at Lincoln, Mt. Vernon, Avon, Hawthorne, McKinley, Thirteenth, and Harriet Tubman are blessed to have these amazing FoodCorps Service Members at their schools and it has only been one month, and they are already making such big impacts in their school community!

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

The Coalition for Healthy Food in Newark Schools is a collective initiative aimed at ensuring that all students in Newark have access to nutritious meals each day. The Coalition believes in the power of community involvement and the impact it can make in shaping a healthier, brighter future for students.Click  here to learn more! 

What kind of headphones to farmers use?

Beets by Dr. Dre!

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.

We made sure to keep very busy over this summer! We helped support our school gardens with our newest additions to the FoodCorps team. We hosted fields trips for two organizations, one being a garden exploration trip and the other being a nature-art inspired field trip! 

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.