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CROPS BY KIDS of Barre Town
The Story of Our Children's Garden

Crops by Kids garden at Barre Town Middle & Elementary School
Our successful "Crops By Kids" garden has been put to bed for the 2007 growing year, but we are already starting to plan for next spring's planting.

A History:
The Crops by Kids project began with the school Health Committee's revamping of the school's nutrition policy. It became clear that in order to teach the children about healthy food choices it was also necessary to give them a clear understanding from where whole, natural foods come. To that end, the school began a monthly "taste testing" program, whereby a healthy food is tasted both in its natural state in the classroom and then in a recipe in the lunchroom. The taste testing has been a great success and the students at Barre Town have tried everything from purple cabbage to an ancient whole grain called quinoa.

A children's garden was a natural offshoot of these efforts. In the Spring of 2005 a bunch of teachers, parents and students went out and built some raised beds. From there, little by little, a beautiful outdoor learning center has been set into motion across the street from the Barre Town School. A fence surrounds the beds and the entry boasts a wooden arbor on which climbing flowers grow. There is a toolshed, water bins and benches for resting. Many of these things were built by the older students. The Barre Town Fire Department comes along whenever there hasn't been enough rain to fill the water bins.

The garden project applied for and received funds from the National Gardening Association, Home Depot, Lowe's, and other organizations. We also have regular fundraisers selling seconds from the American Flatbread Company in Waitsfield. We hold an annual "Antiques Roadshow" each Spring, where an expert appraiser entertains and gives interesting information about the artifacts brought by participants. All the money we raise goes towards compost, seeds, mulch, garden gloves, classroom plant lights and other improvements.

What we're doing now:
The school has started composting all the food refuse from the cafeteria and classroom snacks. We've diverted tens of tons of compost from landfill this year, which goes to the Vermont Compost Company to be transformed into usable compost. That compost comes right back to the school and gets put into the garden! This way, the students see the entire plant cycle first hand, from their lunch trays all the way to a garden full of fruits and vegetables. They also learn about stewardship and responsibility for our environment.

We're proud of how our teachers have connected their classroom work with the garden, making it truly a teaching tool. They've used it to teach math, life science, and physical education, along with Vermont history and other subjects. Often times, the kids who plant a bed will harvest it in the fall when they come back to school. This gives them the joy of reaping what they sow and seeing the end result of what they did months before.

Summer Gardening
Many families and teachers participate in the critical summer maintenance. The importance of regular irrigation is stressed and each member of this core group assign themselves certain days or weeks. On these days, each gardener and their children agree to perform whatever watering, weeding, and bug patrol might be required on their dates. One of the benefits of summer work, along with fun and exercise, is taking home some of the plants that are already ready to harvest.

Fall Harvest and Celebration
The start of School in Fall is the most rewarding time to be in the children's garden. Teachers, kids and parents work together with scissors, cutting down the tomato vines, making piles of colorful gourds, stuffing paper bags with assorted herbs, and filling cardboard boxes with tomatoes. The green leaves are piled onto the garden compost bins or are eventually turned into the soil itself. The food is used to create pizza sauce, pumpkin bread and other recipes in the school, brought home by gardeners, or brought to the food bank.

Next Year
Next year's Crops by Kids garden always begins "growing" long before spring. We begin in the winter months by seeking funding sources, generating interest, and discussing improvements. A map is laid out and the beds are divvied up between the grades, so that everyone knows what they'll be planting in the classrooms and where it will go in the garden. We've built cold frames, which lengthen our growing season. Through our efforts and planning our next year will always be better - and we will all grow, along with our garden.

Thanks!
This overview can not be ended without extending sincere and heartfelt thanks to all those who have lent their hands in whatever way they were able; thanks to those who faced the daunting initial planning process, those who strained their backs in the building process, kids and grownups who work and sweat to ready the garden and plant it, those who faithfully tend the garden all summer long, those who come out to harvest and all those who witness and celebrate the bounty of Crops by Kids!


Crops by Kids Happenings
October, 2007

The new bird feeder at Barre Town is being enjoyed by many students. So far we have had great looks at Black capped chick-a-dees, blue jays, goldfinch, junco's. We are going to start a list of birds. It is being enjoyed by many students. Stop by during the day or weekend and enjoy the bird watching. The children are learning to identify the birds. All of this ties into our many bird hikes on our Barre Town bike path and nature trails around our school.

The new bird feeder at Barre Town is being enjoyed by many students.

The new bird feeder at Barre Town is being enjoyed by many students.

The new bird feeder at Barre Town is being enjoyed by many students.

The new bird feeder at Barre Town is being enjoyed by many students.

Faculty and parents put the garden to bed. Our Crops By Kids garden was put to bed by students as well as one day after school the some faculty members stayed and worked on getting it ready for the winter.

Faculty and parents put the garden to bed.

Faculty and parents put the garden to bed.

Faculty and parents put the garden to bed.

Faculty and parents put the garden to bed.


July, 2007

The last weeks of June, 2007 have been so busy out at our Barre Town "Crops By Kids" garden. Many classes came out and helped move lots of compost and plant seeds. Several classes grew vegetables in their classroom and then we moved them to our "cold frames" outside. The cold frames were build by Spaulding High School Students.

We had many parents come and volunteer their time and help classes. The Barre Town Fire Department, under the direction of Chief Violette, brought the fire truck and filled our watering containers.

Dr. Riggen came over to see if things were growing and enjoy the "joy" of the children in the garden on the last day of school.

The garden is open to everyone to stop by, water, pick, and enjoy. Please come and enjoy!! It is your garden for you this summer. Once school starts we will be back enjoying some of the food as a class.

As part of the K-2 physical education curriculum we have been very involved in moving of compost, dirt, and mulch. The children are learning a life time skill. Gardening is great for ones health, not only do we eat better, but also it takes a lot of physical work to keep a garden going. Hopefully we are planting "seeds" for children to someday have their own garden.
 

Crops by Kids Spring Garden 2007 Crops by Kids Spring Garden 2007
Crops by Kids Spring Garden 2007 Crops by Kids Spring Garden 2007
Crops by Kids Spring Garden 2007 Crops by Kids Spring Garden 2007

Composting/Recycling Updaterecycle

"After our start-up year (last year) when we collected a total of 20 tons of compost, we are off to a solid start so far this school year of 2007-2008, with 3.4 tons of foodstuff off to the compost farm instead of off to a local landfill.

A new addition to our effort to better clean up after ourselves (i.e., stop just sending this stuff off to the landfills!) will begin next week, when we provide receptacles for recycling all plastic bottles. We have yet to figure out how to transport the empty plastics to a recycling center in an inexpensive way. (Remember that our cartage fees have now been reduced by about $1800/year through the compost effort alone.)

If anyone in the community can give us help in once-per-week (?) transfer of the bottles, please call Dr. Riggen or Mr. Murray. (476-6617). This whole dilemma is not a school-only problem, or a Vermont-only problem, or... . It is a global problem. Please join us in this small effort."

Dr. Riggen

 

In the fall of 2006, Barre Town Middle & Elementary School initiated what we hope will be a very effective composting program. Each year to date, we have sent an estimated 38 - 46 tons of refuse from our lunch program to the landfill! The school administration and staff along with Rick Young and his staff from the Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District have visited other schools that are currently composting waste from their lunch programs, and we were eager to have at it with a similar program of our own.

So, in September, Rick and staff trained all the students, classroom by classroom, about the plan. Abbey group got ready. (Note: Abbey group piloted composting by collecting just the kitchen waste beginning about April 9. At the time of our board meeting in early May, they had collected 1,420 pounds of compost from just the kitchen)

Rick set us up with two cute little green wagons that haul the containers from the dining room to the collection bins just outside the doors on the dining room facing the driveway.

Within a few days of the beginning of school we had the students trained and all “reved up” and ready to go..

Our goal, as expressed to the board, was to collect 40,000 of compost material during the current school year.

As of June 1, 2007, our school has collected 38,370 pounds of compost from our lunch program. This also included a growing amount of material from “snack time” in the classrooms.

 

 

Solid Waste Management has told us that our compost is the most free of any foreign (uncompostable) matter that organization collects, which speaks volumes about the care our students and teachers are taking to “do it right.”

Things are going so well that on Tuesday, October 24, Abbey Group introduced the use of real silverware, which we discontinued the use of some five years ago in favor of (awful) plastic knives, fork, and spoons. We are keeping a close watch on both the compost and the refuse to see how well we are all following the rules and not throw away any of these metal items. (There is a study underway to do an actual count of the silverware after a month or so. Stay tuned!!)

So along with the new silverware, clean compost, and some dozen wonderful students who are volunteering to help the youngest students into the swing of things, things are going so well, that we have another new feature in the dining room. Thanks to the PTO and the encouragement of staff -- including Terrie Salvador, Maureen Jones, and others -- we have a bright, shiny, new Yacker Tracker (and I swear that’s the name) in place to help monitor the noise during lunch. Of course we are collecting before- and after-implementation data on this, as well – which we will fill you in on.

A true story: The kindergarten children are much quieter (so far) than they were prior to the composting, silverware, and Yacker Tracker, because they are mesmerized by watching the green and yellow (and, infrequently,) red light of this noise-sensitive instrument!!

You’ve just gotta’ see this whole operation!! Will we actually meet the 40,000-pound goal? We’ll see. Ted


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