We are having our First Annual Harvest Photo Contest! The Autumn Harvest is a beautiful time to go outside, feel the crisp air, and look at the vibrant colors all around. Photo entries should feature your PLG students and represent the autumn harvest. These pictures can be taken at your own school garden, a local community garden, or a class field trip to a Greenmarket or grocery store. The winning pictures will be made into a poster sized print for your classroom and featured on the Plant-Learn-Grow Website. Photos must be submitted by Tuesday December 3rd.

Rules:

• Each participating teacher can submit one photo relating to the Autumn Harvest
• Photos must include students from your PLG program (be sure waivers are signed before sharing the photo)
• Photos must be taken between the dates of October, 1 2013 and Nov. 27, 2013
• Photos must be submitted to PlantLearnGrowD75@gmail.com by Tuesday December 3, 2013
• Winners of the Photo Content will be posted on Monday December 9, 2013

*Extra note: please be sure to use fine or high resolution when taking the photos. This is to ensure the highest quality when the photos get blown-up to poster size.

How are your class gardens coming along? What are your plans for planting in the winter months? Maybe the farmers can help us out! Six of our PLG schools will be going on trips to their local greenmarkets over the next few weeks. We can’t wait to hear what they learn from talking to the farmers and sellers at the market.  Which fruits and vegetables are available at this time of year? Take photos and share what you learn with the community!

We hope everyone has been enjoying their spring and summer harvests and is ready to get into another exciting year of planting, learning and growing together!  We have a lot of exciting things planned this year and can’t wait to get started.  Here are some upcoming events that you don’t want to miss:

The Plant Learn Grow workshop for teachers is on September 26.  Make sure that your teacher is signed up!

October 16 is World Food Day. Check out the website to see what you can do to get involved.

And, don’t forget to register your school garden with Grow to Learn NYC .

Check back soon for updates!

The students from 993 Q at Frank Sinatra HS made pesto pasta and salad from ingredients they grew in their classroom!  Here they are selecting, clipping and blending the basil leaves for the pesto sauce.  They also had a salad made from hydroponically grown lettuce from their classroom window farm. Yum!

Check out this awesome 4 column window farm designed and built by Chris’ class at 771 K @ PS 98 in Brooklyn. We can’t wait to visit and hope to get a taste of these yummy looking greens.

Hello PLG Community,

Grow to Learn, which is the organization giving away up to $2,000 in grants for NYC Schools, presented a overview on how to write a proper Grow to Learn Grant Application. I attended the workshop in Manhattan and am providing a PDF of the slides below:

GrantWritingWorkshop

The workshop was informative and stressed that, even if you do not get a grant, if your school is registered with Grow to Learn, you will be eligible for free soil, lumber, cheap plants, and various other supplies.

Hello everyone! Things have been very busy as we prepare for Spring planting! Check out these seedlings that are growing right now. Can you guess what they are? Now is a great time to start planting your Spring and Summer outdoor gardens, and PLG would love to see what you’ve been working on! Send in your photos and we will share them here.

Hello everyone!

Last night I was at a workshop on “Rainwater Collection and Green Infrastructure” at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The workshop was very informative and taught me a lot interesting, practical, and new things to help “green” NYC.

The workshop was put on by Grow NYC and the BBG. Both of these organizations have many different free workshops after school and in the evening to help people in education and in other fields learn more about sustainable living. Below is a list of various workshops and events compiled from various areas.

March

Grow to Learn Grant Writing & Garden Planning Workshop

Wednesday, March 6^th 4:30pm-7:00pm

Need help applying for a Grow to Learn Mini-Grant? Attend a grant-writing and garden design workshop! We will walk you through the application and garden design process and help answer any individual questions you may have. RSVP required.

Cost: Free

RSVP HERE

Teacher Open House: Snug Harbor Cultural Center

Friday, March 8^th, 3:00pm-5:00pm

Looking for new and interesting ways to introduce your students to environmental sustainability? Attend the NYC Compost Project on Staten Island Teacher Open House! You will learn about composting activities that can be incorporated into a variety of curricula.

Host Organization: Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden

Location: 914 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, NY

Cost: Free

Contact: compost@snug-harbor.org or 718.425.3558

 We’re just getting started with our indoor- and outdoor school gardens, but we hope to have this many greens by the spring!

The staff and students at P 993 Q @ Frank Sinatra High School came up with this very cool design for their planters.  As you know, the bottoms of the planters need to be protected from light so that the plants don’t grow from the bottom. We love it!