No trip to the Bronx would be complete without a visit to the 754X Chicken Coop. Big thank you to farmer Michael Masefield for lending his expertise and his classroom to the new “crop” of D75 teachers getting involved in hydroponics and aquaponics this year. Teachers got to experience four different types of growing systems first-hand, created their own data collection sheets, and received lots of useful tips and tricks for getting started. It was a rainy day to remember!
Members of the Queens Transition Center (752Q) Green Team attended the Youth Climate Summit on Feb 4 at the UFT Headquarters, with their peers from around the city. There were student keynote speakers, a Green Career Fair, breakout workshops and an afternoon session where everyone came together to create a Climate Action Plan for their school. It was an awesome day of inspiration and teamwork.
Ms. Jazzmen’s class at 77K recently revived their tower garden and planted some new seeds to get it going. Check out their engineering skills and the awesome diagrams that they sketched to show the process. Once the plants are transferred, they will train their peers in other classes in the maintenance and upkeep of the garden. Way to go 77 for starting the first in-school hydroponics work site!
Congratulations to the SEVENTEEN school sites that were awarded mini-grants from Grow to Learn this year! It is a new record for D75!
Investigating edamame seeds and discovering fuzzy caterpillars at the Genovesi farm.
This year four D75 classes are partnering with the Genovesi Environmental Study Center in Mill Basin, Brooklyn, making multiple visits over the year to study plant and animal adaptations. An added bonus: lunch with the chickens! (They are very friendly!)
A class trip to a garden offers so many opportunities for students to taste, see, observe, touch and experience nature.
Greetings, dedicated PLGers! As the outdoor growing season is soon coming to an end, the new school school year is just beginning and we are very excited to share new resources and opportunities with you. Our Plant Learn Grow 101 PD will be on October 18 at 373K, in addition to our full menu of Hydroponics/ Aquaponics, Composting, Sustainability, and of course the Teaching in the Garden Series with BBG and NYBG. Check out the current course offerings here. In the meantime, here are some late but awesome photos from our Garden Day event last June. Enjoy!
In keeping with the theme of “plants we eat,” a group of teachers came together last Friday for the final edition of our Teaching in the Garden PD series this year. The focus: Kitchen Botany. We welcomed Lauren, our favorite garden educator, back from maternity leave, and had a chance to explore Brooklyn in bloom as leaf and flower buds were bursting out all over the garden. We also learned how to make germination necklaces and garbage gardens, and can’t wait to bring these ideas into the classroom! What a great way to wrap-up the series and officially welcome spring. Check out some photos from our nature walk below.
Spring has sprung at the Bed-Stuy Fresh Garden, which will soon be undergoing a major transformation. On Thursday, students attended an evening visioning session with the Brooklyn Parks Commissioner, parents, staff and community members to go on record with their vision and plans for the future NYC park that will be adjacent to the school. Naturally, the main concern of everyone present was the preservation and rebuilding of the bountiful Bed-Stuy Fresh School Garden. Students and teachers voiced concerns about park rules, noise, bathrooms, and food security as the project enters into the design phase. We are so proud of the 373K students for showing up and speaking out about what the garden means to them and how important it is to the whole school. This will be the last growing season for Bed-Stuy Fresh as we know it, but something tell us that these students will be unstoppable once the new site is ready. Our biggest thanks and praises to all of the teachers and students who turned a vacant lot into a ever-expanding small farm. The work continues! We stand with you!
d75plantlearngrow.com 