The students at 176X have been pickling! They recently wrote us… “thought you might appreciate a pic of our first attempt at pickling. It is so simple and they came out great!” Thanks for sharing!
Pickles
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How do you like your eggs? I like mine fresh from the chicken coop at 754X, prepared in a deviled egg salad and wrapped in a fresh lettuce leaf that I cut myself from the NFT hydroponic system in Mr. Masefield’s classroom.
Seem like a school-yard to plate dream? This is what a group of D75 teachers got to do at this week’s Hydroponics PD at the J.M. Rapport School for Career Development in the Bronx. They also learned about different kinds of hydroponic systems like Nutrient Film Technique (NFT); Ebb and Flow; Wick; Water Culture; Drip; and Aeroponic, and learned how to take care of them. Thank you Mr. Masefield and Principal Daniel Hoehn for hosting us!
Happy D75 teachers after an inspirational day of learning about hydroponics and hanging with the chickens
Maddie checks the water level and refills the Tower Garden reservoir
Fresh herbs hanging to dry
Egg washing station. Fresh eggs collected from the school hens get washed before being cooked. Students package the rest and stamp the boxes to be sent home.
Egg salad prep. Safety first.
Side of the chicken coop
Some of the famous 754X chickens, emerging for their meet and greet with the teachers
Close-up of one of the plants in the vine-crop system showing clay pellets and rock wool as the growing mediums
Roots of a pac choy plant, close relative of the bok choy, in the NFT system
This is how we feel when we think about spring….
Greg in the garden with the daffodils
We just received this note from 368K about gardening-as-therapy and felt we had to share:
We’re writing today to highlight the success our school community has had using the garden at our site as a tool to build upon student skills, while incorporating its therapeutic benefits into conversations with our children and teenagers. We support, teach, and encourage students in one of the most restrictive school settings in New York City; our garden is a way to show our students that we care about their emotional and physical health and well-being.
Last year 368K focused on “student involvement in the preparation of the garden beds, student creation of signs, students maintaining the garden, staff helping to create an on-site market to share produce from the garden, and finally students were able to bring produce home from the garden.” This year their goals are “a Halloween pumpkin fest; a green market where we hope to have students using scales to weigh and share produce; students … actively involved in making compost for the garden; and, finally, students … using the garden along with their therapists to develop healthy coping habits.”
Thank you to The Garden Committee at P368K at New York City Children’s Center for sharing your thoughts and plans for the year.
Here are some photos from the 721X Green Bronx Machine Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on Wednesday. As you can see, it was kind of a big deal! Representatives from the Mayors Office, Empire Blue Cross and Anthem Health, local new organizations, our Superintendent, coaches, teachers, parents, students, and many more were in attendance. Thank you to Stephen Ritz of GBM, teacher (and farmer) extraordinaire Jeremy Kottcamp, and Principal Frank Degennaro for a very special day.
Read all about it below in an excerpt from urban ag news!
Press Release – NEW YORK – Green Bronx Machine (GBM), a nationally recognized non-profit organization dedicated to helping students live happier and healthier lives, is partnering with Empire BlueCross BlueShield (Empire) to launch [a fully] wheelchair accessible farm and teaching kitchen in America at P.S. 721x, a District 75 school in the Bronx dedicated to educating students living with disabilities.
“Our students and faculty are so excited and so grateful to Empire and Green Bronx Machine for this classroom makeover that inspires healthy living, healthy learning, and creates 21st century career and college readiness.”
~ Frank Degennaro, Principal, P.S. 721x
On Wednesday, February 13th, GBM and Empire will host a ribbon-cutting event at the school to unveil the new, in-school farm. In addition to the wheelchair accessible farm and teaching kitchen, P.S. 721x teachers and students will receive GBMs fully integrated health and wellness curriculum, a GBM Mobile Classroom Kitchen—a fully portable “indoor food truck” complete with sink, refrigerator, convection oven and food warmer and a media studio where students can participate in video conferences with other schools and organizations, post updates to social media, live stream educational programming and older students can record practice interview sessions.
Our own Bed Stuy Fresh garden at 373K got some love on Grow to Learn’s instagram page this week. Check it out!
Congratulations to all of the D75 schools that were chosen for the Grow to Learn and Office of Sustainability grants! This year 14 school gardens were funded through Grow to Learn and another 9 schools received Sustainability funds for projects including water bottle refill stations and environmental education programs. Way to go, D75!
Here is a photo of a flourishing indoor soil grow lab at 721Q. As you can see, they are growing both food and flowers- and the hyacinths smell amazing! This classroom also has a series of aquaponics stations with individual beta fish. Thank you teacher Julie Tuifel for the mini tour. We didn’t want to leave!
Some of us (ahem Greg) have been saying this for a while, but there are a lot of opportunities for learning Math in the garden! Here are some examples from NYBG of ways to integrate your Math instruction in the great outdoors. Or indoors. With hydroponics… or aquaponics.
d75plantlearngrow.com 