Harvest of the Month–Cripps Pink Apples
This month marks 5 years of Harvest of the Month in the Charlottesville City Schools. Five years ago we highlighted our first crop: Pink Lady Apples (aka Cripps Pink Apples). This month, to celebrate our 43rd crop, we again, highlighted the Cripps Pink apple. Since the very first crop, done in January 2015, we have been skipping January for Harvest of the month (highlighting 4 fall crops and 4 spring crops) as a time to regroup. It also was consistently a challenge to find a local crop to highlight in the dead of winter. This year, we decided to keep the food going right through the end of...
Read MoreFood Justice Presentation in Savannah!
December 10th , 2019 brought your City Schoolyard Garden and Charlottesville Food Justice Network team members to Savannah, GA for the Community Food Systems Conference as key workshop presenters during the 2-day summit. Our diverse team of 3 youth food justice interns from Charlottesville High School, Grace King, Emmanuel Quezada-Romero, and Amyah Limbacher, alongside mother and community food justice advocate Tamara Wright with her children Legend and Jayleana held an engaging workshop on defining food justice within each sector of our community food system. After giving an overview of our...
Read More4th pd Garden Aides, Fall 2019
Introduction by Ms. Shannon One of the most meaningful and unique parts of the Buford garden Aide classes is that students meet every day with the same small team to work towards two common goals: cultivating healthy food and peaceful, beautiful spaces for every student at Buford Middle. It’s been a jam-packed semester, and it’s hard to believe that winter break is already here. Beyond that, spring planning lies just around the corner. Before looking forward to the next season, Demetrius, Jeremy, Ananda and Caroline, the 4th period Garden Aide class, took a moment to reflect on their...
Read MoreHarvest of the Month at Clark
This year at Clark Elementary, the Harvest of the Month program has extended outside of the cafeteria and into the library. The Harvest of the Month program serves up local, seasonal fruits and vegetables once a month throughout the school year. Students sample it on the lunch line or in the cafeteria when it’s handed out by volunteers. The Clark librarian, Mary Craig, has incorporated Harvest of the Month fruits and vegetables into 1st and 2nd grade library time so that one week out of each month, students have a hands-on garden activity, combined with a related book, and a taste...
Read MoreHarvest of the Month-December 2019
Last week, we highlighted our final Harvest of the Month of 2019: Sweet Potatoes. This was the second time of highlighting the delicious tubers. The last time we did it, was 2017 and students were still as excited as they were the first time(even for those who “don’t like potatoes”). Students got to sample the roasted sweet potatoes prepared by CSG (cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice) as well as the sweet potato fries baked by the school kitchens. At Venable elementary students were so excited to eat all the forms of sweet potatoes. “These are so good!” one student said. “Can I have...
Read MoreMeet Rodrigo, CSG Food Justice Intern
This year we celebrate 10 years of growing, learning, connecting, leading, and healing together! Ten years ago, when the garden program first started at Buford, I was 8 years old and in the third grade. It wasn’t a few years until I had my first experience in the garden. It was kinda of hard time for me in middle school. Mentally, I was feeling very frustrated and didn’t really know how to handle my emotions. I also didn’t feel very valued or appreciated by many of my peers. And, I would have gone through the school feeling desperately alone if it wasn’t for my time in the garden....
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