Voices of the Movement

Stories, inspirations, and opinions from the edible education movement.

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How Kickstarter Helped a Farm To Grow in Brooklyn, NY

Posted June 13, 2012

Nora Painten of Brownsville Student Farm Project is almost done building the garden beds for her kickstarter-funded teaching garden. She will begin programming this July. We caught up with her to find out more about her Kickstarter campaign and the key partnerships she formed in order to start her own student urban farm.

Edible Schoolyard Project: How did the idea for your own urban farm project come about?

Learning Language in a Physical Way

Posted June 6, 2012

We are a very small state school for the deaf in the very small state of Rhode Island. Students come to our school at the age of three and many stay until they graduate at the age of 18 to 21 years of age. Each and every student has a hearing loss and some students have other challenges as well. Our primary language is sign language but we support sign language with spoken language, as well as with pictures, depending on students’ need.

Making Dinner a Family Affair

Posted June 1, 2012

The Edible Schoolyard recently held our third Family Night Out class, giving almost two dozen families the opportunity to work together preparing a Mexican feast. Led by cooking teacher Griselda Cooney, King students demonstrated their culinary prowess as they assisted their parents and siblings in pressing tortillas, blending agua fresca, cooking cactus and preparing jicama salad. This week, two participants in the class share their reflections on what they experienced.

Edible Schoolyard NOLA Family Food Night

Posted May 31, 2012

Edible Schoolyard New Orleans hosts "Family Food Nights" regularly at the four K-8th grade schools it serves in the FirstLine Schools network.

Gaining a Comprehensive Idea of What Being a Farmer Is Like: An Interview with Jennifer Taylor of the Center for Land-Based Learning

Posted May 30, 2012

In our final interview with the directors of programming for the Center for Land-Based Learning, Jennifer Taylor introduces us to the California Farm Academy (CFA). Working with aspiring farmers, CFA trains, mentors, and certifies new farmers interested in agricultural production, business planning, and marketing of specialty crops.

Fun with Fungi

Posted May 23, 2012

Often during the rainy months, students enter the Ramada in the garden and as they look down to sit on the straw bale, blurt out in a concerned tone, “Oh my gosh! What is this growing out of the straw bales?” What they are looking at are small mushrooms growing out from the densely packed straw. Despite the prevalence of fungi in the garden and throughout the Bay Area, many students do not entirely know what a mushroom is. So the garden staff has developed a mushroom lab that every sixth grader experiences during a garden class in the rainy season.

Across the Globe in Australia, Stephanie Alexander is Growing, Harvesting, Preparing, and Sharing

Posted May 23, 2012

Hi there. I’m Stephanie Alexander, founder of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, Australian chef, restaurateur, and food writer.

Preparing Students for a Career in Food and Agriculture: an Interview with Karen Swan of the Center for Land-Based Learning

Posted May 22, 2012

In our second of three interviews with the directors of programming for the Center for Land-Based Learning, Karen Swan talks about the collaborative mission of the two programs she runs, FARMS and GreenCorps. Through both programs, students are taught leadership and agricultural skills which connect them to California's food system and careers within food and agricultural sectors.

Interview with the Parsnip Family, by 6th-graders Lexi Hartford and Tally Benner

Posted May 21, 2012

On May 17th, Karen KleinKopf of the FARMS program conducted a school-wide taste test at Nobleboro Central School. Working with three students at a time, Karen cooked parsnips in the classroom while other students were asked to research the nutritional value of the vegetable, create scientific drawings, and report on findings. Some students signed up to survey fellow classmates during the two lunch periods. Below is an interview inspired by the day's event.

Understanding What Food Revolution Day Is All About

Posted May 18, 2012

As people all around the world prepare for Food Revolution Day festivities on May 19th, The Edible Schoolyard Project spoke with the Food Revolution Day team to find out what the day is all about and how it came to be.