Common Threads Farm and School Garden Collective

 At Common Threads Farm, we are on a mission to connect children and youth with healthy food through seed-to-table educational experiences. We currently reach over 3000 youth annually through our school-based gardening and cooking programs, our partnerships with nonprofits serving low-income youth, and our open-enrollment Farm Camp and Camp Pizza programs. In each of these programs, children are engaged in planting, tending, harvesting, cooking, eating, and - in some instances - selling produce at EBT (food stamp) accessible farm stands.
The “Common Threads” throughout our programs are a commitment to:
***Food Competency - Knowing how to grow and prepare healthful, delicious food.
***Food Literacy - Understanding how daily food choices impact the health of our bodies, our community, and the environment.
***Food Justice - Ensuring that there is enough healthful, nutritious, culturally appropriate food available for all.
*** Youth Empowerment – We recognize gardening and cooking as effective ways not only to foster self-sufficiency and food security, but also to enhance self-esteem and enduring life and job skills such as patience, teamwork, punctuality, and follow through.
***Environmental Stewardship – Connecting children in joyful, caring ways with their daily neighborhood and school environments is a gateway to connections with the larger global environment.

As of Fall 2013, we work with 13 partner school sites and also run programs at an urban farm site.