MontclairDIGS

The Montclair DIGS (District Initiative for Gardening in Schools) program, launched in spring 2012, is taking root at Montclair Public Schools.

The initiative, sponsored by MFEE and Partners for Health, has provided school garden grants to nine of our eleven schools. Each grant recipient received a stipend towards improving or creating a vegetable garden, a class set of garden gloves and a DIGS banner to display at their school. Kathy Smith from the Partners for Health Foundation notes “We are very pleased to fund DIGS in collaboration with MFEE, as part of the Eat. Play. Live… Better initiative. Montclair students can learn how to grow their own food and have the opportunity to taste fresh, just-picked fruits and vegetables. If they grow vegetables, they will eat vegetables! We hope that many a young gardener will want to plant their own vegetables and fruit at home in their yard, on their porch or even on a sunny window sill.”

In addition to providing funds for participating schools, DIGS has also been key in creating a collaborative community of school garden educators. In mid-March DIGS sponsored a workshop at the Van Vleck greenhouse and teachers were invited to start vegetable plants for their school gardens. Also this spring, several teachers participated in school garden workshops sponsored by Princeton School Gardens and the Farm to School Network to meet with experts and bring back best practices to the Montclair School District. Additionally, DIGS co-coordinators, Sabina Ernst and Sarah Vogel, both active in school gardens, serve as liaisons to the schools and maintain a DIGS blog (MontclairDIGS.org).