New Castle County

School Vegetable Gardens

Healthy Foods For Healthy Kids

Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids assists Delaware schools in building vegetable gardens, and designing and implementing custom-made garden programs in which students plant, harvest, and eat garden vegetables each semester during the school year. Hands-on gardening lessons are integrated into the classroom curricula, are age and grade-level appropriate, and support Delaware Department of Education content standards.

Schools currently participating:

Springer Middle School, Brandywine School District

Begun as part of an after-school program for 13 students in fall 2004, the program has grown to serve all ~600 Springer students. The HFHK pilot began in earnest spring 2005, when 7 classes planted the newly completed courtyard garden, then harvested and ate the fruits of their labors. Since then, the garden space has been expanded, and Springer students have planted, harvested, and tasted from the garden every spring, summer and fall. In spring 2008 the program served 17 classes, including all 13 7^th grade science, 3 AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination), and 1 community-based (students with disabilities). Each of these 350-400 students had the opportunity to personally plant the seeds of learning in the garden, then harvest and taste the vegetables.

Keene Elementary School, Christina School District

In 2008, HFHK, Inc. began working with Child Nutrition Services (CNS) of the Christina School District to build school gardens, and design and implement garden programs aimed at encouraging students to eat more fresh vegetables. The first CNS "Education Cultivation" garden was built in April 2008 at Keene Elementary. HFHK President Thianda Manzara coordinated the garden building effort with CNS Chef Marc-Antony Williams and Keene principal, staff, PTA, and students. Lessons are tied-in with kindergarten, 2^nd and 4^th grade science curricula. Students prepared the soil and planted seeds in April, and harvested and ate the vegetables in May. In the future, the teachers and Garden Steering Committee at the school will be responsible for maintaining the program.

The school garden projects rely on volunteers, grants, sponsorships and donations from the community for their success. To find out more information about starting a garden at your school, to volunteer, or to support HFHK, contact Dr. Thianda Manzara, executive director of Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids, Inc., at healthyfoods@msn.com or 302-235-2692.

Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids, Inc. is a non-profit organization. The mission of Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids, Inc. is: To inspire and motivate youth to develop lifelong wholesome eating habits by experiencing the joy of growing, cooking, and eating garden-fresh produce. Their goals are: 1) To help schools design and build vegetable gardens, and integrate garden- and food-based education into their curricula, and 2) to engage students in vegetable gardening, harvesting and tasting each semester, as a means of motivating them to improve their diets and health.