Seeds for Spring

As the spring rains begin and the flowers are in full bloom, students are hard at work preparing for a new growing season on the Seeds for Learning farm at Martin Luther King High School. When we started our farm last year we had no way of knowing the food movement would quietly move into the national dialogue. The first family’s embrace of healthy, local eating and the establishment of a garden at the White House has opened new spaces for conversation about food and its role in our lives. Celebrity chef Alice Waters, frequently in the press of late, authored an op-ed about the quality of school lunches provided by the National School Lunch Program, and was featured in an AP story about Americans embracing the backyard garden as a way to save money. Waters is quoted as saying, “Food has come into our conversation in America for the first time, and it’s pretty awe inspiring.” I could not agree more.

Here in Philadelphia, we have expanded our Seeds for Learning program at Martin Luther King High School to include a greenhouse where students not only grow food but science teachers plan hands-on lessons using the greenhouse for biology and environmental science classes. This summer we plan to begin our Community Lunch initiative. Two of my staff members got the idea from The Food Project in Massachusetts, that hosts a lunch on their farm for community members every Friday in the summer, and Common Threads, an organization in Chicago dedicated to improving nutrition through the joy of sharing a delicious meal (the organization was featured on Top Chef!)  

Students in our Community Lunch initiative will participate in a summer program where they learn about good nutrition by preparing healthy meals for the community, using produce grown on our farm.  In addition to learning how to improve their own health and eating habits, students will provide nutrition awareness to the community and promote our farm as a resource for fresh, locally grown produce.  At the end of the summer, a cookbook will be produced incorporating recipes used in the project and will be sold at our Seeds for Learning farm stands. Projects like these that encourage students to try new foods in a fun and comfortable atmosphere are essential to changing the way healthy eating is perceived. Healthy eating will never take root in our young people unless it is a social activity instead of a chore. We have to teach our young people about the joy in growing, cooking, eating, and sharing a meal of nutritious food. Send us your favorite healthy summer recipes and they might just make it into our Seeds for Learning cookbook!