POUGHKEEPSIE – This fall, students at Clinton and Smith elementary schools will beautify and harvest from their outdoor gardens and learn how to cook using those ingredients.
The eight-week program through the Poughkeepsie Farm Project, is about more than gardening, science or nutrition, farm project Director Amanda Henson said.
“I think there is so much power in knowing what to do with a seed, and feeling empowered to plant something or cook something,” she said. “A lot of kids here have not even been to a farm or seen things grow.”
The program is one of several ways in which the Poughkeepsie City School District is working with the Poughkeepsie Farm Project to expose students to healthy activities and ingredients. Six classrooms at Clinton and two at Smith are taking part; the classes will spend one hour a week either in their school garden or in a kitchen space – alternating week to week – with farm project instructors for eight weeks. Much of the instruction is presented bilingually.
“There’s a symbiosis between the lessons,” Henson said. “This is just for them to get to see the whole full cycle of our food system. So, they get to be outside, help growing the food and then, also, bring it into the kitchen and learn how to prepare nutrient-dense meals that are kid-friendly.”
She noted, the students also pick up skills in the program, such as using kid-safe kitchen knives and other cooking techniques. And, the students will take a field trip to the Poughkeepsie Farm Project garden.
“You’re building confidence in your skills,” Henson said. “I see that a lot in the culinary classes where kids start getting brave and interested in new ingredients because they got to prepare it and they feel really proud of themselves.”
The program is being financed through multiple education grants obtained by the farm project.
On their first visit to the Clinton garden last week, the students reviewed the rules of the space, learned some of the terminology that they will use, and created a number of decorations, including painted rocks, clay animals and animal habitats with seeds and scraps.
“It’s very creative. It’s a really nice hour in their day where they get to explore something,” Henson said. “We’re beautifying the space, making it fun and interesting, so that if it’s a weekend and they want to stop by the school garden they have something they can share with their parents.”
In addition to the eight classes taking part in the eight-week program, the Poughkeepsie Farm Project also visits Krieger Elementary regularly to work in the garden and for school-led programming; students at Truth Elementary will take field trips to the Poughkeepsie Farm Project garden in the coming weeks; and several high school students are interning with the farm project, among other ways in which the organization is working with the district.
Of the field trips, Henson said students “get some hands-on experience on the farm, really get to see how things are growing there. You know, basically seed-to-plate.”
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