school gardening and nutrition links
GRANTS
KEB has a
grant for school
gardening
Captain Planet Foundation - given quarterly; due
dates last day of each quarter
Imagination Grants (PDF) for "teachers at Evanston
Public Schools that have, or plan to start garden
projects that involve K-5 students" from the
Evanston Community Foundation. These grants are given each year, so
disregard the date at the top of the application form.
Write an essay on why your school would like to build a new garden and you
might win a $5000 seed fund grant and a year of garden supplies. Here are
the rules
(ends May 20).
GARDEN DEVELOPMENT - SUPPLIERS and PROVIDERS
A and L
Great Lakes Labs, provides soil testing. Concerned about lead? Read the
University of Minnesota's
Lead in the Home Garden and Urban Soil Environment
Buy
the Yard - 2215 Main St, they have topsoil, mulch, gravel, etc.
Lake
Street Landscape Supply - 1810 W. Lake, Chicago they offer a discount on
purchases for school gardens
NUTRITION
Many are concerned about the quality of food in
school lunches. The Healthy Schools Campaign is publicizing an effort by
lawmakers in Washington called the
Childrens Fruit and Vegetable Act
Nurture is a local organization doing amazing work in supporting
families in eating more healthily. There is a sister organization,
Healthy Kids Idea Exchange.
Both have newsletters you can sign up for.
school gardens provide education. What about obtaining fresh
produce?
Illinois Farm Direct provides a directory of farmers
markets, Goodness
Greeness is a midwest supplier of organic produce with lots
of organic food information on their site.
Family Farmed
has a mission to expand the production, marketing and
distribution of locally grown and responsibly produced food
PUBLICITY
Publicize your events and
get photos in the paper by signing up for Triblocal:
http://www.triblocal.com/Evanston/ and don't forget
these local news sources which allow you to post your
school activities and events:
EvanstonNow:
http://www.evanstonnow.com/
Evanston Roundtable:
http://evanstonroundtable.com/main.asp?SectionID=25&TM=10666.4
GARDEN GROUPS - LOCAL
Chicago Botanic
Garden has an information packed
school gardening page
Keep
Evanston Beautiful is behind the Earth Box initiative that has
given the school gardens a real boost.
Seven Generations Ahead is based in Oak Park. They had the first farm-to-school
program in the Chicago area in 2000
Slow
Food Chicago "an educational non-profit with the goal of
creating a world in which everyone can enjoy food that is good,
clean and fair. Slow Food represents a growing
national movement including over 3,000 supporters in the Chicago
area."
The
Kingsley School garden was made possible by the
Talking
Farm
"Its vision includes both a physical space to grow food for sale
to the community, as well as the educational and
knowledge-sharing activities that emerge from the operations of
an urban, organic farm..."
The Yarden (yard garden)
operates a yard garden in Chicago and wants folks to start their own.
GARDEN GROUPS - NATIONAL
School garden programs across the country are
spotlighted at
Garden ABC's.
Granny's Garden Schoool -teaching resources, other
programs around gardening with children, and ideas for
funding.
Kids Gardening is a very well managed site where
information is kept current. Especially useful for grant
resources and for well developed garden lessons and
activities. It's also the site for the
Mantis Awards,
given yearly, that provide a Mantis tiller/cultivator to winners.
The
Organic School Project mission is to combat childhood obesity and related
health epidemics through the Grow Teach Feed model, laying the
foundation for urban youth to build sustainable lifestyles.
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