A project to expand PS 20 Green Arts, an interdisciplinary arts and gardening program that serves over 400 students at a Title 1 school in Brooklyn, New York!
Leader
Augusta Palmer
Location
225 Adelphi Street Brooklyn, NY 11205
This project is an expansion of PS 20 Farms, a classroom that grows in the heart of Brooklyn. Founded in 2010 at Brooklyn’s PS 20: The Clinton Hill School, this PTA-created and funded initiative started providing instruction to just two classes in 2011 and expanded to provide instruction in urban agriculture to four classes in 2012. This year, with your help, we will build beds surrounding the school so that our urban agriculture can reach ALL of our 14 classes, over 300 students in Pre-K to 5th Grade!
All of our kids will have the opportunity to dig in the dirt, plant seeds they helped save in the fall, and then sample the fruits of their labors in the form of herbs, mixed greens, pea shoots, tomatoes, and much more.
It’s also very important that students will be having this experience outdoors, in spaces that are open to the community, providing the opportunity for environmental education and urban farming to jump the fence into the wider community.
We have already completed measuring of the areas around the school where beds are to be built, created detailed plans, and consulted with school administration, teachers, and custodians about the feasibility of our plans. PS 20 Parents are excited about our expansion and willing to help with their volunteer labor.
Students will receive experiential, inquiry-based farming and ecology lessons appropriate to their grade level from veteran school gardener Jonathan Blumberg (a creator of and continuing consultant at the PS 107 School garden) and a small team of interns, building on curriculum developed by out past garden coordinators Joan Puchalski and Zachary Pickens. Students and staff will be supported in the garden and elsewhere by parent and PS 20 Farms Co-Founder, Augusta Palmer.
In order to complete this process, we will continue and expand weekly farming sessions to reach every class at the school. We will purchase needed materials and hold two volunteer days to build beds for every one of our 14 classrooms. We will then install timed irrigation systems to provide our plants with moisture. At the same time, we will be starting seeds in our indoor greenhouse and teaching students about worm composting. Classes will then plant in and take care of their beds. We will be able to do an early harvest before the end of the school year, and co-host our second Garden to School Café Day. Our success will be measured in both produce and achievement of learning goals for students.