A good year, with more to come

As we dive in to this new year, we wanted to share a few of our thoughts so far:

What makes us beam with pride…

My kindergartners all know the five components of my plate. They are excited to discuss food. We have chickens! We are going to have our first educational lunches in Springdale. The community is genuinely interested in the work we are doing! We have a farmer’s market (to be opened in the Spring). 

I love our community garden and I am proud to have been apart of building it literally from the ground up. I also really enjoyed our Food Day event. 

Also, the difference that the apple tastings and butternut squash tastings have made in the consumption of these products at lunch is very impressive.

What challenges us… 

Coming up with a solid sustainable plan for our community garden has been a little frustrating. There is always lot of trial and error that comes with starting a new initiative like a community garden, but I know with time and patience we will find a model that fits our community best.  

There aren’t enough hours in the day. It’s hard to prioritize what needs to come first, because you want your school to have it all now! Budget is always a challenge too. We have to spend carefully when we do spend. 

The things that make us smile...

I will never forget our first garden and cooking club meeting. I was nervous but super excited to meet my kids. The look on my students faces when we harvested sunflower seeds for the first time was priceless! Now looking back, I feel like time has flown by and we are a little family now. They make me smile everyday, I love them so much! 

I love when the students have “AHA” moments. In science club we work to connect what they’re learning in their classes. It’s always fun to see the moment the lightbulb turns on and the students reach a new conclusion. I also love walking down the hall and having students ask me if we are going to make smoothies or if we can go to the chickens/garden. OR if they can help build worm bins. They’re so ready to help.

- by the FoodCorps Arkansas team

Weed it and Reap

Fifth grade classes make vegetarian tacos with
homemade tortillas for their Thanksgiving lesson.

Last week I taught a Thanksgiving lesson to two fifth grade classes. I described Thanksgiving as a time of year when everyone is cheery; people reach out to thank everyone in their lives for their love and support. For week folks get geeky over new and old recipes. Then, after much anticipation, they come together with the people that matter most to give thanks for food (and chow down). Though we don’t endorse gorging yourself into a sloth-like state, our FoodCorps projects are not too different from what I just described. 

You could say here at Harp we celebrate Thanksgiving every day. Going a festive step further, I say we celebrate New Year’s every day too.  We give thanks and study food, and we reflect upon the problems with food in our society. Much like a daily New Year’s resolution, we seek to do better when we recognize opportunities for improvement. Every class we discuss how to better our eating habits. Our kids are tiny world-changers; and I am forever thankful for all they teach me.

Science club students with Harp's feathered friends. 

I would like to share a few of these lessons.  I believe children are adults without inhibitions. Not only can you learn a lot from a child, but they are also great sources of hope and entertainment! 

Lesson 1: Kids LOVE themselves. I asked science club what they were thankful for. Diego responded, “Diego.” It caught me off guard. “You’re thankful for yourself?” I inquired with a big grin on my face. “Yes I am!” he belted with pride. I go home and think about it and decide that the first step to living a healthy life is valuing one’s self. I admire Diego for his confidence and enthusiasm! 

Lesson 2: Kids are great dancers. As I stated above- kids are adults without inhibitions. So, picture how you dance when you are alone after a long day at work. Now picture twenty kids doing that in public. One day in science club our lesson ended five minutes early. I put on a child appropriate Beyonce song and instructed the kids to copy my dance moves. I am a good dancer, but I pale in comparison to my kiddos. They made sure to tell me that. The first time a student insisted on leading the group, I asked her how she didn’t get nervous acting so goofy in front of her friends. She said that good friends love you no matter how silly you act, and that people who make fun of you are probably just nervous, so you shouldn’t worry about them. “Never be scared of being you, Ms. S”. Wow, I am the one that’s supposed to be teaching them, right? I think of this every time I lift twenty pounds next to a strong athlete at the gym. 

Making apple stamps!

Lesson 3: Children are competitive; they love to win the prize.  I remember this as I make lessons: add an element of competition and then rig it so everyone wins. A child’s competitiveness is very different from that of an adult. As an adult, you compete for the best paper in college so that you will get the best letter of recommendation. You compete for jobs that will affect nearly every aspect of your life. On the other end of the spectrum, students compete to identify a vegetable first so that they can take home a carrot that says “science club’s star student”. One day a student was very upset she didn’t get a carrot to take home. Her friend ripped off part of her carrot, so that she wouldn’t be sad. Yes, they love competition, but they love their peers more.  These small acts of kindness happen all of the time. While they seem so simple, they are full of meaning.

My students never stop teaching me how to be fearless and selfless. They are so brave and innocent. I am thankful for all of the adults in my life, but this year I am most thankful for the 640 tiny teachers I get to work with. The best learning environment is one in which the students learn and teach. “They” say children are the future. It might seem scary when you’re watching them dance like madmen, but for the most part that statement fills me with hope! 

- Destiny Schlinker

An EGGcelent Start

A proud Laverne in her new home. Photo courtesy of CT.

Harp Elementary has six new teachers: Rosalita, Gertrude, Matilda, Laverne, Shirley and Lucy, our chickens. Classes take turns caring for the chickens, and our three weeks with them have been full of feathery fun. Yesterday a student spotted our first egg, a milestone we celebrated with the Chicken Dance! Harp Elementary School in Springdale, a new FoodCorps site this year, educates almost 650 students, many of whom speak English as a second language. The majority of our students are Hispanic or Pacific Islanders.

The school already has a large garden, founded by teacher Courtney Erickson last year. With 73% of our students qualifying for free and reduced lunches, our ultimate goal is to ensure that each student receives the nutrients and knowledge necessary to extend healthy eating habits beyond the halls of Harp into their homes. I wake up wondering how I am going to do that and fall asleep confident we will exceed our goals because the staff is supportive and the students are eager. The teachers at Harp are innovative leaders, and I am privileged to serve at their sides. We envision a school with a small orchard, native plants garden, green house, outdoor classroom, more chickens, family cooking classes and local food in the cafeteria.
 

Service member and site supervisor celebrate the first egg 
from their school chickens! Destiny is on the 
left and supervisor CT pictured on the right. 
Photo courtesy of Harp Elementary! 

I facilitate a 45 minute science club for the Harp Kindergarteners every day. Though my classes revolve around nutrition, many subjects are incorporated to maximize students’ learning experiences and excitement! You can find us in the garden on scavenger hunts, preparing soil for fall crops, decorating plates with healthy food rainbows, and singing and reading stories about vegetables. Grades first through fifth have also welcomed me into their classrooms.

Destiny digs in to prep garden beds with her students at Harp.

None of this is to say that our project is easy. It is difficult to decide what goal to tackle first and to create productive fun curriculum. Education is not a job you can leave behind when you go home; we never stop generating ideas for our garden program. But the rewards are so grand that you never want to escape your work.  On my FoodCorps profile it says my love for local food is “as thick as my Southern accent.”  This year FoodCorps serves in 15 states, and I chose to serve in my home state of Arkansas -  often underrated, with a lot of potential. I look forward to guiding its youth towards a healthier future and working with the invaluable farmers that give my state so much charm.  Here at Harp we are not just growing crops; we are growing a strong community full of happy, healthy kids (and chickens, too)!

If you're wild about Harp Elementary's Community garden, you can find more tales of chickens, kids, and food on their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Harpcommunitygarden

-- by Destiny Schlinker