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Greetings!
We're glad you're here.
If you are interested in more information on food education or school gardens, we welcome you to visit our website:
or contact us:
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ESY STATS
2012-13 SCHOOL YEAR
Students Reached: 1,361
Student Hours in the Garden: 206
Student Hours in the Classroom: 251
ESY QUOTE
OF THE MONTH
"I love those tulips. I wish they were in my family!"
-Dilworth Kindergartener
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WHAT WE'RE READING  "Hard and silent, a seed does not look alive. But inside each seed is a living plant waiting to grow.// Seeds from a maple tree twirl through the air like helicopters. Dandelion seeds drift in the wind like balloons, traveling to faraway places."
- Excerpt from Seeds Go, Seeds Grow by Mark Weakland
This book is an ESY Pittsburgh Garden Educator favorite! Great close-up photos and creative yet simple text that appeals to all ages. Available at 6 Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh locations!
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Join, Support and Learn with
Grow Pittsburgh!
Check out some of our upcoming events, opportunities and resources:
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This month's Let Us Eat dinner in support of Grow Pittsburgh is going to be held at Industry Public House. Let us eat!
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Community Garden Exchange Workshop Series
Interested in learning more about the how's and why's of planting, pruning, garden maintenance and harvest? This free workshop series allows participants to actively participate in workshops with knowledgable teachers from Pittsburgh.
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The Urban Harvester:
Each week, Grow Pittsburgh's Director of Agricultural Production, Susanna Meyer, shares her knowledge of urban growing, harvest and eating!
Check out the latest edition on creating compost.
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VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY
Each year, Grow Pittsburgh gives away donated veggie seeds and seedlings in partnership with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank at several of their Produce To People distributions. We're looking for volunteers to help! If you are a novice, we need your help sorting and packing seeds at two work parties at our office, 5:30-8:00pm on Friday, May 10 and 5:30-8pm on Tuesday, May 14. If you have veggie gardening experience, please consider volunteering at the distributions on Saturday, June 1 (Braddock), Saturday, June 8 (Homestead), and Saturday, June 15 (Northside).
RSVP to:
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Welcome, Spring!
April showers did indeed bring May flowers -- and an abundance of cool-season crops, to boot! Pittsburgh enjoyed great seasonal change in the past month. The air is still cool, but the sun is warm - inviting the kid-planted seeds and transplants to join the singing birds and excited students in the garden.
Summer Garden Care families are needed for all of our partner schools from June-August. After a June how-to workshop, families weed, water and harvest in their school garden during their chosen week. Interested? Contact your school's Garden Educator or email our ESY Program Manager (maria@growpittsburgh.org). Thanks in advance for helping our gardens to thrive this summer!
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Colfax Elementary (Squirrel Hill)
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Worm bin explorations
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With the blessings of sunshine, Colfax's Wake Up the Garden Event was a great success. If live jazz and the footsteps of many excited families wasn't enough to wake up our spring plantings, the rains that followed sure were. It's been all hands on deck ever since, with busy first graders seeding lettuce and peas, transplanting leeks and broccoli, and planting potatoes. Believe it or not, we've found time between plantings to dig into the compost, learn about bees, and play with some worms. With our tulips in bloom and all the trees leafed out, I don't think I'm alone in saying, "I love Spring!"
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Environmental Charter School (Park Place)
 | | Conversations over compost |
Last Friday's annual Earth Nite celebration was a great success and fun for all. This year's theme, "Talkin' Trash", fit in with much of the recent work happening at the lower school. The 2nd grade and lunch staff have been collecting compostable food scraps from the school cafeteria. Meanwhile, 3rd graders have been turning and maintaining the compost pile, and the 1st grade along with Kindergarten had the pleasure of spreading the finished compost atop their new, soon-to-be butterfly garden. So many food scraps have been coming out of the cafeteria (and avoiding the landfill) that things are getting stinky, and we've been busy negotiating new plans for better composting at ECS.
-Farmer Jim
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The Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh (East Liberty)
 | | A careful farmer planting his crops |
The third and fourth graders have been busy in the garden, and we have loved soaking in the springtime sunshine. Every garden bed is bursting with life, and the broccoli that the fourth graders transplanted is growing particularly well. The kids have toured the garden with excitement, and were especially pleased to smell and taste the thyme, sage, chives, and mint from our abundant herb bed. Rainy weather has not stifled our garden enthusiasm, as we learned about "vermicomposting," or composting with worms, in the classroom. The students learned all about the "browns" and "greens" of compost, and explored the Grow Pittsburgh office worm bin. Be sure to ask your student what they think about red wriggler worms, and their favorite worm fact of the day!
We have been gearing up for the
Earth Day Celebration at ULGPCS - Wednesday, May 1! The mural space is being prepared so that each student can contribute and leave their legacy in the garden space at school. I have fun games in store for the students, like a compost relay, and seed-starting, so that the kids can take home seedlings to grow. If you are a ULGPSC school community member interested in volunteering or contributing to our picnic lunch, please email me at molly@growpittsburgh.org!
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Dilworth Elementary (Highland Park)
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Potato planting!
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It's been a thrilling Spring in the Edible Schoolyard garden at Dilworth. The first grade classes have become expert tillers, as they spent several classes preparing the beds and planting seeds. Searching for worms and other insects made the tilling process quite exciting. Be sure to ask your student why we till the soil! In the garden, the tulips that the kindergarten classes planted in the fall are in full bloom, and our garden looks gorgeous with beautiful bursts of red, yellow, orange, and pink. The raspberries and blueberries are beginning to bud, and the garlic - which overwintered in the garden - is growing strong.
The first grade classes went on spring garden tours this week, and examined the wide range of spring crops that are still in their infancy: sugar snap peas, lettuce, turnips, spinach, crimson clover, broccoli, leeks, and potatoes. The kids are already looking forward to sharing a delicious spring salad with veggies from the garden before the end of the school year. I'm looking forward to a fun field trip with the Green Team at the beginning of May, as well as our Spring Garden Night the evening of Thursday, May 23 - more details to come!
-Farmer Molly
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Faison Elementary (Homewood)
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Transplanting Broccoli, a cool-season crop!
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We have been busy in the Faison school garden this April! Our garden is looking good as it finally wakes up this Spring - our tulips have sprouted up, as well as our garlic and spinach we planted late last fall. Mrs. Lucot's science classes have been outside learning about tool safety, transplanting broccoli, and direct seeding lettuce, turnips, radishes, and arugula. We are well on our way to having all the ingredients for tasty salads in class this June. We are really looking forward to the May 16th Garden Celebration outside Faison, from 5-7pm. Come eat a healthy meal and play fun garden games with us!
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Pittsburgh Montessori (Friendship)
 | | Watering, watering, watering. |
This April at Pittsburgh Montessori the garden finally woke up for Spring! After learning about safe tool use, we transplanted broccoli and leeks, direct seeded lettuce and spinach, and planted potatoes! Did you know a potato is a tuber? We also had a lot of fun communicating about pollen and nectar by dancing like honeybees. Next month we are looking forward to learning about compost, and planting our warm-season crops outside like tomatoes and peppers. We are also looking forward to being at the Heritage Potluck Dinner on May 30th! We'll be there with some seedlings to share and garden games to play!
-Farmer Courtney |
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ESY PGH Recipe of the Month
Crispy Kale Chips
Ingredients:
1 head kale, washed and thoroughly dried 
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt, for sprinkling
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.
Remove the stems from the kale and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Lay on a baking sheet and toss with the olive oil and salt. Bake until crisp, turning the leaves halfway through, about 20 minutes. Serve as finger food.
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Spring Celebrations!
Wake Up the Garden! at Colfax
With well over 200 people in attendance (and one life-size squirrel), Colfax's first ever Wake Up the Garden Event was a great success. Such a wonderful afternoon would not have been possible without the hard work of the newly founded Colfax Garden Committee, the dedication of the folks at Food Revolution and Bar Marco, our partnership with the Frick Environmental Center, the beautiful music of Ben Lee and Taylor Allderdice High School's jazz bunch and string ensemble, and the deep involvement of Colfax's staff and parents. Thank you!
Positive Celebration Dinner at Faison
Over 150 Faison students and family members joined Chef Dave Gancy (of the Red Oak Cafe), their Farmer Courtney and the ESY Education team for a fabulous evening of food and fun. What better way to celebrate great student behavior than by transplanting a kale seedling and adding a colorful ribbon? We can think of one! Thanks to all who helped make it a successful and delicious evening!
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Welcome to a new season of green growth. May it inspire you and your family to eat --and play --well!
-The Edible Schoolyard Pittsburgh team
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