From Seed to Plate

From Seed to Plate

A Guide for New Zealand Schools on Growing Food and Making School Lunches Together

UPDATE: Now includes a Google Doc version for ease of sharing with your staff!

A complete guide (over 145 pages) to how your school can start growing vegetables at your school. Even if you don’t have much land, we’ll show you how to get going with alternative growing techniques.

Why should your school get involved? First, education: kids need to learn where food comes from and the value of growing something to eat. Secondly, fresh vegetables and healthy foods are usually expensive in the shops. Growing foods can help the community. We have already seen how the floods of February brought transportation problems and scarcity of many items. There are schools in every community. A vegetable garden in every school could also be used in emergencies. If you had enough land you could also subdivide a corner into vegetable plots that people could use or rent from the school as allotments to grow vegetables for their families.

In this new manual, you will be guided through the best suggestions for vegetables, herbs and fruit to grow and when, how to plan and develop a growing area, planting, harvesting and collecting seeds, involving students, incorporating learning into many school subjects, developing a group within your school to organise meals and preparation, how to involve parents and much more!

Chapter headings include:

• Building a School Garden
• Choosing a suitable location and layout
• Growing Fruits and Vegetables
• Seed and plant suppliers that offer discounts to schools
• Integrating Gardening into the Curriculum
• Creating a School Lunch Program
• Promoting healthy eating habits
• Handouts for students and a booklet for parents
• Involving Students in Growing Your Plants
• Involving Students in Meal Preparation
• Involving Parents
• Managing seed & food procurement and budgeting
• Developing a meal plan and menu rotation
• Teaching basic cooking skills
• Making School Lunches Together
• Organizing community events
• Sharing the Harvest
• Evaluating and Sustaining the Program
• Collecting seeds
• Encouraging ongoing collaboration
• Additional plans and videos on projects

You only need to get one eBook (in PDF and Google Docs) and you can copy it and share it with all your staff; give out student sheets to pupils and offer a booklet to share with parents.

Download your copy today!