Dispatches from the PS 295 Edible School Garden

Fresh off our Urban Garden Challenge, we thought this project was worth following...

At PS 295 The Studio School of Art and Culture in BK, they are building an edible garden! Garden education is so important for kids, particularly in an urban environment where they are often disconnected from the food they eat.

The school’s librarian, Susan Weseen, is spearheading several initiatives to educate all students at the school about gardening and the importance of knowing where nutritious food comes from. Through Ms. Weseen’s efforts, PS 295 was recently adopted by Slow Food NYC to participate in their Harvest Time Program, which provides schools with financial assistance to support good food education.

Beginning June 5th, PS 295 will be building 10 raised garden beds in the schoolyard and creating a mobile kitchen cart that will enable students to plan, grow, harvest and cook the food and herbs they’ve grown. In addition, she continues to co-facilitate a gardening class in the school’s after school program, which has planted and tended to two local community gardens, and was instrumental in planning an upcoming visit from Truck Farm, a Wicked Delicate Film and Food Project.

Slow Food NYC connected Ms. Weseen with Hans Hesselein, a Park Slope-based landscape architect who designed the garden beds.

Ms. Weseen, Gardening students, and volunteers including parents and members of Slow Food NYC began building out the raised beds on Saturday, June 5th. Compost will be delivered later in the month and starting in the last few weeks of school, students will begin planting the first crops including lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, nasturtiums, cilantro, swiss chard, peppers, and basil.

All students at PS 295 who have been involved with gardening over the past four years will be meeting with the filmmakers and will then share their experience with the rest of the school later this year.