East High Youth Farm
The Goodman Community Center, Community Groundworks at Troy Gardens, and the Madison Metropolitan
School District have developed a partnership to bring healthy organic food to a community in need.
Throughout this process students are learning valuable work skills while earning their high school
diplomas.
The Goodman Community Center serves residents on the eastside of Madison, Wisconsin. In Madison, 1
in 8 residents are battling food security issues with nearly half of this population consisting of
youth under the age of 18. In addition to preschool, youth, and senior programs at Goodman, there is
an alternative high school program housed at the center. These students who are at-risk of not
graduating are actively involved in preparing food for community meals feeding over 200 people every
day. These students also assist in the food pantry at the center which provides food for local
families in need. The knowledge and employment skills that these students learn will assist them in
their future careers.
Using an innovative hands-on experiential curriculum developed by educators at Troy and Goodman,
students are earning high school credit while working in the greenhouse, on the farm, and in the
kitchen. This “Seed to Table” curriculum includes lessons that help students explore concepts of
organic gardening, local produce, and seasonal eating. Currently this class is being taught to a
group of students at East High School and those students are in the process of transplanting
seedlings from the greenhouse to the farm beds. To date students have planted over 3000 onion, 1000
radishes, 1000 carrots, and 300 broccoli plants. There are also 1000 pepper and tomato plants
waiting to go into the ground when the threat of a late frost has past.
The students are also involved in collecting vegetable waste from the kitchen to create compost.
This process completes the cycle of starting with the soil growing plants, eating the produce, and
turning the scraps back into soil to use during the next growing season. Participating in this
process allows students to see scientific concepts at work.
All of the food that these students are growing will be supplied either to the food pantry or the
kitchen at Goodman. In the kitchen students in the culinary tract will transform these organic
vegetables into delicious and nutritious meals. Additional produce will be made available to the
public through the food pantry program complete with recipes for ways to prepare fresh produce.
The farm program is one of the scarce ways in which families in need can receive fresh organic
produce. By receiving a grant from Nature’s Path we will be able to expand this program; currently
we have access to five acres of land of which only one acre is in production. With additional
funding the East High Youth Farm will be able to serve more students in the school programming and
provide more families with nutritious seasonal vegetables.
For more information: http://www.goodmancenter.org/resources/food-meals or
http://troygardens.org/who-we-are
You might need to disable your popup blocker to sign in.
Twitter Login
Click the button below to continue.
You might need to disable your popup blocker to sign in.
This is an Individual Account. If this account upgrades to having a full company profile, then the company name and/or staff person's name would display here. Learn More>>
Please Read This!
You may want to upgrade your browser.
You're using Internet Explorer to browse Justmeans right now.
Justmeans will work better for you if you upgrade to the new version, or switch to another Web browser. A list of the most popular modern web browsers can be found below. If you have to use Internet Explorer because you are at work, we recommend version 8.
Select one of the icons to go to the download page:
List
Previous Idea
Justmeans
Facebook
Twitter
Guest
