October Farm to School Month: The Secret Succotash Society, Recap

By Kimberly Koogler

Kimberly Koogler is the Farm to School Coordinator at Georgia Organics. 

Next in our webinar series line-up on October 20 is Livin' la Vida Okra con Mis Pequeños Genios presented in Spanish by Maria Claudia Ortega of My Little Geniuses and Lena Enciso of Georgia Organics and translated to English by Kimberly Koogler of Georgia Organics.

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Today is your special day because we’re freely offering to you the steaming secrets of an American treasure, a most satisfying succotash. Welcome to this high society!

In case you missed it, The Secret Succotash Society gathered last week, and the not-so-secret secrets of “suffering succotash” were revealed. Cobb County UGA Extension Agent, Master Gardener, and Food Historian, Terri Carter (pictured below) beautifully laid out some of the intriguing and important histories behind both okra and the old, multicultural dish called “succotash.”

Chef, Author, and Health Educator, Asata Reid gave to us a live demonstration of how to cook succotash, made our mouths water, and shared with us some culinary secrets as well as some suggestions for incorporating cooking into curriculum and/or curriculum into cooking.

Here are some key takeaways, but seriously, check out the recording of this presentation (scroll down!) to make sure you get all the juicy bits:

• Africans, kidnapped and forced into slavery brought okra to the Americas.

• Explore the different names around the world for okra and how okra is used in different cultures.

• Succotash, introduced to struggling colonial immigrants by the Narragansett people, was born out of the genius Native American technology and system of planting known as the “three sisters”. The basic elements are corn, squash, and beans. This brilliant combination of legumes and whole grains provides the amino acids your body needs to create complete proteins.

Culinary secrets:

• To avoid okra slime, cook fresh, whole okra quickly, just until bright green and still firm.

• Or cook okra longer in stews so that it becomes part of the sauce and thickens the stew.

• Make sure you use a heavy pan (it’s better for caramelization and it’s safer in the classroom).

• Don't overcook your corn!

• Use lots of smoky paprika for flavor if you’re not going to use bacon or sausage.

• A whole lot of black pepper is the secret to Southern cooking.

• Serve your succotash over rice for a super sensational and satisfying, not-at-all-suffering, nutrient dense meal.

• This simple dish is bursting with opportunity to learn and teach: history, culture, social studies, math and science, measurements, chemical reactions, emulsification, knife skills, exploration of shapes, size, contrasting colors…

Here is the recipe and scroll down or click here to check out the recording!

Next in our webinar series line-up on October 20 is Livin' la Vida Okra con Mis Pequeños Genios presented in Spanish by Maria Claudia Ortega of My Little Geniuses and Lena Enciso of Georgia Organics and translated to English by Kimberly Koogler of Georgia Organics.

To see all of our upcoming Good Food for Thought events, visit georgiaorganics.org/virtual-events.

To learn more about and sign up for Livin’ la Vida Okra visit bit.ly/livinlavidaokra.

To learn more about Georgia Organics, visit georgiaorganics.org, and follow us on social media @GeorgiaOrganics and at facebook.com/GeorgiaOrganics.

Farm to School Innovation Mini-Grants In Lieu of Golden Radish Awards

By Kimberly Koogler

Farm to School Coordinator at Georgia Organics

When I started working at Georgia Organics four and a half years ago, part of my job (and one of my favorite parts) was to encourage School Nutrition Directors across the state to apply for an annual Golden Radish Award, the prestigious award that recognizes GA school districts who are doing extraordinary work in farm to school.

We would then review those applications, determine award levels, and help plan a swanky, celebratory award ceremony for the much-deserving awardees.

Applications from districts all over the state would start rolling in in May, and we would spend the summer months poring over their stories, data, and photos. And the photos were SO GOOD (see below)!

As we reviewed submissions and their most adorable accompanying photos, we were able to get an idea of how farm to school programs across Georgia were starting, taking shape, growing, and impacting students.

It was joyful and inspiring to get to bear witness and participate in this process.

The pandemic has deprived us of Golden Radish for two years in a row now, and we have been hungry to know how farm to school programs have been impacted. We also just want to be in closer touch with the School Nutrition heroes and farm to school champions of our state. It is why we are so thrilled to announce our 2021 Farm to School Innovations Mini Grants Program, the next best thing we could come up with!

For four years in a row, Georgia's School Nutrition Departments told us in post-Golden Radish Award surveys that what is needed is money to support Farm to School programs.

Out of a strong desire to support the amazing work that farm to school stakeholders do on a daily basis, we decided we should just give them the funds we would have used on an awards ceremony to support innovative farm to school projects, such as school garden sustainability initiatives, school garden expansion, stipends for hosting a school-based farmers market, equipment/supplies to support menu development, and more. The funds are intended to support farm to school initiatives that:

• increase access to local, fresh, organically grown food,

• include culturally responsive food and education,

• increase local food procurement,

• and/or benefit Georgia certified organic farmers in other ways.

Through this process, we also hope to see how farm to school is looking these days, and find out how the pandemic has impacted farm to school programs.

If you work in School Nutrition, we encourage you to apply! If you don’t, we encourage you to reach out to your school system’s School Nutrition Department to encourage them to apply. APPLY HERE.

Applications are due by September 11, and we will announce the awardees on September 24.

To learn more about this mini grant program or the Golden Radish Awards, visit farmtoschool.georgiaorganics.org/golden-radish-awards, or send an email to kimberly [at] georgiaorganics.org.

Follow Georgia Organics on social media @GeorgiaOrganics and at facebook.com/GeorgiaOrganics.

Creating Rich Environments: In the Compost Bin & the Classroom!

By Kimberly Koogler

Kimberly Koogler is the Farm to School Coordinator at Georgia Organics.

Last week, in partnership with teacher and farm to school expert Jenna Mobley, our Farm to School team presented a bilingual workshop all about composting and teaching composting lessons to English Language Learners. “Creating Rich Environments: In the Classroom and the Compost Bin” (click to view) was, much like compost itself, packed with super rich content.

We covered the why, who, what, how, and where of composting—the benefits, the decomposers, the compostable ingredients, and the containers and spaces for composting—in English and Spanish. We interspersed all of that information with interactive, dynamic lessons that teach composting in a way that is accessible to English Language Learners and fun for everyone, using the ten key components of Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE).

Farm to school expert Jenna Mobley

If you imagine all of the info, facts, rules, tips, and tricks that were presented as brown ingredients and all of the fresh, juicy lessons as green ingredients, our workshop itself resembled a healthy compost bin.

We sang, danced, made compost cake, even used some sign language, and we learned A LOT.

You can teach a group of students how to compost, the science behind it, and why it’s important, in such a way that they are also learning English and having fun. What a productive way to teach and what a rich environment you create in doing so!

Some key takeaways in case you missed it:

• Everyone can make compost! Choose from a diverse array of compost bin options for affordable, indoor and outdoor composting.

• There are many “rules of three” by which you can help yourself remember the how-to's of composting and troubleshooting.

• The FBI (fungus bacteria invertebrates) have a very special job—decomposition!

  • We can help them by giving them home, food, water, and air.

  • For their food, remember: if it grows, it goes.

  • We can put it in the pot, and let it all rot, for compost stew!

If any of the above left you wondering, you definitely need to check out the recording of this workshop, as well as our composting resources: Georgia Organics Composting Handbook in English and Spanish.

To learn more about Farm to School at Georgia Organics, visit farmtoschool.georgiaorganics.org, and follow Georgia Organics on social media @GeorgiaOrganics and at facebook.com/GeorgiaOrganics.

ECE Sourcing Solutions...sort of!

By Kimberly Della Donna 

Kimberly Della Donna is the Farm to School Director at Georgia Organics. Kimberly has always been interested in local foods systems and distribution, and finds the challenges Early Care and Education (ECE) providers have finding local food supply chains especially intriguing. She thinks that seeking local sourcing solutions for early care providers seems like a good strategy for job security. 

Two years ago, Georgia Organics embarked on a research project we optimistically called our “ECE Local Sourcing Solutions” project. If you’re an early care and education provider struggling to find sources of local produce, you know just how optimistic that title is!

Together with a researcher from GSU and another researcher from UGA, I set out to identify all the possible sources an early care provider in Georgia could tap for local food. We reached out to over thirty distributors and farmers that we thought definitely or possibly distributed local fresh food in Georgia. We were disappointed to only confirm and interview 15 sources, but it was exciting to create a directory of those sources specifically for ECE providers.

The Local Food Sourcing Directory listings include definitions of “local food,” as well as information on how each distributor identifies the grower of the food in their catalog. We tried to put all the information a provider needs to choose the vendor who fits with their local purchasing goals.  

The Local Food Sourcing Directory

Our next steps were to connect at least four of those vendors to ECE providers with local food sourcing goals so we could follow their progress of the purchasing relationship and note their process. We hoped to document their challenges and successes and create models to make it easier for other ECE purchasers to set up new, local purchasing programs. We never imagined it would be so challenging! Besides the challenge of finding the right geographical matches, providers who could meet distributors minimum orders, and farmers who had the time to even talk about direct purchasing relationships, there was COVID-19- which slammed the breaks on our project for over four months while upending supply chains and ECE environments. Needless to say, we didn’t find a long list of “ECE Local Sourcing Solutions”. 

Sourcing Solutions Best Practices

Sourcing Solutions Recommendations for Support Organizations

In the end, we were able to document four successful ECE local purchasing programs from different regions in Georgia. As those of us who work in early care know, there are so many different sizes, shapes, and styles of early care environments that one- size will never fit all when it comes to local purchasing. This short report shares some best practices that most providers seeking to create a local purchasing program can use as a guide, though.  

There are also some common challenges (too many challenges!) to be aware of when setting your expectations.  

There are even recommendations for agencies and organizations who support ECE providers.   

My favorite parts are the “Success Stories”, which share the innovative and inspiring ways that four brilliant business owners have created programs that support the health and wellness of Georgia’s little eaters, those who care for them, and their communities. 

Read the Farm to Early Care Sourcing Strategies infographic report here 

Making Soil from Scraps: The Dirt on Backyard Composting, Aug. 12 Workshop

By Melissa Needham

Melissa Needham is the summer Farm to School intern at Georgia Organics. She is a Master of Public Health student at the Rollins School of Public Health where she studies behavioral, social, and health education sciences. Melissa developed an interest in gardening and nutrition, education, and health equity while attending Appalachian State University. Interested in exploring the connection between education and health outcomes, Melissa served 2 years as a Teach for America corps member in Selma, Alabama, and 1 year as a Food Corps service member in Raleigh, North Carolina.

To learn more about composting as well as best practices for supporting and engaging English language learners in the classroom, register for the Creating Rich Environments: In the Compost Bin and the Classroom workshop on Thursday, August 12, 2021, from 4:00 - 5:30 PM. This bilingually-presented workshop hosted by Georgia Organics will lead K-12 teachers and early childcare providers through how to best to engage and support English language learners in the classroom through compost education.

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Photo credit: Jenna Shea Photography

While some consider coffee grounds, fallen leaves, potato peels, and yesterday’s newspaper as just a few more items to stuff into the garbage, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. The natural process of recycling organic matter like kitchen scraps, leaves, twigs, and yard trimmings back into a valuable and highly-treasured soil-like material is called composting. With the help of bacteria, fungi, worms, mites, and other decomposers, organic or once-living material is broken down into nutrient-rich compost.

More than Dirt

Aside from creating a rich soil amendment with loads of nutrients to add to your garden, composting diverts landfill waste, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and revitalizes soil and water.

Composting reduces waste. Organic materials like discarded food and yard trimmings make up nearly one-third of what reaches landfills and incinerators. 1 As organic material breaks down without air in landfills, it produces methane gas—a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. 2 Composting your food scraps, paper, yard trimmings, and more can significantly lower methane emissions.

Photos by Georgia Organics’ Farm to School Director Kimberly Della Donna

Composting improves soil. Compost breaks up heavy, compacted soils like the clay soils we have in Georgia, which allows plant roots to spread, improves soil drainage, and aerates the soil. It functions like a sponge when introduced to soil—it soaks up and holds nutrients and water where the plants need it most. Compost also contains many nutrients that boost soil health and help plants grow and function at their best.

Compost protects and revitalizes water. Because of compost’s sponge-like abilities, adding compost to the soil increases how much water can penetrate the soil which reduces runoff, prevents erosion, and replenishes springs, ponds, and lakes.

Photo by Kimberly Della Donna

The Rot Ingredients

When composting, it’s important to remember your Rule of Threes:

1.       Your pile should be 3’x3’x3’

2.       Add one-part green to two-parts brown.

3.       Keep your pile aerated and moist.

Your pile should be large enough to maintain heat, which means that it should be a minimum of 3'x3'x3' (or one cubic yard). A smaller pile will still produce compost but will take longer to do so. Just like us, our decomposers need three basic ingredients to break down organic material: food, air, and water!

Much like us, decomposers need a balanced diet to perform optimally. We separate the two kinds of organic materials they eat into greens and browns. Green materials are high in nitrogen whereas brown materials are high in carbon. Add one-part green nitrogen-rich material, such as food waste and grass clippings, to every two parts of brown carbon-containing material like newspaper, leaves, branches, and twigs. Avoid adding bones, meat, cheese, and other dairy products or oils, dogs and cat waste, and weeds.

Aerobic organisms need oxygen, so turn your compost every week. Turning too little will result in unfinished, smelly compost. Turning too often will produce finished compost slower and may allow some harmful microbes and weed seeds to survive. Compost should be about 50% moisture, or about as moist as a wrung-out sponge. If the pile is too dry, materials will decompose very slowly and if the pile is too wet, it will produce a foul odor.

Photo credit: Jenna Shea Photography

Harvest your compost when it is a rich dark brown color, smells earthy, feels cool, and crumbles in your hand. Let your compost sit for longer if there are still recognizable pieces of food, the pile feels warm, or compost is producing an odor. With the “rot” ingredients, time, and patience, you can transform your scraps into soil from your backyard.

Creating Rich Environments

There are countless composting methods, so consider your goals, space, and waste when selecting the best method for you. Whether you choose to purchase or construct a composter, or dispose of your waste through a composting service, composting is one of the simplest ways to promote a healthy, sustainable environment.

Register for the Creating Rich Environments: In the Compost Bin and the Classroom workshop here. For additional composting resources, check out our Composting Handbook.

#LivinLaVidaOkra: Summer Adventures in Okra

By Yaza Sarieh

Yaza Sarieh is a contractor for Farm to School at Georgia Organics and a Childhood Health and Wellness intern at the Georgia Department of Public Health.

Photos courtesy of Yaza Sarieh

One recent, rainy Sunday morning, I decided to visit my local Indian grocery store. As I was walking through the door, drying my boots and shaking the water off my jacket, I saw some children run by me, playing with these gigantic, gourd-like vegetables. I had no idea what this vegetable was, and set out to find it myself. When I made my way around the produce section, I finally saw it—this three-foot-long, dark green, ridged, narrow, tough vegetable is known as Chinese okra.

 Although it is botanically closer to squash and zucchini, Chinese okra is a unique variety found in many subtropical regions of the world. In terms of nutritional value, Chinese okra is an excellent source of vitamin C and a good source of dietary fiber, calcium and vitamin A. Additionally, the outside peel contains lots of iron and protein. Chinese okra is so tough and fibrous that sometimes, it is even dried out and used as a loufa!

Because I had never eaten Chinese okra before, I decided to take it home and experiment with it in new cuisines. While searching for different recipes, I found multiple dishes of Asian origin that incorporate Chinese okra.

In India and China, Chinese okra is often used in stews, stir fry, vegetable or meat dishes. I decided to try this Stir Fried Chinese Okra with Egg recipe which proved to be a pleasant surprise. The soft, spongy inside of the okra soaked up the flavor of the different sauces and spices, while the outside texture gave it a nice crunch.

What is the best way to start Livin’ la Vida Okra? Try new cuisines and learn about the importance of okra in other regions of the world!

Okra is prominent in Southern food culture, but there are so many varieties around the globe. Okra is rooted in diversity, whether it is the dynamic ways it is incorporated in different cuisines or the various types of okra plants and fruits out there, which makes Livin’ la Vida Okra a great opportunity to expand our palate and immerse ourselves in other cultures and traditions.

Sign up for Livin’ La Vida Okra activities & lessons today at bit.ly/livinlavidaokra!

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Sources:

• specialtyproduce.com

• crystalvalleyfoods.com

• healthythairecipes.com

Good Food for Thought: Ready? Set? Plant! Livin’ la Vida Okra!

By Kimberly Koogler

Kimberly Koogler is the Farm to School Coordinator at Georgia Organics and a former farmer at Cosmos Farm, where this event took place.

Last week the Farm to School team gathered on a hot, sunny day at Cosmos Farm in Carrollton, GA to start livin’ la vida okra.

We began by reviewing how you can participate in Livin’ la Vida Okra and what you get out of it. Then we covered the basics of planting okra on a small scale, and Little Ones Learning Center’s garden educator Farmer Trin and their PreK class showed us how to plant okra in one of their raised bed gardens.

As it turns out, preK students are really good at instructing how to plant okra seeds, and they look very cute while doing so!

Farmer Trin and Georgia PreK planting okra seeds at Little Ones Learning Center in Forest Park, GA

Finally, Farmer John Davis professed his undying love for okra, showed us how they plant okra at Cosmos Farm, using his old, faithful tool, the Earthway seeder. He also shared with us a couple of funny okra harvesting stories, involving a snake and the notorious “okra itch.”

Farmer John demonstrated how they plant okra seeds at Cosmos Farm using a nifty tool, the Earthway seeder.

It was a fun way to kick the summer off and to get some okra seeds planted in anticipation of October Farm to School Month! In case you missed it, here are some key takeaways:

· Okra is easy to grow, low maintenance, highly productive, resilient, and beautiful!

· The sooner you plant it, the more okra you’ll be able to harvest, up until the first frost.

· There are so many ways to enjoy okra, pickled being one of the favorites at Cosmos.

When you sign up to participate in Livin’ la Vida Okra you’ll get access to our robust online resource toolkit, which includes Georgia standards-based lessons for early care through 12th grade, fun, educational activities, fact sheets and growing guidance, and a delicious and diverse array of okra recipes shared by fellow Georgia farm to school stakeholders!

Watch the recording on our YouTube channel here, and sign up to join in on all the Livin’ la Vida Okra fun here!

SUMMIT 2021—Supporting the Whole Child using Farm to Early Care and Education with Wendy Palmer

By Yaza Sarieh 

Yaza Sarieh is a contractor for Farm to School at Georgia Organics and a Childhood Health and Wellness intern at the Georgia Department of Public Health.

Sign up today for the eighth annual Georgia Farm to School and Early Care and Education Summit, held virtually from Tuesday, April 27 through Saturday, May 1. The Summit features dynamic education sessions highlighting gardening, cooking with kids, local procurement, curriculum integration, and more! This event is hosted by Georgia Organics and the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning.

SIGN UP FOR SUMMIT TODAY!

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“In Farm to School and ECE, I love the shift that is taking place to incorporate the whole child. Rather than thinking that food is just fuel, food is starting to be used in other components of childhood wellness such as mental and emotional health or physical health.”   

Farm to ECE initiatives are a wonderful tool to educate children about the complexities of life, whether it is the different dynamics at play when procuring local foods, the importance of health and well-being, or the value of our environment. Wendy Palmer, a registered dietitian and certified health education specialist, has found ways to weave these different topics into garden and nutrition education.  

One of Wendy’s Farm to ECE favorite strategies is using the garden to promote positive mental health outcomes. She encourages educators to utilize the garden not only to teach children about where food comes from and how it grows, but also to show students unique coping or stress-reducing mechanisms.  

Wendy mentioned, “Exercise is a great way to relieve stress and cope, but there are other ways that we can encourage good mental health strategies early on as well. We can teach children to meditate in the garden, to care for plants or to harvest healthy foods for them and their families, activities that will nourish a sense of accomplishment. FTECE gives us the opportunity to engage with students in some many different ways!” 

Wendy is thrilled to be participating in this year’s Summit, to share knowledge as well as to learn from the wide variety of expertise present. During her session, Wendy will be giving us insight into the ways that you can utilize Farm to School to support holistic childhood development -- physically, emotionally and academically. 

SUMMIT 2021—Bee Smart. Eat Smart: Meet Dr. Caree Cotwright

By Yaza Sarieh 

Yaza Sarieh is a contractor for Farm to School at Georgia Organics and a Childhood Health and Wellness intern at the Georgia Department of Public Health.

Sign up today for the eighth annual Georgia Farm to School and Early Care and Education Summit, held virtually from Tuesday, April 27 through Saturday, May 1. The Summit features dynamic education sessions highlighting gardening, cooking with kids, local procurement, curriculum integration, and more! This event is hosted by Georgia Organics and the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning.

SIGN UP FOR SUMMIT TODAY!

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“We have a strong Farm to School and ECE Alliance and Coalition in Georgia, and I am looking forward to learning from the expertise of the diverse partners and connecting with them.” 

Partnerships make Georgia Farm to ECE stronger, something Dr. Caree Cotwright has experienced firsthand. A professor in the UGA Obesity Prevention lab, Dr. Cotwright, has been working with the State Botanical Garden in Athens, Georgia to use Farm to Early Care and Education as a strategy for preventing childhood obesity. This partnership led to a summer pilot program at the State Botanical Gardens called “Bee Smart, Eat Smart” that allowed UGA to analyze the implementation of comprehensive garden curricula in Early Care education.  

While collaborating on this project, Dr. Cotwright noticed the benefits of using gardens as a holistic place to nurture student’s learning, development, and lifestyle choices. She noted: 

 “There was so much learning going on in the garden! I love that Farm to ECE connects students with where food comes from. When these students develop basic knowledge and love of food, nutrition, and the environment early on, they are taught to be mindful and have an appreciation of the whole spectrum that will serve them well in the future.”  

During Summit, Dr. Cotwright and her students will be hosting a virtual tour of the State Botanical Gardens where they tested their Farm to ECE garden curricula. Then, they will provide best practices for creating partnerships and offer suggestions for funding mechanisms and garden curriculum development that enhances Farm to Early Care and Education.  

Visit our website to learn more and register for this year’s Summit using this link! 

Announcing Farm to School Month 2021: 'Livin’ La Vida Okra!' Starts this Summer in Your School’s Garden

By Kimberly Koogler and Yaza Sarieh 

Kimberly Koogler is the Farm to School Coordinator at Georgia Organics. Yaza Sarieh is a Farm to School Contractor with Georgia Organics, as well as a Child Health and Wellness Intern with the Georgia Department of Public Health.

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For more guidance that will include more visual aids for all the visual learners out there and will also be more entertaining, please save the date for our upcoming virtual Good Food for Thought event, all about getting ready for Livin’ la Vida Okra on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 at 3:00 pm. This fun AND practical event will include a presentation on how to plant your okra seeds with students, as well as a special on-site demonstration. So, mark your calendars, and we’ll all plant okra together this Summer, and then we will celebrate a bountiful okra harvest together during October Farm to School Month! 

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We are celebrating okra this October for National Farm to School Month, but preparations will begin long before October! If you want your school garden to be ready with a bountiful okra harvest, you should plant your okra before you come back for school in the Fall. Okra takes a few months to get to the point where it is producing vigorously, but once there, it will give and give until the first frost. For the most bountiful okra harvest, we recommend planting your okra either before school gets out in May or during the summer break, in June or July.  

This means that someone will need to take care of it while school is not in session! School gardens are often neglected during the summer, but with a little help from the school community, they can survive and even thrive. With advance planning, you can ensure your okra crop and any other summer vegetables growing in the garden are flourishing and in abundant supply when school starts back up again.  

From Mis Pequenos Angeles, photo credit: Linden Tree Photography

How to recruit and manage help from your school community: 

• About a month before school gets out for the summer, advertise the need for summer school garden helpers through announcements, newsletters, e-mail communications, and social media.  

• Clearly communicate your goals for the garden: Let folks know what the goals are--one being thriving okra plants--and shout it from the rooftops that we’ll be Livin’ La Vida Okra this Fall!  

• Engage students in virtual outreach efforts, encouraging them to share with their families and on social media. This will not only help spread the word but will also increase students’ sense of ownership of the school garden. 

• Check-in with educators who may be hosting summer school sessions or summer camps at the school to coordinate schedules and/or cross collaborate. 

• Use Calendly (https://calendly.com/), Sign Up Genius (https://www.signupgenius.com/), Google Calendar, or another online group scheduling tool and ask volunteers to commit to one or two weeks of summer garden maintenance.  

Helpful hints: Make sure you understand your school district’s policies regarding volunteers and summer programming to ensure rules and regulations are followed (e.g., filing waivers for volunteers, getting access to school grounds, water, etc.).  

Check out this Collective School Garden Network “Building a School Garden Support Network” resource

From My Little Geniuses, photo credit: Linden Tree Photography

Once you have recruited summer garden helpers, you’ll need to provide some guidance and simple instructions:

• Outline a plan for weekly maintenance tasks, such as watering, weeding, harvesting, etc. 

• If you haven’t already done so, add planting okra to the to-do list! Be sure to include clear instructions on where to plant the okra seeds. 

• Create a simple maintenance calendar that is accessible to all your garden helpers and populate it with tasks to be done on a weekly basis.  

• Include optional tasks that would be nice to have done but are not critical for garden survival as extra options to keep your garden lovers happy and busy.  

• Post your maintenance calendar in the garden and online. Use Google Calendar or whatever your school’s preferred shared calendar is. Make sure the sharing settings are open to all garden helpers, and share the calendar with all garden helpers on social media, through newsletters, and email. 

Courtesy of Kimberly Koogler

Guidance on Planting and Caring for Okra

When?  

Okra thrives in the heat and full sun and should be planted when the days become consistently warm. In Georgia, the ideal time is late April through July.  

Which okra varieties should you plant?  

Spineless varieties will be kinder to everyone’s skin. Otherwise, okra thrives in our climate, so you can’t go wrong with any variety! Southern Exposure Seed Exchange has 18 different varieties to choose from. You can also wait until the sign-up for Livin’ La Vida Okra goes live in June. The first 300 people who sign up will be mailed a resource packet, which will include two okra seed packets. 

How?  

Okra can be direct-seeded or transplanted, but its root system prefers to be direct-seeded. Sow seeds ¾ to 1 inch deep, spaced approximately 18 inches apart, in rows 5 to 6 feet apart. If transplanting, start seeds in trays or pots 2-3 weeks before planting outside. 

Courtesy of Kimberly Koogler

Then what?  

Keep the area around your okra plants free of weeds, especially while the plants are still young. After pulling weeds, you can apply a thick layer of mulch to prevent any more weeds from growing. When the seedlings are a few inches tall, thin them out so that they are at least 18 inches apart. Okra plants can grow to be quite large, so it’s important to give them ample space to branch out and flourish.  

Keep your okra plants well-watered, especially while they are flowering and producing pods.  

How to Harvest Okra 

The sooner you plant your okra this Summer, the sooner you’ll start harvesting it, and once your plants start putting out pods, you need to stay on top of harvesting!  

You can use a knife or scissors to cut the okra pods from the plant (students should be careful!), or you can gently snap the stem of the okra pod from the plant. Harvest while the pods are still tender. Generally, this means at 2 to 3 inches; however, if it has been rainy (and warm), the pods will grow faster and can be longer yet still tender. Try to harvest daily, or at least every other day, in order to harvest while pods are still tender and to encourage the plant to keep producing pods.  

Okra pods become woody if they’re left on the plant for too many days. Remove the woody pods and save them for another use or toss them into the compost. Leave the tiny pods to grow a little longer and gain more flavor. 

Be sure to share the summer garden harvest! 

Show appreciation to volunteers by allowing them to take home some of the harvested produce. Sending gratitude and giving due credit to participants can create long-term investment in your gardening projects and generate a greater sense of community.  

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For more guidance that will include more visual aids for all the visual learners out there and will also be more entertaining, please save the date for our upcoming virtual Good Food for Thought event, all about getting ready for Livin’ la Vida Okra on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 at 3:00 pm. This fun AND practical event will include a presentation on how to plant your okra seeds with students, as well as a special on-site demonstration. So, mark your calendars, and we’ll all plant okra together this Summer, and then we will celebrate a bountiful okra harvest together during October Farm to School Month! 

SUMMIT 2021—Using Farm to Early Care and Education to Move, Play, and Learn with Ms. Ladybug

By Yaza Sarieh  

Yaza Sarieh is a contractor for Farm to School at Georgia Organics and a Childhood Health and Wellness intern at the Georgia Department of Public Health.

Sign up today for the eighth annual Georgia Farm to School and Early Care and Education Summit, held virtually from Tuesday, April 27 through Saturday, May 1. The Summit features dynamic education sessions highlighting gardening, cooking with kids, local procurement, curriculum integration, and more! This event is hosted by Georgia Organics and the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning.

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Photos courtesy of Ms. Ladybug

“I am so excited to see all of the wonderful human beings at Summit who make such an impact in Georgia F2ECE. When you embrace F2ECE as part of your mission, it opens lots of possibilities and safe, entertaining, healthy doors with loads of positive outcomes for children.”  

Ms. Ladybug is the embodiment of her name—she is a garden-warrior and an exuberant advocate for F2ECE as a means of teaching children about the world around them.

Her tried-and-true methods of engaging with children focus on elevating children’s voices first, then using a silly, fun framework to get them excited about nature and the garden.

For example, to inspire students to eat fruits and vegetables, she gets them thinking by taking them outside to watch what worms eat. She asks questions like, ‘Do the worms like cheese? Or do they really like kale and watermelon?’ Ultimately, she has found that when students connect with nature and nutritious foods through these types of observations, they aspire to eat more nutritious foods too!  

Photos courtesy of Ms. Ladybug

In addition, F2ECE has been a way for Ms. Ladybug to contextualize complex societal issues while promoting diversity and equity.

Photos courtesy of Ms. Ladybug

When the students are in the garden, Ms. Ladybug prompts them to notice individual plant needs and how some plants differ from others. This activity allows students to visualize equity. She invites the students to celebrate these differences and recognize the beauty and purpose that each plant gives to its ecosystem.

Ms. Ladybug believes that F2ECE not only provides students with a way to understand the world but that these meaningful connections teach them to care for their own and each other’s well-being.   

During Ms. Ladybug’s Summit session, she will present creative and captivating ways in which you can incorporate simple F2ECE lessons into your daily activities.  

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Sign up today for the eighth annual Georgia Farm to School and Early Care and Education Summit, held virtually from Tuesday, April 27 through Saturday, May 1. The Summit features dynamic education sessions highlighting gardening, cooking with kids, local procurement, curriculum integration, and more! This event is hosted by Georgia Organics and the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning.