Mike Zamm, Director of GrowNYC's Environmental Education program, recently spent 7 weeks putting students at Frances Perkins Academy through a water workshop, teaching kids about hydrology, the water cycle, New York City's watershed, and more.

As a culmination of 7 great weeks of work, students from Frances Perkins mulched 36 trees and planted 13 large trees across the street from their school, in McCarren Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The project will help control storm water runoff and erosion in the Newtown Creek watershed.

Grow to Learn NYC: the Citywide School Gardens Initiative, a program co-founded by GrowNYC, knows that gardens, cafes and cafeterias are classrooms too, so we asked NYC chefs to lend their support and expertise.

Chefs are an integral part of shaping how we eat and how we view food so it’s only natural that they take part in GrowNYC’s Grow to Learn school gardens program. In gardens, in farmers markets, in schools and in restaurants NYC chefs are helping to advance the good food/good health movement by:

• Teaching students how to prepare healthy school lunches, snacks, and meals using fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs
• Encouraging healthy eating habits by demonstrating the natural deliciousness of farm fresh foods
• Introducing young people on the cusp of adulthood to possible career choices

From June 24 – 30, you can visit participating restaurants and help NYC youth gain better skills, habits and knowledge about growing, eating and preparing food. All of the Dining Out for School Gardens restaurants, will donate a percentage of the sales of one or more menu items towards supporting school gardens.

Your participation will help ensure that New York City’s youth are getting outside and growing–and making the connection between what’s in the garden with what’s on their plates by visiting these restaurants:

MANHATTAN

Back Forty – Sauteed tokoyo turnips (side dish)

Elsewhere Restaurant – Eat Drink Local Week prix fixe menu

Gotham Bar and Grill – a special $25 Greenmarket menu

Gramercy Tavern – Eat Drink Local Week prix fixe menu

The Green Table – local artisanal cheese plate

Henry's – Greenmarket square meal

Hung Ry – Eat Drink Local Week prix fixe menu

I Trulli – special Greenmarket Tasting Menu

Má Pêche - mushroom + asparagus appetizer

Mae Mae Café - Veggie burger

Northern Spy Food Co.

Riverpark - Mascarpone Ravioli

Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto culatello locale

Battery Park City Shake Shack - summer blackberry cobbler milkshake

Trestle on Tenth - Greenmarket strawberry sundae and spinach gnocchi

‘wichcraft – Asparagus frittata, roasted free-range chicken, and marinated zucchini sandwiches

BROOKLYN

iCi - A special Eat & Drink Local Menu ($46)

Rose Water – Eat Drink Local week menu

The Vanderbilt – Fleischer’s Heritage Pork Loin

Interested in supporting Grow to Learn NYC?  Donate today!
(choose Citywide School Gardens as your program designation)

Grow to Learn is a program of GrowNYC and the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City. Learn more at www.nyc.gov/growtolearn.

To add your restaurant to this promotion, contact Julie Walsh at jwalsh@grownyc.org.

This afternoon, teens from our environmental education program were out cooking food at the Union Square Greenmarket in their pizza box solar ovens. One oven went above 200 degrees!

Learn It, Grow It, Eat It started it's annual spring break internship five years ago after hearing from high schoolers how bored they were during their week off. Last week, 8 students from 3 high schools (Bronx International, Bronx Regional and LaGuardia high schools) worked together for 2 days in Wishing Well Community Garden getting veggie plots ready for spring and then putting together a nutrition education label reading workshop which they presented to staff at the Novetel Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

The presentation featured the debut of LGE's latest interactive display, "Chubby Comes to America," a look at the mind-boggling amounts of sugar in favorite children's drinks and foods. Staff at the hotel were truly surprised by what the teens had to tell them and asked if they could come to their children's school to do the same. Intern Alhassan Yaya said, "I feel very proud that i had the opportunity to teach adults things that they didn't know." Another intern, Kassandra Ramos, really enjoyed "doing something positive with students from other high schools."

GrowNYC is proud to annouce the release of our 2010 Annual Report, a comprehensive guide to all of GrowNYC's programs and activities from the past year.

The front cover features a gorgeous photograph of New York City's 5 boroughs rendered with Greenmarket fruits and vegetables. The photo was made possible by our new board member Everard Findlay and Everard Findlay LLC.

Check out our annual report below, or send us an e-mail if you'd like a hard copy.

As part of GrowNYC’s Environmental Education program, 31 students from DeWitt Clinton HS spent half a day clearing 3,800 square feet of bush honeysuckle invasive plants at Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. The NYC Parks Department will follow the students’ work by planting natives in the area.

NYC Media, the official television, radio and online network of the City of New York, recently profiled Learn It, Grow It, Eat It on LunchNYC.

Our part starts at 6:40. Check it out!

We started our Learn It, Grow It, Eat It (LGE) program in 2005 as a collaboration between our community garden and environmental education programs. LGE students, from four high schools in the Bronx and one in Manhattan, take part in a three-part program: growing food in local community gardens; receiving nutrition education, which they then use to perform health-related outreach activities in their schools and neighborhoods; and operating a Youthmarket community farm stand where they sell the food they grow. Today was the second to last day at their Youthmarket, but the market was still full of produce from their garden. The last market day of the season is next Wednesday, October 27th, at Boston Road and 169th St from 10 AM to 2:30 PM. Take a look at some photos from their garden at Wishing Well Community Garden and from their Youthmarket.