TAMPA, Fla. — October is farm-to-school month, and there’s a program making the rounds at Hillsborough County Schools, teaching kids all they need to know about growing their own food.
Students are literally running with excitement to plant seeds at Sulphur Springs Elementary School. You could say the SEEDFOLKids after-school program is growing in popularity.
“What we do is we go into schools that are not performing well, they could be a C, D, or F school, and we create gardens that last, we stay there for the entire year,” said founder Jeanette Bradley, who has implemented the program at three different schools this year. “We think it's important that kids really understand where food comes from and that they have the power within themselves to create their own destinies, if you will, ‘I can create my own food.’”
From planting to harvesting to even cooking, these volunteers teach the third-grade participants every step of the way.
“The children have created recipes, so there is chocolate honey, vanilla bean honey, and each one of these came after one of our programs,” said volunteer Diana Kyle.
“So we are introducing a lot of fruits and vegetables that they never heard of, or they never tasted, and they get that opportunity not only to try it out here but go home and talk about it or show their families,” said Bradley.
The hope is that the students will apply what they learned to the rest of their lives.
“I like nature. Nature is with love from the sun,” said student Zion King.
The program's success caught the attention of Monica Petrella with Hillsborough County Extension. They recently started a networking endeavor called Homegrown Hillsborough.
“We’re really fortunate that Hillsborough County already has a lot of organizations that are doing food system work. Unfortunately, they are not all connected, and they don’t all have access to the same resources,” said Petrella. “So those organizations can get connected and share those resources, help with information, and help with volunteer training, so programs like this can thrive.”
“I can see what other programs are doing. I can see what else is happening not only in the school system but also within the various communities,” said Bradley.
Starting your own food system shouldn’t be a challenge because, with Homegrown Hillsborough, you don’t have to do it alone.
“A church, a neighborhood, a business, a non-profit, anybody that is interested in learning more about the food system we want to make sure we connect with, to make sure we bring them into the network and have the resources to succeed,” said Bradley.
For more information, go to Hillsboroughcounty.org or homegrownhillsborough.com.
Hillsborough County Extension has even created a Food Systems Survey, open for every resident in the county to participate in.
“So right now, through the end of the year, we are inviting all organizations interested in getting involved in this work, whether they are already involved or want to be involved,” said Petrella.
