Category Archives: Teaching

We pestered our friends from late February until March 20 about our sale of High Mowing Organic Seeds. We e-mailed to every address we have collected over the years, posted on Facebook again and again, blogged and talked about the sale at every live opportunity we found.

So how did we do?

Total sales were $407. Of that, we netted $231.87. We also received $179 in contributions over the same several weeks. We’ll count them together, since all that pestering definitely seems to prompt the contributions. So all told, we brought in $410.87.

Many thanks to everyone who bought seeds, who made contributions or who helped us spread the word. We buy tools, supplies and materials with funds we raise. We build raised beds. We put grow lights in classrooms. We create hands-on learning opportunities.

—Bill Stoneman

Sowing seeds, repotting plants, turning compost and other gardening activities often triggers an intriguing response when done in a high school. Student after student proclaims, “Yuck! You touch that dirt? That’s gross,” or some variation thereof. You should have heard the squeals today when we opened package of red wiggler worms.

The dismay is not universal. And of course many will move past this aversion to dirt (actually often sterile potting mix) and dirty. Still, it raises worrisome questions. Are we raising kids today at such arm’s length from nature that so many will be unable to help care for the environment that they’ll pass on to their children? And will these kids be able to enjoy the restorative benefit of nature?

Helping kids get comfortable with the idea of touching that yucky dirt takes time and some patience. If fostering this comfort is one thing the Vegetable Project does, however, we suspect the time it takes will have been well spent. Indeed, comfort with some dirt under the fingernails just might be an important gateway to making more peace with surroundings than so many of our students do.

 —Bill Stoneman

We encounter two schools of thought when we suggest get-the-hands-dirty projects, and especially when it involves taking students outdoors and putting shovels and other tools in their hands.

Members of one school voice doubt, noting difficult behavior and expressing concern that physical movement, handling tools and materials and spread-thin supervision is a recipe for trouble. These scholars also observe that so many students really do not like communing with nature or getting their hands dirty (more about this in next post). Some members of this group also say that students must earn the freedom that goes with hands-on activity with good behavior.

The alternative view,  however, is expressed as guarded hope that offering Continue reading →

Seed companies are not all the same. And so we’re especially proud to team up with High Mowing Organic Seeds in this year’s seed sale fund-raiser.

Why? The Vermont company’s focus on providing seeds with the best prospects of doing well in our organic gardens in the Northeast. As Mother Earth News explains in a recent issue, “The crops that will do best in your garden are those grown with high-quality seeds that have been carefully maintained and that match your growing Continue reading →

Perhaps no one has as much faith that great things can grow from tiny seeds as small-time gardeners. At the Vegetable Project, this faith includes a firm belief that small contributions can really add up.

Thus, we ask you to keep an eye out for Boxtops for Education labels, which you can find on scores of Continue reading →

Our garden initiative is built to a significant extent on the idea that some of the most important teaching and learning occurs rather casually, when we make connections and then build on those connections. That’s a big reason we placed a grow light and a tray of plants in the library at Albany High School.

With scores of students and staff members passing the display all day long, we Continue reading →