EduCulture Spring-Summer News and New Website!

Hello Colleagues, Friends and Supporters,

It’s been a busy spring season. Much has been seeded: on our partner fields, in the minds and bodies of our students, in classrooms of our partner schools, and in the imagination of our future farmers.
It’s hard to believe that our EduCulture project is entering into our 7th Farm-School season on Bainbridge Island. What started as a series of educational ideas for bridging local farms and schools has been put into practice, and in some ways surpassed our imagination as a community. We started with one farm and two elementary school classes, and blossomed into three partner farms, four partner schools, dozens of visiting schools, and a growing cadre of community partners. By the end of our 2012-13 season, EduCulture will have served more than 1500 students, teachers, parents and community members through our edible education and Only What We Can Carry programs. In this new e-newsletter, you will find highlights from our spring season.
If the environmental education movement was grounded in curing nature deficit order, then our edible education movement is working to cure nurture deficit disorder- the absence of awareness, knowledge and engagement in our edible world and food communities. We are fortunate to be able to leverage our community’s rich landscapes and living heritage as curriculum for our local schools. Our farm-school partnerships have transformed neighboring farms into outdoor classrooms engaging students in what is already in the core curriculum and more.
EduCulture educates young people about where our food comes from, how it’s raised, and how they can grow their own. This generation of Bainbridge Island students can grow up knowing their local farmers as well as they know other important figures in their lives, like teachers, coaches, and doctors. Through our Bite of Bainbridge, students experience their local school food stream from farm to school lunch table.
This spring, we welcome Katie McDonald as our administrative and program assistant. She has done a fabulous job launching our new website and this e-newsletter. Thank you to Toby Jacobrown for stepping in for the spring season to work with our farm-school programs.
My deepest thanks, on behalf of EduCulture, goes to our farm, school and community partners- to the farmers, teachers, students, parents, and associates who collaborate with us to make big things happen on slender threads. As the educational architects, our bridges are only as strong as the foundations of the schools, and farms and community that support them. We appreciate the locally grown roots you have helped us so deeply plant.
Have a Happy Summer! We hope to see you in the field at one of our work parties.

Students from Blakely Elementary, Ordway Elementary, Wilkes Elementary and Island Cooperative Preschool, planted heirloom potatoes at our partner farms Butler Green Farms at Morales Farm and Heyday Farm. Their potatoes will be harvested by classmates next fall to be served in school lunches as part of our Bite of Bainbridge program.

1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders from our partner schools toured Suyematsu & Bentryn Family Farms, learning about the farm's rich history as Bainbridge Island's longest continuously worked farm. As students examined pumpkins beginning in the field and snap peas ready for harvest, they listened to the historical significance of the farm, its development, and the impact of Japanese American Internment on the Suyematsu family during WWII. More on our student field programs...

At our Outdoor Learning Center at Morales Farm, students helped handle the new worker rabbits recently donated from a local farmer. Ordway & Wilkes Elementary, as well as Island Coopertive Preschool students also learned about chickens, feeding them and collecting their eggs from our chicken coop.

Island Cooperative Preschool has been very busy in assisting with the potato planting for the season, and establishing a sunflower house in our demonstration plot. These preschoolers also enjoyed a chance to work with the chickens and rabbits. Their return visits have allowed them to see the progression of their seed planting in the greenhouse to the transplanting in the field. In the fall, they will come back to see their tall sunflowers, and to harvest potatoes and pumpkins.

As we usher in summer, come enjoy the beauty of the farm, soak in the hardwork of our students, nibble on some bounties of the farm, and lend a hand weeding and planting. Interact with our worker rabbits and new chicks. We will also have a "farm-raiser" to help fund ongoing projects.
Festivities will include a light brunch sourced from our partner farms and catered by Food Shed.
Read more...

Archiving Suyematsu family artifacts
EduCulture is working with our partners at the Bainbridge Island Historic Museum, cataloguing and archiving the Suyematsu family farm tools and other historical artifacts that were donated by Akio Suyetmatsu. The tools deepen students' connection to the tradition of farming, bringing the historical tours to life.
We are looking for a high school intern to assist with this cataloguing and archiving during the summer. The internship will be part-time for 4 to 6 weeks. Read more about internships...

New path constructed for Wilkes Elementary students
We are enjoying the completed trail connecting Wilkes Elementary to Suyematsu & Bentryn Family Farms through Vista Rd. The trail was built by our caring volunteers. It allows a safe crossing for our visiting students. Read more....

Washing Stations at Morales Farm
Morales Farm now boasts a new washing station for students. The washing station was built by our kind volunteers with a generous grant from Bainbridge Island Parks Department. It has improved our programs immensely, providing a safe and tidy way to clean up after farm chores. Read more...

Edible Democracy
The Puget Sound Edible Democracy Project seeks to produce an Inter-Cultural & Inter-Food Community Edible Education Exchange Project among late elementary students (3rd or 4th Graders) from three communities (urban, suburban-rural, and tribal) in the Central Puget Sound Foodshed. We hope to begin to pilot this program in 2013.

This Inter-Cultural & Inter-Community Edible Education Pilot Project is an educational experiment in cultural democracy surrounding our local food communities and common foodshed, representing a new frontier in the Puget Sound Region and beyond. Read more...

Professional Certificate Program

The Edible Education Certificate Program serves Higher & Adult Education.
A year long, in depth program of professional education aimed at building the pedagogical and curricular repertoire of educators, farmers, and community leaders responsible for developing, implementing and assessing edible education programs in their schools or communities.

The program is situated in the Central Puget Sound Region, utilizing the learning landscapes and edible education programs of EduCulture and its school and community partners. Along with integrating edible education within the core curriculum (math, science, social studies, ESE and STEM), the program will focus on the following areas of edible education: farm-school, school gardens, culinary arts, food justice & security, school food streams and community food systems. Read more...

Summer Picnics & Work Parties
This summer we will be hosting several work parties to help maintain our outdoor learning center, and to share with families the efforts of our students' work in the fields and their experiences with our farm animals. Summer work parties are a great delight! Bring a picnic lunch for afterwards. See our Calendar for the schedule.

Docent Program
We are launching a docent program. Guardians and chaperones have been enriching our farm school programs since the beginning. We enjoy their contribution and enthusiasm for this work. We are now training interested adults who can assist us in leading farm school programs.
If you have an enthusiasm for teaching and sharing, get in touch with us, we would love for you to come on board. Contact us for training information.

Internships open
We are seeking bright and earnest high school interns. Positions are open at our demonstration plot this summer. Interns assist with maintenance of crops and animals, help oversee work party volunteers, small construction projects, and research & writing.
One position open for the archiving and cataloguing of historic Suyematsu farm tools and artifacts. Applicant must demonstrate an interest in social studies, with strong organizational skills.
More on internships...

Volunteer!
Volunteer opportunities are ongoing. We have several exciting projects cooking for next season that we need assistance in building and establishing. Contact us if you're interested in helping on the farm, or with small construction projects.

Donations
We are deeply grateful for the generous donations that fund our education programs. Donations can be made by check (Educulture, PO Box 11316, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, through Paypal, or through our partner program One Call for All.

Material Donations
Currently we are looking for donations of:
- plants for our growing orchard
- lidded one gallon containers (like large yogurt containers).
- lumber for raised beds
Contact us for more details.

To change ideas about what land is for

is to change ideas about what anything is for. ~Aldo Leopold

Visit our new website: EduCultureProject.org

EduCulture Project at Global Source Education is an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization serving elementary and secondary education in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

A Letter from the Director

Spring Farm-School Programs

EduCulture and the Community

Other EduCulture Projects

We need your help!