The Dirt

Our after school Garden and Cooking Club got into the dirt this week, literally. From tilling the soil to starting our first compost pile (pictured) to building our own Worm Café to some simple pH tests to figure out how to feed and replenish what was used up by last year's plants, we've been hands deep in the dirt (and the weeds) for the last two weeks! Along the way, we learned what a wonderful rich story every square inch of soil has to tell and we thought we'd share a few of the most fascinating facts with you.

What exactly is dirt?
According to our book on soil, soil is "the naturally deposited unconsolidated material which covers the earth's surface whose chemical, physical, and biological properties are capable of supporting plant growth." Huh? Deposited unconsolidated material, eh?  We love the SAT-worthy words, but we wanted to find a simpler definition so we surfed over to Websters Kid's Dictionary and found this:

soil (noun):
i. firm land
ii. a : the upper layer of earth that may be dug or plowed and in which plants grow
b : the superficial unconsolidated and usually weathered part of the mantle of a planet and especially of the earth
iii. country, land <our native soil>
iv. the agricultural life or calling
v. a medium in which something takes hold and develops

Definitions 2 and 5 seemed closer to what we think of when we talk about the soil in the garden. Still they still did not quite give us the simple straightforward definition of soil we were hoping for--and maybe that's because soil is so much more complicated than we give it credit for! It's literally teaming with life and essential to helping new life translate sunlight into usable energy. Soil is a crucial part of nature's recycling system and critical to the food web that we all rely on. For now we're consider soil as the living, breathing outer layer of the earth that's made from all kinds of materials (plants and rocks and vegetation and animal matter) in various stages of decomposition that provide habitat for new plants and animals.

Soil as we know it today has developed over an extremely long period of time; in some cases even thousands of years. It's one of the earth richest resources and it's also one of our most renewable. But it does require some care, especially when we put it through rigors like farming and remove its natural rehabilitators (like forests) from its surface. So, we've been testing the soil in our 39 rooftop planters and are getting ready to feed it with…you guessed it…worm poo! Feeding the soil is on our "to do list" for next week's gardening club.

So until then, we'll leave you to contemplate this chart that shows how soil fits into a complex food web plus a link to some great further reading about the basics of soil from CXI. We really like how they define Soil as "a complex habitat where plants and microorganisms live together. Healthy, living soil is alive with a diverse population of microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa, and nematodes. These organisms create a web of activity that decompose organic matter in soil to ensure that nutrients are usable by plants and crops. This results in continuous soil development, maintenance of soil structure, nutrient cycling, and various beneficial interactions with plant roots."

Pumpkin Patrol!

We continued the process of getting the beds ready for the first spring seedlings and plants enlisting help from as many community members as possible! One of Mr. Sander's 3rd Grade Science Classes at Promise Academy 2 has been growing Pumpkin Seeds in their classroom and brought them over to the garden to find more space to grow. Traipsing down Madison Avenue with the spindly pumpkin plants in tow, they happily dubbed themselves "The Pumpkin Patrol."

Transplanting seedlings can be a tricky process. Even if you are careful you may lose some of your hardiest plants along the way. For fledgling sprouts that have grown up in the comforts of a classroom, sudden exposure to the elements can often be too much. Be as gentle as possible and if you've got the time "harden off" your plants off by slowly taking them out into the fresh are. This process simply means that you gradually expose your plants to the outdoors in order to help them acclimate. When your plants are coming from one school building to another, you can't always create the ideal conditions. The harsh reality of the outdoors, combined with the fact that our roof can get very windy and we knew our pumpkin plants would have to be packed in well for good soil-to-root contact in order to have a fighting chance in their new setting. For more about transplanting your seedlings outside in your own garden, read this article: http://bit.ly/j13Wfm

We have had some surprises this spring in the garden...like the carrots and beets that survived through the winter! We've also got several herbs that have self-seeded and sprung back to life including oregano, thyme, sage and parsley. Thanks so much to the group of students and teachers who came over to help us start transforming our garden from winter's fallow ground to spring's sprouts. We have had a mysterious arrival of loads of Pansies in many of our vegetable beds which are beautiful and unexpected joys. We've been working to move them from the vegetable bins to a few flower boxes and pots where they can be enjoyed by everyone. We gave the Pumpkin Patrol several potted pansies to take back with them to beautify their own school and enjoy. Stop by the 5th Floor Terrace Garden to see the flowers for yourself.

Make a Commitment to Wellness!

With your help, our community can change the alarming national trends towards lower life expectancy and obesity for the next generation that the modern American diet and an inactive lifestyle contributes to. We strive to teach our community how to eat for life: to set our children up to thrive and live their best life. We want to help  you develop a healthy relationship to food and an active lifestyle. And we need you to support HCZ's healthy nutrition environment.

Be A Positive Example

Adult members of the Harlem Children's Zone and Promise Academy communities set an example for our children. Whether you are a teacher, a parent or a member of the staff you help our kids learn to recognize food as fuel for their growing bodies and active minds. You can also help us teach the next generation of Harlem's children healthy ways to celebrate their own food traditions as a unique expression of family and culture while modeling what kinds of foods they should be seeking out and piling on their plates. Click to read more about HCZ's Wellness Policy and our Community Food Pledges.

Eat for Life

The basics of a healthy balanced diet are simple, but not always easy to satisfy. Essentially our bodies need a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins to function well. Our bodies also do best when we are active--for kids that means at least 60 minutes of active play a day! We've got lots of opportunities to get active around HCZ for parents, staff and students to take advantage of.

Create Change

Too much of the food that is readily available in Harlem and across the country is heavily processed and full of excessive salt, sugar and chemical additives. Whether you call it fast food or junk food the additives can cause high blood pressure, interfere with mental focus, cause mood swings, interrupt our natural sleep cycles and even contribute to our risk of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. We encourage you to fill your diet with more "whole foods" that are minimally processed and free of all the junk that's snuck its way into the typical American diet.

Simple, not easy

We recognize that changing your diet (especially as an adult) is not an easy task. That's why we're committed to helping you any way we can. Please let us know if you have specific needs or questions about eating well or feeding your family healthfully and we'll do our best to serve your specific needs. In the meantime, check out some of the excellent resources available around the web to help you eat better, get more activity and get involved with movements for creating positive change in our food systems locally and nationally.

Please visit our Wellness Resources to link to some of our favorite sites, groups and tools about healthy eating, living well, and making positive changes for yourself, your kids and your community.

Welcome to HCZ's Wellness Connection

At HCZ Community Wellness and Health is one of our top priorities. We have a variety of programs that work in this arena including the Educated Eaters Program, the Children's Health Fund and the Healthy Living Initiative. Find out more about each of these programs by clicking on the tabs at the top of this page.

One of the toughest challenges facing our children is obesity. Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in our country are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity contributes to adult health problems like diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.

We all want our children to achieve excellence—both in their schoolwork and their quality of life. The Harlem Children’s Zone is firmly committed to creating a healthy nutrition environment that supports and encourages an active lifestyle; we need help from staff, teachers, parents and students to cultivate a consistent message and reinforce healthy habits at HCZ. We tackle this important issue from a variety of fronts like serving healthier foods in the cafeteria, encouraging physical activity, and educating our community about the connection between nutrition and health.

At HCZ and Promise Academy, we are committed to:

1. Feed students a balanced healthy diet that is nutritious, delicious and sets them up to focus and succeed in their schoolwork and thrive in their lives.
2. Teach our community—by education and example—how to relate to food in a healthy way by improving nutrition education to staff, students and parents.
3. Encourage students and all members of our community to understand the relationship between healthy eating, an active lifestyle and their success—in and out of the classroom.

We are excited to get our entire community involved in our efforts to create a healthier environment and this blog is a way for us to all share in the vision and support this important goal. Thanks for visiting! Stop by again soon!

What menu options exist in the cafeteria?

We recognize that not every student or guest at Promise Academy will want or be able to eat the option being served on the hot service line. Therefore in addition to our allergy sensitive options, we also offer vegetarian alternatives. If you or your child have a special dietary need please follow our process for notifying the school staff and food service team by filling out an official Allergy Alert Form.

In addition to the primary entrée option, we always have cold cereal at breakfast and a salad bar at lunch. The salad bar offers sandwich rolls, vegetables and lunch meat for students who want to build their own sandwich as an alternative to the main course. Fruit is also always available along with a vegetable side dish and a grain or starch side dish so it's easy to customize your meal to meet your personal needs and preferences while still getting a balanced healthy breakfast or lunch.


Click here to return to our FAQ.