This weekend a small group of volunteers planted about 70 trees and shrubs on the west-facing side of Langley Elementary and on the hill down to Harry Thomas park. Our community now has access to blueberries, figs, persimmons, sumac, mulberry, paw paw, pears, persimmons and more. The trees and plants will take some time to mature and bear fruit, but we can all be part of caring for them and watching them grow.
We would have loved to have a big event to help plant the trees and share information about the Food Forest with the neighborhood and community, but had to keep it super small because of COVID-19.
There will be a second phase of planting in the spring, and we hope to have a larger community event at that time. In the meantime, please check it out and feel free to do some weeding in the mulched beds! 
​A special thanks to DDOT’s Urban Forestry Division, Lincoln Smith of Forested, FreshFarms FoodPrints, and the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (with funding from Vitafusion) for supporting the project, and to the Langley Elementary PTO and Eckington Parks and Arts for mobilizing volunteers!

Please feel free to message me with any questions.

Julia Hedlund
Langley PTO Garden & Wellness member organizing the Food Forest Project
Email: julia.hedlund@yahoo.com 
​

Langley Elementary (and the neighborhood!) is getting a Food Forest! Persimmon, pear, apple, paw paw, pomegranate, fig and many other exciting (and delicious) fruit-bearing trees and shrubs will be planted on the West-facing side of the school and at the top of Harry Thomas park field. This exciting new community asset is brought to us through a partnership with the Urban Forestry Division of DDOT, Forested, the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, Freshfarms Foodprints, and the Langley PTO.

We are seeking volunteers to plant trees and shrubs at the school on October 31 and November 1. We are making this volunteer opportunity as safe as possible by targeting our volunteer outreach, limiting the number of volunteers on site at a time, and requesting that all volunteers wear masks and practice social distancing.

We have set up a spreadsheet to help with coordinating and making sure we have enough people to get all the trees and shrubs planted. Please sign up here if you can commit to planting trees and shrubs for a couple hours (or more!) on one or both days. Experienced gardeners and arborists will be on site to provide guidance and information about the food forest, so please don’t be shy if you’re not a professional gardener! :)

Please feel free to email juliahedlund@yahoo.com with any questions about the Food Forest or the planting day. 

The Food Forest (funded by DDOT) is still on track to come to Langley this Fall.  Landscape Architect, Lincoln Smith designed these sketches after speaking with our Garden Committee leaders, FoodPrints and school administration.  Langley has also received a grant from the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation who will work closely with Lincoln Smith, our leadership team and PTSA volunteers to make the food forest possible.  We are working towards a volunteer day on Sunday, Nov. 1st when we will plant these trees and shrubs in the ground.  Stay tuned for final details when we have everything confirmed.

Our Garden Committee is looking for members to help maintain the garden (weed, water, harvest fresh fruits and vegetables) please email our new garden committee chair, Katie Gima, catherine.gima@gmail.com to join.  

We miss our families and students during this time school is closed! But we are excited to share FoodPrints Anywhere – regular posts with FoodPrints learning and activities that help build nutrition knowledge, extend science and math education, and help families cook and eat FoodPrints recipes together at home. -FreshFarm

New Posts Every Friday: FoodPrints Anywhere

Did you know we will be getting a food forest at Langley? Thank you to Landscaper, Lincoln Smith, and to our garden committee chair, Dawn Madura, for making this a reality! Read about food forests here in the Washington Post (Langley is mentioned).

We are excited to continue FoodPrints this year with a new FoodPrints teacher, Ms. Courtney Lucente, and assistant teacher, Ms. Allie Davis. Ms. Courtney has a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Johns Hopkins University and over a decade of teaching experience. FoodPrints combines her passion for education and love of food and cooking. Ms. Allie has a degree in Public Health from Dickinson College and comes from a family of teachers. She is excited to apply her knowledge of nutrition in the FoodPrints classroom. They both look forward to gardening, cooking, eating, and learning with Langley students this year! 

All Langley students will participate in FoodPrints this year! We are planning monthly sessions for each class throughout the school year. FoodPrints integrates gardening, cooking, eating, and academic learning with the goal of growing healthy students and families. We help students learn about the natural world and how to enjoy eating healthy, whole foods. 

​We welcome parent volunteers! Parents (or other family members) help our classes run smoothly. Students are so happy to have their parents come in to help, and there is always something tasty to eat. Look for FoodPrints dates from your classroom teacher or reach out to Ms. Courtney for dates. 

FoodPrints recipes will be served in the Langley lunchroom on Wednesdays. As part of the
Class to Café program in partnership with DCPS and with the support of Wellness in the Schools Chef Meagan, the Langley cafeteria team will be scratch-cooking and serving some of the same recipes that we are preparing in FoodPrints.

We hope your students will try these new recipes! 

Burrito Bowl: Sofrito Rice and Chicken 
Warm Bean & Corn Salad
served on
9/25, 10/16, 11/6, 12/4, 12/18

Pasta with Colorful Marinara Sauce 
Simple Green Salad with Roasted Red Pepper Dressing
served on
10/2, 10/23, 11/13

Red, White, and Green Hot Sandwich (Toasted Cheese Sandwich with Tomato and Spinach) 
ABC Salad
served on
10/9, 10/30, 12/11

 
Courtney Lucente
footprints lead teacher
courtney@freshfarm.org
 office:  202.362.8889 
 mobile:  717.713.9094

Spring is spectacular at Langley Elementary! Langley students now have beautiful raised beds full of growing food to enrich their FoodPrints lessons.

During a typical FoodPrints class, kids receive a short lesson from their FoodPrints teacher and engage in a hands-on food-preparation activity, followed by a tasting! After the snack, the FoodPrints teacher takes the students outside to the school garden for another hands-on lesson on growing food. 

A HUGE thank you to all the people who came out on this cold and blustery Saturday, to help prepare our space for construction. We accomplished even more than I'd hoped! Here's what happens next:

April 15th: Love & Carrots will come install nine of our raised beds
April 16th, 10 AM: Volunteer day! Help us shovel compost into the raised beds
April 17th: Love & Carrots will come back to install the irrigation system

We hope that the project will really get rolling then, with additional raised beds, trellises, a natural playspace and an outdoor classroom coming next. Thank you, school family, for all your love and support!

Dawn
Garden and Wellness Committee Chair