Youth Horticulture Project
The Youth Horticulture Project supports positive youth development through agriculture and nutrition education with kids, teens, and the adults who support them.
- During the school year, we offer gardening and environmental education to area schools. We have worked with the Austine School for the Deaf, the Brattleboro Area Middle School, and the Greenwood School, and Oak Grove Elementary School combining lessons on our farm and in the classroom.
- Through YHP's Summer Work and Learn program, we employ local teens at our educational farm in Brattleboro, Vermont. Youth learn to work as a team to produce an organically grown crop on our 1-acre farm at the Extension office in Brattleboro. They plant, cultivate, harvest, and then sell the vegetables and flowers they grow at a local farmers' market. Youth experience hands-on agriculture along with workshops exploring food systems and communication skills, and they mentor younger kids in harvest and food preparation. Through the vehicle of organic agriculture, youth from diverse life situations learn how to produce food while building important job and life skills.
- This year, Summer Work and Learn used a grant from NE-SARE to help customers use their government food benefits at the farmers' market by creating outreach materials that explain the different programs available to increase people's purchasing power. Youth also created recipe cards for nutritious but often unfamiliar vegetables - kohlrabi salad, anyone?
- The Youth Horticulture Project supports other organizations supporting local food awareness and sustainability. We have hosted workshops at our field and greenhouse, advised on gardening curricula, and shared seeds and seedlings with local non-profits and school groups. We are always open to discussing new projects!
Get involved!
For more information about volunteering or to discuss ideas for collaboration, please contact:
