Home Grown, Farm to Table at LCCAP
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Beans aren’t just good for your heart, they’re packed with all sorts of vitamins that help kids grow.
What kinds of beans?
Green Beans! We all know that kids can be picky eaters. To combat their “pickiness”, Ben Franklin Early Learning Center’s Food Service Manager, Michelle Scott, asked a very important question – What vegetable do the kids enjoy the most? With the help of teachers and her kitchen staff, they identified green beans, carrots, lettuces, and fruits are their favorites.
Dale Chappell, LCCAP’s Horticulture consultant has a vision for the garden located at the new LCCAP Frew Mill Campus in Shenango Township. “Our goal is to stop using canned produce and start offering more locally grown produce,” says Dale. Per Dale “we’ve started composting and have introduced beneficial flowers and bushed to attract and repel certain bugs in an effort to make the garden a self-sustaining ecosystem.” LCCAP is on a mission to increase access to fresh produce to all of their Early Learning families.
This was all made possible by discretionary funding from Community Service Block Grant (CSBG). CSBG funding allowed LCCAP to expand their hydronic gardening to include 12 raised bed gardens and 5 hands-on learning stations. The garden will be a sensory learning and STEM space for kids to expand their knowledge about eating healthy and living sustainably.
Take a look at what we have going on. Enjoy!
