NPS Celebrates CT Grown for CT Kids Week at Tracey Magnet School

On Oct. 8, Norwalk Public Schools, alongside Norwalk Grows, Chartwells and FoodCorps, celebrated CT Grown for CT Kids Week at Tracey Magnet School.

District leaders, local politicians and families were given tours by Tracey Cub Ambassadors through the school’s new garden, inviting them to leave their P.R.I.N.T. on one of the planters. The school’s distinguished guests then joined students inside for a Community Lunch including a tasting of local tomato panzanella salad from Chartwells.

At the start of the school year, a group of Tracey fifth-graders practiced their carpentry, painting and gardening skills to get the garden ready for the event. The new garden features three planters created by upcycling old file cabinets.

CT Grown for CT Kids Week is an annual event the first week of October and is the highlight of National Farm to School Month for Connecticut. The week aims to celebrate and support local agriculture, public education and our community’s commitment to ensuring healthy nutritious meals are accessible in schools. Each year, legislators, food service directors, farmers and students gather together through farm to school activities to promote, celebrate and consume local products.

October is also Farm to School Month. Inside the cafeteria, Chartwells featured some of the vegetables locally sourced from The Farm in Woodbury, CT. Later this month, students across the district will participate in the Apple Photo Contest, biting into apples grown locally in Connecticut, the majority of the fruit coming from Blue Hills Orchard in Wallingford Connecticut.

Click the links below to watch Chartwells’ “Farm to School Spotlight” videos featuring the two Connecticut farms.

• Farm to School Spotlight: The Farm in Woodbury, CT
• Farm to School Spotlight: Blue Hills Orchard in Wallingford, CT