My word! The Apple Corps blog has come out from hibernation with a flurry of exciting new projects for spring! Our team of School Based Nutrition Educators (Brian, Lisa, and Cristina) spent their winter “in hiding” working behind the scenes to jump start a variety of new programs at their site schools located throughout South Seattle.

At our most recently monthly Apple Corps Team Day, Lisa invited her fellow Applets to lend a hand in the new school garden she launched at Emerson Elementary just a month ago! With the support of community partners and a garden grant from Annie’s Homegrown (you know, Cheddar Bunnies!) Lisa has been hard at work building a school garden program from scratch! The Apple Corps team did a tremendous job transforming the garden space and come April, Lisa is excited to transfer her cooking-based nutrition education classes into garden-based classes!

Brian sorting through seed packets generously donated by Lettuce Link

Brian has also been hard at work balancing a full schedule of nutrition classes AND reviving a school garden at one of his own site schools! Both Brian and Lisa are so grateful for the community partners that have provided endless amounts of support and resources to help build these new school garden programs. A generous donation of organic seeds from the Lettuce Link program at Solid Ground–which manages Marra Farm (another Apple Corps site placement)–will allow all of our students to participate in the seed to table process!

Building Community One Pupusa at a Time!

Apple Corps members, Lisa and Caitlin, chow down on Pupusas at Concord’s Student-Led Community Kitchen

Concord students hard at work making pupusas for their first Community Kitchens event

In more, equally as exciting news, Cristina, our Nutrition Educator at Concord, successfully organized and hosted the first-ever Student-Led Community Kitchen event with a group of talented fourth grade chefs! The night featured an El Salvadorian menu of Pupusas, cabbage salad, and Spanish rice, plus a special banana split dessert with ice cream donated from Full Tilt Ice Cream. YUM! With over 50 friends, faculty, and families in attendance the event was a hit and the school is abuzz with excitement for these monthly events.

Needless to say, our team of School-Based Apple Corps member are hard at work, dedicating themselves to the students and communities they serve. And to think…there’s six more Apple Corps members doing even more amazing work throughout Seattle! Stay tuned to find out more!