how great to hear about what you are doing!!! i wish i could steal you away to south jersey and channel some of your ideas and energy here! i would love to know some more specifics about what you are doing….i’ve found the website hard to garner all the info i want.

we are in the midst of growing 2 acres of veggies and herbs (and some flowers for cutting)with salem kids. things are getting off to a great start if only we could get the rain we need. we are in a drought pocket of the state. slowly but surely kids are becoming interested in what we are doing. the other day we had 16 out at once, and other days it’s just a few.

within the next week i need to write up a garden project proposal of sorts to give to a grant writer. i am wanting to incorporate the cooking and nutrition side of it all, but not quite sure how i want to go about it. maybe i could get some more good ideas from you. i enjoyed reading about your trip to south central…

anyhow, do you have anything written up that i might read to help me get more focused on this grant-writing business? any advice you’d throw out there in getting the cooking started? i have done some informal cooking classed with some teenage girls (pasta from scratch, sauce, baked goods, etc…), but am not sure how i want to proceed. i am wondering about including/offering something to parents of the children involved in the garden as well…??? there is so much here to do that it seems overwhelming at times, and the worst part is that my ideas never stop coming, and then once they appear in my mind i am forever burdened by them until i make them happen!

keep up the great work– i am inspired by what you are doing. isn’t it interesting how similiarly our work and interests have settled?!?! i’m proud of you!

xoxxo

chanda