Denver Public Schools students will be eating vegetables that some of their classmates may have harvested this summer.
DPS has teamed with and to place urban farms at
and the , which have thousands of vegetables planted.
According to Anne Wilson, farm-to-school coordinator for DPS, the term farm is used loosely and both schools’ farms combine to be about 1.5 acres. However, she said the pilot project is in harmony with the district’s mission.
“We are always trying to source local produce,” Wilson said.
Wilson said DPS took bids, and Produce Denver, in partnership with Groundwork Denver, won the job. Produce Denver manages the farms while Groundwork Denver’s does the labor.
The Green Team has been around since 2007 and employs 27 youth ages 14 to 21, many of them DPS students.
“They’re working on a farm to provide healthy food for their peers,” said Dele Johnson, public relations and marketing coordinator for Groundwork Denver.
Even though the project is just a couple months old, Produce Denver co-founder Nick Gruber is pleased with the effort.
“I really enjoy working with the Green Team, they don’t mess around. It’s a learning process for some of these kids, but within two years the kids learn so much about growing food and what hard work really is,” Gruber said.
Johnson said the Green Team has planted 9,900 pepper plants, 5,700 tomato plants, 2,500 zucchini plants and 3,000 cucumber plants.
Wilson said the food goes to a central warehouse where it is distributed to the participating schools. All standard DPS schools receive the vegetables, as do some charter schools.
Joe Vaccarelli: 303-954-2396, jvaccarelli@denverpost.com or
