05/13/2026
This semester, our FEAST Program has begun piloting new programming that brings students from Asheville Middle School and Asheville High School to our gardens and FEAST classes.
First, we collaborated with Asheville High's Future Farmer of America (FFA) group to come teach lessons about strawberries to FEAST students at Hall Fletcher, Lucy Herring, and Isaac Dickson. Many of the FFA students were former FEAST students themselves whose interest in farming as a career stems from their time learning and growing in our school gardens.
Then in April, the entire 7th grade cohort from Asheville Middle School ventured out to work in community gardens across Asheville as part of a service learning component of Expeditionary Learning’s Better World Week and culmination of their human body systems science unit where students have been developing a greater understanding of how healthy eating is essential. Crews of students volunteered at the Pearson Garden Food Hub, Lucy Herring Peace Garden, and Hall Fletcher Garden, as well as Burton Street Peace Gardens, Sandhill Community Garden, and Southside Farm, which are all part of our Community Garden Network. These students worked so hard doing all kinds of projects from weeding to moving garden borders, to transplanting seedlings into larger pots and painting signs. We built new relationships with their teachers and started coming up with all kinds of ideas for future collaborations!
Finally, we are so excited to be collaborating with the Center for Environmental Farming Systems of NC State to host 3 interns from Asheville High School this growing season through their Youth Corps program. These interns will be working at our Pearson Garden and Food Hub, Lucy S Herring Peace Garden, and our Share Markets so they can engage in learning about the big picture of our food systems and urban agriculture work.
We are so glad to be connecting more students to local food system work and careers, cultivating opportunities for peer mentorship, and ultimately connecting youth with local healthy food!
