5 Boston schools receiving hydroponic towers to grow healthy food

Some Boston Public Schools students will be getting hands-on lessons on how to grow their own healthy foods.Five hydroponic towers are being installed at high schools within the district on behalf of the Massachusetts Fresh Grant program.The first tower was installed at The English High School in Jamaica Plain on Monday, and it is already up and running in the cafeteria.”These greens are not local. They are hyper-local,” said Anneliese Tanner, Executive Director of the Boston Public Schools Office of Food and Nutrition Services.”The research is really clear: that when kids have a hand in growing their own healthy food, they are much more likely to actually eat it,” said Simca Horwitz, co-director of Massachusetts Farm to School.English High students planted seeds in the school’s tower Monday morning that will eventually grow into lettuce and herbs.”I’m definitely excited about it. I’ve been learning about fresh foods for a long time in my life, but I’ve never, ever been able to grow it and also eat it,” said student Maleek Haley. “Also, being able to do it with my friends and my teachers is a really good experience.”Students will also be learning how to operate hydroponic systems, which use water, light and nutrients, but not soil.”This is saving water. This is saving carbon dioxide in the environment from our lettuce coming from California, and this is giving us better tasting food,” said Tommy Hayes, a food science teacher at The English High School.”We’re going to start with, hopefully, making basil pesto,” said Jamirse Delarosa, a culinary arts teacher at The English High School.In addition to hydroponic growing, students will also learn about a more traditional form of growing involving a cold frame, an outdoor structure that utilizes solar energy and insulation to create a microclimate within a garden — allowing for plants like lettuce to grow during the winter in Boston.The other four Boston schools receiving hydroponic towers are Charlestown High School, Excel High School, TechBoston Academy and Burke High School.

Source: wcvb.com