The Quarry Hill School

Stone Soup Garden 

2023 Grant Amount: $500

For many years, teachers and students at the Quarry Hill school have offered a Stone Soup Feast in November to our community of families and friends. To create this feast, students learn about literature, art, music, gardening and cooperation, all culminating in a much-loved community event hosting, on average. Last year, through a grant from the VT Farm to School Project, Quarry Hill School expanded this event to include a Stone Soup Garden and workshop for other VT Early Educators. They developed garden beds for late fall crops to include in their soup and invited other teachers to learn about their curriculum. Both were successful. Co-op Seedling Grant funding will help to plant the Stone Soup Garden for next year’s feast. The beds are ready for compost, seeds, seedlings and mulch to ensure a harvest for fall vegetables. Students will tend and harvest the garden with their teachers and will prepare stone soup for family and friends next fall. 

The Quarry Hill School Stone Soup Garden instills a love of growing food, sharing and preparing the harvest and brings students a deeper understanding of where their food comes from and the value of fresh and delicious produce.  The community-wide gathering, prepared by students and teachers, expands this appreciation to families and friends who attend. Celebrating the learning and accomplishments of young children is a great way to bring awareness of our local food systems and everyone’s potential to participate in feeding each other.