Matt Hornbeck, principal at Hampstead Hill Academy near Highlandtown, is eager for his students to take field trips to the farm. With more than 80 percent of his students coming from households that fall below the poverty line, he knows if the kids don't learn how to eat right in school, they might not learn it at all.
"If you come to school on 20 ounces of Mountain Dew and a bag of Funyons, you feel and act a lot different than if you have something healthy to eat," he says. "We view food and nutrition as a readiness issue - like having enough sleep and having space to do your homework."
Hampstead Hill students have been helping to tend a small garden on school grounds. The school also has a food educator who travels from class to class, inviting kids to help cook nutritious dishes like guacamole, tabouli and stir-fry. Based on how kids have responded to those programs, Hornbeck thinks the farm can't help but work.
"A sixth-grade boy is more likely to try guacamole if he's had a role in preparing it," the principal says.
Geraci hopes to get the project off the ground with grant money and a lot of volunteer help. Master gardeners, horticulturists, plumbers and electricians have already offered their time, advice and sweat equity, he says.
He figures it will take about a half-million dollars in seed money. But once crops begin coming in, and students are harvesting everything from heirloom tomatoes to free-range eggs, Geraci is banking on the project breaking even - with a little clever marketing on his part.
Though Geraci is expecting a high yield from the farm, it won't be anywhere near enough vegetables to support the city school lunch program. He has other ideas for the harvest. He sees money coming in from selling the produce to area restaurants that not only appreciate local ingredients, but would want to give a hand to the city schools. He is thinking about starting a CSA, a community-supported agriculture organization where people could "invest" in the farm and be rewarded with shares of produce through the growing season. He's even considering starting a farmers' market - or bringing the goods to established local markets.
"We're not going to be a limited-palate kind of place. We're going to really be producing some interesting, good stuff."
Cafe Hon in Hampden is one of the restaurants that is already committed to buying Fresh Start Farm produce.
