The New Lebanon school garden has been a long-standing labor of love for the Byram community. Garden education efforts that have been well supported by teachers, administrators, families and community members over the years. On the site of New Lebanon's previous campus (demolished in 2019 to make way for the new building), local chef Geoff Lazlo (Owner of The Country Table and Geoff Lazlo Food) designed and maintained a garden and did math, science, and gardening activities with the students. The generous support of a Greenwich Alliance Reaching Out Grant in 2018 enabled the garden to grow from a few small flowerbeds into a fully functioning vegetable and flower garden at its current location behind the school. Since spring 2024 the PTA has been running an afterschool garden club for 10-20 kids from K-5th grade. Additionally, during the spring, as part of their plant parts curriculum the second grade classroom teachers will plant lettuce with their students.

In early 2025, New Lebanon school garden drew the attention of community partner Ali Ghiorse of The Foodshed Network, who at the time was looking to implement a Farm to School program in Greenwich. New Lebanon’s long standing commitment to its garden and equitable access to good food was the perfect match. In collaboration with The Foodshed Network, New Lebanon applied to the Vermont FEED’s Northeast Farm to School Institute (NFTSI). After acceptance, New Lebanon convened a team representing each of the farm to school core pillars: Classroom, Curriculum and Community. The team included: New Lebanon’s Principal: Dr. Daniel Russo, GPS Food Service Director: Martha Ramkellawan, parent and New Lebanon’s Garden Coordinator: Beth Pierson, New Lebanon' s Fourth Grade
Teacher: Anna Catanzaro, and The Foodshed Network’s Executive Director: Ali Ghiorse. 

Their experience at NFTSI solidified a hunch that New Lebanon’s garden could become even more than an after school program or a spring planting activity for the second graders. During this immersive and transformational three-day, grant-funded professional learning experience, participant groups from around New England created Farm to School action plans outlining the ways they would work to integrate sustainable food systems such as locally procured food, gardening, cooking, seasonality and environmental sustainability into their education programs. Together, the team created its Farm to School action plan and built an outline for its first program, Harvest of the Season. HOS highlights and elevates one local vegetable each season which we have been successfully implementing since the start of school. 

The 2025/26 school year saw the introduction of a new and hugely successful Farm to School program at New Lebanon, Harvest of the Season (HOS). Through the lens of a single fruit or vegetable, students engage in hands-on learning experiences that utilize tasting, harvesting, pickling, art, farmer visits and cooking demonstrations while making connections across their classroom, the cafeteria and the community. This request continues and deepens the Harvest of the Season program by integrating it more fully into core instruction and schoolwide culture. Based on classroom and cafeteria observations and feedback, Harvest of the Season has been tremendously engaging for students, teachers, community members and elected officials alike. 

New Lebanon’s Farm to School program is inter-connected with a broader national and statewide movement. Farm to School programs provide students who otherwise would not have access to locally procured food; instill values around seasonal fresh ingredients, foundational elements for health; cultivate a culture of connection between food and community; and support our local food economy while disrupting the industrial food system.