Slow Food Volunteers at Rothenberg Rooftop Garden

On Nov. 15, a sunny, warmish day for fall, a dozen students at Rothenberg Preparatory Academy in Over-the-Rhine gather on the roof.

Yes, the roof!

It’s a garden – with really spectacular city views.

The still-vibrant October garden atop Rothenberg Preparatory Academy, a Cincinnati Public School in Over-the-Rhine.

These K-6 Cincinnati Public students are here to learn about the “Three Sisters” method of interplanting corn, beans and squash.

This Native American practice offers benefits to each plant – the beans fix nitrogen in the soil, the corn provides a beanstalk and the squash shades the roots of the other plants.

Educator Ann Troyer seats the children on mats in a circle near the myriad raised garden beds that still offer herbs and blooming flowers this late in the season.

Ann explains the Native American cultural story of how the Three Sisters became a family – one that is better together, rather than growing alone or in a monoculture.

She uses a felt board and felt Three Sisters characters that she crafted herself, enlisting the squirmy students to take on the roles of each character as the story unfolds.

I’m here volunteering for the next part of the lesson: Grinding corn to make meal that could be used in cooking.

This is a classic way in which the Rothenberg Rooftop School Garden faculty help students develop critical thinking, science, math and literacy skills. They align experiential learning lessons about gardening and cooking with the school’s science, language and math curriculum, meeting with classes weekly.

On this day, students one by one come to the hand-cranked grinder to dribble hard corn kernels in.

They struggle with the crank, as I hold the grinder tight on the table.

Voila! Out comes cornmeal that the kids sift through their fingers as we discuss how they could turn this into cornbread at home.

Students grind corn into meal as part of a Three Sisters hands-on science lesson.

As a Slow Food Cincinnati board member, I’m keenly interested in helping urban kids understand how easy it can be to grow their own beans, corn and squash at home – and then cook something delicious and healthy.

The Rothenberg Garden produces over 30 pounds of fresh produce each year that is prepared and eaten by students at school, or distributed to families.

Every time I volunteer at Rothenberg’s Rooftop Garden, I come away astounded by the ways Ann Troyer and Julie Singer, the garden and volunteer coordinator, engage students in this critical learning.

Both work for an independent nonprofit that provides support and direction for the garden, but they have strong relationships with Rothenberg’s teachers and leadership.

Slow Food Cincinnati is collaborating with these educators and the nonprofit on more ways to build the ideals of good, clean and fair food in Over-the-Rhine.

If you’d like more information, like to donate, or like to volunteer at Rothenberg Rooftop School Garden, visit rothenbergrooftopgarden.com.

-- Annie-Laurie Blair, Slow Food Cincinnati board member