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[00:00:00.00] A bird's eye view of a suburban area. Cars and buses park along a street lined with homes. A large stone school building sits on a lawn. Text: There aren't a lot of green spaces for the students at West Side High School in Newark, New Jersey. They also live in an area where it's hard to find healthy foods like fresh fruits and vegetables. So West Side's principal and several of its students decided to do something about it. L.L. Bean and The Trust for Public Land present Growing in Newark. Students work in a garden. A bumblebee browses tomato plants. Principal Cook greets students in the school.
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[00:00:34.36] I'm principal Akbar Cook, principal of West Side High School, in Newark, New Jersey. One of the things that I wanted to do here was bring an urban farm to the area. We're going to teach the kids how to take the farm and make it fruitful for the school, but also something that can sustain for years to come. This is Cesar Presser, the first farmer in the history of Newark Board of Education. And he's right here at West Side High School.
[00:01:02.67] I think the experience of being someone who lives in the city and being exposed to something like this will be a very fulfilling thing.
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[00:01:10.55] He plants seeds in raised beds of soil.
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[00:01:14.25] My name is Shemiah. I'm 18 years old. When I graduate, I want to go to college, and I want to study to be a doctor.
[00:01:24.06] What?
[00:01:25.80] I like to draw and read. I don't really like to go outside. I'm a pretty inside person.
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[00:01:32.11] Kathy, mom.
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[00:01:33.36] Shemiah, her struggle right now, I think, is being social. She always says, mommy, I don't like people. So going out there and mingling with other kids, it would be good for her.
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[00:01:44.41] Zhamirr.
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[00:01:44.86] Ooh, it's a sunny day today. I have never worked on a garden before. But when the opportunity presented me, I knew I had to take it. Good luck, biatches. I want to be smart. I want to be sophisticated. I want people to look at me like not a statistic, like he actually got up, move up every day, and got to work. My mother put that there, say blessed.
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[00:02:06.20] Doormat.
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[00:02:06.82] I'm tight with my family more than any of my friends. They're going to always be there for me, and I know that.
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[00:02:12.07] Christina, mom.
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[00:02:13.18] I think that Zhamirr can get from this garden experience to get to know himself more, to be more positive to himself, for him to understand you can do much more when you believe in yourself.
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[00:02:31.49] Scarlet.
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[00:02:32.80] This is our garden.
[00:02:35.77] A lot of people may think that growing things is uninteresting. But I use it as a form of calming. The COVID year has been a little difficult. I felt really isolated because there was a point in time where I wasn't talking to anybody. It was just me, alone
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[00:02:51.69] Elma, mom.
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[00:02:52.80] Scarlett she's very smart. She's incredibly helpful. I truly believe she's going to be one of the people that definitely takes over the world. COVID, I feel, has broken children down. So what I would like for Scarlet to get at the farm is hopefully learning how to reunify.
[00:03:11.53] Ready?
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[00:03:11.97] Cesar.
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[00:03:12.99] So the farm is being built in stages. The first stage was the planting of the fruit trees, like the apples and the figs. And we did that last year. They are starting to bear a little fruit already. There it goes. He's got a whole method now. This summer, we'll be getting the vegetable beds up and growing.
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[00:03:27.95] He lays out wood frames on the school lawn. Text: part 1, Soil.
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[00:03:33.13] Today is June 25, our first volunteer day at the farm with the kids from West Side. OK, so we're going to take a little tour over here. The plan is for us to work on the farm every Friday for the next few months. So these are all fruit trees. There's little baby apples on this right now. You can touch them, that's all, yeah.
[00:03:50.64] I know this is real-life apples. That's just crazy.
[00:03:54.51] They seem to be really interested, growing their own food, seeing the process happen. These are peaches. We have pears. We have figs. So eventually, this whole thing will just be real shady. It'll be huge, yeah. We have 24 beds over here. In these beds, we'll be putting in the soil and planting our seedlings.
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[00:04:15.73] The students gather tools.
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[00:04:17.88] One bed is filled by seven.
[00:04:20.75] By seven barrels?
[00:04:22.07] Yeah.
[00:04:22.46] Damn.
[00:04:23.39] Right.
[00:04:23.72] We're gonna be out of here by four.
[00:04:26.24] He was in here having fun digging up the dirt right. That was tough.
[00:04:30.10] [GROANING]
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[00:04:31.00] They haul soil in wheelbarrows. Zhamirr.
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[00:04:33.74] Like, honestly, I never thought that you could build this in the city. You know what I'm saying? Because I never had, never even seen something like this ever.
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[00:04:44.34] Scarlet hoes the dirt.
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[00:04:45.41] To find out that we're already growing trees and stuff, and some of these trees are actually producing, it's super amazing to watch. Because it's like, oh, well, I have a piece of my home right here at school.
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[00:04:57.01] Students shovel soil into wheelbarrows.
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[00:04:59.36] We're working on finishing filling the raised beds with soil. Once that's done, planting plants in there.
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[00:05:06.91] Text: Part 2, seedlings. Seedlings are planted in the raised beds. Cesar speaks to the students seated on the lawn.
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[00:05:08.18] [MUSIC PLAYING]
[00:05:14.50] Happy Friday. We're here.
[00:05:17.05] These are seedlings. The top of the soil on your little plant, you want it to be level with the dirt. So when you make your hole, you want it to fit perfectly inside of the hole. This is collards. And in the middle, this is chives. This is kind of like an onion. You could just, and eat it.
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[00:05:35.35] They taste the chives.
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[00:05:37.30] It's making my mouth burn. Poke holes in the corner, and put two or three seeds in it, and then just cover the hole. So you guys could do the whole thing, until you run out of seeds, yeah.
[00:05:47.11] OK.
[00:05:47.40] OK. Today was actually really fun. I planted stuff like basil and rosemary.
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[00:05:54.16] Shemiah.
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[00:05:55.15] And my brothers were with me. My whole family is doing this with me.
[00:05:59.56] You can put it in your food when you're cooking.
[00:06:01.60] Exactly.
[00:06:02.29] Today, I did meet some new people.
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[00:06:05.45] Scarlet.
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[00:06:06.70] Zhamirr, he came in a little late. I had to take the bus. It was a long time. He came in with some nice energy, talking to the plant, rapping to the plant.
[00:06:17.06] This is my plant. This is my main rider, my man. This is my plant.
[00:06:21.17] [LAUGHTER]
[00:06:23.53] Honestly, it's just really fun.
[00:06:25.37] They say music makes the world go round. So it might make plants grow, too. You never know.
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[00:06:30.60] Zhamirr enters his home.
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[00:06:32.24] I've been coming to the farm about three or four weeks now. My family, it's getting hard. You know what I'm saying? I got a baby sister, so it's like we trying to make sure everything good for her. Camille, you asleep?
[00:06:46.40] I want to make sure my people got everything. Because we ain't never had nothing. Yeah, you shoot my little sister. If you put in the work, and if you make sure that you got a nice head on your shoulders, people going to see it. People going to see the work you put in. And you can't tell people the work you put in. Just do it, and it's going to come.
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[00:07:06.58] Text: Part 3, growth.
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[00:07:09.42] Today, we'll be doing some work that's pretty important. It's called mulching.
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[00:07:13.75] Students cover the beds in straw and water them.
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[00:07:17.90] We put plants into the raised beds, 21 days ago, so I think almost exactly three weeks now.
[00:07:24.13] These grasses, pull them out, these little blades right here, these.
[00:07:27.17] All those.
[00:07:28.58] That's weeds, too.
[00:07:29.73] I don't think there's any more. Oh, yes, there is.
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[00:07:32.57] Kathy.
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[00:07:33.56] When we started working on the farm, it was only Shemiah and Kion.
[00:07:37.73] We need some water.
[00:07:38.70] But Azariah was interested, so I brought him. And then Shawn said, oh, I'm going to come along. I want to see what you guys are doing. So now I have five little people coming with me every Friday.
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[00:07:52.87] Shemiah.
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[00:07:54.53] Before West Side High, I used to live in North Carolina. In North Carolina, my mom had a whole garden thing, so we used to plant all the time. Since I moved here, we haven't really planted anything. What I miss about it is the time I spent with my mom growing it, and picking the stuff, and eating it.
[00:08:15.82] Do you guys want to weed that big pile of dirt on the other side?
[00:08:19.27] Yeah.
[00:08:20.38] Let's go.
[00:08:21.22] I had to say something.
[00:08:23.29] Y'all had to think.
[00:08:24.97] Yeah, come on, gang. Come on, gang. Be reckless.
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[00:08:29.29] Kids pull out weeds. Scarlet.
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[00:08:31.54] I've liked planting for a long time. And what really got me into it was that my mom got sick. While she was sick, she was teaching us how to plant. If you notice that around a lot of our communities, we don't really have fresh fruits and vegetables. A lot of our fruits and vegetables also have all of these additives in it to make it keeping color and everything. But it's not really good for us to have. So we would just plant and have our own food.
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[00:09:03.59] Zhamirr waters the beds with a hose.
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[00:09:06.95] I already knew all the other kids. But yeah, I got to know a side that I've never seen of them. And I'm talking about how they're just so focused, and relaxed, calm. It's always good to be around people like that.
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[00:09:21.25] Students bend over the beds weeding. Kathy.
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[00:09:24.28] Yes, this feels really good. And like I keep saying, it's therapeutic. And I keep thinking, next week, when we come, OK, this plant is going to be bigger. And I can't wait to see when the fruit starts forming. Oh, my goodness.
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[00:09:39.47] A bird's eye view of the beds in rows on the lawn.
[00:09:43.42] Text: Part 4, Harvest. Flash forward, the beds are now full of green plants and vines.
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[00:09:44.87] [MUSIC PLAYING]
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[00:09:51.29] Students trim leaves with clippers. The beds overflow with vegetables and herbs. Baskets are stacked nearby. Cesar.
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[00:10:00.20] Do you want some mand, some basil?
[00:10:02.39] All of it.
[00:10:03.03] All of it? OK, cool. I'll show you. I can put it in my salad.
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[00:10:07.79] Principal Cook smiles.
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[00:10:10.69] Y'all was like little parents, just waiting for the seed to grow.
[00:10:14.18] When we did these beds, the plants were like this big.
[00:10:17.23] Yeah, they were tiny, tiny, tiny.
[00:10:19.48] I'm kind of proud of that we really did this, though. Like, I know we did this.
[00:10:23.48] [INSPIRING MUSIC PLAYING]
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[00:10:25.76] The students and their families harvest vegetables. Scarlet's family.
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[00:10:31.26] In the course over the summer, as she was working on the farm, I've seen the change of her being more vocal, more social about things. Which is a good thing because now you get to actually get a peering into my daughter's mind, instead of trying to guess.
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[00:10:44.76] Scarlet and her mom grin.
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[00:10:45.91] [LAUGHTER]
[00:10:49.34] This is a.
[00:10:50.48] Sage.
[00:10:51.23] Sage, right. And this mint right here, this is my favorite. I ain't going to lie. I remember this all the time.
[00:10:55.19] I was hoping that Zhamirr would finish and start this whole project.
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[00:11:00.88] Zhamirr's family.
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[00:11:02.15] I did.
[00:11:02.70] He did finish the whole thing. He did. From start to finish, you did a good job.
[00:11:06.83] Thank you.
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[00:11:08.94] Kion.
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[00:11:09.60] I learned how to plant and grow crops. I never thought I would find myself doing that. But it's a good hobby. It's a good experience.
[00:11:19.56] Being outside, it just feels so nice. Going here with my kids, this was a marvelous experience for us. I hope next summer, they're doing something again. Because we want to be part of this.
[00:11:31.09] [INDISTINCT CHATTER]
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[00:11:33.36] Principal Cook.
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[00:11:35.22] My idea was to have an urban farm. I was skeptical. I mean, I'm on South Orange Avenue, one of the busiest corridors in the city of Newark. But to my surprise, my babies did it, man.
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[00:11:49.05] He watches students harvest.
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[00:11:51.30] For them to come every Friday, man, it's a testament to the will and the desire for them to be great. It's all about exposure. They don't have to plan anything.
[00:12:00.60] I just think it taught them resilience. They realized what they can do. They saw something come from a seedling to something that we're eating now. It's edible.
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[00:12:11.22] A student smiles holding radishes.
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[00:12:13.60] They're passionate about it, and they love it. And now they feel like they're making a difference, man. We gave that to them.
[00:12:19.44] [MUSIC PLAYING]
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[00:12:20.13] Text: Students from West Side High planted, grew, and harvested up to 300 pounds of fresh herbs and vegetables. What wasn't used by the school to feed students was put back in the community. Construction for an all-season greenhouse and outdoor classroom is expected to begin in the spring. Visit L L Bean dot com slash T P L to learn more about our partnership with the Trust for Public Land. Zhamirr dances among the garden beds.
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[00:12:44.17] [ZHAMIRR RAPPING]
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[00:12:53.44] A photo of people climbing the crest of a rocky mountain with the sun shining behind them.
