Farm to Table and Horticulture Therapy
Through the Farm to Table program, OSB teaches our students about the environment, the importance of locally sourced foods and the nutrition of the fruits and vegetables we eat. Additionally, our Horticulture Therapy program allows students to benefit cognitively, physically and emotionally as they learn to plant and cultivate crops. Students learn about a plant’s lifecycle, taste foods to which they otherwise might not have exposure or fulfill physical therapy goals through planting and picking vegetables in varied environments. Through the Farm to Table and Horticulture Therapy programs, OSB seeks to support local farms, improve our neighborhood, decrease our carbon footprint, provide job training and employment, teach daily living skills, and increase food and nutrition education.
OSB’s Farm to Table program has become ingrained in the culture at OSB, helping students learn and grow through hands-on interaction with crops. What started out as a series of raised beds has since grown to include an orchard of nearly 60 trees (Philadelphia's 3rd largest orchard), a continuously expanding garden located at the Biddle Elementary building, and the home of the Horticulture program, the M. Christine Murphy Horticulture Education Center (the Center), which provides students with a climate-controlled greenhouse that enables them to grow crops, plants, and flowers year-round.
The Farm to Table program has connected us to well-accomplished organizations in the area that have helped us learn and grow. We have worked with the Philadelphia Orchard Project, Philadelphia Horticulture Society, Penn State, Elwyn, Green Mountain Energy and the Philadelphia Water Department’s Watershed Program, and hope to find more partners, enriching the experience of our students.
If you are interested in supporting the Overbrook School for the Blind Farm to Table and Horticulture Therapy programs, please contact our development office by calling 215-877-0313 ext. 264.
Click here to learn more about the LEED Gold Certified, Net-Zero, M. Christine Murphy Horticulture Center.
| 
