The students do really enjoy them. They really take ownership, when they prepare the bottles and plant the seeds.

Great experience for students. Every teacher should give it a try at least once.

Food Growing League 2023 Winter Season (now recruiting for Spring Season)
Starter Kit	Jan	Feb	Mar
Pro Kit	Jan	Feb	Mar
Results posted mid-April

Food Growing League 2022 Fall Season (click here for previous seasons)
Starter Kit	Oct	Nov	Dec
Fall Kit	Oct	Nov	Dec
Click Here for Results

IN THE NEWS
If you’re new to the Food Growing League (FGL), here’s a link (click here or the image) to the newspaper article “Wave of the future” that does a great job explaining how it helps teach MATH and SCIENCE.

OVERVIEW
Intended for 3rd-12th grades, the Food Growing League (FGL) lets students practice their MATH and SCIENCE skills with the hands on activity of competitive food growing in the classroom or at home.

Once setup, it requires just 30 minutes once or twice a month (depending on the Season) to plant and harvest Bottle Growers and just 5 minutes once or twice a week to water. In addition to a flexible schedule, growing indoors can help improve your outdoor home and school gardens thanks to the efforts of students. Plants can also be used in a school fundraiser.

PORTABLE GARDEN
Players can take the skills they learn in the Food Growing League combined with the League of Solutions to build their own Portable Gardens to grow a lot of greens indoors in class or at home with less watering.

GETTING STARTED
Instructors receive their ReBuildUp Home & Class kits typically during the first week of the season or slightly before giving them time to familiarize themselves with the materials including a printed step by step instruction manual and training videos. The instructor/school is only responsible for providing the new or sterilized empty water bottles, paper towels, and scissors. Everything else is provided in the kit.

Players don’t have to grow all the seeds provided to be eligible to compete in each season. One or more classes can participate, but it’s recommended that only one classroom take part in your school’s first 3 month season to get acquainted with the program. After that, add as many 3rd-12th grade classes as you like.

Once setup, players grow food in friendly competition in their classroom. Winners are decided by the Harvest Heights recorded on player harvest sheets. At the end of the season, the League takes the top five players per class to determine the best overall classroom to represent their school in the Food Growing League versus other schools to find out who has the best Indoor Farmers.

A competition video, featuring the Top 2 classrooms from each division (Starter Kit & Season Kit) is posted to announce the overall ReBuildUp Leagues Champion a few weeks after the season finishes. For classrooms who did not make the Top 2, printable score boards with rankings based on each League will also be posted with the video.

 SCHOOL FUNDRAISER
One way to incorporate GrowBucks to help students practice financial literacy is to pay students in GB’s for their microgreens or plants after they’ve been measured and then sell them to parents as part of a daily or quarterly school fundraiser. Plants can be sold for transplanting into soil pots on the kitchen windowsill or outdoor gardens or even as pet food for small non-dog/non-cat pets like turtles, hamsters, chickens, and the like.

Daily Fundraiser
A Portable Garden (with or without lights) can be setup in a school’s front office as a “Plant Store” to hold student grown plants for visiting parents to purchase. Thanks to the Portable Garden, office staff doesn’t have to worry about keeping up with daily watering. Instructors are provided with both print and video instructions on how to build different types of Portable Gardens (found in League of Solutions)  that can be constructed with the help of students.

Quarterly Fundraiser
After all plants have been harvested at the end of each growing season, schools can hold one big plant sale for students and parents to purchase and take home.

STARTER SEASON (anytime): Pet Food
First time players receive the Starter Season kit made up of easy to grow microgreens that can be sold for GrowBucks (if your classroom participates in the GrowBuck League).

Schedules are adjustable with staggered growing available to accommodate schools with fewer months to participate. It’s in a player’s second season that they’ll take part with a Winter, Fall, Spring, or Summer Season Kit based on the time of year they’re participating.

FALL SEASON (Oct-Dec) & WINTER SEASON (Jan-Mar): Pet Food
Players grow a different microgreen seed each month with winners decided by harvest heights.

After each monthly harvest, the greens can be given to one or more neighbors or fellow students to use as pet food for their hamsters, turtles, birds, and other non-dog /non-cat small animals.

Pet food harvests can also be sold to fellow students for GrowBucks (if your classroom participates).

SPRING SEASON (Apr-Jun): Plant Sale
Players grow garden friendly basil, cherry tomatoes, and jalapeños in the Spring.

After heights are recorded, players have the option to transplant plants into individual bottles to sell to other students for GrowBucks (if your school participates), give them away, or let students take home.

SUMMER SEASON (May/Jun-Sep): Pet Food
This season is for schools that have the Food Growing League in multiple grade levels (e.g. 4th & 5th grades). Players take home their kits to grow Cucumbers, Green Beans, and Lettuce over the summer months. To get students on track, the first seeds are typically planted in class for students to take home during the last available week or two of school before the long break.

Transplanting each plant after heights are recorded into a garden or larger pot of soil can lead to bigger yields of cucumbers, green beans, and lettuce that can be sold as pet food for GrowBucks (if your school participates) when school returns.

 PRO SEASON (anytime): Pet Food & Plant Sale
Each season, 3 new seeds are given to experienced teams of students to use techniques they’ve learned or new ones they come up with on their own to compete with fellow Pro Season teams. There are a few limitations on what students can use in this free for all growing season.

The Pro Season is for students who have already completed the Starter and current Season kits.

REMOTE GROWING: Virtual Learning and sudden schedule changes
ReBuildUp has updated the FGL to allow virtual classrooms to take part along with students suddenly out of school for whatever reason to continue growing from home. Kits shared by teams of 2-3 students can divide materials to take home and continue participating remotely. Schools who receive kits, but are unable to use them as planned can instead use them the following season or school year.

PROGRAM COST
Kits are sold at a discount (including shipping and handling) to schools.

Sponsorships and Scholarships may be available for qualifying schools. One suggestion is for schools to purchase one Spring Season kit and use the money raised from the Plant Sale School Fundraiser to fund future seasons if they can’t find a program sponsor. Contact us for details.

REGULATIONS
Due to Health Department rules, fall & winter microgreen harvests grown in the classroom are only to be used as pet food. This is because they consider the classroom to be an insecure growing environment. However, these same greens are considered safe to eat by players and their families when grown and harvested at home. Be sure to consult a health profession before consuming vegetables you may be allergic to.

The NC Department of Agriculture says there is no issue with selling basil, cherry tomato, and jalapeño plants grown in the classroom since they are not sold as a prepared food.

PREVIOUS SEASONS

Food Growing League 2022 Spring Season (click here for previous seasons)
Starter Kit	Apr	May	Jun
Spring Kit	Apr	May	Jun
Click Here for Results

Food Growing League 2022 Winter Season (click link to view results)
Winter Kit	Jan	Feb	Mar
Click Here for Results

Food Growing League 2021 Fall Season (click link to view results)
Starter Kit	Oct	Nov	Dec
Fall Kit	Oct	Nov	Dec
Click Here for Results

Food Growing League 2021 Spring Season (click link to view results)
Starter Kit	Apr	May	Jun
Spring Kit	Apr	May	Jun
Click Here for Results

Food Growing League 2021 Winter Season (click link to view results)
Starter Kit	Jan	Feb	Mar
Winter Kit	Jan	Feb	Mar
Click Here for Results

Food Growing League 2020 Fall Season (click link to view results)
LEAGUE	Oct	Nov	Dec
Click Here for Results

Food Growing League 2019-2020 Spring Season (click link to view results)
CONF	Feb	Mar	Apr	May
PS1A PS1B	Conference Results (Rounds 1-4)

Food Growing League 2019-2020 Fall Season (click links to view results)
CONF	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan
MG1A	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4

Food Growing League 2018-2019 Spring Season (click links to view results)
CONF	Feb	Mar	Apr	May
BSLA BSLB	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4

Food Growing League 2018-2019 Fall Season (click links to view results)
CONF	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan
MG1A	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4

Food Growing League 2017-2018 Spring Season [extended] (click links to view results)
CONF	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr
NC1A	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
	May
NC1A	Round 5