The initiative helps promote healthy eating and living habits with children at an early age and increases access to locally grown foods, Jessica Jackson, global corporate citizenship manager at Boeing South Carolina, told . She added, “Through comprehensive school-based gardening programs such as the Green Heart Project, it promotes S.T.E.M. learning through the experiential process of starting and maintaining a school garden.”

The initiative has five components that include:

• Workforce development for educators: Clemson Extension agents Amy Dabbs, Jennifer Schlette and Zach Snipes developed “School Gardening for South Carolina Educators,” a new online course with one full day of hands-on instruction that assists educators in the creation of sustainable school gardens.

• Community, family and student engagement: The Green Heart Project provides technical assistance to participating schools wishing to implement school-based garden programs to engage youth in farm-to-school programming. Project staff facilitates public-private partnerships between local businesses and participating schools in order to strengthen community ties, while providing needed financial and volunteer support to scale gardens and sustain educational programming.

• Workforce development for school nutrition staff: School nutrition staff are trained by certified chefs from the Culinary Institute of Charleston at Trident Technical College to prepare and serve healthful meals to school children using local produce, as directed by USDA school nutrition guidelines.

• Workforce development for farmers and food systems leaders: Lowcountry Local First’s program entitled “Growing New Farmers” provides new and beginning farmers with farm apprenticeship, farm incubation and land-matching programs.

• Produce supply chain infrastructure and management: Agent Harry Crissy with the Clemson Institute for Economic and Community Development and faculty member David Pastre with the Clemson Center for Architecture in Charleston are leading teams of students to design and build HACCP-certified farm kitchens that will enable farmers to more easily participate in farm-to-school initiatives as well as in other markets. Participating farmers will be provided with HACCP food safety instruction at a low cost and, upon course completion, farmers will be able to lease kitchen space for a nominal fee.

Two farm kitchens are already being built and will be operational in 2015: One in the Charleston area under the management of Sweetgrass Garden and one in Greenville under the management of Mill Village Farms. The kitchen in Greenville will have an outdoor classroom, which will involve students as well as adults in educational programming.

“The commercial farm kitchens are intended to support local farmers so that the food, particularly local produce, can be accessible and affordable for schools who participate in farm-to-school initiatives,” explained Professor Olivia Thompson, farm-to-school director within the Mayor Joseph P. Riley Institute for Livable Communities at the College of Charleston.

“What we hope to do is construct about 15 in the state of South Carolina and that number would support the farm-to-school initiative in our state,” Thompson said.

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A hardened layer of sediment enchased the shell, which was about 9 inches in diameter and shaped like a pointed bullet, reported . The shell was intended to be fired from a rifle, although it was unclear of whether it belonged to Union or Confederate soldiers. Although it was about 150 years old, the shell could have still posed a threat, which is why authorities asked construction crews to leave the property and evacuated nearby buildings.

“It is quite common to find Civil War artifacts on the peninsula, not always as spectacular as an unexploded shell, though they are found every once in a while,” College of Charleston Archaeology Professor Barbara Borg told . “From time to time battalions of soldiers came through and camped in large numbers, so it is common to find horse hardware, ceramics, cookware, buttons and buckles from clothing, pewter silverware and, where preservation is really good, items made out of wood, like drumsticks and the wooden parts of brushes.”

Construction on the expansion broke ground in February 2014. The expansion project will double the size of the current three-story, 12,000-square-foot facility, which houses the school’s Jewish Studies program.

Charleston, in fact, was once a hub of Jewish life and religious freedom, and the Center for Southern Jewish Culture will emphasize the 300-plus-year history that Jewish residents have in the city. The city is home to the oldest Hebrew Orphan Society, the oldest Hebrew Benevolent Society, the first temple sisterhood, the first Jew elected to public office in the western world and more, reported .

A major part of the expansion includes space for a 5,000-square-foot kosher dining facility — the only one in the city — with fish, vegetarian, vegan and kosher options. While it will help attract prospective students who have strict diets, it will also attract local residents looking for the option to eat kosher or vegetarian.

It will be named in honor of Jewish Studies Program Director Dr. Martin Perlmutter, who has a passion for ethical eating and is a vegetarian. As such, the dining facility will be also used as a classroom, educating students, faculty and the Charleston community about ethical eating through workshops, lectures and experiential learning.

The expansion will also include additional classrooms for the School of Languages, Cultures and World Affairs, the Center for Southern Jewish Culture and Zucker/Goldberg Center for Holocaust Studies.

A $1 million pledge was made by donors towards the $10 million A Time to Build campaign, which launched in fall 2011 supporting the construction projects and the future of the school’s Jewish Studies program.

The project is on schedule to be completed in late 2015 — that is, if no more Civil War artifacts delay the process.

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