Sara Jean (SJ) Whelan

Sara Jean (SJ) Whelan

Farm to School Coordinator, New York City

NYC Dept of Education office
Long Island City, NY

cell 929-895-2257


Sara Jean (SJ) has a dynamic background in food systems work. She co-founded an e-commerce-based vegetable farm in Vermont, seeking to make farm-direct food more accessible to her community. With a Housing First program in Vermont, she established a community garden and supported clients in accessing federal nutrition benefits. Additionally, SJ worked with Vermont FEED to support Farm to School work in the state. She currently serves as the board co-chair of Slow Food NYC. 

SJ has a B.A. in Food Systems from the University of Vermont and is currently enrolled in a M.A. program at New York University where she is engaged in Food Studies.

SJ is located at the NYC Department of Education office in Long Island City, working with Department of Education staff to increase consumption of NYS grown foods in school lunch programs.

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Upcoming Events

Log Inoculation Party

April 28, 2024
10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
New York, NY

Join us for a log inoculation party and Community Mushroom Educator (CME) reunion at the Randall's Island Urban Farm with past and prospective CMEs. We will be inoculating local tree species with shiitake and oyster spawn as part of a larger research project with the Randall's Island Park Alliance Urban Farm and Cornell Cooperative Extension. 

Announcements

Field Guide: Arthropod Pests of NYC Vegetables

Arthropod Pests of NYC Vegetables aims to help urban farmers and gardeners find, identify, and understand the most common and important insects and other arthropod pests found in New York City farms and gardens. Some of these pests are rarely mentioned in other guides but are common in NYC. The guide emphasizes scouting tips, including how to identify pests by the damage they leave behind, even when you can't find the insect itself.

This guide was created as a collaboration between Cornell Cooperative Extension's Harvest New York team and the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program.