School Gardens
In school gardens, students get hands-on lessons in planting, composting and pruning, plus lessons on math, science and language arts (click 'See also') - and eating vegetables. 'On every level, it's such a win-win situation,' says advocate. 'People come out of school gardens feeling very empowered. It really engages people and builds confidence for kids and parents.'
By Jacqueline Mroz
The New York Times 2008-12-05 (entry)
See also
In the Edible Schoolyard program, students learn to grow food, then prepare it.
Through Alice Waters' Edible Schoolyard program, middle schoolers grow and eat their own organic, seasonal foods. Year-'round process teaches traditional curriculum, plus environmental stewardship, interconnectedness of people to one another, to community, and to earth, and an appreciation for the value - and joy - of meaningful work.
By Roberta Furger
Edutopia/The George Lucas Educational Foundation 2004-03-11 (entry)
See also
With new greenhouse, fourth-graders learn marketplace lessons - growing and selling seedlings - then, investing their profits. Last season, they learned an additional lesson - the bank that provided lessons on savings, loans and checking accounts failed, and now there's a question of who will teach finance class.
By Emily Richmond
Las Vegas Sun 2008-10-15 (entry)
Replacing an asphalt lot, a three-acre garden in view of Wall Street becomes a go-to place for teens and has drawn more than 5,000 students with their classes. Gardens were begun by two employees of Red Hook yourth court who started a nonprofit, Added Value, and now employ teens who 'weed it, turn it, rake it, seed it' - and sell the bounty at a farmers' market and to Brooklyn restaurants.
By Jim Dwyer
The New York Times 2008-10-08 (entry)
MacArthur Foundation/youtube
Will Allen uses aquaculture and vermiculture, and heats greenhouses with composting.
Urban farmer in Milwaukee wins $500,000 MacArthur 'genius grant' (click 'See also) for developing farming methods and educational programs designed to provide healthy food to everyone. His nonprofit, Growing Power (www.growingpower.org), just expanded its program of selling bags of fruit and vegetables for $14 -- a week's worth for a family of four.
By Lee Bergquist
Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee, WI) 2008-09-22 (entry)
See also
Campus garden becomes edible classroom for middle-schoolers whose families sought refuge in Vermont from Somalia and Burundi. Congo native teaches children Swahili after enticing them to dig in the dirt; unperturbed by lack of water spigot, pupils helped carry water for plants, remembering the need to carry water in Africa.
By Julia Melloni
Burlington Free Press (VT) 2008-09-19 (entry)
In society that takes comfort in its politicians hunching over burgers from the Dollar Menu at fast-food outlets, Alice Waters, with her Edible Schoolyard, is truly subversive. She plants seeds of honest taste memories in every child. To become American, Slow Food must figure out how to make sure everyone can afford a lovely, local bunch of carrots.
By John Birdsall
San Francisco magazine 2008-09-01 (entry)
Garden-to-Kitchen program teaches elementary schoolchildren - and adults - to plant and harvest vegetables, but it's also helping needy Oregon families save money on their grocery bills. Success may help program expand to more schools and communities, says founder.
By Jillian Daley
Statesman Journal (OR) (may require purchase) 2008-07-31 (entry)
Tomatoes, pumpkins, basil and Massachusetts middle school students star in video (click 'See also') urging other schools to grow gardens and think environmentally. 'The kids are using math and English skills to make a difference,' says teacher. And, says director, if 'you let the kids grow their own food they're more likely to eat the green beans.'
By Jeff Gilbride
The Daily News Tribune (MA) 2008-07-24 (entry)
See also
Though growing season is upon us, resources on tending, weeding, compost making, harvesting and cooking vegetables still available in Chicago. Good starting point is Edible Gardens in Lincoln Park Zoo's Farm-in-the- Zoo, which are garden demonstration models for home and school gardens, and popular field trip destination.
ABC7 News Chicago 2008-06-17 (entry)
See also
In effort to increase graduation rates of native American students and teach them about science, nutrition, food costs and medicine, Minnesota medical school plants garden in hockey rink. The gardens, which are blessed each morning, show how individuals, planted in good soil, can grow into something really spectacular as well, says advocate.
By Jana Hollingsworth
Duluth News Tribune 2008-06-27 (entry)
The lettuce crop in an elementary school garden.
At inner-city school, first-graders learn origins of their food in garden plot containing apple tree, pepper plants, strawberries, romaine lettuce, basil, rosemary, and cherry tomatoes. 'When children have authentic experiences like this, it contributes to their ability to read, write, compute and understand their world,' says principal.
By Marty Graham
Union Tribune (CA) 2008-06-28 (entry)
Students tend, sell crops, learn media relations and other modern-day farming skills at California high school's agricultural academy. Also on display: another side of agriculture, with potential for jobs in food safety, technology. Coordinator hopes to grow program and involve more students, particularly girls (click 'See also').
By Eric Anderson
Watsonville Register-Pajaronian (CA) 2008-05-28 (entry)
See also
Concrete garden transformed to Edible Schoolyard in New Orleans, and memories of hurricane recede as children learn to plant and weed, harvest and cook. School gardens aren't new, but kinder-garten (children-garden) concept taking root. In California, garden program graduates have become landscapers and tree surgeons working for the schools.
Janet McConnaughey
The Associated Press; San Francisco Chronicle 2008-05-04 (entry)
Food again is vital to our national security. We don't want a repeat of food riots that occurred during the Civil War, the Panic of 1893, and the Great Depression. As it did in World War I, government should allocate funds to promote national school, home and community gardening. Back then, Uncle Sam said, "Garden!" and millions of Americans picked up their hoes.
By Daniel J. Desmond and Rose Hayden-Smith
Ventura County Star 2008-05-04 (entry)
An appreciation of nature and life cycles begins in the garden (The Edible Schoolyard, above), then flows throughout the school day.
Placing the idea of the garden at the heart of school, beyond the transient thrills of consumption, nurtures regard for the natural world and life's cycles. We learned that nature wasn't limited to the garden; discussions flowed from the lunch tables to history classes, at our weekly faculty meeting and at assemblies.
By Philip Nix
ecoliteracy.org 2008-03-14 (entry)
Beets harvested by students at a school garden.
Though Senate dropped school snacks reform, its farm/food bill does create a pilot program that adds edible gardens to curriculum of poor schools. It also expands program that provides free fruit and vegetable snacks to elementary students in low-income areas.
By Christina A. Samuels
Education Week 2008-01-08 (entry)
With 40 percent of California high schools maintaining gardens, one school takes it further, linking to business economics as students grow ingredients for sauce and salsa, package it, then sell it at the local farmers' market. With profits, they pay for next year's batch and award college scholarships.
By Laurel Rosenhall
Sacramento Bee 2007-12-22 (entry)
From the Slow Food Miami movement five edible schoolyard gardens grow for teaching taste, math, health, science, writing, social studies - and for fighting the childhood obesity epidemic by connecting students to food production process. Three more gardens are in the works.
By Ana Veciana-Suarez
The Miami Herald 2008-01-01 (entry)
The key to successful school gardens is giving children responsibility for planning and decision making, according to a Cornell University study. Garden initiatives often limit student participation to mundane tasks such as planting and weeding, but greater involvement led to greater learning in a two-year program in New York and Pennsylvania.
By Michael Neff
American Society for Horticultural Science 2007-10-31 (entry)
See also
Austin-based non-profit group adds school gardens and farm-to-fork program to agenda that includes teaching low-income residents garden programs and how to sell produce they grow at farmers' markets.
By Paul Brown
News8Austin (TX) 0000-00-00 (entry)
See also
Elementary and junior-high students in Missouri learn horticulture from ground to farmers' market; school garden holds potatoes, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash and corn.
By Greg Grisolano
The Joplin Globe (MO) 2007-08-15 (entry)
Vermont school, working with local farmers and agricultural experts, plants garden designed to feed its 200 students homegrown vegetables at lunchtime, teaching a way of life, not only nutrition or fitness.
By Nicole Orne
Brattleboro Reformer (VT) (entry)
