The Family that Gardens Together
By Lisa Golden Schroeder
My gardening family is an ever changing, squirming and giggling group of elementary school kids. We try to grow all sorts of things in a wonderful space on school property, and my garden kids stick with me as closely as my own children do. We’re entering into year three of a concentrated effort to provide garden-based education for an audience that’s ripe to learn about the wonderful ways that the earth provides for us. And planning starts now, before the snow melts in our neck of the woods.
As more schools offer spaces for digging in the dirt, it’s become abundantly clear that school gardens can improve self-esteem, the health and wellness of communities and the environmental health of our neighborhoods, cities and local farmland. School gardens impact communities through a ripple effect that starts with individual children and families and broadens to improve schools, to green communities and to drive a demand for locally and sustainably grown food, supporting regional economic growth.
It’s so very cool to see the support from the public for school gardens—and watching the Obamas’ White House garden in action only fuels the fire. Serving up a sampling from their first harvest at the first state dinner of their administration—vegetables that were planted by local school children—puts a real face on where food should come from. And it inspires me to continue lending my own little bit of time and energy to introducing my garden family to new, delicious tastes that spring from their containers and garden beds. This year we’re planning a composting project with the grown-up community gardeners and a more organized weeding schedule. No complaints about being garden slaves this season!
We celebrated the end of last year’s garden with a picnic filled with small tidbits of our own harvest. This year I’m hoping to have more regular picnics with both the pre-schoolers and the upper elementary kids. Just BARE™ Chicken will be a part of our menus, thanks to the commitment of the company to encourage this kind of healthy learning – a great investment in our most important asset, our future decision makers.
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Tags: Chicken, Garden, Gardening, Just Bare Chicken, Kids, school, school garden, Vegetables