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 Ours is a garden of the future. Because the land is newly acquired by the school district, no actual gardening work has been done at this time. We do, however have plans to begin an organic garden in the coming school year. Many children today do not realize where the food that they consume comes from. Our school’s organic garden will be the outdoor classroom that will allow the fourth graders in our school to get hands-on experience with the world of agriculture. The students will help to plan and build the garden. They will plant the organic seeds in containers during the early spring of 2002. Then the students will plant those seedlings outdoors and care for them until school lets out. We will save lunch waste for our compost. All the while, we will use journals to keep track of the garden’s progress. Maintenance of the garden during the school year will be done by groups of fourth graders on a rotating basis. Because the plants will need care over the summer months when school is closed, I plan to ask for help from the local and school community. We have a wonderful group of people working on our P.T.A. who are likely to lend a hand. It is also possible that the local Boy and Girl Scouts might have some youngsters who are in search of volunteer service hours. Each fall, our school hosts a Harvest Fest Day in October. It is a tradition that the fifth grade students prepare and cook a harvest meal that is shared among classmates and staff. I imagine that this day would be far more meaningful if the students were to use produce which they had planted and cared for during their previous year at school. I recently read an interesting phrase, "If you eat, you are involved in agriculture." I hope that by gardening organically and reaping the benefits of the land, my students will learn to respect the natural, beneficial way to grow food and avoid the use of chemicals when they garden independently. |
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