9 Reasons To Support A School Garden

Hard to believe we're going to talk about gardening as I sit here watching the snow fall on this mid-April morn.  However, yesterday, with the sun shining, it seemed like a good idea!  Eventually, the snow will be gone and the warmer weather will come and gardening will be in full force!  Come September, when our students start their school year, we hope to have everything ready to go - a garden frame built, an indoor garden prepared, and first round of seeds started.  We hope to have all the tools ready for our students to maintain and benefit from all that a school garden can offer.  And with a learning kitchen on site, there's plenty of opportunities just waiting to be explored.  

Supporting a school garden is a great way to connect with a local organization dedicated to building a great future.  You are supporting a child's potential, a chance to positively influence the next generation, and you are supporting teachers who are trying to make a great change in education - a change that is necessary to build success for the lives of our children.  
9 Reasons To Support A School Garden

Life Skills
We believe gardening is, by far, one of the most crucial life skills we should be teaching children today.  It is connected to a wide range of hands-on, real-world knowledge and skill that will build a healthy, successful future.  Sustainability, respect for our Earth, eating food full of nutrients and minerals just to name a few. 
Where Food Comes From
Our children are growing up in a world where more food is available packaged, pre-mixed, and store-bought than in their own back yards.  A generation growing from artificial sweeteners and factory-made food will find it difficult to support a prosperous environment and successful future.  A generation unaware of where food comes from, what food is made up of, why veggies are healthy, and what we really should be fueling our bodies with is worrisome.  We believe maintaining a school garden brings value and life back into food, and essentially, what fuels their success as they grow.
Respect For Environment
Spending hours inside watching television, playing video games, and scrolling social media has left us disconnected with the very world we live in and depend on for life.  The wonders of nature, the protection of our natural resources, the support for our wildlife – the key to our future - will continue to be pushed farther from the hands of our children if we don’t get them outside exploring, digging, and engaging in the very world they live in.  Respect comes from understanding.  Without the knowledge and experience of knowing our Earth, how can we expect generations growing up today to take care of it in the future?
Outside
Let’s face it, we could all use more time outside! Enough said!
Working Together
As a teacher, we’re always embracing opportunities where students can learn how to work with others, learn to take initiative, support others, and embrace diversity.  Gardening offers just that – a space where multiple learning styles and areas of expertise can all come to play, explore, share, and learn. 
Proficient in the Kitchen
Realizing the food lined up in the grocery store can be grown in your own back yard is a novel concept to some of our students.  And furthermore, that it can often be made just as easily using simple ingredients for a fraction of the cost.  To be able to snip fresh basil right from the doorstep, or pick seasonal vegetables a few feet from the kitchen, can really bring home just how easy learning to cook with real, fresh ingredients can be.  It also gives hope that today’s generation could take control over the food available to them, the ingredients they choose to eat, and the products our populations would be better without. To taste things, explore cultures of cooking, learn how to bring out flavor in your own freshly grown food is something worth getting excited about, as well, can help shape a drastically healthier and happier future for generations to come. 
Eat Their Vegetables
We believe that the more meaningful the experience is, the more ownership we take to it.  This applies in the classroom and in the garden, as well.  Children who actively selected, planted, grew, maintained, and harvested food have already invested in healthier food.  They’ve learned the heritage, nutritional benefits, ease of cooking, and specifications of each vegetable.  Enjoying the fruits of their labor is part, if not a main component, of the journey of operating a school garden.
Natural Curiosity 
A child’s natural sense of curiosity starts outside.  The leaves, the sun, the clouds, muddy puddles, trailing ants – why not harness that motivation to keep on learning and digging for answers – literally!   We believe in hands-on learning, building the most engaging and meaningful experiences for our students. 
Value in Self-Sustainability
Many families today are opting for the convenience and affordability of buying food shipped from thousands of miles away and sold by bright and shiny corporations rather than attaining it from local markets, farmers, and small businesses.  What results is unfortunately a fading local economy, an increasing disconnect from food, our environment, and essentially, the world we live in and depend on.   A decreasing ability to sustain our land, our heritage, and ourselves is not a state to leave to future generations.  We want to instill the confidence, skills, and experience needed for future generations to live long, happy, and healthy lives surrounded by the beauty of everything our Earth provides.   

If you are interested in learning more about supporting our school garden, please click here.  We also accept donations for gardening tools, supplies, seeds, soil, frames, etc.  Please get in touch if you have anything to contribute.  We thank you in advance for your consideration!  From each student, family, and teacher - THANK YOU!