Nature's classroom

Almanac, Wednesday, April 17, 2002

Nature's classroom
Garden project at Belle Haven School brings lessons on science, nutrition to life

by Pam Smith, Almanac Staff Writer

Passing by Belle Haven School, few would guess that on the other side of the low-slung building, agriculturists were harvesting foods like tomatoes and squash, oranges and blueberries.

The growers, pickers (and, yes, taste testers) are students who have been integrating gardening and learning at the K-through-eight school since the Collective Roots Garden Project began there two years ago.

"There's something about dirt and children. It's a very comforting thing for them," said Principal Ellen Spencer.

From its humble beginnings, when lessons were given inside with potted plants, the Collective Roots Garden Project has gradually blossomed - creating three small gardens out of vacant space in the schoolyard, garnering more and more parent support, and, most recently, gaining status as a new nonprofit organization, reaching out to involve older students, and planning a custom-built garden area.

It all started when Amanda Feld and Adam Mitchell, teachers at Belle Haven School, were brainstorming ways to get families more involved on campus.

They knew Holly Taylor, who volunteered at a garden program in Berkeley. Familiarity with that program, combined with parents' complaints about what their kids were not learning from cafeteria food, brought the teachers to a "natural" conclusion: The school should have a community garden where students could learn about nutrition, integrate horticulture and agriculture into their other lessons, and build on the skills and culture of those parents who grew up with agriculture and continued to keep "amazing" gardens, said Ms. Taylor.

With those ideas in mind, the three founded the Collective Roots Garden Project and the school hired Ms. Taylor to be its community outreach coordinator, with the garden project being one of her main responsibilities, she said.

We really feel ... you can see a difference being made," said Principal Spencer. "Everyone feels happy when they see the garden.

"It's a safe common ground on which a lot of children can come together," she continued. Some students have gained more confidence as they've found new talents there - "There's no expectations, like in an academic setting" - and others who have been socially difficult in the past seem to change, she said. "They become kinder and gentler."

The program has several components, including "guest lessons" in the school's regular classrooms, a weekly after-school gardening club, an all-school planting day, and monthly "garden gathering" Saturdays when parents with the day off can come work on the garden with their children.

People have (also) started kind of hanging out, when they have free time, working in the garden," and the program encourages that, said Ms. Taylor.

Some of it sounds like class - testing the soil, learning how to compost, researching beneficial insects and what kind of flowers can draw them to the organic garden.

And some of it sounds like just plain fun - planting, watering, picking, and, of course, eating the fruits of their labor.

With healthy snacks, the students learn about nutrition and become culinary adventurers, combining fruits, vegetables and flowers from their own garden to make a salad or a smoothie, or enjoying some things they don't grow, donated monthly by JZ Cool Eatery.

Before one fruit platter from JZ Cool, "none of the students ever had figs," said Ms. Taylor. "They were enamored," analyzing it with statements like how sweet it was, or how it tasted like candy, she said.

Healthy eating helps children study better, and sleep better, said Ms. Spencer. "I think it's something that should be part of every elementary school curriculum."

Parents have just taken action and made things happen," rototilling and digging for the planting beds, repairing the program's tool shed - whatever it takes, said Ms. Taylor.

Their support, and that of volunteers from places like Mid-Peninsula High School in Menlo Park and Hewlett-Packard, have made it "an active and productive garden" this year, she said.

The students even sold some of the fall harvest to parents and staff. Some day, "we hope to have a farmer's market," said Ms. Taylor.

That's just one way the program hopes to grow, if all goes well.

The school is eagerly anticipating a new, custom-designed garden - part of a larger facelift to the schoolyard planned for this summer - with a seating area for lessons; raised, handicapped-accessible planting areas; pathways; and an irrigation system, said Ruben Nino, the city's director of engineering services.

"We want to teach science, math and English in the garden," but it's been challenging to integrate it into regular classes, where "teachers have so much to plan for already" and most don't have gardening expertise, said Ms. Taylor.

Eventually, program leaders would like to hire a full-time teacher to make the garden as much of a classroom as the science labs or art class, said Ms. Taylor.

"We want to eventually have a kitchen for students off the main [cafeteria] kitchen, so they can learn how to cook," too, said Principal Spencer.

The garden project's new board of directors, formed when it incorporated as a nonprofit organization in December, should help guide future plans like that, and come up with ways to fund them, said Ms. Taylor.

Volunteers needed
The garden project and nonprofit organization can always use more money, and more volunteers, said Ms. Taylor. The project needs people with gardening expertise to share with the children, and people who can help with duties such as bookkeeping, making fliers, or doing translations.

As for donations, the program already has a lot of tools, but "we really, really want" to stock a food cart with basic kitchen items to aid in the nutrition lessons. "I've just been packing up my kitchen every Friday for two years," said Ms. Taylor.

One person donated a blender that the students have used to make fruit smoothies, said Ms. Taylor, adding, "a cutting board and little knives would be fabulous," as would dishes and other utensils.

She's torn, she said, because she doesn't want to be picky about donations, but she also feels a lot of the students get used things all the time.

"If nothing else, I want their whole garden experience to be first-rate," said Ms. Taylor.