Growing up

Palo Alto Weekly, Friday, June 6, 2003

Growing up
A new educational philosophy takes root in Peninsula schools

by Martin Nobida

Inch by inch, row by row, teachers are growing students' minds in environments other than the confines of a classroom.

Increasingly, students are picking up rakes and hoes to cultivate outdoor gardens -- a venue that is proving to be a successful alternative environment to chairs and desks.

On Saturday, the community can see how eight area elementary, including Ohlone and Walter Hayes elementary schools in Palo Alto, are growing gardens on their campuses as a way to teach children about horticulture, nutrition and life.

It's all thanks to a nonprofit collaborative called Getting Going Growing, which is organizing a tour of the gardens to show the public how they are developed and integrated into children's learning experiences.

"Some bright kids don't like the classroom," said Sue Nicholls, who is in charge of Ohlone's gardening efforts. "Some just need a hands-on learning experience."

Gardening promotes an appreciation for ecological systems and nutrition. Through cultivating a garden, for example, the connection between the food student's eat, where it comes from and its nutritional value becomes much more apparent to children.

"Kids who grow vegetables tend to eat vegetables," said Susan Stansbury, director of the Valley of Heart's Delight, a nonprofit involved in Getting Going Growing collaborative. "They tend to like healthier foods."

Garden-based education received a great boost in 1997, when Delaine Easton, former California superintendent of schools, mandated "a garden in every school by 2000."

Although the goal obviously hasn't been met, more and more schools have begun embracing the idea. There seems to be as many different philosophies as to how to best use gardens as there are schools deciding to plant them.

Some schools grow vegetables for harvest, some grow flowers for aesthetic reasons and some use a combination of the two.

Garden organizers at Walter Hayes Elementary School decided to tackle their gardening effort in two stages.

The first stage, which will be on display for this weekend's tour, is aesthetic. They've created a reading garden where children can go outside and study among trees, flowers and other plants.

The designers hoped to create a place not only where the children would like to read, but also one where butterflies and birds would like to play.

"The garden makes the school facilities look much more pleasing," said Judy Ann Edwards, a parent in charge of the garden project at Walter Hayes. "If the kids look around them and see butterflies and birds, they might just want to stay in the garden longer."

As part of the second stage, the school plans to construct garden labs. Some classrooms will actually get to grow different plants and vegetables themselves and study them.

Ohlone School, established in 1985, features not only a garden where the students can grow vegetables to eat, but also a farm where they raise animals.

The setting allows the children to be active and learn important concepts at the same time.

Getting Going Growing helps the schools with designing and organizing the effort to meet their needs.

"You raise the question, and I'll find a way the garden works for you," said Barbara Christiani, a Gamble Gardens board member in charge of children's programs.

Gamble Gardens is one of four nonprofit organizations involved with the collaborative. The other three are The Foundation for Global Unity's Valley of Hearts Delight, Youth Community Services and the Collective Roots Garden Project. The collaborative helps with locating possible sources of funding and companies that might be willing to donate materials or other resources.

Though the collaborative has only been around for two years, interest has been growing. When it first started, it had six schools participating. This year it has 10. The idea is to expand the program even further, Christiani said. But they're being careful not to have the schools overextend themselves