Pupils Dig Gardening , East Palo Alto Charter School Students Learn the Benefits of Fresh Food

San Jose Mercury News, May 21, 2006

Author: HONGDAO NGUYEN, Mercury News, Peninsula/S.F. Edition

While the adage may be that kids are allergic to chores, East Palo Alto Charter School students thrive on at least one task -- gardening.

''The seventh-graders beg to do composting,'' said Sarah Doty, garden manager for the project.

On Saturday, dozens of children at the K-8 school showed off, ahem, the fruits of their labor through tours of a garden they've weeded, staffing a salad bar they prepared the vegetables for and distributing samples of healthy snacks in the first ''GREEN Fiesta!'' sponsored by the school and the ''Collective Roots Garden Project.''

The celebration was the culmination of a weeklong ''green'' focus at the school.

In recent years, the issue of improving nutrition has bubbled up in East Palo Alto. According to a recent Lucile Packard Children's Hospital report prepared for the Ravenswood School District, less than 10 percent of the district's fifth-graders met national weight and physical standards, compared with 30 percent nationwide.

The city also lacks access to a wide selection of fresh fruits and vegetables because it doesn't have a full-service grocery store, said Beth Steinberg, president of the board of Collective Roots, a non-profit organization that oversees the student program and its 12,500 square-foot garden.

Steinberg said a goal of the project, which started at the charter school three years ago, is to educate children and parents about nutrition and the environment, then bring that message to the larger community. And it's working, she noted.

''I see kids eating things I would have never thought they would in a million years,'' she said, ''like tofu, spinach and hummus.''

On Saturday Daniel Zaragoza, a seventh-grader, hovered over the salad bar and pointed out the edible flowers picked from the garden. He never bothered to try vegetables before, he said, but now he has favorites.

They include carrots, tomatoes and -- ''what's the white one?'' -- he asked his instructor, trying to think of the word for cauliflower. ''I forget the names.''

Nine-year-old Shammai Mading, who is in fourth grade, helped lead a tour that zigzagged through the garden. She pointed out the fava beans, composting station and lemon-scented herbs.

Her mom, Saree Mading, said that Shammai's participation in the gardening program has altered how the entire family deals with food waste at home.

After peeling mangoes and apples last week, Saree Mading threw away the peels and Shammai jumped in to say, 'Mom, you need to compost this!' ''

''I like to work in the garden because it feels good to help,'' Shammai said. ''I really like to eat the plants in the garden'' -- most of all the strawberries.

2006 San Jose Mercury News