Ducks @ Oregon - University of Oregon

School Gardens Project

Trafton B.

November 10, 2009 - 8:20 PM

I've been working on a project in my PPPM class (Community Leadership and Change) on the School Gardens Project of Lane County. Our task is to revamp their image, so to speak; find out in what areas they are slacking and then figure out how to engage the community in their initiative. Our overall hope is to give them ideas about how to spread the word and expand their program to reach around more schools in the greater Eugene area. Sound interesting? Well, you haven't even gotten to know some of these kids yet. Man, are they sweet!

My team and I volunteered at Chavez Elementary in West Eugene today to catch a glimpse of one of the classes in action. Jared, the Executive Director, opened up by passing around an acorn squash to all 32 students in Mrs. Broadbent's Fourth Grade class. Their instructions were to say their name and one thing they've learned this year in the garden so far. I was blown away by some of the things they've been able to do. "I liked it when we cooked fried green tomatoes!" "I like washing off the potatoes!" "My favorite thing is digging around in the compost bin!" They were all so excited, too. It was awesome to see all of their eyes light up.

Then we split up into groups. Some kids picked sunflowers and cleaned the roots, called tubers or sun chokes, off to eat at the end of the day. Some students picked green beans. And then others chopped up the sunflower stalks and added them to the compost pile. I was in charge of leading the self-proclaimed "Team Mulch." We spread leaves across one of the gardens to prepare it for the winter rain. I thought I was going to have some trouble convincing the kids to get their hands dirty. I had shovels ready, but those were obviously unnecessary. I forgot how much kids love to play in the dirt. One girl belated exclaimed "This is the funnest gardening EVER!" right as she drove her hands into the wheelbarrow full of mulch.

If this doesn't instill some sense of environmental stewardship in these kids, or at least some knowledge of where vegetables come from (other than the refrigerator), then I don't know what else to do. It pains me to think that I was one of those kids that refused to eat his broccoli at the dinner table just because I had no idea what it was. But it's refreshing to know that programs like this one exist out there, and they are succeeding as well. We ended the day by eating the sun chokes some of the kids had harvested. Jared had ranch dressing ready for all those that needed some encouragement.

Needless to say, I was hooked right then and there. I'm jealous, too. I wish I had a school garden at my elementary school. In short, the School Gardens Project is a great program sending out a great message to the youth of today. These kids have no idea how lucky they are.

By the way, they could always use some extra volunteers. I'll be out there if I find some free time this term. Check it out.

 Marissa didn't want to get her hands dirty,

but couldn't wait to hop in the wheelbarrow. Go figure.