- The document discusses how children today spend less time outdoors and are suffering from "Nature Deficit Disorder", disconnected from nature. - It describes efforts to reconnect children with nature through community projects like gardening and outdoor activities to benefit their health, development, and environment. - The author implements a small gardening project with neighborhood children to teach them about growing food and nurturing their relationship with nature over the summer.

1. To experience a well-rounded childhood, children need time spent in nature to find balance
within themselves and understand their place in the larger system. In his book, Last Child in the
Woods, author Richard Louv (2008) describes that many of today's generation of children are
suffering from what he has termed "Nature Deficit Disorder." He describes a fundamental
paradigm shift in the way that children understand - and relate to - nature today as compared to
generations past. Ironically, children's general environmental awareness has increased - largely
due to media access - while "their intimacy with nature is fading" due to a decrease in actual
physical contact (p. 1). In a recent interview in US News & World Report, reporter Adam
Voiland (2008) interviews Louv. Louv explains that in an increasingly technological and
urbanized world, children are spending less and less time outdoors in imaginative free play. In
fact, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a recent study and determined that kids between
the ages of 8 and 18 spend on average 6.5 hours per day using electronic media. Another major
factor for the limited time spent outdoors is parent's feelings that it is not safe for children to be
outside because of the possibility of dangerous people in society. Louv makes the distinction that
nature does not necessarily have to be the unspoiled wilderness but that even a clump of trees or
"the ravine behind the house" can be therapeutic to children and aid in decreasing anxiety,
mitigating weight gain, decreasing aggressiveness, and increasing social and emotional skills.
With the change of the current societal climate, it may not be as safe for children to "roam
freely" however, parents should make intentional efforts to ensure their children are getting
enough time outdoors. There is an opportunity to find nature even in the most urban areas; the
key is having the motivation to look (n.p).
Children are not the only ones suffering from a broken connection with nature. Donna Seaman
(2011), interviews Richard Louv about his book The Nature Principle and Louv sums up the
current challenges faced by people in all age groups in their relationship to nature. He states,
No matter our age, we are hungry for authenticity, and authenticity is getting harder to find.
Because of that, nature gains value. Or should. So much of our conversation about protecting
nature is weakened by the fact that we have left ourselves out of nature, and not realized, or not
acknowledged, or honored, how much nature experiences do for our health and well-being. As
people recognize how nature helps us become healthier both psychologically and physically and
how nature helps us think and become more creative, I think that will strengthen the
environmental movement, which I believe needs strengthening, and most people would agree
with that. (n.p.)
Healing this broken connection between our earth mother and our human species is important to
current as well as future generations. Mending this relationship has the potential to positively
impact issues of sustainability in health, the environment, and social justice and to change the
current trajectory of humankind.
There are efforts across the US to reinvigorate the diminishing relationship between humans and
nature and children in particular. According to the Chicago Wilderness Alliance (2012), this year
Chicago is hosting the "Leave No Child Inside Conference 2013" that will provide a public
forum to "share lessons learned in the regional effort to connect children with nature . . .
[including creating] partnerships with nontraditional allies, creative use of small outdoor spaces,
engaging teens and young adults, model capacity-building programs, and many more" (n.p.).

2. These types of efforts are important to share innovative efforts and resources and set precedence
to influence structural level changes that support efforts to revive the human - nature connection.
Gardening projects are one way of creating opportunities for children to connect with nature.
Cornell University (2013) summarized research from journal articles about the positive effects of
"garden-based learning" projects. According to the research, gardening serves on several levels.
It increases awareness about food and nutrition, and increases environmental awareness by
helping kids to make the link between food with the environment. In addition, studies show that
using the hands-on teaching technique or experiential learning in combination with effective
curriculum is beneficial to children in other areas of academic development. Gardening projects
provide the opportunity for children to increase life skills such as working in a group and
developing interpersonal relationship skills, increasing self-understanding and responsibility, and
fostering patience. Gardening projects contribute to children's health and wellness. Working
outside shoveling, raking, mixing dirt, potting plants, and weeding and harvesting food provide
healthy physical activity and the opportunity for children to balance themselves emotionally and
physically. Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables in childhood contributes to the overall
health of the body and can influence positive lifelong eating habits. Finally, gardening projects
help to foster community and a sense of togetherness and increase feelings of connectedness and
cooperation (n.p.).
Project Summary
I have created a small gardening project that addresses the need for children to nurture their
connection with nature as well as to learn about growing food and the food system in general.
While the initial phase of the project has already been completed, the project will continue over
the course of the summer until the children begin the school year and will be conducted at my
house in Pahoa with my 2 children ages 6 and 10 along with two neighbor children ages 8 and
12. The children stand to benefit in several ways from participating in this project as it serves to
foster sustainable education that deepens the relationship with the environment, links self with
community, fosters health and wellness, and is crucial to creating a sustainable future for
humanity.
Activities
The children participated in several learning modalities during the initial stage of the project. The
dirt preparation, potting, and planting process have provided the opportunity for experiential,
hands-on learning. Children got dirty while helping to shovel and clean composted soil in
preparation prepare for potting. Children learned about the compost process and the important
part that worms and insects play in this process. Children prepped recycled planters made from
empty paper milk cartons with recycled dirt. When it came time to plant, they chose from five
types of organic seeds, labeling their pots with their names so they could take ownership of their
individual plants. Plants have all sprouted and the children are watching their growth progress
daily. Children are helping to water and weed and will be learning about - and helping to apply -
microorganism fertilizer. When the plants have grown big enough, children will help to
transplant their plants into bigger pots and will bring them home to tend. When plants are ready

3. for harvest, children will help to prepare a dish with the harvested food and will participate in a
"community feast" with those of us working on the project.
Children also had the opportunity for learning through verbal, movie, and art medium. I adapted
an education module from the Cornell University Discovering Our Food System curriculum to fit
all ages in the group. We focused on Unit 2 Food System Basics, which complemented my
showing of portions of the Food Inc movie. My goal was to give them a general overview of the
food system while connecting their understanding to the importance of growing food at home
and eating food grown by local farmers. The deeper goal is to foster an understanding that our
food system is a cooperative system that relies on many hands to operate and bring food to our
table. The more food we can provide by growing ourselves, the more we can depend upon
ourselves for our food needs.
Children participated in a learning session during which they drew their concept of a farm. While
they were drawing, they received instruction about food system basics and I asked the children
some questions to gauge their overall food knowledge such as:
1. What foods do you eat that are grown on Hawaii Island?
2. Have you ever planted/grown food before?
3. If you could buy all the groceries, would you buy the same things that your parents do?
4. Do you help to prepare and cook meals at home?
5. If so, what kind?
6. How much of our food here in Hawaii do you think comes from here? How do you think
it gets here?
7. If we could only get food grown in Hawaii, what do you think we would have at the
grocery store?
8. If there was not a grocery store what would you eat and where would you get your food?
9. How much do you think what you eat is related to how you feel?
Following the questions, we watched portions of the Food Inc. movie. We concluded the session
with a "community feast" where I served the children all fresh local fruits that I has just
purchased at the market including some exotic fruits that the neighbor children had never
previously had.
I plan to continue the project through the summer until the children go back to school. Children
will continue in ongoing participation 3-4 times week with tending and watering plants. I will
continue to teach growing and food system basics. I will encourage children to bring recycled
containers so they can continue making new plantings. I will be implementing microorganism
fertilizer and teaching children about basics of microorganisms and soil health. Children will
transplant their starts when they have grown enough and take them home to tend.
We will continue to take pictures over the remaining days of the project and add to the e-book so
that it reflects the entire project. I will lead the children in a book creation session where they
will put together their own printed copies of the project as a keepsake.
Assessment

4. Overall, I am pleased I chose to do this project. Not only has the project been of benefit to the
children, it has benefitted me as well. During my childhood, my mother always had a garden and
I would spend hours working in the dirt with her. When I became an adult, I grew gardens off
and on however, over the past few years I have not actively grown any food. As a result of this
project, I am grateful to have renewed my sense of wonder with growing food!
I would have liked to have more time for this project as I was barely able to scratch the surface in
such a short amount of time. In addition to what we did cover, it would have been interesting to
cover food culture and food values along with this gardening project. I did find it difficult at
times to keep the children's attention to the process and found that doing the project in short
sessions interspersed with plenty of outdoor freeplay helped to mitigate that.
I do notice that the neighbor children are very curious about my family's food lifestyle. They ask
allot of questions such as if we always eat together as a family, what kinds of things we eat, and
why we are vegetarians. They are also very willing to try the foods I cook and have eaten lentils,
beans and coconut brown rice with us. They are enthralled watching me during the entire process
of husking and opening a coconut and processing it into coconut cream and shreds. They did tell
me that they never eat together as a family so as part of this project I wanted to make an effort to
have us all eat a sampling of local fruits from the farmers market together. For their benefit, I
have labeled this as a "community feast."
Many children have little opportunity to eat foods that are grown in their local region. For
example, big chain supermarkets here sell very little fruits and vegetables that have been grown
locally. Many local foods are only available from health food stores or local farmer's markets.
For many children, they are largely at the mercy of what and where their parents shop and know
about food and their eating habits are influenced and directly affected by this fact. This is
certainly true for the neighbor children as was evidenced in their answers to some of the
questions I asked them to gauge their overall food knowledge. They expressed that they rarely
eat as a family together and when they do it is usually only on holidays. When I asked the older
neighbor child if she would buy different food than her parents if she could buy all the groceries,
she answered with an emphatic YES! In addition, she expressed some concern for her mother
who is "addicted to Mountain Dew" and is "not the outdoorsy type." I suggested that perhaps
including her mother in the plant growing process when she brings her plant home may spurn
some positive changes.
My children on the other hand have a heightened knowledge and understanding about food
because of the eating habits I have instilled in them at home. I changed our diets radically when
my youngest son was about 3 so for him there really is no memory of eating any foods other than
the type he eats now. He is very well adjusted and even makes the proper food choices for
himself in places like school and parties. For my older son however, he was 7 when I made the
change to feeding my family a largely (local) plant-based diet that does not include meat, dairy,
or gluten and includes an extremely minimal amount of processed foods. Because it has been
over 3 years, I assumed he had completely made the adjustment. However, during the learning
session, I was surprised to see how emotional he was when I asked him some of the food
knowledge questions. While he did say he understands the importance of eating healthy as it

5. relates to overall well-being, he said he thinks it would be easier to eat the way we do if it was
the only kind of food he was ever exposed to. However, because he had a more conventional diet
for the first 7 years of his life, he finds that he misses some foods. I asked him if he would
change the way he eats when he is on his own and he says yes he will add wheat and dairy back
into his diet but that he will still refrain from eating meat. He did express anxiety about not
knowing how to prepare enough meals and we made an agreement to cook together on a regular
basis to remedy this. It was a very good opportunity for me to connect with my son and meet
some emotional needs that I was unaware were going unmet.
Outcomes
The children are showing a continued interest in learning about food and the food system as well
as composting, planting, and tending plants. I also expect the children to show an ongoing
interest in participating with the project until the successful harvest and "feast" of the food we
grow. The neighbor children show an interest in gardening at their own homes and are looking
forward to bringing their plants home to share with their family.
Since our "community feast" of local fruit, the neighbor children show an increased desire to eat
fruits and vegetables while at my house and my children show an increased desire to share fruits
and vegetables with them! To support the overall connection with nature, the children participate
in plenty of free-play time in the yard in our beloved mango tree, playing on swings and
climbing ropes that they helped me to hang!
Overall, I feel this was a successful project that accomplished what I set out to do. The children
learned about planting, food, and strengthened their sense of community and teamwork. I
reignited my own love of growing things and started a positive new habit for a more sustainable
way of living. All of us deepened our relationship with nature and increased our sense of well-
being and our connection to the divine source.