School Gardens and Greenhouses ` For more information, Please see websites below: ` Organic Edible Schoolyards & Gardening with Children http://scribd.com/doc/239851214 ` Double Food Production from your School Garden with Organic Tech http://scribd.com/doc/239851079 ` Free School Gardening Art Posters http://scribd.com/doc/239851159` ` Companion Planting Increases Food Production from School Gardens http://scribd.com/doc/239851159 ` Healthy Foods Dramatically Improves Student Academic Success http://scribd.com/doc/239851348 ` City Chickens for your Organic School Garden http://scribd.com/doc/239850440 ` Simple Square Foot Gardening for Schools - Teacher Guide http://scribd.com/doc/239851110

1. School Gardens and Greenhouses
By Jessica Myhre
Background
Introduction
Americans today spend 90 percent of their time indoors; we don’t spend nearly enough
time in the sun, in the dirt, and in nature. School gardens and greenhouses offer great
opportunities for hands-on outdoor field experience. Youth connect with an aspect of the
natural world and with agriculture, while engaging in the processes that create the food
that we eat. Helping plants and food grow gives us practical skills to engage with the
nature and agriculture and teaches us where our food comes from, how we rely on natural
resources, and to recognize the earth’s importance and vulnerability.
School gardens provide hands-on, real-world problem-solving skills and opportunities for
scientific inquiry. Gardens are the ideal site to learn about botany, agriculture, and
nutritional health. Students become invested in their plants and the growing process,
gaining a sense of ownership and responsibility. The vegetables grown in students’
gardens can be used for a few meals there at the school, giving the students a full
appreciation of the earth and their own labor.
Gardening not only gives students an alternative
learning space to thrive, but also presents important
opportunities for leadership and community
growth. Gardens and greenhouses are perfect sites
for student-led and community-based projects.
These spaces facilitate the growth of environmental
stewardship for students, teachers, and community
participants. The investment in nurturing the soil
and plants gives the community a sense of
ownership and a common bonding ground.
Practical knowledge in agriculture – experience in
the dirt – is becoming a crucial building block for
success in an economy that is rapidly becoming
more focused on sustainability. Scholars,
government officials, and companies alike are
recognizing the need for employees to have
knowledge and experience with the earth and its
natural processes. Field experience in gardens andThurgood Marshall Academy,
Washington D.C. 2009

2. greenhouses give students exposure to processes and spaces that will be valued as our
society and economy transition to being green.
Gardening Helps Us Reconnect with Our Food:
Growing vegetables and plants raises students’
awareness of the connections between the land,
our bodies, and our health. Obesity, diabetes,
heart diseases, and cancer are some of the leading
health problems in the United States – all of
which are related to our eating practices learned
as children.i
Participating in the nurturing process
and watching the plants grow through the months
gives students access to understanding where
foods come from and what gives it nutritional
value. Growing food in gardens and greenhouses
helps students not only understand the
foundations of food, but make healthier and more
environmentally responsible choices for their own
eating habits.
Gardens bring food back into the realm of
culture and community. Most Americans eat
highly processed foods in front of the TV or a computer screen, in the car, and often,
alone. By engaging students and community members in the process of cultivation –
nurturing whole, complete, unprocessed foods – gardens get people excited about real,
healthy food that stems from the soil, not laboratories or factories. People who invest of
time, work, and energy in growing their own food are much less likely to eat with
indifference to what they are consuming or how they are consuming it. Gardens help
bring families back to the dinner tables to eat together.ii
To learn more about school food and
healthy choices, see
Earth Day Network’s Page on Healthy Food:
http://ww2.earthday.net/node/40
Most American children, and many
American adults, for that matter,
have never witnessed any of the
processes that produce the food that
they and their families consume –
not the farming, nor the transporting,
processing, or packaging.
Because we, as a society, are so
divorced from the “roots” of our
Belmont High School, Los Angeles, 2009
Bloom High School Greening, Chicago 2008 - Green
House.

3. food, we barely know what’s in it, where it came from, or how it was made.iii
School
gardens and greenhouses remedy this disconnect – kids and young adults have the
opportunity to engage in and influence the growing process.
Many schools use the vegetables grown in school gardens for meals at the school.
Depending on the size and scale of these gardens and greenhouses, a school gardening
program may or may not generate enough food to significantly impact the school lunch
program. Students and staff greatly benefit from those programs that are large enough to
provide the cafeterias with fresh, organic, locally-grown fruits, vegetables, and spices -
they get to eat great food! Even smaller quantities can be sold at farmers’ markets or
used in jams, salsas or other goods that can be sold to benefit the school and raise money
to further support the garden. No matter the size of the program, students benefit. Many
students’ interest in food is piqued by school gardens, and they will become engaged in
agriculture, community gardens or CSAs, and culinary arts. By giving our students
practical experience growing their own healthy, whole food, we give them the basic
know-how for generating their own food, teaching others about food, and making healthy
food choices for themselves and their families.
Gardens and Greenhouses Can Be a
Part of YOUR School:
o Action Plan: encourage the school
to get a school garden, greenhouse,
or farm.
http://www.earthday.net/greenscho
olsrecreation
o You can receive a grant to begin a
school garden project: see the
Department of Agriculture’s
website:
.www.federalgrantswire.com/healt
hy-communities-grant-
program.html
Edible Gardens Can Become an Integral Part of the Classroom:
Lessons:
Soils lesson plan: www.earthday.net/greenschoolsrecreation
What’s In Your Food, What’s In Your Body Environmental Jeopardy Lesson:
http://www.earthday.net/lesson%20plans/What's%20In%20Your%20Food,%20What's%
20In%20Your%20Body.pdf
Organic Food, Organic Lifestyle Environmental Jeopardy:
http://www.earthday.net/lesson%20plans/Organic%20Food,%20Organic%20Lifestyle_E
nvironmetal%20Jeopardy_Aug%202007.pdf
Thurgood Marshall Academy, Washington D.C. 2009

4. For additional information on healthy food and schoolyard gardens, stay tuned for Earth
Day Network’s school food documentary to be released in fall 2009!
Resources:
http://www.earthday.net/goOrganics/index.htm
Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto & The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Harvey Blatt’s America’s Food: What You Don’t Know About What You Eat
Food Inc. http://www.foodincmovie.com/
i
http://ww2.earthday.net/node/40
ii
Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. The Penguin Press: NY, 2008.
iii
What we consume for sustenance is barely recognized as “food” by many nutritionists and scientists.
Often our food – even fruits and vegetables – contains fewer nutrients and more chemicals than we think,
as they are grown with substantial amounts of pesticides, fertilizers, and nitrogen that were added to
overworked soil. These same chemicals that make food less nutritious for us also produce environmental
damage in the form of toxic “run-off” that pollutes our rivers and groundwater and by degrading the soil
across the country. Most food has been transported thousands of miles representing an enormous carbon
footprint. Less than 21% of the energy used in the food system goes towards primary production; over
79% is dedicated to activities such as transporting, processing, and advertising. Blatt, Harvey. America’s
Food: What You Don’t Know About What You Eat. Massachusettes Institute of Technology: MA, 2008.