The Garden
How do we integrate NATURE and natural settings into an urban school environment?
There's evidence that exposure to nature has the potential to increase resiliency and reduce negative health impacts of emotional stress, but not all children have easy access to green spaces and nature.
University of Minnesota Extension Children, Youth & Family Consortium (CYFC) and Bruce Vento Elementary School wanted to expose students to natural spaces to promote their mental and physical health and to improve access to fresh foods throughout the community by collectively harvesting vegetables from a shared garden.
Nurture
In response to the need, the school and CYFC made a conscious decision to build a community garden on site at Bruce Vento Elementary. They also wanted to include students and community members in the garden development and maintenance process.
Design and Development
To kick-off the initiative, local community engagement experts from Marnita’s Table® hosted an event to ask students and community members what they wanted to harvest from the garden come spring.
The overwhelming favorites were corn, tomatoes, and peppers. In addition, the group decided that each grade level would be empowered to grow its own vegetable plot, presenting additional opportunities for learning, skill-building, and fostering connections.
Implementation
With the help of a University of Minnesota Extension grant, the school in partnership with CYFC set out to build and plant six, 4 foot x 8 foot raised garden beds on the front lawn of the school grounds. By springtime the garden was thriving, producing gorgeous vegetables and greenery that delighted students and community members alike.
Many groups in the community wanted a hand in the action, including the St. Paul Police Department, which offered to staff the garden regularly with two officers.
“I’m one of the officers [who] reach out a lot to the community to get involved...I’d stop in and pull some weeds every once in awhile...[or gather] kids and parents throughout the community, telling them about the garden, ‘cause they weren’t aware of this garden here, and bringing them here, either giving them a ride or meeting them here. I’d give them brown paper bags that I carry with me...and say you know, ‘Pick the vegetables and fruits. Just fill up your bag.’ And that’s what they did. I told them, ‘You’re welcome to come back throughout the summer and keep picking...‘It seems like every interaction I had was beneficial.”
Education in Action
Bruce Vento’s school garden coordinator makes sure that a different aspect of the garden and gardening is incorporated into the curriculum for each grade. For example, pre-K and kindergarten classes plant flowers, while first graders plant and harvest beans. Older children participate in a multi-week garden camp supported by community volunteers. Older children’s efforts include planting the corn, tomatoes, and peppers named as favorites when the garden was being planned.
Garden education happens at Bruce Vento all year round — even in the middle of Minnesota’s harshest winters! The indoor worm composting bin is a particular favorite for teaching kids about gardening processes without ever stepping outside.
The Outcome
To understand the impact of the garden, community engagement experts from Marnita’s Table conducted interviews with teachers, staff, parents, and community partners. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for themes. Experts identified a total of 10 themes that revealed both garden assets that enhanced the garden experience (7 themes) and barriers that reduced the richness and quality of the garden experience (3 themes.)
Garden Themes
Scroll right to read them
Barriers
1. Lack of Knowledge
A few teachers and staff members noted that their own lack of knowledge about gardening acted as a barrier.
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“I'm not a gardener so... planting and what not isn't really my forte... I would really need some direction like 'plant this here and here's how to do it.'"
2. Need for more Resources
Many teachers and staff members expressed a desire for more space for the garden.
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"Not everybody can be there [in the garden] at the same time. When you've got one bed for a grade level and there's four classes in a grade level, it's a challenge. Everybody wants to plant and not everybody can."
The climate in Minnesota limits the amount of time available for students and others to spend in the garden. One inventive teacher suggested using planter pods in the classroom in the colder months as a way to overcome this barrier for students.
3. Limited Time
Lessons Learned
Because the success of the garden hinged on community engagement, project participants learned they needed to increase their skills in communications and community outreach. The planning committee also reported other key lessons learned after the first year of implementation.
Strong leadership commitment from both the school principals and committee members were essential elements of success. Creating plans, obtaining approvals, and swift execution would not have occurred without broad engagement and sense of responsibility.
1. Need for Leadership Commitment
2. Importance of Community
A shared sense of purpose and community connected teachers, students, administrators and community members to accomplish something significant together. By planning, planting, picking and tasting together, different groups shared an experience that proved more lasting than the seasonal garden.
3. Greater Camaraderie
One unexpected but delightful consequence of the garden was the opportunity for teachers and staff to bond with each other. Time spent together on campus but outside of the confines of the classroom and administrative offices led to more relaxed, authentic, and personal interactions among teachers and staff.
4. Opportunity
Participants walked away from the first-year garden experience with optimism and plans of growth for the future. Participants cited a number of opportunities for growth, including: adding more professional development venues for teachers; expanding and enhancing the garden curriculum; adding more beds and gardening tools; and increasing communication and engagement with neighbors and the broader community.
The Research
Adevi, A, Martensson, F. (2013). Stress rehabilitation through garden therapy: The garden as a place in the recovery from stress. , , 230-237.
Bidwell, A. (2014). . U.S. News & World Report.
Blair, D. (2009). The child in the garden: An evaluative review of the benefits of school gardening. , , 15-38.
Jones, L. (2012). . , 2(1), 66-84.