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The community garden run by the Head Start program on the Alice Birney Elementary campus began to get revamped this weekend in what seems to be a growing trend for local schools.
The Head Start program was given a grant through the Redwood Community Action Agency to get their plants growing, said Allison Souza, family case manager for Head Start. They have had a 20-square-foot garden space for some time, but in recent years, students and their families have been able to use it only for small projects.
”We haven't used it to its full potential for a long time,” she said.
The wood making up the garden beds has rotted away, rendering it unusable. With the help of the grant and a $400-value donation from Pierson's Hardware, they will replace it with composite lumber, which will not rot, and create new garden beds, Souza said.
Families in the Head Start program were out Saturday morning working on the garden to prepare for its improvements -- weeding out garden beds and working on other planting projects. Demonstrating to children at a young age how to garden and care for another living thing reinforces lessons about science, along with teaching them a life skill, she said. Children are more likely to grow a garden later in life if they are taught the basics early.
”It's a lot of self-esteem, knowing they can do something,” she said. “That's very empowering for them.”
The program will also hopefully be
The grant to revamp the garden came from the Western Growers Foundation, which states its vision is “a garden in every California and Arizona school.” According to the foundation, it has funded more than 300 school gardens.
”School gardens provide endless benefits and opportunities for children to become more closely linked with their food supply and excited about eating more fruits, vegetables and nuts,” according to the foundation.
Community gardens seem to be a growing trend, especially in Humboldt County. Some local churches have created garden beds for their members, and the city of Arcata is working to create a community garden space for its residents. The garden space at the McKinleyville Family Resource Center was worked into a frenzy recently when Morris School students planted seeds and transplanted plants as a service-learning project.
Other local schools have also started and maintained their own garden projects. At Freshwater Elementary, students have been growing and rotating crops, including vegetables and some fruits, said Vice Principal Suzanne Nickols. The garden has flourished and created student interest in greens.
”A lot of it is used in our own school lunch program,” Nickols said.
Allison White can be reached at 441-0506 or awhite@times-standard.com.
