It’s hard to argue against the influence public schools have on children. In addition to their class curriculums, kids learn values and habits that they take with them, sometimes for the rest of their lives. That’s why teaching kids about healthy eating is so important, and why the Chez Panisse Foundation (known now as The Edible Schoolyard Project) is working so hard to make sure kids have the opportunity to learn about the food choices that will follow them into adulthood.
It’s hard to argue against the influence public schools have on children. In addition to their class curriculums, kids learn values and habits that they take with them, sometimes for the rest of their lives. That’s why teaching kids about healthy eating is so important, and why the Chez Panisse Foundation (known now as The Edible Schoolyard Project) is working so hard to make sure kids have the opportunity to learn about the food choices that will follow them into adulthood.
The first “edible schoolyard” was created in 1995 at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School, a public school for grades 6, 7, and 8, in Berkeley, California. The one-acre garden and classroom kitchen gives students the opportunity to grow their own food and learn how to prepare it. According to the foundation’s website, “Each student at King Middle School participates in the Edible Schoolyard. Garden classes introduce them to the origins of food, plant life cycles, community values, and the pleasures of work, while kitchen classes allow them to prepare and eat delicious, nutritious, seasonal dishes made from produce they have grown in the garden.”
Today there are six Edible Schoolyards across the country.
Tour the “Edible Schoolyard”:
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