Garden Classrooms

Our mission at Grimmway Academy Edible Schoolyard is to create and sustain an organic garden and learning kitchen that is integrated into the school’s curriculum and culture. We also want to encourage children to discover and develop a healthy relationship with the food they eat. Modeled after the pioneering work of Alice Waters' Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley and the Buena Vista Edible Schoolyard in Bakersfield, we have wholly integrated an organic garden and kitchen classroom into the culture and campus of Grimmway Academy, a charter school in the rural town of Arvin, CA.

Started in 2009, the Einstein Edible School Yard involves all 8th graders and some 7th graders directly in organic vegetable gardening throughout the school year. It is based on the ESY in Berkeley and the principles in Richard Louv's book, Last Child in the Woods. The gardens teach about water quality, care of the soil, basic life skills, self-confidence, health and nutrition, and leadership. Involvement in the gardens also increases school attachment for increased academic achievement. They are also used for field stuides in science classes.

United Public Montessori has a 51' Geodesic Learning Dome that the students (grades 7-12) use as a extended classroom and also as a micro economy. 

 The Castlemont Elementary School Garden & Life Lab, in the Campbell Union District, offers a 3/4-acre, organic garden space, including 34 raised vegetable beds, fruit trees, shrubs, and ornamentals.  We are in a transition period, busily landscaping and beautifying all areas of the garden. while endeavoring to create enticing curricula, nutritional connections, and--we hope--a "no child left inside" campus.