Highland Elementary School

Historically, Highland County residents grew and preserved all their own produce from home gardens; now these traditions are dying out with an aging population. With a full-service grocery store over an hour away, 37% of residents have limited access to healthy foods. Our goal is to revive homegrown traditions by using our recently renovated greenhouse and raised-bed garden to provide healthy foods for students and an environmental outlet for classroom instruction. The Whole Kids garden grant will enable us to expand our start-up program through the construction of four raised beds, create a vermiculture program in elementary classrooms and provide funding for the garden coordinators to compile and develop curriculum fitting our small school. We anticipate that this expansion will allow us to double the produce incorporated into our school cafeteria and school snack program. Worm bins will enable students to learn about compost and life cycles during the cold winter months.