ESYNOLA, Langston Hughes Academy

From day one of the Dreamkeeper garden's inception, life in the garden has been fast at work – growing, sharing and spreading seeds. Langston Hughes Academy's Dreamkeeper garden is tucked away behind the school, which makes it a perfect place for plants, animals and critters to thrive. As the school community develops its expansion plan for the garden, it continues to grow and change, endearing itself to all who visit it.

The Dreamkeeper garden is home to many different life cycles, including laying hens, the favorite garden residents of adults and children alike. Our healthy and happy chickens grace us with eggs each day, which we use in our afterschool cooking club, daytime garden cooking classes, and send home with families. The chickens bring a kind of joy to the garden that can't be matched. Come by the garden early in the morning, and you'll hear the hens talking to each other, waiting to explore the newly exposed creatures in the soil, yum! Colorful signs featuring the poetry of our namesake dot the landscape, and ensure that our garden is indeed a place where dreams can be nurtured, and realized. We have also added 3 goats and a lovely potbelly pig! 

Staff and students maintain our Dreamkeeper Garden at Langston Hughes, which started in 2008 before becoming an ESYNOLA garden. In 2012, students and volunteers helped build the Dreamkeeper Production Garden, which is now yielding seasonal crops in abundance, which are used in class or sent home with students. 

With the addition of our outdoor classroom, we are now building our curriculum to incorporate nutrition, culinary, and sustainable agriculture education.