Barringer Academic Center

The proposed garden is a critical teaching tool, designed to mitigate the diet-related issues faced by children in Barringer Academic Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The vision of this garden is to revitalize the concept of a kitchen garden. Historically, kitchen gardens allowed families to achieve economic independence and household security, which is crucial for this community. This garden will allow children to have regular access to real food which they will be more likely to consume since they were integral to the growing process.

Support from this grant for the proposed kitchen garden is integral to a much larger project: to create a cooking/tasting classroom at Barringer Academic Center. The goal is to have a “snack time” where classes will be able to harvest, cook, consume, and learn about produce from the garden. The purpose of this project is to engage children in the production of their food so that they can develop healthy and sustaining relationships with food.