Orrenmaa Elementary Edible Traditional and Aeroponic Tower Gardens

The beautiful Orrenmaa Elementary Edible Garden was created to educate our students and their families on the importance of crowding out junk food by adding in as much healthy, fresh, locally grown produce into their daily eating as possible.  The playful "If you don't take care of your body, where are you going to live?" philosophy is introduced from the beginning of the "TK" and Kindergarten students first visits to the garden.  Orrenmaa School is a 2016 National Bronze Medal winning school with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and is committed to raising the standards of both the quality and quantity of physical activity and healthy foods available to our students and their families.  Because Riverside has both a positive long historical tradition of citrus and produce production, and a more recent negative reputation of having a 56% obesity rate, Orrenmaa has reached out to the community with nutrition classes in both Spanish and English for adults through a NEOP grant, community service opportunities in the garden for the local high school and middle school students through AVID, and nutrition and garden education for the TK-5th grade student population with help from UC Extention programs.  With more than 79% free-and-reduce breakfast, lunch, and supper recipients, empowerment of Orrenmaa's family to take actions to reduce the threat of diabetes, heart disease, and other obesity-related diseases by supporting and growing our garden program is at the center of our programs.  Adding the joy and beauty of gardening along with the satisfaction of self-reliance from growing one's own food will, hopefully, create life-long gardeners committed to treating themselves and their environments with the care and respect they deserve.