Western Middle School

The goal of the garden is to teach middle school children the importance of healthy eating by showing them how to grow, harvest and prepare food. Our hope is that they will take these concepts home and share them with their family. While we are only in the first few months of the program, we have seen considerable excitement and interest from the kids. We would like to expand on this momentum by planting 40 native blueberry, raspberry and blackberry fruit bushes around the school property. Since we have access to additional open fields near the raised bed garden, we would also like to plant 4 of each peach, nectarine and pear trees. Within the enclosed veg garden, our plan is to build a vertical garden where lettuces and leafy greens will grow. A rain barrel and solar powered pump will water the plants. The school's proximity to urban centers, necessitates that we teach how to grow food in space constrained areas while using renewable resources. Lastly, we would like to demonstrate the decomposition process by growing 4 varieties of mushrooms (eg maitake, shitake, oyster and lions mane) on tree logs that are recovered from the property. By demonstrating the life cycle of healthy eating, we hope to teach school children so they can go home to their families and discuss what they learned about the advantages of growing tasty chemical free food in a sustainable manner.