Woodland Star Charter School

We hope to enhance our garden with this grant by building a cob bench and oven. The bench will provide protection for the garden and a wonderful place to sit and observe/enjoy it. The oven will create a central gathering place for our many school festivals and a wonderful opportunity for students to cook nutritious foods gathered directly from the garden. To support use of the oven, we plan to grow crops that will be utilized with the oven, including tomatoes, basil, peppers, herbs and a host of vegetables to roast. Our goals include: 1) to provide a hands-on experiential learning environment for our students that promotes teamwork and allows students to apply the knowledge and skills they learn in the classroom to projects that support the garden and 2) to foster an appreciation of nature with an emphasis on sustainable living, including nutritious eating directly from the garden. Currently our students actively participate in the garden by helping build bed frames, assisting with plantings and weeding, and harvesting the crops. With the addition of this grant they will be involved in the building of the bench and oven, and with the planting of crops to be cooked in the oven.