The History of School Gardens

The Library of Congress has recently established its own channel on YouTube. Their online video collection is growing with the inclusion of historical footage (including some interesting footage of women at work in the Westinghouse factories, apparently ca. 1904) as well as videos of more recent academic talks at the LOC.

One video item stood out immediately as a sequel (or sequel link) to my last post on children and gardening – namely Constance Carter’s own discussion of the history of the school garden movement:

 

Kids, Gardens, and Healthy Eats…

The rain has been falling this spring. With wet ground and a collection of other distractions, I’ve only made it out to work on the back garden a few times in recent weeks.  This lazy Sunday has brought balmy sunshine, though, and I finally ventured out back to dig in the dirt. Or, mostly, pull weeds out of the same muck.

I’ve been distracting myself amidst the past weeks’ rainy days with a topic that is gaining ever more public attention lately: children’s gardening.  Compost had originally been my intended distraction and topic for a new post – namely composting practice, its historical trajectory, a survey of muck, literally, then and now,  as I’ve been puzzling how best an urbanite can dispose of those scraps.

That’ll remain a project for later (though not much later) as it quickly has taken me to other places. One of the most welcome events of the spring, of course, has been the establishment of a White House garden out on that front lawn. It’s been long in coming, a project advocated by a diverse and interesting contingent.  Most welcome has been the combination of a project to grow natural food for area folks themselves with an effort engage local school kids in the endeavor. The event has helped to bring new attention to DC-area school projects for kids in gardening and related issues of health and sustainability, as well as to local programs such as DC Schoolyard Greening (DSCG).

The project of bringing children into the effort of eating locally seems essential, not simply as a means to educate a new generation in wiser and healthier living, but also as an effort to exert a more fundamental – and immediate – change in institutional practices of eating and consumption.  Fast Grow the Weeds recently offered a wonderful account of involvement in a school gardens project. Working for the dual goals of learning and an embrace good foods, folks involved in the project have  produced a successful introduction of a “slow snack” movement, bringing local food directly onto the school’s snack menu. As a veteran of plastic-packaged saltines and cartons of chemical chocolate milk in elementary school, and one who is currently stuck with Sodexo at my own academic institution’s dining hall, I was very happy to see this success story.

Similar stories, projects, tools, guides, and images seem to be appearing in increasing number these days (or, just as likely, are sites and scenes I’m finally stumbling upon, like many others who are new, or newly returning, to gardening…) My early hunts for good info online regarding composting brought me to the University of Illiniois Extension and Urban Programs Network own “Come Live with Me” kids page with detailed instructions for raising earthworms. And I’ve recently discovered that Flickr hosts a wonderful image group for “Children Gardening.” I’ll be keeping up the search for useful sites and project pages related to children and gardening, education and local foods. Looking forward to seeing more…

Image: Children’s Farm, N.Y.C., ca. 1910-1915,  Library of Congress Photostream

 

The Garden Plot as Epic Tale

With a Sunday morning of rainstorms and lightning, I’m camped indoors and catching up on garden reading. The latest local news is the Washington Post’s new series entitled “Community Plot Lines.” Here garden editor Adrian HIggins will be offering a series of monthly reports on the projects and progress of gardeners at an urban community garden in Washington, DC. The narrative of the first conveys a tone of garden epic (and humor), as the local gardeners and project are introduced…

Higgins also raises the issue of the current boom in seed purchase and growing interest in gardening. The current recession and concerns regarding finding safe food to eat are mentioned as factors driving this new (or renewed) enthusiasm for gardening. One wonders, is this recent growth in gardening enthusiasm likely to continue, or is it just a fad of the moment? What other reasons are bringing people to cultivation?