Falling Back Into the Garden - September Wrap-Up
Returning to school means returning to the garden for thousands of Cambridge and Boston-area youth. After the last two years of unpredictability, school gardens have proven to be dependable safe spaces for children to freely explore both the natural world and themselves.
Our Garden Educators have so many exciting activities planned out for their students this school year. Although we may be only a few weeks into the semester, their calendars are already booked with scheduled classes, ranging from grades K0 to 6th grade. While students’ ages fall into a broad range, our educators emphasize that all of them are scientists and explorers. I had the pleasure of sitting in on two groups that represented the tail ends of this age range: a K0 class at the Baldwin Early Learning Center in Brighton and teens from our after school Youth Leadership Team in Dorchester. Although both groups are far apart in age, they are actively encouraged to become lifelong explorers regardless of the complexity of the material.
“Put on your scientist eyes!” Heather told her first class of the day as soon as they arrived at the garden in a single file line. Without hesitation, the kids raised their hands to their eyes, creating small circles within the space between their index fingers and thumbs. To them, applying a scientific lens to the greenery surrounding the Baldwin Early school building was as simple as that.
“Whereas children are normally told to stop touching everything within their arms’ reach, in the garden they are encouraged to touch, smell, and taste EVERYTHING.”
Once her students had transformed into scientists, Heather began passing around herbs from the garden. Freshly picked mint and sage were included in the handful of sprigs and the youth quickly took the opportunity to touch and smell the variety of herbs before them. Whereas children are normally told to stop touching everything within their arms’ reach, in the garden they are encouraged to touch, smell, and taste EVERYTHING.
Following this warm-up, students were released into the heart of the garden. Tasked with finding the plants from which the sprigs were originally attached to, students milled about the garden in what can only be described as a sensory overload. Students used their “gentle bunny rabbit fingers” to feel the texture of the petals from the visually striking bright yellow marigolds, wafted the smell of fresh basil into their noses, heard the buzz of the pollinating honeybees and, of course, pulled and tasted the juicy, sweet husk cherries. With Heather as their guide, students initiated their own unique experiences of self-exploration within the garden.
The grand finale? Rainbow carrots. Heather led the way to the carrot bed at the other end of the schoolyard. All of the students excitedly seated themselves at the instruction of their teacher in anticipation of what color carrot Heather was about to pull from the ground. She placed her foot on the step of her upright shovel and expertly raised her arms up full of several fully grown carrots. Purple, red, and orange carrots were then trimmed from their leaves and given to the youth to wash in buckets of water. Shortly thereafter, students were munching like rabbits on cut and cleaned carrots. I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the fact that Heather not only kept these students engaged with the garden throughout the half-hour lesson, but that she got them to eat vegetables and even ask for seconds!
While the younger students at Baldwin are emerging explorers, the 12-14 year olds in our Dorchester Youth Leadership Team (YLT) are seasoned pros at taking initiative in the garden. Upon my arrival at their meeting site located at Oasis on Ballou - a local agricultural project that provides community members fresh produce and gardening experience in the heart of Dorchester - I observed several YLT members scattering hay over sprouts of greens within one of the garden beds. I asked them what they were doing and why it was necessary for the crop. Without even a second glance at Garden Educator Sydney or farm manager Apollo, they explained the insulating properties of hay and the protective layer it would provide the plants with the upcoming first frost. From their explanations and quick action, it was clear that the youth had a deep understanding of how to grow produce through the seasons - mostly because they have seen first-hand through year-long programming how to do so.
The YLT program is run by Garden Educators in 3 neighborhoods (Dorchester, Roxbury, and Cambridge) with the goal to engage middle school students with the gardens in their communities year-round. Students meet for an hour and a half weekly through the school year to take care of their local garden and build camaraderie and leadership among youth interested in environmental science. After several years of participating in CitySprouts Young Leader Programs, the group is quite comfortable with each other and gathering on Wednesdays resembles a group of kids hanging out rather than attending a lesson. The only difference is that they’re having fun while learning and making a difference in their community.
Once everyone had arrived at site, we gathered for a community circle to catch up and enjoy snacks before we broke out to our first activity: a garden scavenger hunt. Carefully planted clues throughout the garden led students from roaming around the fully matured eggplant patch to crouching between the rows of greenhouse tomatoes. Only two weeks into YLT, youth were already familiarized with the layout of the garden and capable of racing from one end to the other to find the next clue. As a reward for a successful hunt, Garden Educator Sydney held a democratic vote on the snack for next week’s meeting: Hot Cheetos and PopCorners.
“After a tumultuous last few years of uncertainty and remote YLT, I could feel the warmth from the group, happy to be reunited in the garden once again.”
For the rest of the beautiful fall evening, we helped out garden manager Apollo by picking ripe bright red and yellow cherry tomatoes and clearing the patch for the new winter produce. With coordinated teamwork and engaged learners, we made quick work of the patch before our time together was up. Before departing, we enjoyed a closing circle where we talked about some of our favorite produce from the garden and had a few laughs with Apollo about the pesky groundhog that has been tormenting his garden. After a tumultuous last few years of uncertainty and remote YLT, I could feel the warmth from the group, happy to be reunited in the garden once again.
Young people in Boston and Cambridge often express that they feel disconnected from nature and food systems without the opportunity to explore these concepts hands-on. Freely exploring greenspace at home or through travel is yet another privilege that divides children on the basis of income inequality. By ensuring all students have access to gardens at school and can engage further through afterschool and summer programs, CitySprouts is able to extend access to hands-on STEM learning that otherwise would be unavailable to children across Boston and Cambridge. I hope this semester that I can continue to share some of the amazing experiences these youth are having through our programming and highlight some of the remarkable things they are doing for and with their communities.