Kate Mitchell Elementary Community Garden

by Rebekka Brown, Volunteer Center of Story County, Iowa

The school gardens project is an awesome collaborative effort between the Volunteer Center of Story County and Prairie Rivers of Iowa RC&D in Ames, IA [the town where Iowa State University is at]. The idea to start a school garden came from a parent at Kate Mitchell who saw the school garden as a way of combating childhood obesity and providing a hands-on lab for the classroom. The laid out objectives of the garden are: to increase healthy food knowledge among students, provide a hands-on laboratory to achieve grade-level expectations, establish school gardens as a volunteer-driven community asset, build a sustainable food system, and replicate the program for the state of Iowa. The impact that a simple school garden is able to make is pretty obvious, especially when you look into the research of what all such a project does; combating childhood obesity, changing the attitudes of students in the classroom, promote healthy eating habits, and providing an alternative way of learning that is proven to be better. This is what is impacting our community right now, and it’s pretty darn awesome.

As for what we’re doing, so far Carol and I have lead the after-school garden clubs at both schools, planned the Farmers Market for both schools, we did Food Day on Oct. 24^th, helped students in the classrooms, and are currently building relationships with teachers and parents in an attempt to keep this project sustainable. It’s been pretty fun, especially with the kids saying obnoxious things, watering each other, eating new things, but there are definitely some challenges that go along with it. The biggest issue right now is sustainability amidst new principals, new teachers, and, for one school, an entirely new location for the garden. According to the assignment, this is about all I’m required to do, but I’m going to keep going, because I remember quite a few other VISTAs thinking of starting their own school or community garden.

As previously said, school garden are awesome and the benefits to society are endless, but the to-do list of starting and maintaining one is quite the task. Having the classes get outside to water and plant in the garden is great, but who’s doing that in the summer, you? A lot of older teachers love the garden and may be a part of your initial garden committee, but what happens when they retire? Are you just going to bank on someone stepping up to the plate? because I can promise you that is not going to happen. Sure it’s great to have an after-school program for the kids who sign up, but what happens when teachers start to see it as a babysitting gig?

I don’t know what exactly everyone else’s projects are, but, to put it in perspective, implementing and managing the school garden programs is our VAD. If you’re project is already too much to add a school or community garden project, get someone else to do it. Don’t just say “oh well, I’m gonna plant the seed for the next VISTA!” because what that really means is “Oh well, I’m gonna buy the seed packets and let the next VISTA plant the seed!” In order to plant a seed, you have to make sure your soil is fertile enough, and if it’s not, then you need to lay down some compost. Are you planting this seed in the dead of a Midwest winter? Don’t forget to sow in the seed; to make the beds, make sure it’s the right distance away from all the other seeds, that it isn’t a weed for another plant. Once you’ve answered all those questions, then you plant the seed.