Project Learning Tree Celebrates Earth Day with School Garden Planting
Today in Washington, D.C., it was a good day to be a veggie garden.
The chilly rain—great for thirsty plants—didn't stop an intrepid group of Barnard Elementary School students from building four additional raised garden beds, filling the beds with topsoil, humus and manure and planting organic vegetables.
In celebration of Earth Day, Project Learning Tree and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) were warmly welcomed at Barnard by principal (and guest blogger) Dr. Grace Reid. Teachers, parents, staff and the vastly knowledgeable master chef/gardener Mark Haskell joined the students in celebration of the 41st Earth Day.
Around noon, 4th grader Toya Tanner introduced Dan Beard, a member of the American Forest Foundation's Board of Trustees, and USFS Chief Tom Tidwell. Toya and her peers presented the two speakers with a copy of Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree. Woodsy Owl made an appearance as well.
Why are school gardens so important?
The National Gardening Association has declared April to be National Garden Month.
“Gardens can teach anything—European and African cultures, math, writing, art,” Haskell once said. Gardens serve as an outdoor classroom; at Barnard today I saw students planning, measuring, hammering, digging and engaging with the outdoors. Young people learn where their food comes from—before the grocery store, it comes from the ground.
I was happy to be a part of today's Earth Day celebration, and I look forward to continuing our GreenSchools! garden projects throughout April and beyond.
Read Project Learning Tree's Earth Day celebration press release and stay tuned next week for more posts about National Garden Month.
Photos credit: Vanessa Bullwinkle
