- Author: Rose Hayden-Smith
This week, UC’s Agricultural Sustainability Institute has provided opportunities for a wide range of individuals working within the food system to connect with on-the-ground projects. I had the privilege of visiting Grant Union High School’s GEO Environmental and Design Academy, which includes a gardening and cooking program. (Students learn about environmental horticulture, design and science. The interdisciplinary program also provides literature experiences that focus on food systems issues. They also learn about healthy nutrition and cooking, which is linked to the state-mandated health curriculum). I’ve admired the work of Ann Marie Kennedy, who teaches in the program, for a long time, and I leapt at the opportunity to meet her and visit with students participating in the program.
Grant Union High School is an urban high school located in Sacramento. The school is in an economically challenged area, and approximately 50% of its students are English language learners. It is a diverse student population that reflects the diversity of California and the nation. It is known statewide for the success of its football program but it’s also known across the United States for its garden and Garden Café program.
Ann Marie said something interesting about the students enrolled in the program: “They are disconnected from agriculture, but they are not disconnected from food.”
My experience at Grant proved that thesis, and mirrored the students’ lesson for that day. First we discussed agreements (safety, respect, learning from others, participating). We were asked to identify vegetables, and then given the task of harvesting specific vegetables from the garden. The model for garden management has provided a good portion of the program’s sustainability in the last ten years. It is essentially a shared school and community garden, which I believe is one of the best models for school garden sustainability. Community gardeners have individual plots, but assist in the school garden areas. Some of the community gardeners have children or grandchildren enrolled at Grant, but others are connected to the school simply through their love of gardening and the opportunity to cultivate food.
After we harvested the vegetables, we came inside. We also received lessons taught by a student, Adrian, and a former student who now serves as a mentor, Ja Thor. Adrian taught us about knife and cutting safety (absolutely one of the best kitchen demonstrations I’ve ever seen). Ja explained how the color-coded cutting boards worked, exploring the concept of food cross-contamination with us.
The visitors worked alongside the students to wash and chop the vegetables and prepare lunch in the wonderful kitchen, which was funded by a grant from Kaiser. While some cooked, others set the communal table or washed dishes. When lunch was ready, we sat down and ate a healthy chicken and vegetable chow mien with a garden-fresh salad loaded with extras, like fruit. We were also given the opportunity to sample Grant’s salsa, which is sold commercially, and provides a real-life business incubator for seniors enrolled in the program.
The lunch was, simply, amazing. Not only the food, but the chance to speak with students and learn about how the program has influenced their lives. All of them expressed that they have appreciated the opportunities for leadership that the program provides. (And in fact, the onsite program manager, Fatima Malik, who works for the Health Education Council in partnership with Grant High School, is a graduate of the program. She went on to study nutrition at UC Davis, and is now working at Grant. The program is also “staffed” by student volunteers from UC Davis. Students enrolled in the program have opportunities to serve as leaders in various capacities. The entire program provided a superb example of nested leadership and mentoring opportunities for youth).
The students also noted that they are eating more fruits and vegetables. Some of them are primary shoppers and food preparers in their families, and the result is that their families are also consuming healthier foods. Nearly all of the students related taking what they had learned in the classroom home, and shared with pride anecdotes about cooking for family members, including parents and grandparents. They expressed that the program provides a new way for them to look at what they do at home. Each said that participation in the program has helped them build relationships, and that they find acceptance in the program.
After lunch, each visitor had an opportunity to sit with students and ponder several reflection questions. I asked students what they wanted people to know. One student said we need to consider the value of buying local. Another wanted to share the health benefits of fruits and vegetable consumption. Yet another student wanted people to know that fruits and vegetables “aren’t nasty if you make them right.” (This same student told me he likes fruits more than vegetables, but aspires “to travel the world to find a veggie to fall in love with.”)
You can learn more about the program by reading this newspaper article, which appears in the Davis Enterprise.
I left my visit with an enormous sense of gratitude for the work of staff at Grant Union High (particularly Ann Marie and Fatima). I also left with a profound sense of awe for the students whom I spent half a day with. I have a great deal of confidence and hope in a future that includes their leadership.
But I also left with the idea that this exceptional program ought not to be the exception, but rather, the norm. If we are truly committed to a healthy future and a healthy nation, we need upstream programs like this, that provide opportunities for youth engagement with soil, healthy food, and mentors who will encourage their leadersh
- Author: Rose Hayden-Smith
I'm writing a quick note on my lunch break about one of my favorite UCCE Master Gardeners, Vance Askew, who passed away last week. Vance, a resident of midtown (and my around-the-corner neighbor) was a fixture at the Loma Vista Elementary gardening projects I ran for six years, the older gentleman with the healthy tan, great attitude and amazing head of hair. If your child attended Loma Vista with Natalie, he/she met and worked with Vance. (He always broke the safety rule about closed toe shoes and wore sandals).
I first encountered Vance, a former Navy pilot, on my evening walks around Anacapa Estates, in 1990. He was often out gardening, and just very friendly. Our friendship developed when I moved from UCSB to the UCCE office in 1992. Vance was a UCCE Master Gardener, and a fixture in the CE Office.
Vance was a frequent visitor in our home, and I was in his home often, mostly in his wonderful backyard, admiring his ability to green the world. When Natalie was born, Vance was an honorary grandfather; remembering birthdays with things pink and Barbie. Vance and Bill shared a strong affinity, as well, comparing notes about orchids and other things they liked to grow. Vance always left bags of things from his garden and yard on our step; he was our first experience with a CSA! His grapefruit was especially impressive.
We shared common interests as gardening enthusiasts and neighbors, including a commitment to our neighborhood school. So I enlisted Vance for practical and moral support when I decided to start a weekly garden program at Loma Vista Elementary School when Natalie was in kindergarten (I continued this program for six years, and it was one of the most rewarding activities I've ever done. I miss it tremendously). Gardening days would inevitably induce panic...there were a lot of kids, and managing lots of kids in a garden can be challenging. What I'd planned would seem woefully inadequate. I'd call Vance, and he'd ALWAYS say: "Never Fear! The Master Gardener Is Here!" And I would be assured and confident. And his beat up old gold truck (still in front of his house) would appear at either my house or Loma Vista and away we'd go.
Each year, Vance helped us rototill the school beds, and would also help out at individual sessions. Along the way he remarried, and his childhood friend and new wife, Marva, sometimes came out to help us at Loma Vista as well. His health began to really decline a couple of years ago. Bill and I bought our own rototiller and turned the beds for Mrs. Oeschner's 4th grade garden, and I rototilled the beds for Mr. Peterson's 5th grade class garden all on my own. I gardened mostly on my own those last two years, but Vance was a presence that buoyed my confidence as I began to develop my own style as a garden educator.
Recently, Vance had split his time between Marva's home in Pacific Grove and his house on San Roque. He died up north; his memorial service will be at St. Paul's Episcopal Church (in midtown, across from the Ventura County Medical Center) at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 24th, with Fr. Jerome Kahler officiating. As Vance was a lifetime member of our local Master Gardener program, I expect that there will be lots of gardening volunteers in attendance.
Vance led a long and incredibly full life. I'm saddened by his passing. I will miss him immensely. But Vance would argue that death is part of the essential nature of any garden, of any life. Renewal requires a death of some sort, whether physical, or simply the loss of a dream, a relationship, a potential. There is a season for everything. We go on, taking from our experiences - perhaps, especially, the painful ones - the lessons that will inform our journey, and the memories that keep us connected to what has passed.
Ironically, as I've moved onto a larger stage in my efforts to encourage a revival of school, home and community gardening in America, I've had less time to tend to my own gardening efforts. This weekend, I hope to get something in, something simple, maybe evoking the first projects we did with a Loma Vista kindergarten class in recycled avocado bins.
Never Fear. The Master Gardener is Here!
http://camastergardeners.ucdavis.edu/California_Counties_MG_Websites/
"A Garden for Everyone. Everyone in a Garden."
- Author: Rose Hayden-Smith
Agriculture impacts every
A session will be held in
What I will be sharing with Secretary Kawamura and the CDFA Board is my vision: that the success of agriculture in
A key to sustaining and supporting agriculture is educating the public – and particularly youth – about its importance, how it works, what the issues are and likely will be. To accomplish this monumental task (and it is monumental:
Why gardening? Gardening provides an excellent way for youth to understand the basics of plant cultivation, and our food system. Research indicates that youth who garden tend to eat more fruits and vegetables, which has positive implications for public health AND for those that produce fruits and vegetables. Research also indicates that gardening programs in schools may lead to improved academic performance and greater achievement in science, things which benefit all of us. Gardening is agriculture writ small in physical terms, but agriculture writ large in our hearts.
That’s my vision. What’s yours? Consider these four questions, contact the CDFA, and commit to being there.
- What is your vision for
- What will be the biggest challenge in achieving that vision?
- In 2030, how has public perception of agriculture changed?
- What is a “must have” in an Ag Vision for
“A Garden for Everyone. Everyone in a Garden.”
- Author: Rose Hayden-Smith
Recently, I had the privilege to work with two sixth grade classes taught by a gifted educator in Ventura Unified School District, Anne Morningstar. Ms. Morningstar is the best kind of teacher: one who teaches superbly by inspiring her students to develop a love of learning, to think outside the box, and to apply what they learn. In the words of more than one sixth-grader, "she rocks!" I agree.
I spent some time discussing the concept of sustainable food systems with each class. We also discussed how fortunate these students are to live in an area that is so abundant and diverse in terms of the food that is produced. The students asked wonderful questions and offered thoughtful answers to the questions that I posed.
Each table group worked collaboratively to develop ideas and answers for six different discussion points about food systems, their role as consumers, and how they can encourage others their age to take positive actions to improve their school food system, decrease the food mile, and take a more active and informed role as consumers.
The result of their work was amazing, and will be posted on the VictoryGrower site in the next few days. I encourage you to check back to see the ideas that these students provided.
A few days after our discussion, I received a stack of cards from these remarkable students. More than a few described their home gardening efforts. I was not surprised that quite a few of these students gardened at home. After all, these are youth who have participated in Ventura Unified's Healthy School Project, which not only provides a wonderful farm-to-school program through its cafeterias, but also has a linked program that encourages school gardens. A number of the students had enjoyed farm-fresh produce from their school salad bar, and had also gardened with me during their six years at Loma Vista Elementary School. And Ventura County, as a whole, has a history of success in nurturing school garden programs, from the top down, and the bottom up. It's been a wonderful thing to watch and be part of. Clearly, exposure to these kinds of programs in school will positively influence behavior outside of school.
Most of the students, though, described what they dreamed of growing. If they read this, I'd encourage each of them to take the next step, to make the commitment to become a VictoryGrower by making a home garden their family's project this spring. It's the perfect time to pick up a hoe, make a family memory, and anticipate wonderful eating this summer.
I know that some have already started. During my recent visit, I gave each student vegetable seeds. When I visited the school again today, a student came up to me and said the seeds he'd planted had already sprouted. He was very excited. And so was I. Congratulations, Andrew, on being a VictoryGrower!
"A Garden for Everyone. Everyone in A Garden."
- Author: Rose Hayden-Smith
In 1994 or so, a wise 4-H Advisor named Dan Desmond started talking to me about using gardening as a youth and community development strategy. He provided research that supported some pretty awesome claims: that gardening could improve academic performance, positively affect nutrition, improve communities, increase civic engagement, etc., etc. I listened carefully and made some notes, because if you've met Dan, you know he's a brilliant, emminently sensible and persuasive guy.
Crank forward about fifteen years. Those conversations with Dan Desmond profoundly impacted my professional work and personal philosophies. Can conversations change your life? Yes, they can, and they do. In addition to staking my professional reputation on work increasingly centered around garden-based learning, I returned to school and began studying the history of gardening in America. What I learned there convinced me even more that every child, family and community in America ought to be in a garden TODAY.
For the next two years, I have the privilege of serving as a Food and Society Policy Fellow (FASP Fellow). To learn more about the program, visit http://www.foodandsocietyfellows.org/ Each FASP Fellow determines a primary goal that he/she wants to accomplish. My goal is to increase community-based food security by promoting policies that encourage school, home and community garden programs.
As you read this blog, you'll discover why I think this goal is so important right now. And being an historian, I won't be able to resist throwing in some history about why leading Americans (including some presidents) thought this was important even a hundred years ago. I promise, it won't be anything boring, and there won't be a test on the material, either.
As a companion to this blog, I've also developed a VictoryGrower website, which is located at http://www.foodandsocietyfellows.org/ It's still under construction, but check back often, as I add something new every day.
And remember..."A Garden for Everyone. Everyone in a Garden."
