The School in Every Garden . . .

“It is the mark of a good action that it appears inevitable in retrospect.”

--Robert Louis Stevenson

A garden in every school . . . . What a great idea. This is the ambitious goal of the California Department of Education. It has received widespread support from agriculturists, environmentalists, nutritionists and educators. It represents an encouraging step toward a better understanding of how closely linked we are to our food supply and to nature. A garden in every school also offers us the best opportunity to expose the invisible crisis in our country and world, which is chronic malnutrition. Whether in the form of hunger, obesity or anorexia, all of these symptoms of malnutrition are taking their toll on the lives of so many in our world through an insidious ignorance that plagues urban society. The lessons to be learned from a garden come at a critical time.

A garden teaches a child about the delicate balance between living and surviving through a hands-on relationship with another living organism. It teaches the child about the consequences of negligence. It provides a living laboratory where life’s lessons are experienced and learned. It is a step toward an educational process that most of the agrarian world practices on a daily basis. The forgotten lessons that a garden provides can set the stage for new paradigms in teaching, school lunch programs and community outreach.

As a fruit and vegetable farmer, I have always noticed that there are certain truths that occur in my fields that can be offered as analogies to life in general. These truths exist in every garden as well. It is clear that if I plant celery or green beans in a field on a given date, I can expect to harvest each after a predictable period of growth and maturity. The seeds or transplants are all bred for uniformity and vigor. My responsibility is to provide these young plants with the best environment, fertilizer / nutrition and cultural care possible if I am to see them thrive and yield their greatest potential at harvest time. It is the task of the farmer and the gardener to do this, crop after crop, year after year.

A field is not like a greenhouse, not like a factory. Invariably there are plants on the edge of a field or garden that, despite our best efforts, seem to miss out on the care and attention we invest in our crop. Not surprisingly, these plants never seem to thrive and reach their full potential. They grow abnormally and become stunted. Their lack of vigor and immunity make them more vulnerable to all kinds of pests and diseases. They are always less productive than the other plants that receive full benefit of the care given.

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I offer this simple analogy. How can children be any different than the plants and animals that a farmer or gardener raises? A child who eats a doughnut and soft drink every morning, a fruitless fruit punch and cookie for lunch and some poor excuse for a dinner, day after day, has a bad fertilizer program. Interestingly, some of the poorest kids have the best diets, and some of the richest kids have the worst. If we raise a generation of children who miss out on so many of the critical components of a productive, thriving life, then what excuse can we give?

As a farmer, I know my limitations, and I know the consequences of failing to properly care for my crops. I can tolerate a 5% to 10% failure rate in my fields. But in terms of human failures, what percentage of dysfunctional, malnourished population is acceptable? Aggressive behavior, attention deficit syndrome, immune system abnormalities, learning disabilities--what role does nutrition play?

Our greatest fear should be that we are raising generation after generation of humans who will never reach their full potential because of our nutritional neglect and ignorance. As a nation, and as a world, I believe we are just now realizing the consequences of failing to care for our most valuable resource: our children.

I am encouraged to think that new partnerships and paradigms will help us to move in a positive, decisive direction. Agriculture, nutrition and education are not three mutually exclusive areas of activity. They can merge into a logical, hand-holding relationship that takes full advantage of the others’ resources.

In Southern California, we are creating gardens in every school that can become the cornerstone of a new awareness for our society of the importance of nutritional abundance. I believe that the creation of nutritional abundance in this world is the highest, most achievable goal we can work toward. It lays the foundation for all other human endeavors.

As urban society struggles with so many social ills, hope can be found in our own backyard. It is without irony that the lessons to be learned in a garden can provide us with a better understanding for what it takes to create a paradise. It may be the difference between living and surviving.