The Edible Schoolyard

One of America’s most influential chefs Alice Waters created a revolution in 1971 when she introduced local organic fare at her Berkeley California restaurant Chez Panisse. Twenty-five years later she and a small group of teachers and volunteers turned over long-abandoned soil at an urban middle school in Berkeley and planted the Edible Schoolyard. The schoolyard has since grown into a universal idea of Edible Education that integrates academics with growing, cooking, and sharing wholesome delicious food. With inspiring images of the garden and kitchen — and their young caretakers — Edible Schoolyard is at once a visionary model for sustainable farming and childhood nutrition and a call to action for schools across the country.

This year Slow Food Nova Scotia produced a DVD called “The Edible Schoolyard”. This DVD shares the inspirational story of the students, staff and friends of Dr. Arthur Hines Elementary School and their community garden. It documents the school yard's transition from pavement to green space, and the gradual change from bagged lunches to healthier, freshly-picked options.

Slow Food Nova Scotia is a non-profit organization founded in 1989 to counteract fast food. Led by chef Michael Howell. This organization teaches the importance of eating healthy food that is grown close to home.

The film tells the story of a group of Summerville students with green thumbs. Dr. Arthur Hines' elementary students have been tending a vegetable garden at school for nearly six years, as part of a healthy-living initiative with Hants Shore Health Centre. Each fall, Mr. Howell travels to Dr. Arthur Hines Elementary to help students prepare a meal from the crops they harvest. With the chef's assistance, they host a feast for the community, with food travelling from field to plate in less than three hours.Gardening increases students' physical activity, consumption of vegetables and fosters community. Students can learn a lot in the garden, including patience and ethics of care and responsibility. When students grow their own vegetables and see where they come from they will become more interested in eating them. This garden project would help make the healthy choice the more popular choice.

We do have a community garden in Amherst, on East Pleasant Street, across from Dickey Park. This past summer we did have several young people that planted seeds and help tend to the gardens. But community gardens do not have to be in just one spot. A community garden can be developed anywhere there is green space or in some cities gardens have been built on rooftops. Lets encourage growing some of our own food throughout the community including the schools.Copies of The Edible Schoolyard DVD are on loan in all 77 public library locations.