School gardens encourage healthy eating

Area benefits from Kenosha Community Foundation grant

By Jason Arndt
Editor

When students come together to plant a garden, the activity not only fosters learning, but it also encourages healthy eating.

The activity is happening at eight area schools, courtesy of a Kenosha Community Foundation grant, reports Sharing Center Executive Director Sharon Pomaville.

“The focus of the grant was around learning to grow food, health and for some, donating the excess to the pantry,” Pomaville states in an email.

Participating schools were Salem, Bristol, Brighton, Lakewood, Wheatland, Westosha Head Start and Riverview.

Each school received between $200 and $300 in funds to start their projects, Pomaville said.

With available funds, faculty at both Wheatland and Brighton are seeing students enrich themselves with knowledge of horticulture, and improves nutrition literacy.

“We are learning that healthy eating doesn’t have to mean boring eating,” said Brighton Administrative Assistant Beth Gillette, who oversees 35 students in the second and third grade in the project. “The misconception that only salt can bring out the best flavor in foods quickly goes by the wayside.”

Learning Resource Teacher Alison Cable, an instructor at Wheatland for nearly a decade, agreed with Gillette.

“They learned so much, the big thing that comes out about it, is health eating,” said Cable, who guides six special needs students through the process. “It builds a sense of community with the students and they are proud to see the results that came out of it.”

Wheatland in year two
Before the 2016 spring growing season, Cable and her husband, Jarrett, bought lumber and constructed two boxes for gardening.

Following construction, students stained the wood, added nutrient rich soil and compost from a mushroom farm nearby.

Then, students planted seeds inside the classroom, before taking them outdoors to blossom.

“The sunlight is amazing over here, the plants grow really well because the soil is amazing,” she said.

After students left for the summer, Cable routinely watered the garden, which was harvested in the fall.

Once harvested, students savored some of the crop, with the rest donated to the Sharing Center in Trevor.

The project, according to Cable, also offers a lesson on teamwork, which included three seventh-graders, an eighth-grader and two second-grade students this year.

“It works out really well, they are used to being around each other, and it is nice to see them work together,” she said. “They get so much out of it.”

Cable, who used about $100 of the $300, plans to use the rest in the next two years to maintain the program.

“We can stretch it out a couple more years, so I am really excited about it,” Cable said.

At Brighton, the excitement extends beyond those involved, with students sharing the wealth with their classmates.

“This gave them a chance to grow something they will eat, enjoy and share with the whole school,” Gillette said.