By Susanne Brunner, ArkansasMatters.com.
CONWAY, Ark. – Local schools are emphasizing the importance of having gardens on campus through the Farm to School program.
The Carolyn Lewis Elementary School Garden keeps growing year after year. It teaches kids where their food comes from and how to eat healthy and sustainable meals.
Everything you see in the garden from the beds to the plant signs, students put together and planted seeds in an area next to the playground.
“It was just a whole bunch of dirt, but now it’s growing,” one student says.
“The plants need water, sunlight, space,” explains another student. “We do two hands apart and we stick it in.”
Healthy greens are not just growing outdoors. They’re sprouting inside classrooms too.
Students are learning about seeds, how to plant them and grow vegetables.
Next door in the cafeteria they get to do taste tests.
“I want you to get a little bit of the delicious radish salsa with mango and cilantro on it,” says Sarah Lane, Food Corps Service Member. It focuses on connecting schools with farmers and teaching nutrition to students.
