Paige Battcher
Volunteer Director
Louisville Grows
Program Coordinator
Budget and Financial Planning Department
University of Louisville
Getting a Food Education
The economic impact of our buying behavior gives us a clear and strong voice in determining the food landscape of our communities. Beyond little doubt there is, and has been for some time, a progressive movement in Louisville towards a more sustainable food network. There are many key players throughout our city serving a wide range of interests, yet consistently parallel to a core goal of food security for all of our people. Louisville Grows (http://louisvillegrows.org) is a new group of defiantly enthusiastic young professionals, enthralled by the synergy formed in joining this budding movement. It is our undeniable contention that education and food security are indivisible. Indisputably education, guided by our desires for health (both personal and environmental), shapes our understanding of what we eat. Whether or not to buy fresh or processed, organic or not, imports or local foods are questions to which a young generation of people are seeking answers to through research and unbiased testimony; through education.
For the young Louisvillian (give or take a decade), relying blindly on food that travels 1,500 miles on average to the shelves of our large conglomerate stores is becoming less and less attractive. Convenience reigns at these large stores; convenience fueled by technological advances which have created unprecedented economies of scale in food production. Our average farms are now 200 plus acres of industrialized processes, churning out genetically modified or transgenic crops by the millions to be transported extreme distances. The Federal Government tells us that two out of every three adults are overweight or obese; the same being true for one out of every three children. The USDA tells us that our food today contains measurable fewer nutrients than food fifty years ago. And, our local farmers testify that our support is needed to keep them afloat. All of this captures our attention in ways that affect our buying decisions.
At Louisville Grows, we suggest education can help integrate purchasing power with growing power. Our purchasing choices steer us to eat the most wholesome food while supporting our local economy. Comprehensive food education can empower us to supplement these purchases with the ability to feed ourselves. Students represent a generation of future educators and advocates who have the power to redefine food on campuses and in neighborhoods. The University of Louisville is working on a daily basis to meet the demands of students who have rallied for local, organic, and healthier foods. UofL community members seek sustainable solutions to some of today's most pressing society concerns and have organized a community garden on the Belknap Campus in collaboration with Louisville Grows and others. Beyond planting, incorporating public art, harvesting and eventual cooking classes, UofL's Cultural Center and Louisville Grows are prepared to offer a series of workshops to give students the expertise to make this garden a success. Garden Commons (http://louisville.edu/culturalcenter/garden) will be a learning tool for this and future generations of UofL students to explore their role in the leadership of urban agriculture.
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Stuart Benson
Representative, District 20
Louisville Metro Council
The Community Garden Program
As the Metro Council representative for District 20 it has been with great pride that we are home to one of the largest community gardens in Metro Louisville. Blackacre Community Garden provides over 400 plots for our residents with gardeners ranging in age from 5 to 85. For over 20 years the Community Garden program has been helping neighbors learn horticultural skills in cultivating vegetables and flowers while turning unsightly vacant lots into flourishing gardens. The program adds vegetation to Metro Louisville and helps promote safe and beautiful neighborhoods. The community gardens have proven to be an excellent way to foster neighbor-to-neighbor connections and to build relationships within the community.
Gardening is a very sustainable and green activity; it is extremely good for the environment as it helps reduce global warming, pollution, and soil erosion. In addition, gardening can also be an excellent way to save money while eating healthier. Many people find that gardening is a great way to relax and escape some of the hustle and bustle of their daily lives.
Gardening can also be a valuable educational tool for our youth. It teaches children about a plant’s life cycle and how we as humans can have an impact on our environment, and maybe most importantly, gardening teaches patience! Research also suggests that children are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables when they participate in their growth through gardening. Whatever you reasoning may be, I urge you to take a little time out of busy schedule and plant a small garden in your backyard or participate in a local community garden project. You won't regret it.
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Sheldon Berman Ed.D.
Superintendent
Jefferson County Public Schools
Louisville, KY
Earth Day Perspective
Gardens and children have a natural affinity. Sometimes we even refer to them with similar terminology, remarking that children sprout in height and bloom with talent.
Most of us have observed children’s eagerness to sow seeds and plant seedlings, caring little whether their efforts are destined to produce flowers vs. trees, fruits vs. vegetables. They don’t mind getting dirty and muddy in the process, and they don’t begrudge the sweat induced by their labor. Gardening engages their hands, minds, and spirits, and they relish the opportunity to be part of an activity almost as old as humankind itself.
Building on children’s interest, a number of schools in the Jefferson County Public School District incorporate gardening activities into the curriculum. Students plant sugar maples and petunias to beautify their school grounds and surrounding neighborhoods. They plant mint and peppers, tomato seedlings and pumpkin seeds, learning that food comes from far beyond the local grocery store. Gardening in containers and in plots is becoming an increasingly popular pursuit not only at our environmental magnet schools, but at schools at all grade levels throughout the district.
Gardens are very effective teachers. They provide lessons in mathematics through the measurement and allocation of space, in science through the monitoring of rainfall and sunlight, in nutrition through the identification of vitamins and carbohydrates, in language through the analysis of plants’ names and word derivations, and in geography and history through the tracking of plant species across oceans and centuries.
Beyond core content areas, gardens teach profound lessons about life itself. As they share hand implements, dig holes and carry water, students learn about teamwork and division of labor to reach a common objective. As they struggle to work through the details of their gardening project, students face the challenges of solving problems and resolving conflicts. As they see flower buds emerge or taste the literal fruits of their labor, students experience the joy of accomplishment, of having produced with their own hands something of worth—something that is valued by the community to which they are connected and where they have put down roots. And, as they plant seeds that will not mature and bear fruit for months or even years, students get a taste of a quality often missing in our age of instant messaging—that of patience. Some things can’t be rushed, even with the help of technology, and through gardening we help students realize that tomorrow’s goals (such as college and career) are worth the effort and sacrifices of today.
Academic subject matter, cooperation, environmental sustainability, stewardship, planning, delayed gratification . . . that’s a lot to expect from a mere garden. But it’s not too much to expect from our students, so we set the bar high. Each time students enter our classrooms, we strive to plant another seed in fertile minds, trusting that in a future time, those efforts will bear fruit and make the world a better place for all living things.
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Cabrina Bosco
PYP Coordinator
Whitney Young Elementary
Jefferson County Public Schools
Earth Day Perspective
At school, the ground does not have to be a place children play on but a place they can play in. Schoolyard gardens are cropping up in many nooks on campuses that were once unnoticed and now made not only beautiful but educational and consumable. School gardens can be extensions of the classroom where children experience working with soil, planting seeds, and cultivating connections with nature. These gardens provide the much needed locations for hands-on opportunities for inquiry lessons that integrate various disciplines-- science, social studies, writing, and practical living. Gardening is not an extracurricular activity added to the day’s instruction but is a manner in which it can be delivered with relevance and engagement for all. Many core content standards on the transformation of energy, life sciences, nutrition, and others can easily be addressed. Gardening is a way to introduce children to nature and foster future environmental stewards. Skills that students can apply in many other walks of life can be taught and applied in the garden: observation, research, problem solving, cooperation, and so on. Knowledge and skills taught through gardening can last a lifetime and impact many generations, not just the one now. Through schoolyard gardening interactions students can learn an appreciation for the natural world and gain a respect for the where food really comes from (which contrary to what some may think is not from a box, supermarket or fast food drive-thru window). It is my hope that more schoolyard gardens will cultivate more backyard gardeners who will value our food supply, human health and the sustainable practices. Warning- gardening can be contagious for people of all ages in all locations; all it takes is some groundwork.
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Aukram Burton
Specialist
Department of Diversity, Equity and Poverty Programs
Jefferson County Public Schools
Gardens and Low-Income Communities
Food deserts are considered to be large and isolated geographic areas (often low income) where major supermarkets are absent or distant. Many communities across the nation are starving for healthier food options beyond the ubiquitous fast-food chains and community stores selling fruits and vegetables of poor quality at relatively high prices. The consumption of poor quality food has a direct link to obesity, diabetes and other devastating diseases so prevalent in areas with the worst access to fresh food. People can’t choose a healthy diet if they don’t have access to fresh food.
There are several issues to consider when talking about access to fresh foods. The lack of understanding of food nutrition by consumers prevent them from accessing fresh food because they have the idea that eating a healthy diet isn't important. Lack of money is an access barrier for consumers to buy fresh foods or afford the cost of transportation to grocery stores that sell fresh foods. The consumer’s proximity to stores selling fresh foods can be a barrier if they are distant, the consumer is elderly, public transport links are poor, and the consumer has no vehicle.
Gardens are changing the face of food deserts expanding the supply and access to fresh and healthy food. Also, farmer's markets have moved into communities providing another way to supplement food deserts with fresh, healthy and affordable food in a low-income area. This is why communities need to increase educational programs and initiatives to teach people how to grow produce in their own backyards or community plots. These programs and initiatives can help to promote health and wellness, environmental stewardship, community development, and home gardening. Given the magnitude of the health problems, we must take action to shrink the growing problem of food deserts in urban and rural areas across the nation.