Teaching gardens throughout the state are getting kids shoveling dirt, planting seeds, and tending produce.
At Hayward Elementary school in Sioux Falls, about 650 kids take turns ranking weeds and planting tomatoes in raised beds outside the school. Each of the beds has a theme. One is called the “monarch mania” bed filled with plants to attract butterflies. Another is the “salad bar” that has lettuce, spinach, kale and different greens.
Cindy Heidelberger Larson is the associate director of Ground Works Midwest. The nonprofit organization works with schools in the east central part of the state to create garden programs at elementary and middle schools. During the summer, Ground Works puts together a team of teachers and people in the neighborhood who care for the garden.
“A lot of students will come back throughout the summer and be checking because it’s ownership. They’ve been apart of this. They’ve either prepped the soil, or they’ve tended the beds, or they’ve actually planted in that teaching garden and so it’s theirs,” says Heidelberger Larson.
Heidelberger Larson says her goal is to expand the program to 20 school gardens in the next four years.
In Rapid City, Jennifer Riley is a kindergarten teacher who helps with a garden at General Beadle Elementary school. Riley says she uses the garden to teach her class about the lifecycle of plants from seeds to produce.
“They’re also excited because they get to plant in kindergarten in the spring, and then they can harvest in 1st grade in the fall and get to eat the fruits and vegetables of their own labor,” says Riley.
Riley says General Beadle's program has grown over the years. She says it’s now producing about 700 lbs of vegetables annually for students and community members to eat during the summer and fall months.