Preschoolers, parents and teachers joined community members last Friday in opening the James Ax Organic Home Food Forest garden at Aleph Bet Preschool.
The 1,600-square-foot garden will give students a hands-on experience of growing food and flowers, while allowing students and families to take home the vegetables, herbs and flowers the children grow.
The garden was designed and constructed by Daniel Wilson, owner of Home Food Forest, with the hope that it will encourage organic growing methods and increase awareness of natural and healthy growing practices in the community.
“Our preschool runs on solar power, recycles and now has an organic garden,” said Rabbi Zalmy Kudan, director of the preschool. “We feel this is part of the important foundation our school gives its students.”
The garden curriculum will encourage learning teamwork, responsibility and the methods of planting, caring and harvesting vegetables.
Wilson began the event with a demonstration on how to create an organic ecosystem of plants, trees, pollinators, decomposers, soil, water and naturally occurring nutrient sources. “Just as children are our future, so, too, is society’s adoption of ecologically sound, sustainable food growing techniques,” he said.
Wilson’s new company, Home Food Forest, aims to encourage community members to follow Aleph Bet Preschool’s example and begin using their backyard to grow healthy, nutritious and money-saving gardens.
As the parents and students paired off to plant the first of the vegetables, the rock-lined garden seemed to come to life. One mother, who was helping her daughter plant some strawberries, looks forward to her daughter bringing home some of the vegetables she grew in school.
However, the children don’t have to wait until then to gain something. They already learned about planting, roots, watering, sunlight, flowers and pollinating.
The kids and vegetables will grow a lot in the coming years and, hopefully, the community’s awareness about home gardens and their benefits will grow along with them.
— Kelley Neumann represents Home Food Forest.