The Edible Schoolyard

The Edible Schoolyard garden is located on the eastern side of the school, looking over the campus, the San Francisco Bay, and the Golden Gate Bridge. An acre of beds is planted with seasonal produce, herbs, vines, berries and flowers and surrounded by fruit trees. Pathways wind through the beds to the Ramada, seed propagation table, tool shed, chicken coop, and pizza oven. Students and adults work together to prepare the beds, sow the seeds, transplant, compost, water, weed, and harvest.

HOW OUR GARDEN WAS CREATED

In the spring of 1995, the school hosted a design symposium, inviting landscape architects, chefs, gardeners, teachers, and other design professionals to share their visions of a future garden. An abandoned lot adjacent to the school was selected as the site of our garden. In December 1995, students, teachers, and community members began to restore the land – removing asphalt, weeds, and debris and planting a cover crop. The one-acre garden took off in the summer of 1997 – its design was ultimately determined on-site by the students in collaboration with David Hawkins, the original garden manager. The structure of the garden continues to evolve as crops are rotated and beds are reconfigured. Visit our History section for a complete overview of the program's development.

FROM SEED TO TABLE

Student participation in all aspects of the Seed to Table experience occurs as they prepare beds, plant seeds and seedlings, tend crops, and harvest produce. Through these engaging activities, students begin to understand the cycle of food production. Vegetables, grains, and fruits, grown in soil rich with the compost of last year's harvest, are elements of seasonal recipes prepared by students in the kitchen. Students and teachers sit together to eat at tables set with flowers from the garden, adults facilitate conversation, and cleanup is a collective responsibility. They complete the Seed to Table cycle by taking vegetable scraps back to the garden at the end of each kitchen class. The Seed to Table experience exposes children to food production, ecology, and nutrition, and fosters an appreciation of meaningful work, and of fresh and natural food.

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