The Edible Schoolyard

In 1994, chef Alice Waters and King Middle School Principal Neil Smith collaborated with teachers and community members to begin the process of planning The Edible Schoolyard. 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 the garden. Students and teachers began to clear the land and remove asphalt, weeds, and debris in December 1995. A soil-enriching cover crop was planted. The design of the garden was ultimately determined by King students in collaboration with David Hawkins, the first garden manager.

While the garden was being established, plans for refurbishing the abandoned King Middle School cafeteria for the kitchen classroom were underway. Kitchen teacher Esther Cook began teaching cooking classes in May of 1997. In the years following, The Edible Schoolyard grew from a staff of one with ten thousand dollars of start-up funding to a nationally recognized program employing a full-time staff of six, offering two annual Americorps positions, and working with every child at King Middle School.

YEAR-BY-YEAR PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Year One: Getting Started, 1994-1995

A vision of the future garden is shared at a symposium composed of chefs, teachers, gardeners, landscape architects, businesses, school administrators, and community craftsmen
The Mission Statement is developed
A fundraising benefit and Mexican feast is held to with a slide show by Michael Ableman
The first adobe oven is built
An after school cooking class is offered to King students

Year Two: Education, 1995-1996

The Steering Committee is formed
Vermiculture and recycling programs are initiated
Staff development includes visits to local gardens and to Green Gulch Farm
Produce is delivered from Terra Firma Farm in CSA boxes for cooking classes
The sixth grade classes prepare food twice a month in their classrooms
The first cover crop of bell beans, fenugreek, crimson clover, oats, and two vetches is planted to cleanse and improve the soil
The first Edible Schoolyard Summer Program is offered

Year Three: Digging In, 1996-1997

Sixth grade classes work in the garden three times monthly and seventh grade classes once each month
A Kitchen Warming Event celebrates the opening of the renovated kitchen classroom
Every King student attends two kitchen classes in the spring
Terra Firma CSA boxes continue to be used in the kitchen classroom
The Center for Ecoliteracy awards a Curriculum Development Grant
The Teacher Garden Committee is formed
The kitchen prepares meals from the garden's crop of mache, arugula, mustards, lettuces, kale, bok choi, carrots, turnips, beets, garlic, fava beans, and potatoes

Year Four: Putting It All Together, 1997-1998

Sixth and seventh grade classes go to the garden twice each week
In the fall, seventh grade classes are in the kitchen three times each month
The Center for Ecoliteracy Curriculum Grant provides two garden 'mentor teachers'
Ten students from the University of Montana volunteer to construct a permanent shade structure called the Ramada from tree cuttings in the garden
Designer Scott Constable and King students construct a tool shed using a sustainably harvested redwood tree
Chefs, designers, teachers, and architects attend the Kitchen and Cafeteria Design Charrette to share visions of the future King school lunch program with staff from the Edible Schoolyard
The garden's notable plantings are citrus trees, apples, plums, ground cherries, blackcurrants, hazelnuts, figs, raspberries, edible bamboo, sweet bay, kiwi, scarlet runner beans, chocolate vine, hibiscus, jasmine, passionflower, and chayote

Year Five: Growing, 1998-1999

Alice Waters receives an 'Excellence in Education' award from California Senator Barbara Boxer and a U.S. Department of Education 'Educational Heroes' award from U.S. Secretary of Education Richard C. Riley
Two ongoing Americorps positions are created and staffed through a partnership with the Bay Area Youth Agency Consortium
A new composting system of interconnected steel-framed cubes is implemented, speeding the soil creation process
The apple espalier is constructed and planted with eleven trees grafted at The Edible Schoolyard
A propagation table is constructed for seedling flats
King students particularly enjoy the garden's crops of corn, blackberries, lemon verbena, mint, gourds, tomatoes, onions, leeks, peppers, basil, broccoli, and collard greens

Year Six: Fruition, 1999-2000

Berkeley Unified School District adopts a Food Policy that emphasizes organically grown produce in the district lunch program
Delaine Eastin, State Superintendent of Public Instruction and founder of The Garden in Every School Project, visits the Edible Schoolyard.
Wendy Johnson of Green Gulch Farm begins consulting and working with the garden staff
A tradition is established of grilling fresh corn in the garden for incoming sixth graders
The lower orchard is planted with apple trees
The new plantings this year are pear trees, asparagus, loquat, chives, mulberries, grapes, cape gooseberries, peas, pole beans, and bush beans, all of which are prepared and enjoyed in the kitchen classroom

Year Seven: Sending Out Seeds, 2000-2001

Students and garden staff plant a new herb garden that includes medicinal, tea, and culinary herbs
The Edible Schoolyard website goes online
Dia de los Muertos is celebrated by the creation and decoration of an alter in the garden and by baking Pan de los Muertos in the kitchen
Students create wreaths from garden materials and harvest vegetables with the garden staff for a Holiday Wreath Sale and Produce Giveaway
The Edible Schoolyard offers a free, healthy breakfast to all King students during the week of standardized statewide SAT9 testing – almost 400 students eat breakfast each day
Apple, plum, and pear trees grafted in the garden are donated to other local school and community gardens

Year Eight: Sprouting New Shoots, 2001-2002

As King Middle School undergoes an earthquake retrofit, classrooms are moved to temporary buildings
The kitchen classroom is relocated to a building adjoining the garden - designers and craftspeople refurbish the space and transform a temporary classroom into a beautiful working kitchen
The Edible Schoolyard and the Center for Ecoliteracy collaborate on a pilot all-day workshop for local garden and kitchen educators, held at King Middle School
The SHAPE Network and The Edible Schoolyard offer two afternoon workshops for Nutrition Services employees from Mt. Diablo and Berkeley Unified School Districts
The garden's newest additions are four Aracana and Rhode Island Red chicks, raised by an after-school class and garden teachers, and named Cous Cous, Henrietta, Safari, and Busy
A coop is constructed to house the hens, who are each producing a daily egg by October
The Edible Schoolyard collaborates with BUSD Nutrition Services to offer a school-wide free breakfast during SAT9 testing week – the organic breakfasts include hot vegetable soup, macaroni and cheese, and oatmeal
Students and staff rebuild the outdoor oven and prepare the first pizzas during the 2002 Summer Program
Young olive trees donated by Cannard Farm are planted around the garden's perimeter