[ Angels Among Us ]
Ladybug, ladybug,
fly away home.
Schoolyard
Farms
BY COURTNEY LEEDS, COFOUNDER
AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
H
ow many times have you heard your child
say, “I don’t want to eat that,” when served a side
of vegetables at dinner? And forget about getting
them to eat the vegetables served in the school
cafeteria — usually pre-cooked and reheated, and
therefore tasteless and uneaten. Kids have a hard
time eating vegetables. Schoolyard Farms is trying
to change all that.
The program’s one-acre pilot farm is tucked
away on the northeast corner of Candy Lane Elementary’s
spacious schoolyard in Oregon City. Over the last few years,
the once unused acre of the schoolyard has been transformed
into a working farm, complete with 33 raised beds, a high
tunnel (a round-topped structure with a plastic covering) and
a greenhouse.
This summer, Schoolyard Farms is adding an outdoor
classroom/basic kitchen where students can prepare simple,
healthy meals with the produce from the farm. Late-summer
harvests include locally adapted tomatoes, eggplant, peppers,
squash and greens, all packed for Community Supported
Agriculture members (CSA), local restaurants and, most
important, the school cafeteria. Schoolyard Farms sells the
40
August 2014 | metro-parent.com
The high
tunnel at
Schoolyard
Farms.
produce to help fund the program. Since 2012, the farm has
produced more than 5,000 pounds of produce.
The farm at Candy Lane not only serves as a source for
fresh produce, but also as a classroom. Each week, Schoolyard
Farms’ garden educators bring every student from Candy
Lane out to the farm for a garden-based lesson. One week
students will learn how to prep a bed and plant a seed, the
next week they will learn how nitrogen from the atmosphere
can become fixed in the soil, and the third week they will
harvest the produce and learn how to prepare a healthy
snack.