By Tina Dirmann
staff writer for BCBSLA Foundation
Eight year old Hailey Menard wasn’t going to lie. She told me, straight-out, how she feels about broccoli.
“No,” Hailey said, wrinkling her nose. “I don’t like it.”
At the moment, little Hailey happened to be planting a broccoli sprig at her elementary school’s brand-new Teaching Garden, sponsored by the Lafayette based Healthy Living Club (a Challenge for a Healthier Louisiana grant supported program). But when I pushed her a bit, asking if she’ll at least try the wee green tree, which she is so lovingly planting into the dirt, she slowly bobbed her “yes.”
Asst. Principal McCarley surrounded by her newest crew of junior gardeners!
“I’ll try it,” she admitted.
Success, nodded her P.E. teaching, April Judice, looking on with a knowing grin.
“Once they take ownership of the things they’ve planted,” another teacher, Amy Cother, explained, “once they’ve planted it, watered it, weeded it… They’ll want to sample what they’ve grown. It gets them excited about it!”
The teachers clearly had a point, as I looked out on the roughly 150 third graders from J Wallace James Elementary School in Lafayette, all crowding around garden beds, anxiously awaiting their turn to plant sprouts of cabbage, cauliflower, romaine lettuce, strawberries… And even a few vegetables many of them never even heard of before.
“Brussel sprouts,” said Cother. “Some students told me they’d never heard of a brussel sprout, and some had no idea what cabbage is.”
And that’s the difference Healthy Living Club is trying to make by partnering with area schools and other community gathering spots to build small produce gardens. J Wallace James’ garden is actually the second for the HLC, which constructed a Teaching Garden a few weeks ago for the after-school program at Bridget Ministry of Acadia.
Laura Broussard, senior regional director for the American Heart Association and a partner in the Healthy Living Club effort, told the students standing before her that the goal of their new garden goes way beyond smooshing in a few veggie plants.
“You guys will now take home the lessons you’ll learn from this garden and share it with your friends and family,” she said. “Then you guys will become the teachers. You’ll lead the way on how to have fun in a garden and how to eat healthy.”
“This is just so cool,” Assistant Principal Michelle McCarley just kept repeating to me. “They get to see how all these foods they pass in the grocery store get started – where they come from, how they develop. And this is so new for a lot of these kids. For them to experience this process, from dirt to table, now that is so cool.”
The first official tasting is set for this winter, when a harvest tasting party will take place. And yes, I’ve already been invited to sample the goods, so you can bet I’ll be there! I’ve got my eye on that burgeoning row of brussel sprouts. I’m envisioning them roasted, tossed with a little olive oil, garlic and parmesan cheese… Can’t ya just taste it? Is your mouth watering yet? Oh well, so sorry you all can’t join myself and my third grade gardening buddies for this dinner party. But I’ll post the pictures for you!
