Getting children to understand where their food comes from is important and along the way, that lesson can also teach them about science, history and just about anything else.
October is National Farm to School Month as designated by a 2010 U.S. House of Representatives resolution recognizing “farm to school” efforts such as school gardens as effective strategies for teaching students about the importance of agriculture and improving child nutrition.
Kiki Fontenot, an assistant professor specializing in home, school and community gardens with the LSU AgCenter, said although school gardens have been common since World War I-era victory gardens, they recently resurged in popularity because of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign, which promotes gardening as a way for students to learn about food and get physical activity. School gardens expose and often introduce children to agriculture, which is important because many people grow up in cities and are unaware of all the ways agriculture affects life.
“You might not see a tractor go by or know that cotton grows on a plant and then that becomes your shirt,” Fontenot said. “When you ask students about food, I don’t think they think much past the grocery store — like where did it come from to get to that point.”
The LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden is home to a children’s garden that is a popular field trip destination as well as a model for teachers interested in starting a school garden of their own. Fontenot said many people think about gardens only in terms of teaching photosynthesis and weather, but almost any subject taught in the classroom can be taken outside.
Many of the plants in the children’s garden are grown in shaped beds — triangles, squares and even rhombuses — and old tires that are painted in bright colors. Fontenot said students can practice math by finding the volume of beds or the circumference of tires. They can learn about history with vegetables that pioneers used as dyes, or read stories such as “Jack and the Beanstalk” while planting beans.
None of the plants in the garden at Burden are sprayed with insecticides or fungicides, so children can learn about predators by seeing beneficial insects in action — plus, they can safely eat crops such as broccoli, cabbage, artichokes and blackberries.
Children are more likely to eat foods they grow, so teachers can incorporate cooking into the garden. AgCenter extension agents work with about 230 schools in Louisiana to help with these endeavors, Fontenot said.
Students should help maintain their school gardens, Fontenot said, which not only provides physical activity, but teaches them responsibility by giving them a chance to care for something living.
Abby Greenbaum, a 4-H extension agent in East Baton Rouge Parish, said school gardens are a useful education tool because they are something tangible people can connect with even if they have limited experience with agriculture. School gardens are also beneficial in teaching about nutrition in urban areas where people may live down the street from several fast food restaurants but have limited access to fresh produce, she said.
School gardens awaken students not only to where food comes from, but also resources such as timber. Helping children understand the agricultural process and apply it in real life is crucial in a state like Louisiana, where agriculture and forestry are top industries, Greenbaum said.
“If we don’t have children understanding where it comes from, how are we going to have any agricultural professionals in the future?” Greenbaum said. “Who’s going to be making our food if they don’t even know where it comes from? Who’s going to be building our houses and working in agricultural fields to bring us our everyday essentials?”

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Charlotte Willcox

The Childrens' Garden at The LSU AgCenter at Burden teaches Baton Rouge kids the value of gardening.