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Alice Waters' Edible Schoolyard
Story by mtraub
Published on August 31, 2009 in Craftivism 		Photo by

Edible Schoolyard

There's one thing that makes me happier than walking by urban gardens, and that's walking by urban gardens tended by youths. The Edible Schoolyard has become a legendary success story. Founded over a decade ago by chef Alice Waters, this one-acre garden and kitchen classroom at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California has helped ignite a national dialogue on school lunch programs, health education, and sustainability for the next generation. In this Craftivism post, we're sharing Principles of Edible Education along with a group-friendly recipe from Alice's book, Edible Schoolyard. For this back to school season, Alice reminds us how much learning can happen outside of the classroom.  

Purchase Edible Schoolyard

Principles of Edible Education

Food is an Academic Subject
A school garden, kitchen, and cafeteria are integral to the core academic mission of the school, so that ecology and gastronomy help bring alive every subject, from reading and writing to science and art.

School Provides Lunch for Every Child
From preschool through high school, every child is served a wholesome, delicious meal, every day. Good food is a right not a privilege. Providing it every day brings children into a positive relationship with their health, their community, and the environment.

Schools Support Farms
School cafeterias buy seasonally fresh food from local, sustainable farms and ranches, not only for reasons of health and education, but as a way of strengthening local food economies.

Children Learn by Doing
Hands-on education, in which the children themselves do the work in the vegetable beds and on the cutting boards, awakens their senses and opens their minds, both to their core academic subjects and to the world around them.

Beauty is a Language
A beautifully prepared environment, where deliberate thought has gone into everything from the garden paths to the plates on the tables, communicates to children that we care about them.

Recipe From the Edible Schoolyard Kitchen: Potato Smash With Kale

Mashing keeps many hands busy and the students like the taste and color of potato skins that are added to the "smash." It is delicious made with sweet potatoes. Serves 6-8.

Boil 4 pounds of potatoes (unpeeled), until tender. Drain. Wash 3 bunches of kale, drain, remove the stems, and chop the leaves roughly. Measure 3/4 cup of milk. Peel 7 cloves garlic and chop fine. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large heavy skillet, add the chopped garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the kale and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 10 minutes. Add a little water if the pan gets dry and the greens start to stick. While they are still warm, smash the cooked potatoes in a ricer or with a potato masher. Put into a large bowl and add the milk and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Add the cooked kale and stir well to combine.

One of my fondest childhood memories is munching on flower petals at a Brooklyn Botanic Garden family class. Do your kids help you out in the garden? Share in the comments below!

More Craftivism Posts | Slow Food Gift Guide | Gardening and Horticulture Guide

Tags activism, Alice Waters, back to school, Berkeley, California, children, Craftivism, CRAFTIVISM, Earth Tones, eco-friendly, edible, Edible Schoolyard, education, environment, farms, food, gardening, green, harvest, horticulture, lifestyle, outdoors, recipe, slow food, students, sustainable, teachers, urban gardening, vegetables
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72 comments     Login to add your own!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 2:56 p.m. jewelrybyjackie

This is wonderful! Lets hope that this initiative grows (no pun intended) by leaps and bounds!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3 p.m. ThePeachTree

fantaaaaastic :)

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:02 p.m. shantishanty

thanks for posting this article! i love alice waters and the whole urban garden movement!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:07 p.m. foamywader

Delicious!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:14 p.m. ChloesRuffleButt

mmmm...sounds good!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:15 p.m. blueberryshoes

i miss my garden so much! i loved pulling up the carrots and the sound of snipping the chives for an omelette

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:16 p.m. pamwares

very cool!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:18 p.m. redyellowandblueink

I love having such wonderful articles on Etsy about stuff going on in my backyard-I live in the Bay Area, CA. Alice Waters is a living legend out here. Thanks for the article. Nice to see kids involved with real food and loving it! Great item picks-nice bat house-I know the kids would love my Urban street upcycled bird feeders to. Keep growin and cookin your own!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:19 p.m. spacejam

mmm.sounds really good =)

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:21 p.m. redyellowandblueink

oh ya-I LOVE their garden signs! especially the one that says "ground". All are as colorful as the beautiful produce they grew.

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:23 p.m. mamafamilias

:) Despite a black thumb, I love to garden with children! They take such pride in their success and mourn their loss with real pain. Then we all start planning for how to improve next year!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:26 p.m. 4TheSparrowsNest

Having taught students before, this looks like a terrific way to teach kids about the virtues of growing your own food, patience and hard work, the earth, and the environment. What a fantastic project!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:26 p.m. paddyridge

I was fortunate to grow up gardening and preserving with my grandparents and parents on our farm. Today, in suburbia, my pathetic tomato plants in pots just don't seem to cut it. Thanks for the Alice Waters inspirational article. It's a good kick in the pants for me to get out to the local farmer's market and buy REAL FOOD!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:29 p.m. LaveMeSoapCo

I watched that on tv. Great idea!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:33 p.m. JoyandWhimsy

2 cool books on Gardening & Trees:

IDENTIFICATION & HISTORY of NORTH AMERICAN TREES and their LEAVES
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?...

GARDENING FOR KIDS 101
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?...

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:33 p.m. sandali

AWESOME article !! It was a fun & educational treat ;)

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:34 p.m. lovelygifts

Looks like a great idea to teach kids!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:38 p.m. UglyBaby

I just spent the whole weekend in my little balcony garden. Thanks for helping me extend that into Monday with this article! If only they had programs like that where I grew up....those kids are so lucky.

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:41 p.m. SewnNatural

experiential learning + nature + healthy foods + sunshine.... what gets better than that?

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:45 p.m. BranchandBirdie

What a wonderful program! I know my kids love to garden and are much happier eating vegetables that they planted!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:45 p.m. buttercupbloom

Alice Waters = My Idol

Aug. 31, 2009 at 3:48 p.m. beachhouseblues

Alice Waters is sooo great!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 4:07 p.m. maiziedesigns

Thanks for sharing such a wonderful story about a heartwarming iniative.

Aug. 31, 2009 at 4:20 p.m. BlackStar

Alice Waters is an incredible woman!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 4:27 p.m. pogoshop

I'm with you, Alice and Michelle! So many of our dear children are starved for nature and good food right now. I love the edible education trend and hope to see it flourish.

Aug. 31, 2009 at 4:29 p.m. edor

happiness in the little things!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 4:44 p.m. cravejewelrydesign

SO COOL!!!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 5:53 p.m. JanuaryJaniesJewelry

What a wonderful program, hope this hands on education will spread to more schools.

Aug. 31, 2009 at 6:07 p.m. recycledwares

I've been wanting to start a garden and I'm so jealous of this middle schooler for getting to do it at such an earlier age. Where was this class when I was young?

Aug. 31, 2009 at 6:14 p.m. thelittlecrocodile

I hope hope hope more schools and communities start planting gardens!!!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 6:33 p.m. tiffanyinthetrees

oh... thank you so much for this awesome post! i have loved alice waters and her edible garden project/ program since i first heard of two years ago! she's great... the program is wonderful...
i'm a montessori teacher, like alice waters was, and my class has a garden in which all of the kids do the work... planting... weeding... harvesting... and then, we cook up the vegetables into soups for the local shelters.
gardening with kids is the best! it really is!
happy harvesting!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 7:03 p.m. BabbidgePatch

Wonderful story ! Our kids all grew up helping out in our organic gardens and they each had their own sections to tend ~ besides eating from it, they had fun displaying their veggies and flowers in the local fairs.

Aug. 31, 2009 at 7:08 p.m. TenderLetters

Alice Waters is such an inspiration to me as a teacher, gardener and lover of food! This is really the direction that we all need to move towards in our world! Empty lots and unused urban space break my heart. We all need to learn the language of beauty, growth, patience and care that Waters writes about.
xoxoxox,
Gina

Aug. 31, 2009 at 8:18 p.m. bluepiedesigns

Love Alice Walters!..the world would be a better place if there were more like her and just think how different our world would be if everyone just grew a few veggies instead of buying at the store..we need to teach the next generation NOW...we don't really have the liberty of waiting anymore. Our future and health need us to act!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 8:41 p.m. thebestvintage

Love this post! Alice Waters has made such a difference in the way people look at and prepare their food.

Aug. 31, 2009 at 9:20 p.m. breadandroses2

Great post! I don't know if it's the influence of Alice Waters but our local elementary school has an entire class devoted to gardening and a large vacant area of school property is now a flourishing garden. It's so important for all of us to have a greater awareness of where our food comes from and childhood is the best place to start!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 9:21 p.m. wristielove

This is the sweetest thing ever. This weekend I came across one of the coolest urban gardens at Piedmont Park and decided to mosey on through. Turns out it was completely done by the kids at summer camp. It is so nice that Etsy reports on topics like this. A million hearts to Alice Waters & MLK Jr high. Thanks Michelle!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 10:24 p.m. VixVintage

Alice Waters rocks, now if we only had a few hundred thousand of her...Thank you

Aug. 31, 2009 at 10:45 p.m. TreeHuggerStudio

That's awesome!! I need to start something like this where I live.

Aug. 31, 2009 at 11:05 p.m. livingstonandporter

Thank goodness for alice - she's something else! DIG the article!

Aug. 31, 2009 at 11:12 p.m. topsyturvydesign

Alice Waters is an angel! I can't wait to make the Smash with Kale!

Sept. 1, 2009 at 12:31 a.m. MODERA

Nice Article!

Sept. 1, 2009 at 1:05 a.m. Iammie

Lovely!

Sept. 1, 2009 at 5:04 a.m. evihan

soo useful articleee:-)

Sept. 1, 2009 at 7:42 a.m. TheSecretKitchen

I love cooking home grown veggies - so flavorful!
Even urbanites can have a garden - check out Square Foot Gardening.

Sept. 1, 2009 at 7:54 a.m. MagneticCreations

Great story! I put in a raised vegetable garden this summer with the special needs kids at my school. It was not nearly the size of Alice's but the effects were astounding! Kids lined up to help just to have a piece of fresh lettuce or spinach to munch on. We also purchased a muscle powered mower, you should see them zip around with that, the best modivator ever to get your work done in the classroom and help in the garden!

Sept. 1, 2009 at 8:13 a.m. Sudstress

I love this. There is a school near my home that began a small community garden this year. I hope to see more of things like this.

Sept. 1, 2009 at 8:45 a.m. RonH

In an obese world where children are confronted with empty calorie fast food places on every corner, what could be better than teaching good nutrition, hard work, and an appreciation of Mother Earth. Kudos to those that garden and pass the joys on to the next generation.

Sept. 1, 2009 at 9:11 a.m. MinceCo

feed your soul and get dirty :)

Sept. 1, 2009 at 10:03 a.m. TalkingTree

I wish I had a green thumb! Fun stuff!

Sept. 1, 2009 at 10:33 a.m. whiletangerinedreams

I love Alice Waters. She's mentioned in all my favourite publications. Her cookbook The Art of Simple Food is a daily read. She's amazing :)

Sept. 1, 2009 at 10:53 a.m. starvingartistbazaar

Great story! My cousin got a grant to start a garden with her students in Tucson. What a wonderful way to teach children.

Sept. 1, 2009 at 11:05 a.m. Fairyfolk

Excellent article... what magic a garden can give to kids.
Blessings and magic.

Sept. 1, 2009 at 11:19 a.m. babook

Hoping that i can joy too !! with those child It would be a good experience for cook .....

Sept. 1, 2009 at 11:30 a.m. KiraFerrer

Wonderful article! Alice Waters is an inspiration!

Sept. 1, 2009 at 12:51 p.m. galstudio

Great story! I love the signage!

Sept. 1, 2009 at 12:51 p.m. threetree

I started a garden at our local elementary school this year. At this point it is pretty small but the kids LOVE it! They can't wait to make it bigger next year. The most surprising thing is that there hasn't been an ounce of vandalism. I don't know exactly why, but it seems that the kids and community want the garden to succeed.

Sept. 1, 2009 at 1:40 p.m. paramountvintage

so fundamentally important to life. gardening is great for kids!!!

Sept. 1, 2009 at 2:52 p.m. AnniesWearableArt

What a wonderful way to instill crucially important, lifelong values in children. Fantastic story!!

Sept. 1, 2009 at 3:22 p.m. SimpleJoysPaperie

Wonderful article and school program! I think those of us that were raised and live in the country, take for granted the opportunities that we have to enjoy nature.

Sept. 1, 2009 at 3:23 p.m. thecluelesscrafter

I am an avid cook living in NYC. This summer I successfully grew my own herbs and tomato plant. It is such a pleasure to grow and prepare your own food. This project will teach kids that work and pleasure can go hand in hand. I wish I was exposed to this lesson as a child.

Sept. 1, 2009 at 4:29 p.m. MetroGypsy

Love my garden and this article! Truly a great read :)

Sept. 1, 2009 at 5:11 p.m. edithweezie

What an absolutely fabulous idea- I wish more schools would/could adopt this program.

Sept. 3, 2009 at 7:09 a.m. bytheway

I've been aware of Alice Waters' school projects for some time now and applaud her for teaching kids about the eartt, good stewardship and good eating.

Sept. 3, 2009 at 9:51 a.m. StoneDesignsbySheila

This is great! Kids need to learn that food doesn't come from Mc Donalds! I love gardening.

Sept. 7, 2009 at 12:34 p.m. icanspellit

So much CREATIVITY. I love it!!

Sept. 10, 2009 at 11:58 a.m. underoakstudios

I wish more schools had programs like this. I grew up in the dirt grazing in the garden and I'm always amazed when other people have no experience growing their own food. In apartment life I jealously begrudge everyone with a little plot of earth who doesn't use it. I'm always going over to houses and saying you could have a wonderful garden here. I'm usually met with a blank stare. People don't know what they are missing. Programs like this can let everyone know how wonderful it can be to grow some of your own food, flowers and air. Http://www.Twitter.com/UnderOakStudios

Sept. 18, 2009 at 2:03 p.m. theninestories

Grow your own food forever! In case you haven't read Masanobu Fukuoka's "The One-Straw Revolution" is a permaculture classic. Get your fingers on it here in free .pdf http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibr...

Sept. 21, 2009 at 3:46 p.m. sineminugur

Lovely!

Oct. 7, 2009 at 1:26 a.m. OYandM

and it has spread to New Orleans! Alice Waters in conjunction with the Recovery School Disctrict of New Orleans have two edible school yards at Samuel J. Green Charter and Arthur Ashe Charter. Both are k-6. Volunteering at Green Charter changed my life for the better.

Great stuff. VERY PROUD!

Oct. 21, 2009 at 9:53 a.m. michaelangela

I want a garden!

Nov. 6, 2009 at 7:25 p.m. misaphia

Very cool!!

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