Mia Edmonds Duff teaches technique for gently squeezing plants from containers.
A month after rebuilding their school courtyard’s garden beds, King/Robinson students filled them with dozens of bags of soil and cucumber, strawberry, and squash seedlings.
That was the scene at around 10 a.m. last Wednesday, as King/Robinson School discovery lab educator Valarie Knowles and reading support staffer and retired principal Mia Edmonds-Duff guided students through bringing new life to the school’s garden. The hope is that students’ families will soon be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
The garden’s produce was secured thanks to a seedling grant Edmonds-Duff applied for in order to incorporate hands-on outdoor learning into the school’s mission to engage with its families more.
In April the school received help from Common Ground students to rebuild new garden beds. The school community also fixed up and built its final beds recently, making the courtyard produce-ready for their next steps.
From tomatoes and watermelon to jalapeños and scallions, sixth graders Finley and Christian planted seedlings for the last few minutes of their class period after they finished their class work early.
The duo agreed they like working, especially with their hands, and think learning in the dirt offers different lessons than their classroom work.
After heading back to class, Edmonds-Duff sought out a new group of helpers with extra time.
While Edmonds-Duff taught students how deep to dig their seedling holes in the dirt, Knowles used several tape measurers she had laying around in her STEM lab from previous activities to map out the garden beds’ grids.
Fourth graders Cecil, Isabella, Donna, Charlie, and Darrius next gathered in the courtyard to plant seedlings and clear weeds from the school’s collard greens bed.
As the students worked, they shared big words they’ve recently learned, like “eliminate” and “disqualified,” with each other.
“This is the life lesson of ‘you reap what you sow,’” Edmonds-Duff said Wednesday.