Teaching gardens gain popularity among youngest growers

A growing number of kids are learning where their food comes from at all ages.

Teaching gardens have become a way to engage kids from preschool through their teens in an immersive outdoor experience with potentially big lifelong benefits.

EmBe started its teaching garden this spring at EmBe Avera South, building eight  garden beds with help from volunteers and staff for its evolving nutrition program.

The organization partnered with Sioux Falls-based Ground Works and South Dakota Ag in building what it considers an outdoor classroom experience and part of its broader mission in caring for 300 children daily.

“Our hope with our teaching gardens is twofold: Children in our care will learn about nutrition and its impacts, alongside math and science lessons that will help young minds connect the dots between sustaining the self and the source of our food,” said Liz Mosena DeBerg, EmBe executive director of child care and school-age care.

“The children will be a part of the process from start to finish, so they can tangibly see what happens from taking a seed and planting it to consuming the fruit produced. We have new weekly lesson plans planned for each garden bed, which will cater to each age and development level of children in our care.”

It’s part of a broader change to EmBe’s nutrition program, which has evolved to replace processed foods such as crackers with fresh fruit and whole-food recipes, and sugary juices with wellness water infused with cucumbers, melon and citrus. EmBe now also serves locally sourced and butchered meat from a meat locker in the community.

“Not only has the team crushed every goal set before them, but the kids are loving the new foods we’ve incorporated into their daily meal plan,” Mosena DeBerg said. “Improving nutrition leads to increased energy, promotes a functioning immune system, improves a child’s ability to cope with stress and increases comprehension and performance in learning. We believe all children deserve nutritious meals and recognize that each meal we serve may be the only nutritious meal a child receives throughout their day.”

Ground Works and South Dakota Agriculture in the Classroom also partnered with Volunteers of America, Dakotas to construct teaching garden beds at VOA’s Axis180 facility at 3201 S. Theodore Ave.

This teaching garden will offer a hands-on laboratory for vegetable growing skills for the young adults age 16 to 21 served through the VOA’s Axis180 program. This program provides the opportunity to transition out of homelessness and unsafe environments into safe, supportive housing while they learn the skills necessary to succeed on their own.

Backyard food production is a lifelong skill that can assist with self-sufficiency, food insecurity and nutrition, the VOA said.

“Anytime nonprofits have the opportunity to work with one another and augment the incredible impact each is making in the community, it is cause for celebration.” said Cindy Heidelberger, executive director of development/education for Ground Works/South Dakota Ag in the Classroom.

“This is a chance to extend the learning experience to another group of students, who will in turn multiply the positive changes that can occur when we understand where our food comes from and the empowerment we receive from growing it ourselves.”