After the recent sad events in our office, it was a treat to get out into the cold winter air* last week and launch our new school garden program, which I’ll be helping implement for the coming year. The kiddos straightened their ties and followed us outside to check out the future location of their school food gardens. We talked about biomass for compost, smelled lavender (pronounced “la-vendah”), and identified the north, south, east, and west. It was good for the soul. 

I worked some with school garden programs in California and one big and interesting difference is that here in SA, the principals’ primary reason for starting a school garden is to increase the amount of fruits and vegetables available for the school meals. In California, school districts’ legal departments sent out official letters prohibiting the consumption of school garden-grown fruits and veggies—for liability reasons, of course. It’s such a shame because there is no more exciting event for a kid than eating fruits and veggies that they themselves grew and harvested. California, look to your neighbor to the southeast (or west, depending on what direction you cross the oceans) and please come to your senses. 

*Don’t believe me that Africa ever gets cold? At 6:00 last night the thermometer read 37 degrees, and that’s not the coldest it’s been this week.  Brrrr!