Brooklyn Backyard Becomes a Modern Outdoor Living Room

How do you create a successful, small, urban garden?
Do as little as possible and choose your elements wisely.

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                                                 Original garden plan

Okra on Avenue X: An Edible School Garden Grows in Brooklyn

I recently discovered an amazing showpiece garden program at PS 216 in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn. An asphalt lot in the fall of 2010, the space has been magically transformed into a thriving educational garden of vegetables, fruits, herbs, perennials and a fantastic composting system. Bees were happily pollinating everywhere. 

On the day of my visit a second grade class was on a mission to discover a patch of thriving okra. Rising over their heads the students were excited and amazed to see how complex this vegetable could actually be. Creamy white flowers centered with splashes of maroon drew the children closer to observe and appreciate the plant's physical characteristics. This hands-on approach to learning about the benefits of gardening has become a daily experience for both students and educators.

While a school classroom is now devoted to cooking classes and healthy eating, an adjacent modern culinary arts classroom/building will be completed in the next few months. The garden and new classroom are exciting new teaching models for local, healthy food. I can't think of a better way to counter-act bad eating habits and the escalating obesity epidemic.

The following was lifted from Edible Schoolyard NYC

Established in 2010, Edible Schoolyard NYC is a nonprofit organization committed to bringing Alice Waters’ vision to New York City public schools as an effective solution to our childhood obesity crisis.

Over three million New Yorkers citywide live in communities where access to fresh fruits and vegetables is tragically limited. Low-income families who lack the time and resources to eat healthier must unfairly settle for cheap, processed food options that ultimately lead to battles with obesity, especially amongst our children.

Today nearly 50% of NYC’s public elementary school students are obese or overweight. They’re part of the first generation of children forecast to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. A childhood plagued by obesity could result in an adulthood hampered by heart disease, cancer, diabetes or high blood pressure.

When Alice Waters, acclaimed restaurateur and organic food pioneer, created the first Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, California in 1995, she knew the best way to teach children the connections between food, health and the environment was by integrating an edible education program into our schools’ everyday curriculum.

As the first official Edible Schoolyard affiliate in the Northeast, Edible Schoolyard NYC partners with public schools in low-income areas to build, maintain and staff garden and kitchen classrooms—all right on the school premises. We equip students with the hands-on knowledge, skills and environment needed to reverse the obesity trend and teach kids organic, healthy eating habits they can enjoy and share for an entire lifetime.

“Every child needs to learn how to cook, needs to learn how to cultivate a garden, plant seeds, learn about sustainability, be taken to a garden, and be able to put hands in the Earth.”
— Alice Waters, Founder of the Edible Schoolyard program

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photo by Allan B.

photo by Allan B.