Posted October 18, 2011
Samantha Quam ducked into a tunnel of vines, crawling to a clearing in the middle where she could stand amid the spindly mass.
A vine stretched as Quam, 8, pulled on a cherry tomato, eventually plucking it away.
She held up the bright red sphere.
“They usually pick from the outside,” she said. “This is what a perfect tomato looks like.”
An after-school gardening club at West Salem Elementary School helps students like Quam understand healthy eating, food origins and the responsibilities of plant care. The class experienced a surge of popularity this year, as more students signed up to spend late afternoons working in the garden behind the school, among the raspberries, lettuce and eggplants.
Vegetables pulled from the garden are dropped off at the school kitchen and mixed in with the lunch menu. Quam’s cherry tomatoes will likely end up in salads.
Retired teacher David Langer has helped care for the garden and coordinate curriculum around it for more than a decade. Now he is full-time caretaker and leads three after-school classes a week with a rotating set of students.
The program ballooned to include more than 100 students this year. Last year, less than 20 participated in two sessions per week, Langer said. The climbing demand forced him to add a third day.
“Suddenly I have a flood,” he said. “I don’t know what happened.”
After Langer retired, West Salem kept him on full-time to care for the garden and was able to purchase some extra tools because of grant funding. The garden is in the best shape it’s ever been in, Langer said.
Buckets of cherry tomatoes were dumped into a bin when Quam and other children were finished. Quam rushed to the wheelbarrow, and hoisted up the front, pulling the cargo to the next stop: a leafy patch of broccoli plants.
The garden offers hands-on experience with raising healthy fruit and veggies. Students learn about nurturing plants with soil and fertilizer, how to use gardening tools, and about sustainable practices like composting.
Weaving through broccoli plants, Ben Fleckenstein held up a floret the size of racquetball, eliciting envious cries from his friends.
Gardening teaches children about how food starts out and how it makes it onto their plate and eventually their stomach, said Thippi Fleckenstein, a mother of two children in Langer’s after-school class. Seeing a hated veggie growing in a lush garden can make it less threatening to the picky eater, said Thippi Fleckenstein.
“The first time I came, my son ate chives and I’m like, you don’t eat chives at home,” Fleckenstein said, laughing.
Veggies are grown and picked based on coordination with the school kitchen. The school makes an announcement when ingredients from the garden are served, so students know where their food is coming from, Langer said.
Fleckenstein keeps a blog about healthy eating, and frequently posts pictures or updates from the school garden on her Facebook page, “Noodleonthat Food Revolution.”
“I’m just a mom who is really passionate about food,” she said.
The school garden provides her two children more than just a new hobby that lets them get their hands dirty.
It offers a new way of looking at food.
©2011 the La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, Wis.)