School gardens are becoming increasingly popular, and research has shown there’s a good reason for it!
Gardening provides hands-on opportunities for learning, and it’s not just science. Gardens also provide opportunities for math, visual arts through designing the garden, language arts through garden journaling, and nutrition. Gardening also improves students’ lifestyles and eating habits through the enjoyment of fruits and veggies they grow themselves.
In Texas and Arizona, Ewing employees donated resources to help schools in their areas install gardens to improve academics and student nutrition.
REAL School Gardens (RSG) is a nonprofit organization in Dallas, Tex., that designs and installs “outdoor living classrooms” for low-income elementary schools. A customer of Ewing’s Dallas location, RSG relies on donations for parts and volunteers for installation days. They also train the teachers and provide lesson-planning samples for using the gardens as a learning tool.
In October, RSG installed a garden at Tom C. Gooch Elementary School. Ewing employees at the Dallas location volunteered their Saturday to help Shawn Bookout of RSG install the drip irrigation system. On the daylong project, they prepped the garden for student use.
In Buckeye, Ariz., Liberty School District created an agriscience school, incorporating agricultural science in every class, kindergarten through eighth grade. The principal for The Center for Agriscience Education reached out to Ewing’s Buckeye location for assistance in getting the necessary supplies to get the gardens up and running for classes to use.
Lance Shuck, manager at Ewing’s Buckeye location, readily agreed to help out. The school converted a section of the playground to a garden with 12 raised planters. A water source was 150 feet away, and there was no power on site for irrigation.
Shuck gathered donations, including a XCH-600 controller with a solar panel kit from Hunter Industries and other materials for the garden’s irrigation system. He then solicited help from other Ewing employees to install the system.
Lance and fellow Ewing employees Ray Espinoza and Michael Gonzalez joined the principal, three teachers, four parents and two students in completing the irrigation installation project in just one day. The students at the Center for Agriscience Education are now ready to grow!
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