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Plant Life By Valerie Easton

Feeding An Awareness

In IslandWood's garden and kitchen, kids connect to the good Earth

The mission of IslandWood is to promote environmental stewardship, so what is this wooded property doing with a cabbage fountain at its heart?

School kids visiting for a few days cluster around the fountain, washing vegetables freshly plucked from the soil. As they snack on sun-warmed berries and taste mint leaves, garden educator Rita Howard hopes kids grasp the web of connections between soil and plants, garden and kitchen, then back to compost and soil. The idea is that a visceral appreciation of nature may begin with our own taste buds, especially for children.

"The garden is an ecosystem you can wrap your hands around," says Howard. Kids can see where the water comes from, how compost improves the soil, and how good it all tastes when the vegetables they pick are cooked in the IslandWood kitchen and served for dinner. Groups of school kids, who stay at IslandWood for four days, routinely harvest produce and bring it to the kitchen staff to illuminate the concept of "seed to table." Children also pot up seeds and cuttings to take home, reinforcing the idea that not all food comes shrink-wrapped.

IslandWood is a 255-acre outdoor learning center on Bainbridge Island, and it's dedicated to nothing less than saving the planet. It's a place filled with excited children during the school year. The vegetable garden is a vital part of their stay, introducing the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders to how fresh food tastes and how it grows out of the earth.

Howard has landed in just the right job. "I'm genetically green," she says. Which is good, because she not only uses the IslandWood kitchen garden as an outdoor classroom but also takes care of the plants both in and out of the greenhouse. A longtime Montessori teacher, her lesson plans are heavy on sensory experience and practical digging in the dirt. The kids start out with a tasting tour of the garden. Their lessons include "soil sleuthing" the lively microbes in the compost pile and painting watercolor postcards of the organisms they see under the microscope. Kids decorate black plastic pots that hold their prized cuttings and learn to use thermometers to see if the soil is warm enough to plant seeds. Sounds like Howard is raising a whole bunch of creative little master gardeners who will appreciate the art as well as the science of gardening.

The garden teaches life lessons as well. "I see kids that didn't get along with each other very well now starting to communicate more, which has been amazing," says Sarah Walderon, a fifth-grade teacher at Seattle's High Point Elementary. Abinadi Velazquez, a fifth-grader from the same school, sums it up by saying, "In the classroom we don't get dirty, and out here we do . . . it feels good to be in the garden."

What plants do the kids love most? "Cherry tomatoes," says Howard. "They come in different shapes and colors, and the kids just pop them into their mouths." They love berries that are equally easy to eat, and enjoy digging to find a treasure trove of potatoes. Stevia is a favorite for its sweet taste, and fennel for its aroma of licorice. Howard also has the children pick and dry herbs for tea. After taking a sip, one little girl said, "Without sugar, this doesn't have any taste — but it sure is good."

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net.