We are the Southern Boone Learning Garden, an independent non-profit that works in partnership with the Southern Boone County R-1 school district in Ashland, Missouri, to provide outdoor, garden-based education to its students. Located in central Missouri just a few miles from the Missouri River, we are lucky to be surrounded by some of the most productive farmland in the country. Despite the rura
l location and agricultural roots of our community, there is a great disconnect between many residents, their food, and the environment in which they live. Upset by both this disconnect and the rising rates of childhood obesity in our country, two Southern Boone moms resolved to make a difference, and founded the Learning Garden in 2007. The programming and scope of the organization have grown exponentially since those early days. The Elementary Garden Club continues, and now reaches 30-35 children in both the fall and the spring. We also provide a Middle School Cooking Club which has become quite popular, and reaches about 25 students each year. Additionally, the Learning Garden has been integrated into the school-day schedule, and each preschool through fifth grade classroom (approx. 950 students) currently visits their Learning Gardens on average 8 times during the school year for garden-based lessons. Our primary focus is to provide outdoor learning opportunities about food, nutrition, agriculture, and environmental science; but through collaboration with classroom teachers, we are able to also link our lessons and activities to academic subjects across the spectrum including math, social studies, communication arts, and more. Our lesson plans are available to the public and most can be found on our website. When it comes to vegetables, we’ve found that if a child grows it, they’ll eat it. Then, they tell their parents, and the positive chain reaction is set in motion! It’s exciting to witness these changes within our community, and we feel so lucky to play a small part in implementing them. The future looks bright for the kiddos of Southern Boone, and full of yummy fresh fruits and vegetables, too!
