As I watch kids’ eyes grow big and round at the sight of
their sprouting beets that they helped plant the week before, I feel my heart
swell and know that what I’m doing is helping me to grow as a teacher and
advocate, just as it is helping the garden grow. This summer, I’m serving as an AmeriCorps
Summer Associate in my own hometown of Red Lodge. Every morning, Monday through Thursday, Alyssa
Charney, my guiding AmeriCorps VISTA serving with the FoodCorps team, and I
lead activities with children ranging in age from about four to ten in the
newly-developed Red Lodge Youth Garden.
Every day is devoted to a particular group of children being brought to
the garden by either the Children Center or Boys’ and Girls’ Club. It’s fun to feel the different moods and
personalities unique to each group of kids and to keep track of every impact
they make on the garden each time they visit.
What has struck me most through this experience so far is
the kids’ enthusiasm. When we ask them
what their favorite veggies are, they almost always have something ready on the
tips of their tongues. However, many
have little idea of what some vegetables even look like before they arrive on
their dinner plates, but as we show and guide them around the garden on eye-opening
tours, you can watch the knowledge work its way into their faces in expressions
of curiosity and mild wonder. It’s a
very rewarding feeling, to know that what I’m doing is making a difference in
these kids’ lives, whether it’s a small difference or a big one.
A challenge I’ve come up against so far has been the
task of scaling down all the information I want to give to these kids. In the beginning, I wanted so terribly to
teach them everything I have learned on my own these last few years about
health, nature, diet, exercise, and the ways they are all connected. I quickly discovered, however, that the
things I wanted to tell them would go in one ear and out the other. Kids don’t want to be talked at; they learn
and absorb best through hands-on activities that require constant
interaction. It has been difficult for
me to find ways of fitting the information I want to teach into fun activities,
disguising the educational value of the lesson.
But, as the summer wears on, I’m learning what works and what doesn’t,
and learning to adapt my lessons to a variety of age groups.
Overall, I’m loving every day in the garden, and I am very
thankful to have this opportunity to learn how to grow my own food, how to
instill in children a fascination and excitement for vegetables, and how to
work with other people in so many different ways. I can feel myself growing in heart and experience
as quickly as our Swiss chard, already overflowing in its raised bed.
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