The Beye School Garden was started in the spring of 2007, when the 1st grade classes tested and prepared the soil, and planted seeds and small plants purchased at the Oak Park Farmer’s Market. First grade families signed up to care for the garden in week-long shifts over the summer. When school started that fall, the now-2nd graders harvested the garden and held their first healthy food tasting of the year with their garden vegetables, as well as pesto made from the basil they grew!
The way Beye School structures the 1st-2nd grade experience as a loop, where children stay with the same teacher both years, solves the usual problem of meshing a garden’s natural cycle of summertime growth with a school’s cycle of being off for the summer!
Check out some pictures from this year’s garden harvest…
