Dirt under their fingernails-how you can help your child’s school get their own garden

By Nancy Van Patten, Marketing/Food Writer

I just watched a video clip from the first season of Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution” television show, which aired for the first time in 2010. The English chef and dedicated food crusader was in an elementary school classroom in West Virginia. He held a potato in front of a child.

“What is this?” Jamie asked.

“I don’t know,” the child replied.

It got worse.

Another child identified a cluster of tomatoes on the vine as potatoes. One child couldn’t identify cauliflower. And a third child said an eggplant was a pear.

In light of the blog I wrote a couple of weeks ago about a member of a store tour group that said she’d never tasted a cherry (see http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/duluth/2011/08/10/touring-and-tasting-at-whole-foods-market-johns-creek/) this video clip was especially meaningful. It’s not just young children that can’t identify where their food comes from. There are folks of all ages who have never had an opportunity to put seed to ground and watch it grow into something beautiful and delicious.  That’s why our latest partnership with the Whole Kids Foundation and FoodCorps is so important. The fundraising and grant program will bring gardens to 1,000 schools.

In other words, it’ll help children get dirt under their fingernails.

From now through the end of the year, schools can apply for a $2,000 grant to assist them in building or expanding a garden on the grounds of their school. Students will get the opportunity to get in on the ground (pun intended) floor of a garden project, from planting to maintenance to harvesting. They’ll work as a team. They’ll get to practice their math, science and health skills. They’ll get outside, have fun, and yes, get dirt under their fingernails.

We here at Whole Foods Market Johns Creek like to see our children grow, right alongside their vegetables. And trust me, it would thrill us silly to have one of the schools in our geographic area receive one of these $2,000 grants.  Here’s how you make this happen: first, go to http://wholekidsfoundation.org/gardengrants.php and learn all the details of the grant program.  There’s a place you can donate to the grant program on this page (which helps funds the grants) or better yet, you can come into our store and donate at the cash registers. We’d like that-it’d be nice to thank you in person! Second, scroll down on the page and click on the “apply for a school garden grant” link.  You’ll get all the details on the application requirements and process.

If you have any questions, our Marketing Team Leader, Kubeshini Moodley, would be happy to answer them. You can contact her at Kubeshini.moodley@wholefoods.com. She’ll help walk you through the application process. And she’s got some nifty tips on how to get dirt out from under a kid’s fingernails.