Parents in the Tuscaloosa area got to pick up some healthy produce while picking their kids up from school this week.
Students at several elementary schools opened “farm stands” in their schools’ carpool lines to sell all sorts of veggies grown at the schools. It’s all part of the Druid City Garden Project. That’s a nonprofit organization that helps run teaching gardens at ten Tuscaloosa elementary schools.
Students grow food throughout the year, using the gardens as the basis for lessons in many school subjects. Then, several so-called “Budding Entrepreneur” fifth graders sell the produce to parents and community members. The proceeds go back into garden supplies for next school year.
Lindsay Turner is the Executive Director of the Druid City Garden Project. She’s heard from parents who say the program got their families eating healthy and delicious food they wouldn’t have considered otherwise.
“…they said, ‘You know what? My child begged me to come to the farm stand and buy Swiss chard. We never would have eaten Swiss chard before. But in their cooking lesson at school this year, they made a Swiss chard dish while learning about fractions and recipes, and it’s become a staple at our household now.”
Farm stands were held this week at Flatwoods, Faucett-Vestavia and Verner Elementary Schools as well as the Alberta School of Performing Arts. The Druid City Garden Project is expanding to set up teaching gardens at Buhl and Holt Elementary Schools next school year.