At Overbrook Elementary, digging in the dirt is just part of the day's lesson.
On a typical day, third- and fourth-graders gathered around a raised bed to plant the last of their fall seeds.
Their teacher, Rachel Campbell, asked the class to examine the seed packet.
"What do you notice? What do you see?" she asked.
Annabelle Cipoletti, 8, raised her hand: "I saw the back, and it said that it would be needing six hours of full sun a day. Today wouldn't be a good day for it to grow because it's not sunny out."
She had a point. It was wet and cloudy. The class discussed the best placement for the seeds before getting out their shovels and plastic spoons.
Annabelle and her friend, Ella Tice, dug a tiny hole, only as deep as the tip of their fingers, and dropped in four argula seeds, or "ahRUUUUgula" as Ella called them.
The two remembered when the patch was the site of an old playground. Now, it boasts eight raised beds and an outdoor classroom, branded by a logo that reads "Overbrook Grows!" thanks to a creative parent.
"The special word we use to talk about growing seeds is the word 'sow' - s-o-w," Campbell said to the class as they began planting, hoping this harvest would yield as much as their last.
Last spring, the students planted tomatoes, pumpkins, corn, okra and green beans. Thanks to a team of parents and teachers, when they returned in August, the corn was twice as tall as the students, and the garden was overflowing with produce.
"It's great to see faces come alive," said Tom Barton, a father of two students at Overbrook. "When they came back to school this fall, everything was maxed out, and they couldn't believe what they saw."
Each bed represents a different grade level or class. Each student cares for the garden in his or her own way, whether he or she tends to it regularly or has only planted a seed.
"The key is to show children where food comes from," Barton said. "They're seeing the source, and they're involved in the process."
Barton remembered when the garden was an old playground, too. Three years ago, when he became a member of the parent-teacher organization, the garden was just an idea that lacked funding, he said.
He was excited to get it off the ground - recalling the valuable time he spent in his family's garden.
"I've always grown something," Barton said. "As I've gotten older, I think I should have been a farmer."
Barton turned out to be a project manager. But with a passion to bring gardening to his children's school, he used his knowledge about grant writing to reach out to a few big-name corporations in West Virginia.
Highmark awarded the school $4,200, Lowes awarded $5,000 and Brickstreet awarded $1,200. The board of education was able to chip in along the way, too. The money came in over the course of a year, he said, and it allowed the school to finally purchase materials to build its own garden. Barton visits and helps care for the garden on a regular basis, along with scores of other parents.
"Parents have been the driving factor," said Overbrook Principal Jerry Comes. "It's a small-scale project for now, but will continue to grow."
When he said grow, he meant more than just the plants themselves. Plans are in the works to make the garden self-sustaining, monetarily, at least.
Still in its early stages, the garden's produce grows sporadically, so a full-fledged booth at Capitol Market might not be manageable. However, there's been enough to sell - alongside its own logo - at The Purple Onion, and there's a plan in the works to sell the fruits of their labor to Lola's Pizza and other local restaurants.
The school has also donated 15 pounds of tomatoes and 1 pound of okra to Manna Meal, one of the kids' favorite accomplishments.
Barton said he hopes, at some point, the school will be able to discreetly send some of the fresh produce home with kids who need it.
For now, the children love to add it to their salads at lunch - well, not all of them.
"My favorite thing is nothing because I don't like the tomatoes or anything we've tasted," Ella said.
Some of the kids agreed, and others said they enjoyed the carrots and tomatoes, at least.
Though they might not all be excited to eat the vegetables, their interest in the garden provides an easy route to introducing nutrition, their teacher said.
Campbell strives to take the class to the garden at least once a week. At the beginning of the year, the students spent time picking the vegetables.
"They think it's a treat," Campbell said. "We learn health, nutrition, recipes, and we've tried some vegetables."
Campbell has found a way to tie the garden into nearly every aspect of her curriculum. Each opportunity in the garden is also an opportunity to learn science and math.
For example, earlier that morning, the kids planned their garden while practicing multiplication and addition using arrays - an arrangement of objects, like two rows by three rows.
In science, they learn about the life cycle of a plant and environments. They also learn about insects - Ella's favorite part. Soon, the class will delve into a unit about earthworms.
"It's always wonderful when you can take something that you're working on and apply it to real life," Campbell said. "It's even more engaging when you can apply it to something we have at the school."
Their current reading unit is related to giving back to the community, like the class did with Manna Meal.
The garden has been mostly run by adults until this point, especially over the summer. However, as it continues to grow, students are taking over.
Eventually, the school would like to create an entrepreneurial club for a group to sell the produce and decide how to distribute it.
Annabelle would argue that they're more than capable.
"If you come here and say, 'Well kids can't do anything to help," she said.
"Well, we can grow plants and give it to people who don't have food. There you have it," Ella said.
Their friend, Georgia, chimed in, "There you have it. Kids making a difference!"
Reach Jennifer Gardner at
jennifer.gardner@wvgazettemail.com,
304-348-5102 or follow
@jenncgardner on Twitter.