The Edible Schoolyard
July 23, 1999

The mission of the Edible Schoolyard at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School is to create and sustain an organic garden and landscape which is wholly integrated into the school’s curriculum and lunch program. It involves the student in all aspects of farming the garden – along with preparing, serving and eating the food – as a means of awakening their senses and encouraging awareness and appreciation of the transformative values of nourishment, community, and stewardship of the land. The following principles guide the design and conception of the Edible Schoolyard:

• Participatory:
  The Executive Committee, Steering Committee, staff, teachers and students who help plan, develop, and manage the garden reflect the multicultural and demographic diversity of the school and community.
• Ecological:
  The Garden is designed and maintained using sound ecological proctices that are reflected in all aspects of the project, from the way the food is grown, harvested and prepared, to the recycling of waste back into the earth.
• Aesthetic: The goal is to create a beautiful environment that will inspire personal and social responsibility, one that will also function as a model for other schools.

Edible Schoolyard
Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School
1781 Rose Street
Berkeley, CA 94703
Phone: 510-558-1335
Fax: 510-558-1334

The program’s director is Ms. Ene Osteraas-Constable

There are other projects similar to the Edible Schoolyard. Two notable ones include the USDA’s "Team Nutrition" project and the Chefs Collaborative 2000 "Adopt-A-School" program. Chefs Collaborative 2000 is an educational initiative of Oldways Preservation & Exchange Trust.

Team Nutrition
USDA
3101 Park Center Drive, Room 802
Alexandria, VA 22302
Phone: 703-305-1624
E-mail: teamnutrition@reeusda.gov

Team Nutrition seeks to involve parents and chefs in school lunch programs, with an emphasis on using seasonal recipes and local farmers’ markets, or at least meeting current dietary guidelines – a test few schools manage to pass.

Adopt-A-School
Chefs Collaborative 2000
Oldways Preservation & Exchange Trust
25 First Street
Cambridge, MA 02141
Phone: 617-621-3000
Fax: 617-621-1230
E-mail: oldways@tiac.net

The Adopt-A-School education program consists of eight one-hour class lessons based on the world’s traditional foods. Although substantive, the program is designed to be simple for a chef or parent to use. It’s also designed to avoid administrative hassles – a chef simply has to hook up with a teacher, not jump through hoops with a school board.

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