At Shiloh Preschool in early May, the kids enjoyed a special snack – a salad bar featuring lettuce they grew themselves.
One little boy had already declared that he was not going to eat anything from the salad bar. He told his mom and his teachers that he didn’t like salad. His mom confirmed that he won’t eat anything green at home.
“But you know what? He took a couple pieces of salad and he ate that today,” says Candace Rhoill, Shiloh Preschool director. “That was just really special. I was so proud of him.”
That’s the power of young children growing their own food!
Gardening in early care and education settings
More than half of the providers participating in the WeTHRIVE!℠ early care and education (ECE) initiative do some type of gardening with the children and families they serve, according to Katherine Togher, population health specialist with Hamilton County Public Health (HCPH). Gardening is a strategy of Farm to ECE, one of the initiative’s key components. (Read more about our Farm to ECE programs in this previous story.)
“Gardening fits right into early care and education settings, providing opportunties for hands-on learning, parent and community engagement, physical activity, and exposure to healthy foods,” says Katherine. “WeTHRIVE!’s ECE providers have been beyond excited to try gardening or improve their current gardening practices. Some have recently learned how to garden indoors through hydroponics, and others have been gardening for years and are trying new ideas.”
Growing to learn and share
Students started gardening at Shiloh in the spring of 2023. This year, thanks to a grant, the preschool will be getting new garden beds.
Three of the new beds will be for the preschool and one will be for the community. “Everything that gets planted in that one garden bed is going to go back out into the Delhi community for neighbors in need, or for those who maybe don’t have access to a place to garden,” says Candace, pictured at left planting with some students.
Growing vegetables and chickens
Shiloh has a truly unique set up. Their fenced-in play area has garden beds, as well as a chicken coop! When kids go out to play, they might feed the chickens kale and tomatoes that they pick from the garden. They also help with collecting eggs, which are hard-boiled and eaten at snack time.
The exposure to new, healthy foods continues inside. Their vegetable of the month program gives the kids a chance to touch, smell, and taste new foods. The featured veggie is served once a week throughout the month.
“We have a rule…that you have to touch it, smell it, lick it, and then we encourage them to taste it,” Candace explains. “But typically, by the end of the month, we’ve worked our way through all of the steps and they’ll take a bite and then they’re allowed to decide if they like it or not. If we start them now, then they’re more likely to eat them [vegetables] when they get older, or at least try them.”
Growing recipes
Arlene Morgan (left) has a backyard garden for her home-based ECE program, Little Dreamers Big Believers in Finneytown.
“We call it the recipe garden,” she says. “I let the children choose what type of vegetables or fruit or whatever they like to plant. Then we’ll use it in a recipe.”
Arlene says the kids love to help plant, water, and pull weeds. “I have one little boy who really loves watering and taking care of the plants. He’ll water the vegetables and all the trees and other plants in the yard.”
Growing pride
The children are proud when a seed or seedling they put in the ground grows into something they can harvest. “The kids are excited about it and they tell their mom and dad about the garden,” Arlene says. “They go home and say, look what I planted.” Arlene feels good about being able to provide this experience for them. But it’s more than that.
“It really, you know, makes me feel like…I’m not only teaching them, but exposing them to different things. And also giving them an option of maybe trying something new.” Arlene says kids will often say, I don’t like this or that fruit or vegetable. “But, you know, when they see it actually growing, and there’s a curiosity, they say, okay, maybe I’ll try it.”
Left: Little Dreamers Big Believers garden. Right: Some of the harvest from last year’s garden.
Arlene Morgan is a certified master gardener! To achieve this, she completed the master gardener program through Ohio State University Extension-Hamilton County, a WeTHRIVE! partner. Arlene attended 50 hours of weekly classes on topics from plant physiology and soil to home vegetable and fruit production and backyard wildlife management. She had to complete an additional 50 hours of horticulturally significant volunteer hours to become a certified master gardener.
Growing a garden in Woodlawn
Although Mary Wagner grew up watching her parents garden, she was not interested. “But the funny thing is,” Mary says, “About a year before my mother passed, she came over to my house and said, come on, we’re gonna buy some plants. You are gonna plant a garden. And, I loved it!”
Mary’s love for gardening, combined with her concern over the higher rates of diet-related chronic disease in Woodlawn, grew into a determination that her community would have a community garden.
While there have been several versions of Miss Mary’s Community Garden (read this story to learn more), it now has a home on Grove Road in Woodlawn.
Mary credits Tim Engle, Woodlawn’s village manager, for sharing her passion for a community garden. With the support of the village council, Mayor Brian Poole, and Parks and Recreation Director Paula Sherman, the new Miss Mary’s Garden was given a larger piece of land and funding from the village.
The garden’s sustainability is boosted by a group of dedicated volunteers that grew out of the Woodlawn WeTHRIVE! team. They call themselves the Beautiful Woodlawn Gardeners.
Mary (center, picture at right) says this group is key to keeping the garden going. Last year when her husband passed away, she just couldn’t work on the garden. So her fellow Beautiful Woodlawn Gardeners, Yessica Anderson (right) and her daughter, Jessica Anderson-Brown (left), took over for her.
Besides Mary, Yessica, and Jessica, other members of the garden group are Adele Lawson-Hall, Tina Morrisette, Jade Scott, Michelle Starr, and Darrell Thomas.
Miss Mary’s Garden will host a grand opening on June 27. Everyone is invited to come see the garden, talk to the gardeners, and rent a plot for the season. “You know, some people have never gardened before, and we’re offering to help those who need help with planting,” Mary says. “This is a good opportunity, especially as high as food is now.”
Miss Mary’s Community Garden last year. Left: Paula Sherman and Mary Wagner. Right: The community is invited to pick produce on certain days.
It really does take a village. The Woodlawn Fire Department has been involved with Miss Mary’s Garden since it began, providing water and even helping with tilling and planting. “We really appreciate it,” Mary says. “Because, you know, without them, it would be very difficult to water the garden. And they have been involved from way back.”
Growing veggies for heart-health
New this year, Cofi Higgins, Woodlawn WeTHRIVE! neighborhood navigator, is growing heart-healthy vegetables in three garden beds. The harvest will go to the Woodlawn community, which has a higher level of heart disease, according to HCPH’s Woodlawn Community Health Assessment. “I’m really proud to work with a team that is so passionate about health and understands the importance of locally grown food in improving the health of their community members,” says Katherine Togher, who also works with the Woodlawn WeTHRIVE! team.
Tips for starting a community or ECE garden
Candace: “First and foremost, I think you have to have passion. It was important to us that our kids had this experience. It’s important to know where their food comes. Because then you’ll make room in your budget. I also have no problem asking the community or on Facebook…Just say hey, this is what we’re trying to do. Can you support us? What can you share?”
Arlene: “I would just say if somebody’s interested in starting a garden…just get out there and do it. Because gardening is a live and learn thing. It’s a learning process.” Arlene adds that there are gardening groups on Facebook where you can ask questions. OSU Extension is also a good place to find information.
Mary: “Go to your [city or village] administration and tell them what you want. Tell them about your goals, what you need. Tell them how it will benefit where they live, plus, the health benefits of exercise people get when working the garden. And it’s ok to start out small. Woodlawn did.”