Week 2 ended on a high note. When thinking about farming, the first image to appear for most is wide open country side, not the middle of a cement covered city. That is what made the urban gardens that much more impressive. Seeing the variety of crops, layouts, and stages of the various community gardens provided me with a sense of awe as people figured out ways to get what they wanted in the most unlikely of places. Finishing our tour of Portland's green side with the ecovillage was something special. While our guide may have talked a bit too much, the concepts such as the rain collection and the elaborate farm that they had growing took me out of the city for a minute. To have an oasis in the middle of all the amenities a city offers seems ideal.
On top of the fabulous tour, I was also given a key resource for my project. I know I want to work with Barbara in her campaign to get local food into the school system. I want to take that idea and make the cafeteria a classroom and develop a lesson plan to get kids closer to their food and involved in agriculture in general. Exactly where to start, I had no idea. Luckily, while at our final garden of the day I was given several resources that will give me a great place to start and already the wheels have been turning.
I truly believe that kids need to see where and how their food is grown. They need to be a part of the process and taste the product that they had a hand in helping produce. Once kids get excited about something, it creates a chain reaction. They'll start to tell their parents about the great food and work they did and hopefully their parents will listen and get just as excited. I can't wait to get started and see what ideas I can come up and what the end results will be.
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