Southern boone learning garden email format

We are the Southern Boone Learning Garden. We serve a school district of approximately 1500 students in Ashland, Missouri—a rural central Missouri town located between Columbia and Jefferson City, just a few miles from the Missouri River. We are creating a school & community garden that is integrated with the curriculum of the Southern Boone County School District. Since 2007, we have grown from an after-school garden club run by two innovative moms serving 13 elementary students to an organization deeply involved with both the primary and elementary schools, serving 700 students in pre-K through 5th grades. For five years we have steadily moved toward a long-term vision of a school and community that foster sound nutritional practice, responsible food choices, environmental stewardship, and care for human communities. We are implementing crucial change in our community, and we dream of the ripple effects of our Learning Garden. We’ve moved toward our vision with an eye for both the parts and the whole. In order to understand our “now”, we’ve thought about the individual aspects of particular problems, like the various factors that have led to 1 in 4 of our children being obese. To make a difference in the long-term, we’ve also thought about the complexity of interactions within and among whole systems. We know that our garden is nested in a school community, a town, and a watershed--and that these systems are connected to our state, our country, our world. We just ended an amazing school year. Teachers jumped on board, and all students in pre-K through 5th grades participated in garden lessons tied to classroom curricula. In the garden, students learned about the connections between their everyday choices and the health of our community, the environment, and themselves. We are thankful for our many partners: students, teachers, parents, principals, cooks, school staff and administration, business owners, community leaders and all the other people who believe in this garden. We recognize the importance of the support from our PTA, Chamber of Commerce, the City of Ashland, Optimist Club, University Extension, and the Columbia/Boone County Health Department. We have built up tremendous momentum, and we’re ready to take it to the next level. We currently cultivate an acre of ground, but have room to expand to more than five acres. Student suggestions have produced a wish list that includes a pond, a playground, a corn maze, a place to prepare meals, and even a greenhouse to grow bananas and oranges. We need an outdoor classroom space that offers shelter from the prairie wind and rain. It’s time to invite the community at large to incorporate their ideas with those of teachers and students to create a space that welcomes, rejuvenates, feeds, educates, and inspires the entire community. The mission of the Southern Boone Learning Garden is to provide outdoor classroom space and resources; to facilitate fun, authentic learning experiences that challenge students to embrace positive life skills; and to promote collaborative efforts between the Learning Garden, the school district, and the community.