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Edible Gardens Inspire Children

The Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation Department and Cooperative Extension Service collaboratively established two children’s edible gardens in the County this week. Sixty children ages 6-11  planted broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, beans, peas, peppers and cucumbers in the two Green Thumb Club garden locations.

 “What does Cauliflower look like?” asked one of the children, age 10, after he planted a leafy seedling. Arthur Kirstein, Cooperative Extension’s Agriculture Economic Development Coordinator, helped the children plan and plant the gardens. He believes empowering these children to learn contributes to the future successes of Palm Beach County’s agricultural community.

The children belong to the Green Thumb Club afterschool programs at Westgate Recreation Center and West Jupiter Recreation Center, supported by Waste Management, Inc and the Weinig Foundation. Members of the club will visit the gardens to care for their vegetable plants, weed and harvest. They will also label all the plants and write stories about the garden as part of the Read A Recipe for Literacy enrichment activity.

“The gardens allow the children to spend time in nature and to nutritionally connect to what they see in the supermarket produce aisle. The program also encourages them to try new fruits and vegetables. They are much more likely to try something they’ve grown. Green peppers and eggplant were big hits last year.” said Jennifer Cirillo, Recreation Programs Supervisor.    

All fresh vegetables harvested beyond what the children and their families eat are displayed for donation at the Riverbend Park Farmstead Event in March and given by the children to local food banks during other times of the year.

Click here to download the news release