JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 2022) – Fourth- and fifth-grade students at Washington County’s Sulphur Springs Elementary School have learned about both gardening and nutrition in the fall of 2021 through a joint effort of East Tennessee State University’s College of Public Health and UT Extension Washington County.
Project EARTH of the College of Public Health and the UT Extension Washington County agents created a “Garden in a Box” program using the “Learn, Grow, Eat and Go” curriculum that allows young students to grow vegetables while learning about the importance of a well-balanced diet.
“Many students grow food for the first time and experience new food choices,” said Dr. Mike Stoots, Project EARTH director of operations and professor in the ETSU Department of Community and Behavioral Health. “The kids certainly seemed to enjoy this project and learned things that could improve their health for years to come.”
The program not only teaches the agricultural skills of planting, tending and harvesting plants, but also nutritional skills, such as how to eat a balanced diet and ways to prepare the vegetables grown through the project.
Christopher Honeycutt, a doctoral student in the ETSU College of Public Health, working with Project EARTH, partnered with UT Extension Washington County Agents Lucy Timbs and Adam Watson to bring the Garden in a Box program to Sulphur Springs School.
Four square, raised garden beds were constructed on the school grounds by the team and students on Aug. 26. Fall vegetables were planted on Sept. 13, and then harvested a couple of months later. The vegetable plants used in this project were donated by Onks Greenhouse and Garden Center in Gray.
Under the guidance of Timbs and Watson, fourth- and fifth-grade students participated in the growing process – from planting to harvest – of such fall crops as collard greens, cabbage and broccoli as part of their physical education class taught by coaches Jill Fox and Brandon Qualls.
“It’s amazing how the kids could come in and try things they hadn’t tried – the cabbage, the kale, or the collard greens that they hadn’t tried at home – and were amazed at how much they enjoyed it and liked it,” Fox said. “I liked seeing that aspect of it, and seeing how easy it was to grow. Just knowing how to grow it and pick it opens their eyes to something new that they haven’t been exposed to. They told their friends about what they learned, and their friends want to join in and experience it as well. It’s been a positive outreach for them. It’s been wonderful.”
The Garden in a Box team hopes to not only add more raised gardening beds at Sulphur Springs, but also to expand the program to other schools in the future.