by Rabbi Nathan Martin

In August, 2023, Congregation Beth Israel of Media was awarded a Whole Kids Foundation Garden Grant of $3,000. The purpose of these grants is to help schools and non-profits “turn outdoor spaces into powerful hands-on learning gardens that connect kids with food, spark their curiosity and support classroom curriculum.”

Congregation Beth Israel was excited and grateful to receive the grant as it helps support their broader work in the area of sustainability and education. Specifically, in terms of gardening, the congregation had already raised money and installed three raised bed vegetable gardens in 2022 before receiving the Whole Kids grant. The grant has helped the congregation to further expand work in this area.

Student Reactions

The students had a very positive experience with the garden. First grader Sadie was surprised to learn that zucchini and other squash was grown in the garden. She also loved beautifying the garden with a special rock painting project. Fifth grader Sela loved the hands-on harvesting aspect of the garden, getting to learn up close about vegetables. Second grader Zach thought gardening was simply “fun!” He loved putting the new soil in for our pollinator plants. And Zach’s twin sister Aubrey particularly loved harvesting—and eating—the green beans. She learned that one particular type of bean was much better consumed when cooked. In general, the hands-on aspects of the gardening work from planting and weeding to harvesting seemed to really interest and excite the students, and they are looking forward to more in the coming year.

Benefits & Results

Expansion and upgrade of the raised bed garden
Some of the grant funds were used to purchase and add an additional raised bed to the garden and help us to set up an irrigation system to ensure consistent watering of the garden. The synagogue’s neighbor, Linvilla Orchards, brought over soil for the new bed. And we are also regularly amending the soil based on recommendations from the Penn State Agricultural Extension program which has run a soil analysis on the beds.

Hiring of a Garden Educator and Integration of Garden Education Curriculum
We were grateful to use some of the grant funds to hire a local garden educator, Zoe Myers Brochin, who was able to develop a variety of garden education programs into our Hebrew School Curriculum. (Our Hebrew School this year is about 30 students). Through several programs throughout the spring, Zoe endeavored to introduce the Hebrew school students to Jewish connections to the natural world in general, and more specifically to our on-site garden. The students participated in planting and tending a vegetable crop in two raised beds, and harvested and prepared a meal for our greater congregational community out of the crop for our last event of the spring.

Zoe took a creative approach to the garden education modules that included: art projects (including the creation of signage for crops), text studies that connect students to a tradition of an environmental ethic, a scavenger hunt to connect students to identifying elements of outdoor gardening, planting of two raised beds in the spring ((peas, carrots, beets, onions, radishes, and cilantro), and finally the harvesting and cooking of a meal based on garden produce for the whole congregation during the congregational meeting in May. Detailed lesson plans are available upon request.

Pollinator Garden
We were also able to use some of the grant funds to install a small pollinator garden around the perimeter of the vegetable garden. To emphasize an ethic of “re-use” most of the pollinators are planted in either large plastic trash bins or old file cabinets that were converted into planters. We plan to bring Zoe back in the coming year and to integrate learning and concepts about pollinator gardens into next year’s curriculum.

Additional Benefit – Providing Food to those in Need
An additional benefit, in addition to providing food for our own consumption in the congregation, is that we have donated the vast majority of our three-season produce to the nearby Media Food Bank. In the past year, since Spring 2023, and with the additional resources from the Whole Kids grant, we have donated over 100 pounds of fresh produce to people who are facing food insecurity. This aligns deeply with our values and we plan to continue this practice in the coming years.

Summary

The Whole Kids Foundation grant has enabled our community to deepen its educational commitment to healthy gardening education for our Hebrew School youth, and it has also helped us to highlight the benefits of gardening more broadly to the community as a whole. We are grateful for the grant support and have used the resources well!