Collage: Children’s Lives Enriched with Gardening Images Credit: MS Office Clip Art
"Students in a mostly Latino high school in Chicago improved their grades in science and the eating habits of an entire neighborhood with a program that began by installing greenhouses on the roofs of the school buildings and spread to one of the main parks in the city.”
Read more: Fox News Latino
This report Urban Farming Improves Nutrition in Chicago Neighborhood
by Fox News Latino in the U.S., indicating the positive impact of urban
gardening on kids and their community in Chicago is just the latest
evidence in support Peapod Life’s push into education.
Overcrowding is a
problem in many schools, and given the choice between building new
greenhouses and new classrooms, most schools would probably opt for
applying shrinking budgets to more learning space. Peapod Life gives
educators a third option: indoor garden learning spaces.
The connection
between children and gardening is both elemental and elementary. I
certainly remember working our family’s three-quarter acre lot in the
summertime, not to mention countless trips to “pick-your-own” farms. It
was a connection to the earth that I’m sure has served our generation well.
The National Gardening Association
has “been working to renew and sustain the essential connection between
people, plants and the environment” for over 35 years, and have a
website dedicated to children’s connection with gardening: www.kidsgardening.org.
One cannot help but wonder how urbanization and modernization are
adversely affecting future generations, as children become less in-tune
with the natural world, and more connected to artificial, synthetic
and/or virtual representations of reality. Certainly, Jamie Oliver
seems to think so.
Peapod Life’s idea of combining an indoor garden
space with a fully functioning learning space counters the disturbing
trend highlighted by Jamie Oliver and others. It gives children living
in urban centers a taste of living and working the land, an authentic
connection with life. And this is only the beginning…
Studies have shown
that focus and attention improve dramatically with the presence of
plants. Peapod Life’s indoor garden learning spaces could offer parents
and educators a natural remedy for ADHD and behavioural problems,
as opposed to over-medicating children. The healthy organic food they
eat will help counter the negative neuropsychological impacts of MSG and
other excitotoxins present in processed foods.
Finally, no matter what
their cultural origin, children deserve to connect with the best
traditions of their past, including native dishes, ingredients, flavors,
and recipes… and by connect I mean prepare from scratch. Peapod Life
gives them the chance to grow, harvest and prepare authentic meals from
scratch.
Attila Lendvai VP of Strategic Development
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