CLEARING Teaching resources for ecology, sustainability and community


In Pursuit of Environmental Literacy: Abernethy Elementary’s


Farm-to-School and School Garden Program by Sarah Sullivan O Page 12


n a quiet, residential, inner southeast Portland, Oregon street, a little elementary school is breaking new ground for the farm-to-school and school garden movement.


At Abernethy Elementary, students enjoy freshly


cooked breakfasts and lunches prepared on site by a trained chef. The meals are often prepared with local and seasonal in- gredients harvested from the school’s Garden of Wonders. The garden itself is entirely planted, tended and harvested by the students, who use it throughout their school day as a “learn- ing laboratory. “ The garden program and scratch kitchen are parts of a


unique wellness policy at Abernethy. A full-time physical education teacher encourages the students to enjoy physi- cal activity. Enthusiastic parents walk and bike their kids


to school rather then driving. Parents and staff organize a yearly bike-a-thon to raise money for the school that allows Abernethy students to ride bikes and scooters on car-free streets. Chef Nicole and Garden Coordinator Sarah Sullivan run five weeks of summer camps at the school, where they teach everything from pickling to pasta making, permaculture and organic bio-intensive gardening. Founded in 2000 by a dedicated group of parents and teachers, the School Kitchen Garden program began as just a community garden plot. Teachers agreed to add garden class as an additional extracurricular class for students. In the past


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