School Gardens at Princeton Day School

It used to be that school gardens would come and go, as the parents who initiated them would move on with their kids' graduation. But in recent years, a lot of largely volunteer effort has gone into making gardens a permanent presence at local schools. The Princeton School Gardens initiative has been making steady progress integrating gardening into the public school grounds and curriculum. Among private schools, Princeton Day School stands out as one that has invested in staff dedicated to sustainability and gardening, and also built a garden classroom. Though I'm sure parent volunteers still play a big role, the gardening is no longer dependent upon them for its survival.

Invited to speak at Princeton Day School's Community Day last week, I invited a colleague along and got there early to check out the gardens I'd heard so much about. The schools Sustainability Coordinator, Liz Cutler, has done amazing work at the school and in the community, and had a big role in getting an outdoor classroom to sprout up in a field behind the school.

Officially named the Alberto Petrella Garden Classroom, in honor of a beloved long time member of the grounds crew who passed away in 2011, this new structure has solar panels that power ceiling fans on hot days.

The roof gutter conveys water to a happy ending--a 450 gallon cistern that,

if you take a look inside through the overflow opening, is filled to the brim with harvested rainwater for the extensive vegetable garden. Next step is to hook up a bicycle pump that the kids will use to pump water from the cistern up into the garden.

The kids gather under the roof for class discussions,

with the garden right there to provide abundant subjects for study of life.

Weeds get carried off to the compost bin.

Garden Coordinator Pam Flory has the kids growing a great variety of plants, like this extraordinarily long bean,

and the gourds hanging on the high deer fencing.

Pam told us that having a school garden like this is not so much an innovation as a return to values and practices 60+ years back, when school gardens were common.

The chickens have some nice digs, including a solar powered door that opens automatically at sunrise to let the chickens out into their run.

At the garden entrance, a blackboard provides the "Grazing Menu" for the day--foods that the kids can munch on while in the garden. A distinction had to be made between grazing and harvesting, because some kids liked the vegetables so much they'd stuff some in their pockets to take home. Great news, actually, except that any forgotten vegetables end up in the laundry.

Inside the main building, every trash can (marked "landfill") is paired with a well-marked recycling bin. This strategic positioning is surprisingly rare, as documented at another blog of mine, http://recyclingcontainers.blogspot.com/.

I told the kids that the exposure they are getting to gardening and common sense sustainability is the exception, not the rule, and that they will encounter endless opportunities in coming years to steer the world towards the vision being realized at their school.