Bringing urban farming and outdoor education together, Farm Lot 59 and local nonprofit Ground Education are partnering to bring a series of workshops on Saturday, Feb. 5.
The Long Beach urban farm will welcome families, scout groups, homeschool groups and the community at large to visit the farm for seasonal activities during two morning sessions—one at 9 a.m. and the other at 11 a.m.
The workshops will include an educational guided farm walk, seasonal hands-on activities (likely to include a wildflower seed starter kit) and COVID-safe tastings of food growing on the farm, said Holland Brown, co-director of Ground Education.
The community workshops are open to people of all ages and cost $15 per person. Registration for the two sessions is now open and can be found here while spots are available.
According to Brown, another workshop is slated to take place in early March.
“I’m just so excited to have other educators coming into the farm and doing their thing,” said Sasha Kanno, farmer and visionary behind Farm Lot 59. “You can tell in the work that they really love it.”
Enthusiastic about early education and outdoor education programming and having heard about Ground Education’s garden lessons, Kanno reached out to them, realizing her goal of utilizing the farm space with other groups.
Ground Education brings garden lessons to children across Long Beach
Formed in 2008, Ground Education is no stranger to gardening workshops. They travel to schools across the Long Beach Unified School District and provide gardening lessons to over 5,000 children. In 2020 and 2021, they provided over 900 virtual gardening lessons.
“We see the garden as being an outdoor classroom, an extension literally of what’s happening inside,” Brown said, noting the garden supports math, science and English lessons. “It’s a place for kids to experiment with some of the concepts that they’re working on in the classroom.
One of the lessons Ground Education is integrating into the elementary science curriculum it offers at schools includes biomimicry or what people can learn from nature.
For Brown, this poses the “perfect” extension to take children into a garden setting where they can “look at the work nature does well and observe nature’s problem-solving.”
While children dig their hands into soil to plant peas or build bird nests, Brown noted they are also learning how to work as a group and support each other so they’re collectively part of the garden’s success.
And the kids “love it,” Brown said, noting they attend garden lessons with curiosity each time.
“I love garden class,” a kindergarten student at Herrera Elementary is credited saying in a YouTube video. “I’m going to tell my mom and dad everything we did today.”
In one of the more positive instances of peer pressure, Brown said children will taste things they’re skeptical about such as radishes, whose spicy and crisp flavor can be an acquired taste.
“If you grew it, and you picked it and you washed it, and the child next to you is trying it, you’re far more likely to try it too and have a lot of pride and ownership of that radish,” Brown said, noting there’s a lot of enthusiasm around garden day.
Along with Co-Director Karen Taylor, Brown said both are “more passionate” than ever about the program.
“[To see] how optimistic and happy kids feel in gardens and their teachers too, we just started to feel like this is an experience that all elementary kids deserve,” Brown said of their will to expand the program, noting one of their missions has been to reach those who have less access to nature.
In 2021, Ground Education partnered with the Westside Boys and Girls Club to bring gardening programming to an area with historically low access to green space.
In December, the nonprofit also built a garden at Addams Elementary, a nature path, a shed and planted three trees, according to its website. The garden build was sponsored by PS2 Inc., and Studio 111 and Rancho Los Cerritos led volunteer efforts.
“I think we just continue to be inspired every day by the kids and teachers that we work with,” Brown said of the impact of the program. “And just seeing things through the eyes of the Long Beach elementary kids, what they get excited about and curious about. It makes me feel hopeful.”
To keep up with Ground Education follow them on Instagram at @groundeducation. To stay up to date with Farm Lot 59 follow them on Instagram at @farmlot59.
