Dealing with life lessons in a community garden

Last year, a group of sixth graders decided West Jordan Elementary needed a community garden. They started planning and gathering supplies and a year later, the neighborhoods surrounding the school are enjoying the harvest.

“Every grade chose which seeds to plant in their part of the garden,” said Jan Attwood, a volunteer who helped plant the garden. “We have eggplant, beets, carrots, tomatoes, radishes, lettuce and even cucumbers. Some things grew better than others, but we’ve enjoyed all of it.”

Teachers have used the garden to illustrate how gardens grow, why every element from water to the sun to the bees are necessary for it to succeed, and they’ve even used it to talk about the circle of life.

“It’s been a hard time for our students, because we lost Daniel, one of our students, to cancer just after school started,” said Attwood. “This garden has given us peace and perspective at this difficult time.”

During the summer, families signed up to take care of the garden for a week. If something was ready to harvest, the family could take it.

“We also opened it up to those living around the garden,” Attwood said. “If they need it and it’s something they will use, we encourage them to pick it.”

 So far, the garden has had enough to feed everyone who’s wanted something.

“There was a concern when we started the garden that people might bother it during the summer, but so far, we’ve seen the opposite happen,” said Attwood. “We’ve seen so much pride in the garden from students, their families and our neighbors.”

The garden project has unified the school and brought students together in an unusual way.

“We hear students say they like coming out here to read and relax,” Attwood said. “This really is a peaceful place at our school.”