It was not long after Ohioans celebrated the state's bicentennial in 2003 that the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention recorded an alarming trend: by 2008, approximately 30 percent of the state's population was obese. Sadly, this tally included children.
According to reports in JAMA and statistics gathered by the CDC, national obesity levels increased among 6 to 11 year olds from less than 7 percent to nearly 20 percent between 1976-1980 and 2007-2008; adolescents and teens ages 12 to 19 didn't fare much better, with obesity rates increasing from 5 percent to 18 percent during the same timeframe.
For the team led by farmer Lee Jones and his father Bob Jones at the Chef's Garden in Milan, Ohio, a nationally lauded farm that works with chefs to grow more than 1,000 specialty herbs and vegetables, the message couldn't be more clear. "Educating and empowering children is critical to turning this into a healthy nation again," says Lee. Change was needed – and quickly. It needed to start with the country's youth. The answers were in the dirt.
The Veggie U was born out of the Garden's Culinary Vegetable Institute, a facility dedicated to bringing together chefs and farmers to share their knowledge and passion, both privately and publicly. The Veggie U curriculum was developed by teachers in adherence with the No Child Left Behind initiative, focusing on health and nutrition, and life sciences in fourth-grade classrooms. "As an organization, we're building up northern Ohio, and our goal is to go into Columbus and Cincinnati," says Veggie U director of development Molly Thompson. "We've been in 1,800 classrooms in 24 states and want to let that continue to grow organically."
While raising a family in California, Thompson became actively involved in her region, campaigning to bring better meals and education to students in schools. Her mother in Toledo told her about the Veggie U program, and it wasn't long before a meeting of the minds with farmer Lee Jones, when she told him, "my mission in my life is to change how we feed and educate our kids by creating nourishing, nurturing and engaging environments for learning."
Since becoming development director in 2009, Thompson has been tasked with developing the Veggie U program in Toledo's school system: "Basically taking it from one school system this year to six or seven districts in the coming years. It's really exciting."
Sharing her excitement is Kellie Johnson, a teacher at Woodland Elementary in Perrysburg, who has incorporated the program into her students' curriculum for the past three years.
"When you're dealing with 25 kids, and you're talking about plants and vegetables, you think it would be a good time for them to snooze, but it really catches their interest," says Johnson.
"I think what catches their interest initially is when we get shipped in fresh vegetables from the farm, and we do a whole tasting for the day. The tasting isn't normal vegetables they would see in the vegetable section of their grocery store; it's candied striped beets, purple potatoes, white carrots, all types of herbs - things most kids have never tried – and actually most adults haven't tried either." Popcorn shoots are a particular favorite among her students, ages 9 to 11.
"We also have a worm farm that we grow, putting food waste from student lunches in there so the worms can compost," she says. "From there, we dive into the different lessons."
The typical classroom lecture comes to life with lessons and real world visuals. It's interactive and organic, a welcome analog moment. Each classroom is given a Veggie U–prepared kit that includes a large grow light, planting flats, soil, seeds, worms, root view boxes, instructional videos, student journals and vegetables from the Chef's Garden. "As they're seeing the plants growing, they're learning about the different parts of the plant, what type of seeds they grow from, natural materials required for plants to grow, different types of environments that they can grow in, and a lot of nutritional lessons."
In Johnson's classroom, the science-based Veggie U curriculum starts in the spring, an appropriately timed intro as the Ohio winter ushers in a more fertile season. "We try to uproot as many of those plants as we can when the school year is over, and by then, after six weeks… the plants are at a decent size when they can be re-planted somewhere else.
"I give the students some instruction on what kind of environment in their house, if they don't already have a garden, or inside in a pot near a window, if they want to take some home and let them grow over the summer."
One of the highlights of Johnson's class is the end-of-the-year "veggie feast", when Johnson sends notes home to families asking for vegetable-based dishes that can be shared with the class. "Kids get to try vegetables in ways that they may not experience at home."
For Johnson, the program is a win-win, offering students a unique, engaging learning experience that has the potential to set positive lifelong behaviors, while providing teachers with a workable curriculum. "Over the years, the curriculum has become more adapted to the kids, that age group, and Veggie U has really honed in on how to catch the kids' interests and make it pretty simple for the teachers," says Johnson.
"I think sometimes teachers hear about these great opportunities, and these great projects, and great curriculum ideas, and they're too overwhelmed with other things. Veggie U makes it really simple: They give you a full overview of the entire unit, which takes six weeks, and they break it down into weeks and even days. They've created a whole addendum for special needs students, those with learning difficulties, and how to get that same material across, but in a different manner."
As an educator, Johnson's priority is always her students. "It's such a wonderful way to address all those state required science standards that you have to meet," she says. "The kids get so excited about it. It provides kids with lifelong knowledge on how to lead a healthy life. It's a cool program, and I look forward to it every year. It always means spring is on the horizon when the plants start to arrive."
The 2010 Food & Wine Celebration is a benefit for the Veggie U Children's Program. The event takes place Saturday, July 17, from 5 to 9pm on the grounds of the Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan, Ohio. for more information or to purchase tickets, go here.
[Photos by Michelle Demuth-Bibb/The Chef's Garden]
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