Rural Food

Jessica’s latest rural words (on the RSN website this month) are about food. This article shows how across “the pond” an inspirational project has reconnected pupils with food. It explains:

“It was almost 20 years ago that she started on another mission – to ignite a change in the way children learn about their food. At the Martin Luther King Junior Middle School (MLKJMS) near her house, she, the school principal and a few of her closest supporters arranged for the 1 acre asphalt-clad car park to be turned into an “edible garden”, the first of its type. The idea was to teach its 1,000 grade 6, 7 and 8 pupils (aged roughly 11-13) the origins of their foods, plant life cycles, and how to dig, weed, sow and reap their own produce.”

It goes on to profile a growing number of similar initiatives springing up inEngland: “Britain, Ireland and Australia are among the rapidly growing number of countries that have done the same over recent years; from Bourke Street Public School inSydney to Llandogo Primary School in Monmouth, to Dublin. Hundreds of other American schools have followed her inspiration, and not only schools.Alice’s long campaign to establish a kitchen garden at the White House found favour with Michelle Obama, who dug up the south lawn within weeks of her husband arriving in office.”

We know at the RSN and Rose how powerful local food projects are, particularly in terms of reconnecting people with rural environments. I hope this movement grows significantly inEnglandand look forward to the roses in the garden at No 10 being joined by some potatoes and onions!