Education Resources

Whether learning is a central goal of your garden or not, providing opportunities for gardeners to build their skills and knowledge in the garden will ultimately make for a more engaged garden community and more successful garden season.

Some questions you may want to ask yourselves as you’re setting up garden education programming:

• What knowledge and skills are already available within my garden community?
• What barriers might there be to participation in garden education opportunities?
• What do people want to learn? What do they need to learn to be successful?

If you’re operating your garden program in a school or early care setting, here are some resources to guide you in our outdoor learning journey:

• Check out our post with tips and related resources for Bringing Your Classroom Outside, exploring challenges and opportunities in outdoor learning.
• Education Outside offers extensive resources for educators engaging in outdoor learning, including topics like culturally inclusive outdoor classrooms, best practices for teaching in the school garden, cooking outside, curriculum, and more.
• View VCGN’s Successful School Garden Video Series, produced in 2014 to highlight successful and innovative approaches to community involvement, curriculum integration and engaging youth.

Whatever knowledge you can’t find in your own garden community, you’re likely to find it in your broader community.  Additionally, there are a wealth of garden learning resources in the library and on the web – we’ve included some of our favorite youth gardening curriculum resources below. General gardening resources can be found on our Growing in the Garden page.

Garden-based Youth Curriculum & Activity Resources

Vermont Garden-based Curriculum Resources

• Celebrating Our Roots: a multicultural recipe book with curriculum connections (a collaboration of University of Vermont, Burlington School District educators, New Farms for New Americans, and others)
• Food Connects: http://foodconnects.org
• Green Mountain Farm to School: http://www.greenmountainfarmtoschool.org
  Resources: GMFTS Summer Activity Guide & other resources
• Hunger Free Vermont’s Nutrition Education Hub: https://www.hungerfreevt.org/nutrition-ed-hub/homepage
• Shelburne Farms: http://www.shelburnefarms.org
• UVM Extension 4-H: https://www.uvm.edu/extension/youth
  • Gardening & Nutrition Program slideshows
• Vermont Farm to School Network: http://vermontfarmtoschool.org
  • Join their listserv to stay up-to-date on the latest.
• Vermont FEED (Food Education Every Day): http://vtfeed.org/feed-resource-library (including standards-based Vermont Farm to School Food, Farm, and Nutrition Curriculum Units)
• Vermont Harvest of the Month: http://www.vermontharvestofthemonth.org
• Vital Communities – Upper Valley Farm to School Network: https://vitalcommunities.org/food-and-farm/farm-to-school/ 
  • Harvest Lessons: https://vitalcommunities.org/harvest-lessons/

Other Favorite Websites with Garden-based Curriculum Resources & Publications

• Community GroundWorks, Got Veggies?, Got Dirt? & Seed to Table: http://www.communitygroundworks.org/sites/default/files/Seed%20to%20Table%20Curriculum%20Final.pdf
• Cornell University Garden Based Learning: http://blogs.cornell.edu/garden/get-activities
• FoodCorps Lessons: https://foodcorps.org/resources/foodcorps-lessons/
• Education Outside: https://foodcorps.org/resources/education-outside/
• Garden Mosaics: https://civeco.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/manual-complete.pdf
• Grow Pittsburgh’s searchable school garden lesson plans: https://www.growpittsburgh.org/garden-and-farm-resources/school-gardens-2/lesson-plans/
• Indigenous Harvest Calendar (from New Hampshire Farm to School): https://nhfarmtoschool.org/indigenous-harvest-calendar/
• Kids Gardening: http://www.kidsgardening.org/
• Life Lab, School Garden Resources: http://www.lifelab.org/for-educators/schoolgardens/
• National Junior Master Gardener Program: http://jmgkids.us
• National Farm to School Network, Resources: http://www.farmtoschool.org/resources
• REAL School Gardens, Resources: http://www.realschoolgardens.org/resources.aspx
• School Garden Support Organization Network: https://www.sgsonetwork.org
• Soul Fire Farm Youth Curriculum: https://www.soulfirefarm.org/food-sovereignty-education/youth-program/
• Summer Institute for Garden-based Teaching (D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education) – virtual training:
  https://osse.dc.gov/page/summer-institute-garden-based-teaching
• The Edible Schoolyard Project: https://edibleschoolyard.org/resource-search
• The Food Project: http://thefoodproject.org
• USDA Agriculture in the Classroom, Teacher Center: https://www.agclassroom.org/teacher/

A Sampling of Books on Youth Garden-based Learning

• Coblyn, S. (2001). French Fries and the Food System: A year-round curriculum connecting youth with farming and food. Lincoln, MA: The Food Project.
• Gale, G. (2001). Growing Together: A guide for building inspired, diverse and productive youth communities. Lincoln, MA: The Food Project
• Kiefer , J., Kemple, M., and American Community Gardening Association (1998). Digging Deeper: Integrating Youth Gardens Into Schools & Communities. Montpelier, VT: Food Works, Common Roots Press.
• Larson, Nathan, Teaching in Nature’s Classroom: Core Principles of Garden-based Education: http://www.teachinginnaturesclassroom.org
• Life Lab, Curricula & Activity Guides: https://lifelab.org/new-store/
• Parrella, Deborah. Project Seasons: Hands-On Activities for Discovering the Wonders of the World. Shelburne Farms, 1995.