In a very real sense, the garden was not just a place where fruits, vegetables, or flowers grew, but where bonds and trust between community members blossomed.
Tuong Vi Nguyen
As a child, I attended Fairview Elementary and participated actively in the Denver Ur-
ban Gardens initiative; therefore, the topic
of food security and sustainability is one that has always been near and dear to my heart. When dealt the task of finding a sub-
ject matter of interest to write a research paper on in my Writing 1133 class, I de-
cided to revisit my old elementary school. I wanted to talk directly to the current students in this program to see if the partnership with DUG is influencing them as
much as it had influenced me. It was great to hear these students talking so passionately about the novel concepts they were
learning in their nutrition classes and how they’ve changed their diets as a result. The
hands-on learning they experienced out in the garden taught them about where the
food they eat come from and became a place where they could be in a state of zen.
(Not to mention the impressive amount of fruits and vegetables produced from this one garden!) The impact of the garden on the community overall was significant, and
I wanted give it the recognition it deserved.
School gardens were seen as a way to teach agriculture and professional skills to older children and also as a way to teach all children how to take care of nature (Lawson, 2009).
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WRIT LARGE: 2013
A BRIEF HISTORY OF URBAN GARDENS In the United States, urban gardening became popular during the depression of 1893–1897, when the government established these gardens as a food relief program (Hanna & Oh, 2000). After the depression waned, so did the popularity of the urban garden. However, in times of turmoil such as during the onset of World War I and World War II, the community garden saw a resurgence, and many communities depended on such gardens to ease food shortages. In 1918, for example, five million people participated in this gardening revolution and produced more than five million dollars worth of food (Hanna & Oh, 2000). In 1944, 40% of the fresh vegetables Americans consumed were actually produced by the twenty million Victory Gardens established around the nation (Hanna & Oh, 2000). As Hanna and Oh (2000) note, “During times of hardship, gardens proved to be a sufficient way to unify people and feed a community” (p. 209). Occurring simultaneously with the Victory Garden boom was the “School Garden Movement,” which commenced in 1890 with the establishment of the George Putnam Grammar School in Boston (Lawson, 2005). This movement stemmed from concerns about child development, community enrichment, and urban and rural conditions (Lawson, 2005). Prominent figures of the time such as President Woodrow Wilson and social reformer Jacob Riis praised and supported the school gardening movement for addressing social, moral, and recreational problems while also contributing to the health,