Kids in the Garden

In the 1990s, educators, nutritionists, and activists became concerned that Americans knew so little about fresh food and where it comes from. Worried especially about the health and general wellbeing of children raised on fast and heavily processed foods, private and public organizations developed programs to introduce young Americans to gardens and farms.

Alice Waters launched The Edible Schoolyard Project at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California, in 1995. Students at the school made these signs to mark the beds of vegetables and culinary herbs they planted. By 2015, the related farm-to-school movement involved over 42,500 schools across the country with students nurturing, harvesting, and cooking the food they grow.

First Lady Michelle Obama used these pruning shears in the White House Garden, which she enlarged and expanded during the Obama presidency. She used the garden as a platform to inspire and educate Americans—especially children—about the importance of growing and eating fresh food.