Launching the 2018 Nihi Hokchi Edible Schoolyard

 

With dirt smudged faces, gloves on the wrong hands and big grins, the students of the Choctaw Nation Durant Child Development Center buzzed from station to station in their new edible schoolyard. Boosted by child step stools, parents, or teachers, the students reached the raised beds, made with feed troughs, and planted their garden.

In February 2018, students had the opportunity to plant seeds in the Choctaw Hoop House with the help of volunteers, Chahta Foundation staff, and Choctaw elders Elaine Harper and Barbara Hardy. These ladies faithfully babysat the seeds as they grew into seedlings, preparing for the transfer to the edible schoolyard.

Throughout the launch day on April 10, Choctaw Nation employee Waddel Hearn kept the program in order. Chahta Foundation staff Colby Hicks opened the day with prayer, and Scott Wesley, Seth Fairchild, Martha Lowery, Brooke Cooper, and volunteers prepared the games and garden beds for the students who rotated between stations to plant their garden in record time — with a little help.

When most of the garden was planted, colorful plant and insect books drew students to the school’s miniature picnic tables. They held the books open wide, two boys side by side pointing out known — and unknown — bugs to one another.

Now in its second year, we are implementing lessons learned for the 2018 Nihi Hokchi (to plant seeds) Edible Schoolyard program:

• Green tarps strung on the fences created windscreens to protect the plants.
• A data plan and app to study organic gardening and for insect identification so that the students are ready to rid their plants of pests.
• A part-time employee to supervise the garden and create lessons plans.

Ada Pittman, who works at the center, will spend several hours a week caring for the garden, creating nutrition lessons, and weaving Choctaw culture into the program.

Starting with tiny toddlers and up, these little ones are learning where food comes from not only today but how our ancestors grew food in the past. They can take these lessons into their future.

 

 

Credit: Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer