the Edible Schoolyard
Monday, March 23, 2009 
Prior to this weekend I had never heard of Alice Waters' Edible Schoolyard. I picked up this book this past weekend and my fascination was immediate. Man, I love a great idea. And in my opinion, this is one great idea.
Here's a taste:
"One of America's most influential chefs Alice Waters created a revolution in 1971 when she introduced local organic fare at her Berkeley California restaurant Chez Panisse. Twenty-five years later she and a small group of teachers and volunteers turned over long-abandoned soil at an urban middle school in Berkeley and planted the Edible Schoolyard. The schoolyard has since grown into a universal idea of Edible Education that integrates academics with growing cooking and sharing wholesome delicious food. With inspiring images of the garden and kitchen and their young caretakers Edible Schoolyard is at once a visionary model for sustainable farming and childhood nutrition and a call to action for schools across the country."
Learn more here.
(I just added the book to my amazon shop.)
**update: I just got word from Nicole that the Obama's are doing this same thing at the White House. Then I spotted this at Gus & Other Things:
"Alice Waters' dream has come true! This Friday Michelle Obama is planting a vegetable garden on the White House lawn, similar to Eleanor Roosevelt's Victory Garden during WWII. Kids from a local school will help plant the 55 kinds of vegetables, berries and herbs and all the Obamas (President included) will be pulling weeds. They are even going to have bees!"
Reader Comments (2)
I swear, you are a blog kindred. I recently obtained this book and have been reading it. I am a huge alice Waters fan and one of the highlights of my life was a dinner at Chez Panisse. I live near Berkeley and have seen (through a fence) the edible garden at MLK school. She truly is an inspiration. How cool is it, also, that the Obama's are putting in a victory garden at the white house!
I checked this book out of the library last month and after about 7 minutes of reading went out to buy my own copy because I liked it so much.
Isn't the new White House garden great? they are even using compost from the kitchen (the White house composts!).
thanks for mentioning my blog! :)