Teaching Garden

It was a group effort to bring an American Heart Association Teaching Garden to J.B. Maitland Elementary in Morgan City.
Funds to pay for the new teaching garden were raised during the That Just Takes the Cake social in February — a cocktail event including a raffle, steak dinner, live cake auction and dancing — held at Nico Bella.
Danielle Domingue and Vanessa Clements lobbied for Maitland to receive the garden and coordinated the project for the school. Other teachers created and painted signs for the garden and built the boxes for seedlings, while the Morgan City High carpentry class created benches and tables for students to use as they plant seedlings or to simply enjoy the view, Domingue said.
Lemoyne Jones, cafeteria manager, agreed to cook the produce students grow in the Teaching Garden as well, Domingue said.
Money raised through That Just Takes the Cake benefits the community through the implementation of teaching gardens, part of an education initiative to help build healthy bodies and minds. All money raised stays in St. Mary Parish, according to Laura Broussard, regional director for the American Heart Association.
The previous two schools to benefit, Bayou Vista and Hattie Watts elementaries, received everything they needed to create the teaching garden and maintain it for two years. Each school receives $15,000 for the project, That Just Takes the Cake committee member Gwen Luc said.
The program, used in conjunction with the garden, combines nutrition education with garden-based learning. Students learn how to plant seeds, nurture growing plants, harvest produce and understand the value of good eating habits, Broussard said.
She said the gardens are important because, for the first time, parents are expected to outlive their children because of obesity. American Heart Association-funded research leads to many important discoveries such as CPR, life extending drugs and surgical procedures that save thousands of lives each year.
The organization has funded more than 200 gardens across the country.
Broussard said the gardens give students “the option to look at those fruits and vegetables as an option that maybe they didn’t think about. They eat maybe a carrot or a squash and say ‘I’ve never had that before,’ and it’s shocking but it’s what we’re seeing across the country.”
American Heart Association Teaching Gardens are a national, school-based program associated with curriculums in math, science and English designed to re-establish what it means to be healthy. Aimed at elementary school students, the Teaching Garden program provides hands-on learning experiences rooted in offering nutritional choices.
The association’s website states that students learn “how to plant seeds, nurture growing plants, harvest produce and ultimately understand the value of good eating habits. Garden-themed lessons teach nutrition, math, science and other subjects all while having fun in the fresh air and working with your hands.”
It is a new approach in fighting obesity, the website states.