This post is originally from brookline.wickedlocal.com
It contains myriad herbs, including basil, parsley, chamomile and others, as well as vegetables, such as beets, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans and more.
Students at the Ivy Street School, which serves teens and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, brain injury and other mental health diagnoses, are enjoying a unique feature of the school: an urban garden. This program has become an annual tradition at the school, and it allows students to not only learn about growing plants, but it provides therapeutic and nutritional benefits as well.
Students at the Ivy Street School, which serves teens and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, brain injury, and other mental health diagnoses, are enjoying a unique feature of the school: an urban garden.
The school’s 40-by-40-foot urban garden lives just outside the school in its bucolic Brookline neighborhood. It contains myriad herbs, including basil, parsley, chamomile and others, as well as vegetables, such as beets, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans and more. Students work hard planting, watering, and tending to the garden — and they get to eat the fruits of their labor.
The urban garden is an extension of the school’s culinary program, so when students harvest the vegetables that they’ve grown, they are a short walk away from the kitchen where they will wash, cut and prepare their next meal.
In addition to the hard work of students and staff, the garden has attracted a number of outside volunteers who have given of their time to help maintain it. These include groups from the buildOn program, Takeda Oncology and Boston Volunteers, as well as several individuals.
To learn more, visit www.ivystreetschool.org.
