When I heard of schools having gardens,I became curious. So I went to visit some schools in Santa Fe, New Mexico,where I live.When I got to the Acequia Madre Elementary School,I stopped looking. Under the guidance of teachers,volunteers,and parents,children from kindergarten to sixth grade spend part of their day working in the garden behind the school building.The school is named for the four-hundred-year-old irrigation ditch across the street.(In
Spanish,acequia means"irrigation ditch,"and madre means"mother.")
The school is small.Entering the school seem ed like entering a home. Outside,behind the school,the shouts from the playground drifted over the quiet children doing chores in the garden.I spent the better part of a year watching and photographing them as they worked side by side with their teachers,parents,and friends.