Students feast on produce from Galileo greenhouse

There are lots of tricks to get kids to eat vegetables.

But growing them right outside school doors at Galileo School of Math and Science seems to be a great one.

A large dome greenhouse built over the summer is growing greens for salads and sandwiches that are being devoured by students. Volunteers harvest several hundred heads of lettuce a week, with most of it going to the Galileo cafeteria and the rest to other schools in Colorado Springs School District 11.

Galileo, D-11 and their partners held an open house Saturday to show off the greenhouse, which is an integral part of the district’s Good Food Project. The Good Food Project is committed to eliminating highly-processed foods from school menus by January.

“We get a finite amount to spend on school meals,” said Rick Hughes, D-11 Food and Nutrition Services director. So it helps to get high quality, low-cost food from community garden projects, such as the organic crops grown in the Galileo greenhouse. Food Services pays for the produce and the money goes back into the garden.

The $50,000 solar-powered green house was paid for by money from a grant that helped create Galileo, a middle school focused on math and science. Community partnerships with Pikes Peak Urban Gardens, the Community Foundation and Colorado Springs Permaculture bring countless hours of help and experience.

“It is life-changing,” said Sarah Connors, a parent and D-11 staff member. She said she wanted to see the greenhouse in action, and was impressed with how all the pieces came together.

“If District 11 can change what they’re serving, any district can do it,” she said.

It’s about sustainable urban farming, Hughes said, noting a need for more gardens.

“This is not rocket science,” said Larry Stebbins, Pikes Peak Urban Gardens director. He heads the group of volunteers that manage the greenhouse and harvest crops — at no cost to the school or district.

“It’s ambitious for Colorado Springs because it hasn’t been done before,” he said, but the concept is catching on across the nation.

Although volunteers are doing the work in the greenhouse, the kids are eating it up.
Galileo Principal Robyn Colbert said many kids are going back several times for more salad, an increase that came about when they started eating “their” greens, she said.

“Where else can kids see something that goes in as a seed and then ends up on the plate?” Colbert said. “It’s not only good for the mind but the body as well.”

Curriculum and other class projects are tied to the garden, Colbert and Hughes said.

As the garden is built out, kids will have a larger hands-on role. They are allowed in the greenhouse only with supervision because of food guidelines.

The Galileo greenhouse, which sits in an area that used to be several tennis courts,  grew out of another garden, a 28-space plot that opened in May west of the Harrison School District 2 administration building on Lake Avenue.

D-11 Director of Grants Jessica Sharp went to the opening of that garden and saw it as a way to take the district’s Good Food Project to the next level.

“The potential is so much greater than the greenhouse,” she said. Eventually, all of the old tennis courts will be seasonal gardens, Sharp said. There will also be outdoor classroom space.

“We are ready to go as soon as I can find the money,” Sharp said. “Gardens are so fundable.”

It will take another $40,000 to complete what’s planned, she said, but that is the cost of materials that will last 10 to 20 years. The list is long, including soil, wood, plants, seeds and tools.

The Galileo project may be only the start. At least 16 schools in District 11 want their own gardens, Sharp said.

Superintendent Nicholas Gledich said Saturday that the Galileo project was the result of many departments working together.

“The icing on the cake is community involvement,” he said. “Actually, I should say the spread on the vegetables.”

Community and school gardens — although generally on a much smaller scale than the Galileo project — are sprouting across the Pikes Peak region.

In recent years, Pikes Peak Urban Gardens has launched nine community gardens.

Students at Nikola Tesla Educational Opportunity Center were growing tomatoes and pumpkins before the freeze. Lincoln Elementary School also has a small garden.

Multiple plots at Rockrimmon Elementary School in Academy School District 20 thrive during the growing season, offering a living classroom to teachers and students.

Some families from District 20 attended the Galileo harvest party seeking information for their projects.

Paige Kraus, a parent and teacher, said several District 20 schools are looking into putting in gardens.

“This is math, this is literacy, this is all the 21st Century skills we’re trying to teach out kids,” she said.

And the students were sold on the idea, gladly helping Stebbins plan out a bed as part of a demonstration.

“I liked the greenhouse the best,” said 8-year-old Emily Allen, a student at Foothills Elementary school. “I like growing things.”

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