It all started with a community garden.
Josie Erskine, the owner of the Peaceful Belly Community Garden, had been doing farm education for over 18 years when she decided to seek funding to make a formal program. The farm already has a beautiful facility with a commercial kitchen and meeting space used as a restaurant and for tours and events. It was the right time and place for Erskine to take this next step.
In 2022, a grant from the Idaho Out-of-School Network (ION) was awarded to the Peaceful Belly, and Erskine put in a community garden and started their formal program to educate youth and families about ecology, agriculture, art, and healing in nature and relationships. Programs run from May to November, all of which are free.
The Peaceful Belly offers before school and home school programs along with school field trips. On Thursday evenings, there is a garden class for all ages. On Friday evenings, there is a free community meal where visitors harvest, cook, and eat together.
Weekend classes and activities focus on ecology, art, and creativity. There is also a weekend story time with sheep, which “serves children who have a hard time attending story time indoors, mainly autistic children,” said Erskine.
The grant from ION “helped us hire staff, buy supplies, build curriculum, and build the garden,” said Erskine. “The money made the program happen. Because the program is free, we are always going to be seeking grants or donations.”
Erskine is proud of many things she has heard and seen from the youth and families served in her new program. “Where to start?” she emphasized. “Kids learn so well outside and hands on. Science education and a garden are beautiful partners. Art and nature work so magically together. Kids need to be outside in big spaces where they get freedom to explore and play.”
The Peaceful Belly welcomes parents, teachers, and summer programs to sign up for classes and tours that inspire youth to become farmers and start a garden. Erskine promises that their field trips will not disappoint: “Many parents and teachers told us this was the best field trip they have ever had… people would bring their children multiple times and bring others with them.”
Friday evening’s community meals offer more than a full belly, explained Erskine:
“I had a handful of mothers tell me that they were really struggling financially, and that the community meal was so special for their family because they all got to go to the garden and pick the food and cook the food and learn and then sit and eat the meal and meet other people and their children were so excited to come. They felt like the meal was not just a free meal but a beautiful educational event the elevated their family.”
Erskine also shared what was most valuable for the kids:
“The children got to be in a garden or on the farm, in the orchard, with the sheep and they got to learn or play or create in a very special environment that very few of us get to learn or be in. It is a very special place. Our farm has beautiful views of the mountains and the valley, and it is rare that kids get to have such a beautiful place as a classroom.”
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