It’s Our Garden: From Seeds to Harvest in a School Garden

In photographs and clear prose, Ancona follows the children at the Acequia Madre Elementary School in Santa Fe as they cultivate a school garden. Photographs show the students composting, planting, raising butterflies, and engaged in other activities. In addition to being a source of food, the garden becomes an outdoor classroom; on weekends and during the summer, members of the community gather in the garden to listen to music and make vegetable pizzas in the horno (an abode oven). As autumn approaches, the students harvest cabbage (“Their long, strong roots test the strength and stamina of some of the bigger kids”), lemon cucumbers, and strawberry corn, which they use to make popcorn. The documentary-style narrative and uplifting photos put the joy of kinship, outdoor work, and growing food within reach of readers. Ages 5–8. (Jan.)