Dharma Harvest creates sustainable learning environments

The day before Mother’s Day, on Buddha’s Birthday, an edible forest was born on a farm in Harvard. The farm belongs to the parents of Sarah Tracey, and on May 9, friends and families turned out to plant and eat good food in the sunshine.

The day began with a Durga Yoga class in the field and included baked goods, cooked meals and farmer’s market produce. Adults shopped and chatted while children climbed up and down a big rock, watched the ducks and happily snacked on bagels and muffins.

“They have inspired me; I am going to try and make the vegetable thing work this year,” said Virginia Justicz.

Jamie Cruz shared some of the abundance that she regularly brings to the Harvard Farmer’s Market, including baskets of flowers, fresh eggs, asparagus, chocolate mint, and several varieties of heirloom tomatoes.

“Brandywine is what got everyone into growing heirloom tomatoes. Big and sweet, they taste like a tomato should taste,” said Cruz.

In mid-afternoon, kids were invited to climb over the garden fence and help plant the edible garden. Earlier in the day, Sean Roulan, Dharma Harvest’s principal designer, and friend Jeff Glenn dug three deep holes and three plants stood ready. As the last child jumped into the field, Roulan carried large buckets of water to the field that was about to become a garden.

Tracey invited the children to help plant the forest garden — an apple tree ecosystem. Tracey and the children gathered around a hole that smelled like springtime and earth. Tracey talked in a musical voice about the honey crisp apple tree, the children got to touch its roots and, with their hands, helped cover the roots with rich black soil. They found earthworms and grubs and learned the difference between them. The grubs were fed to the ducks and the earthworms were returned to the soil when all danger of drowning had passed.

All together, the children helped plant an apple tree, a persimmon tree and a gooseberry bush. Absorbed in gentle explanations of sustainability and interdependence, little girls in bright pink and flowered dresses were comfortably covered in black mud past their elbows.

According to Roulan, “We learn from the forest. Mimicking the way a natural forest grows, the Edible Forest will have multiple layers of fruitful vegetation. An oak tree in a field all by itself doesn’t do as well as when it has raspberries growing around it.”

The Dharma Harvest path is “bringing people to the land and to each other” by creating sustainable learning environments and socio-ecological connections. Dharma Harvest offers environmental education to schools, working with teachers to connect science curricula directly to outdoor spaces near the school, such as conservation land. Dharma Harvest also connects farmers and fresh local food with school lunch programs. According to Tracey, Dharma Harvest is partnered with about 25 schools already.

To learn more about Dharma Harvest’s programs, please visit dharmaharvest.org.