Kelly Hedberg & Rover Elementary -

Kelly Hedberg

This month, Sun Produce is pleased to highlight another outstanding member of our community – Kelly Hedberg. Kelly is the Outdoor Education Consultant at Rover Elementary in Tempe Elementary School District. In addition to her work on the school’s garden, she serves as a valuable resource to the teachers and parents of Rover, many of whom depend on the Co-op’s Farm Bag Program for access to fresh, locally grown produce.

Kelly spoke to the various aspects of her role at Rover:

I have been here for four years as the Outdoor Education Consultant / Garden Educator. My main role is to support teachers on how to incorporate outdoor education and the garden space into the existing curriculum. Support could be modeling a lesson for them, co-teaching, gathering supplies, funding, growing something in the garden – really whatever they need to come outside with students. Support is different for each person depending on what they’re teaching and how comfortable they are outdoors with students. It’s like educational coaching. The other part of the job is community development. How do we get parents in the garden related to food? How do we involve the community? How do we partner with groups like Sun Produce to bring value-added programming to the school?

On the benefits of outdoor education for the students of Rover, she had this to say:

The benefits of being in nature are well documented and include reduced stress, improved mood and mental/emotional well-being. The research is really clear that if kids have an emotional connection to nature in some way – it can be through food, science, an attachment to a specific space, maybe they love a certain animal or they have an affinity for a certain plant – that emotional connection results in future stewardship of the environment. If we want our environment to be healthy in the future, we have to create those connections for kids now.

Connecting science to nature is really easy. Nature is essentially the ultimate teacher of our science curriculum. It’s been really cool to see kids learn other subject matters in the garden space too – such as writing, social studies/maps, geometry, measurement, area/perimeter, liquid/solid measurement of produce – these are life skills. We shop at grocery stores where we have to weigh produce in pounds and ounces to determine a price. We read recipes that include measurements of ounces and pounds. Practicing those skills with kids just makes sense.

Outdoor education is a big equity issue for me because a lot of students don’t have access to green spaces. When they’re here at school it’s a real chance for them to grow and thrive outside. Schools don’t have a lot of funding, but what they are rich in is land. They have a ton of property so let’s use that property as a green space for our students that don’t have it at home. Expose all students to the benefits of nature as well as how to grow healthy food. It’s a huge opportunity that is currently underutilized.

Kelly then discussed the process of setting up the Farm Bag (CSA) Program at Rover:

I learned about Sun Produce and how to run a CSA from my involvement at Clark Park Community Garden – those are peers of mine, friends of mine. I volunteered there during COVID. I was really looking for a way to get outside and be involved in the community. I could do that safely at the Clark Park garden.

When I initially came to Rover it was still COVID, so there was quite a bit of down time. I was designing my role as this job didn’t exist here or anywhere else in the Tempe School District. While I was working on the academics and building relationships with teachers, I also explored ways to get the community involved in the garden. I wanted tangible, healthy food access right away. I knew I could do a Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA) and get it up and going quickly so I started the CSA in April 2020. The goals of the program are to give the community access to fresh fruits and vegetables, provide education on produce seasonality and get to know our local farmers.

I also know from experience that growing produce – in any garden – is dependent on a lot of variables. Most school gardens are not designed to grow for production but rather serve mainly as a demonstration and teaching garden. The good news is you don’t need a huge garden space to teach effectively. Our Rover garden is 60ft by 60ft, which is very manageable and can accommodate 2-3 classes simultaneously.

Speaking to the role of local produce in the community:

The beauty of the partnership between SPC and schools is that parents, family members and the community come to the school daily to pick up and drop off children. It’s a natural opportunity for food education because hundreds of people come here every day. It’s just such a great place to build a conversation around food for the community. Instead of people having to go specifically to a place where food is, we’re bringing it to them.

It has always seemed to me that, even though food education is not the main role of schools, we know it’s important because healthy food improves student readiness to learn and cognitive ability. So let’s find a space for these discussions in schools. Having a CSA at your school is an easy process. It’s a great complement to fresh, local food in cafeterias and school gardens. School gardens have been around for a long time but are still a privilege for most schools. It’s a big commitment. The CSA program is lower maintenance in comparison, and high impact in terms of quality and reach.

Sun Produce would like to congratulate Kelly and on her accomplishments at Rover and in the community. We, along with the students, parents, and teachers she serves, are extremely appreciative of our ongoing partnership. Thanks Kelly!