Marshall Chrostowski at the Pacifica Graduate Institute

By Janice Cook Knight

Photography by Erin Feinblatt

In my wildest fantasy, school grounds would be beautiful, nurturing places for students to learn and for teachers to facilitate that learning. What would it be like if campuses, where adults and especially children spend so much time, were surrounded by lush plant life, some of it edible? 

The elementary school I attended in the San Fernando Valley was an “asphalt jungle,” with few trees, minimal landscaping and a tiny garden plot out in back of a bungalow where second-graders could experiment with growing vegetables. This was many years ago, but unfortunately those school grounds haven’t changed much since, and similar schools are the norm in most of the country. 

to read the entire article in Edible Santa Barbara magazine click here