Life’s Lessons in Four Inches of Living Soil in the Learning Gardens: Humus, Humility, Humanity—A Photo Essay

• In Event: The Many Spaces of Gardens

Abstract

In Learning Gardens and Sustainability Education: Bringing Life to Schools and Schools to Life, Williams and Brown (2011) place “living soil” at the center of the discourse on education, utilizing seven pedagogical principles: (1) Cultivating a Sense of Place; (2) Fostering Curiosity and Wonder; (3) Discovering Rhythm and Scale; (4) Valuing Biocultural Diversity; (5) Embracing Practical Experience; (6) Nurturing Interconnectedness; and (7) Awakening the Senses. This photo-essay of students in four K-8 schools in two districts/states, explores how 4 inches of soil in learning gardens can teach about life’s lessons by surfacing the value of humility for humanity, with etymological roots in humus. The author urges attentiveness to that which is below our feet seemingly hidden/unnoticed yet teeming with life.

Author

• Dilafruz R. Williams, Portland State University