Ecoliteracy in Action: Carmel's Organic Garden


Fueled by Muir’s philosophy, Carmel's School Garden Program is nested within a multifaceted environmental education and eco-literacy program. The organic garden sits on an acre of land next to Carmel River and is a combination of raised beds, in-ground beds, a bee and butterfly garden, pond and solar-powered greenhouse. It also features an outdoor kitchen and wood-burning oven for cooking classes. Along the nearby Carmel River is native habitat where students participate in science, nature, art, drama, and cultural events.

Where once barren land lay next to Carmel Middle School, now there’s diverse habitat with extensive gardens, an outdoor kitchen, a pond, a native plant garden, a bird-banding station, propagation lathe houses, greenhouses, and recycling and composting stations. Situated next to Carmel River and surrounded by the beautiful Carmel Valley hills, Carmel Middle School began its slow transformation in 1995 when an inspired science teacher, Craig Hohenberger, had a vision about the empty land. This vision was not just to beautify the land, but to bring classrooms outdoors and to “inspire students to understand, appreciate, and protect the natural environment.” As a result, the school community has created a natural habitat that is a multifaceted outdoor laboratory and learning environment. The organic garden is integrated into every student’s experience to deepen their understanding of sustainable agriculture and the food they eat. Through a variety of instructional activities, students learn about life cycles, global food systems, and gain a greater appreciation of the region’s contribution to California’s agricultural bounty.

  • In the watershed program, students learn about their environment, their home, and how they can impact the cleanliness of the river. In the bird-banding program, students hold and band birds, record migratory patterns and changing populations, and conceptualize how these patterns relate to habitat and climate.
  • The native plant program allows kids to understand the importance of habitat and biodiversity and restoring public lands, while the native butterfly and bee garden teach them the necessity of preserving native species.
  • Through the Organic Garden students are exposed to food & food systems and how to relate to the earth. They harvest from their garden, and prepare delicacies in their Wood-burning Oven located in the Outdoor Kitchen. 

Native plant butterfly and bee garden

Pat Stadille, 6th grade teacher, became concerned about the gradual disappearance of native bees, so he established a Native Bee Garden. It is now an ongoing science project. The 6th graders tend the garden, weeding, watering and planting new native plants from seed they’ve collected. They observe and record visiting pollinators, and have found over 100 species of native bees coming around the garden. The native bee (and butterfly!) garden features an outdoor pond. Microscopes have been donated by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation so students can conduct outdoor investigations.

Outdoor kitchen

The outdoor kitchen is a place where students gather to create dishes from the garden harvest, to break bread during their Renaissance Fair, and to pay special thanks to staff and friends. It features long cement shelves, table spaces and two sinks, one dedicated to washing veggies. The floor of the kitchen area is flagstone. Words of wisdom: “We would not recommend gravel. It’s too noisy and is much too tempting to throw stones at friends.” More recently they have put in an outdoor wood-burning oven. This came about from a visit by the famed chef, Alice Waters, who said, “You need an outdoor wood-burning pizza oven if you want to have a cooking program.” The school raised the money and with the district’s help, they contracted with a company in Watsonville that imports the ovens from Italy and installs them for about $7,000 all up, labor and all.

Other Special Features of the Program

The solar powered greenhouse is used for a 6th grade Ecoliteracy unit—how alternative energy works. Sun panels power huge exhaust fans that keep the plants moist. In the greenhouse, they grow starts and keep warm weather crops going during the colder months. They are breeding for all open-pollinated, non-GMO plants. Organic seed is donated by Cole Canyon, a local nursery. Students learn about open pollination, GMOs, plant life cycles.

Plans for a Green Building

CMS holds many events that include community members. They are in the midst of a major capital improvement project for an extensive new “green building,” which will be a state-of-the-art center for school and community events. The green building was designed by the students in conjunction with an architect. It will greatly expand their capacity for cooking classes and the garden-nutrition connection. Cost is over $1M.

Outreach to underserved communities

Students from regional schools come to participate in a variety of environmental, garden and cooking activities throughout the year and during the summer. In this way, Carmel Middle School is sharing and extending their resources to serve elementary, middle school and high school underserved students.

Governor’s Award

Recently, Carmel Middle School won the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award for Excellence in Children’s Environmental Education.