AUBURN UNIVERSITY, Ala. — For Extension Master Gardeners, sowing physical seeds is quite common. However, Edward Pate, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System Master Gardener, is also sowing seeds of a different kind. Pate is sowing seeds of hope and making a difference for more than 200 students at two Conecuh County schools.

“Everything grows better with love,” said Edward Pate, a Conecuh County Extension Master Gardener. Pate is shown here dressed for Seed Fest at the school gardens.

“My venture into school gardens began as an Extension Master Gardener service project in the spring of 2023,” Pate said. “A garden was started at the small, rural school in Conecuh County where my parents, siblings and I graduated and where my mother taught third grade for several decades. In the fall of 2023, a second garden was set up at a school of similar size and demographics.”

With Conecuh County Extension’s support, Pate designed and implemented raised-bed gardens and five-gallon bucket gardens for portability and accessibility. Each school garden is approximately 100 combined square feet — roughly the size of a backyard garden.

“The design was inspired by the Grow More, Give More (GMGM) project,” Pate said. “The intent was to demonstrate growing techniques that could be incorporated easily and affordably by students’ families and community visitors.”

Learning and Growing

Pate’s school garden setup is providing more than just the opportunity to teach young people about gardening. The garden also serves as a meeting place. School staff spend time gardening and working together with the students throughout the growing season. Pate said the garden setup also prompted some staff to build planter boxes for senior family members at home. These boxes provided them a way to get growing again after COVID-19.

“After working some time with the young students, I noticed that those who were not typically classroom leaders quickly and easily assumed leadership roles in the garden,” Pate said. “Many students don’t grow up with gardening experiences. So, they are all on roughly equal footing in the garden environment. This erases the differences that they sometimes experience in the typical classroom setting.”

Bethany O’Rear, an Alabama Extension regional home grounds, gardens and home pests agent, said Pate is an exemplary Extension Master Gardener volunteer who plugged in to the community from the start.

“What makes this so special is that even though there is no formal Extension Master Gardener Association in Conecuh County, Edward didn’t let that slow him down,” O’Rear said. “Through his vison, dedication and hard work — along with unwavering support from Karla Robinson and the local Extension office — this program is impacting the lives of so many from multiple generations and different walks of life.”

Gardening Daze

Pate said there is a reverential respect when students come to the gardens.

“After decades of teaching high school and college students who were sometimes too cool for school, the young students’ authentic reactions to the garden environment were refreshing and rejuvenating,” Pate said. “Together, we were experiencing awe.”

Pate said research shows that awe can improves a person’s psychological well-being by making them feel like a part of something greater than themselves.

“This shift in mindset changes our personal view, making us see our problems and challenges differently by putting them into a new perspective,” Pate said.

Outward Focus

Many lessons are taught in the garden, but Pate has taken the GMGM mission to heart. Through the gardens, he is teaching children, teachers and other community members about food insecurity.

“After learning about this silent issue, I now strive to reduce food insecurity in our school garden communities and to make others aware of food insecurity in Alabama,” Pate said. “Each of the school garden projects partners with GMGM, with the willing and enthusiastic participation of the administration and staff. It’s gratifying to see how much it means to the students, even as young as some of them are, to help others to meet such a basic need as having enough food to eat.”

Through the school gardens, students have grown and donated more than 350 pounds of produce to people in need.

Volunteer Where You Are

Those that are inspired by Pate’s work in Conecuh County can make a meaningful difference in their own communities by registering for the Extension Master Gardener intern trainings. Registration for the spring course is open through Nov. 30. The intern course schedule, volunteer hour requirements and more information is available on the Become an Alabama Extension Master Gardener Volunteer web page at www.aces.edu.

More information about Extension Master Gardener programs is also available on the Alabama Extension website or the Alabama Master Gardeners Association website, www.alabamamga.org.