School District Farms?
Daniel Barrera Ortega
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Nirit Tayas Zamir
Hi Daniel and everyone,
Thank you for raising this topic—it’s inspiring to see the growing interest in school-based farms and living classrooms.
I run Jordan’s Garden, a school garden education program based in Miami-Dade County, Florida, where we partner with schools to design and operate edible gardens that function as outdoor classrooms.
While our district does not currently operate a centralized “district farm” model like the wonderful example of the Hub Farm in Durham Public Schools, we support a network of school-based gardens that bring many of the same educational and community benefits directly onto campuses.
Our programs typically include:
• School garden curriculum integrated into the school day, where students learn plant science, soil ecosystems, pollination, and food systems through hands-on gardening.
• After-school garden clubs and enrichment programs that allow students to deepen their engagement with growing food and environmental stewardship.
• Seasonal camps and workshops, where children explore gardening, cooking with fresh produce, and ecological learning.
• Community and family garden events, which invite parents and neighbors to participate in planting days, harvest celebrations, and garden workshops.
• Garden installation and maintenance, helping schools create and sustain productive learning gardens adapted to South Florida’s tropical growing conditions.
Many of our school gardens also function as small campus “micro-farms,” where students participate in planting, harvesting, and seasonal crop planning. These spaces become hubs for science learning, nutrition education, and community engagement.
We’re very interested in the district farm model and would love to see something similar develop in South Florida in the future. It would be exciting to connect our network of school gardens with a larger educational farm that could support internships, teacher training, and expanded farm-to-school programming.
I’d be happy to share more about our approach or connect with others working on similar initiatives.
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