BALDWIN COUNTY, Ga. — The Baldwin County School District is planting gardens shaped like butterflies at each of the schools in the county to promote farming skills and healthy eating among children.
It's all part of Baldwin County's Farms to School Program.
Aketi Mayweather is the wellness coordinator and project manager for the gardens at each school. She works for the Office of School Nutrition, and her job is to look at the ways to improve students' health.
Baldwin recently got a Farm to School USDA grant and funding from the Rotary Club for pollinator gardens.
They are partnering with University of Georgia through the Connect to Protect program, with the purpose of introducing native plants in a garden setting.
"These native plants are there to feed our butterflies and bees," said Mayweather.
They've also partnered with Fort Valley State University to get gardens at every school in the district, and they've done just that. Each school has the ability to teach by using a garden.
"We're hoping to grow our next generation of farmers," Mayweather said. "We start them very early, learning."
The schools that have gardens specifically to grow food have FoodCorps service members that stick around for a year and teach the students about pollination, planting, taste testing, and food-based curriculum.
The plants that are being put in the butterfly gardens came from the State Botanical Gardens.