New Iowa high schoool features garden

The newest Iowans to learn about organic farming are a bunch of high-schoolers. The new Elizabeth Tate High School in Iowa City features a dozen garden beds built by volunteers. Michael Friese (freeze) is director of the Garden Project. Friese says the kids might find it leads them to take up gardening as a hobby later in life, or just develop an awareness of the food they’re eating. For now, he hopes the gardens will produce vegetables the students can sell at a farmer’s market that’s just down the street. Friese says Iowa kids, of all people, need to know where the food they eat really comes from. “Food does not come from the grocery store,” he says, “food comes from the farm. Steaks don’t come from a styrofoam tray in the cooler in the back of the grocery store. And the more aware we are of the food around us, is something kids need in order to make healthy decisions.” Friese is a restaurant owner too, and advocates for a group calling itself “Slow Food Iowa,” which sponsors events to teach people about locally-grown foods, farmers markets and healthy eating.