WHITE HAVEN, Pa. – You won’t find the typical shrubs surrounding the Graham Academy in Kingston. Rather, the special education school is surrounded by totally edible – and native – plants.
“I think that’s the greatest part about this type of gardening is just it helps not only connect to nature, but to food, and themselves,” said Richie Mitchell, the owner of Bear Creek Organics in White Haven, which specializes in helping businesses and homeowners install ecological edible landscapes.
“Learning how to find that balance between the values and the goals of the homeowner and what’s actually possible on the land,” Mitchell said. “You find opportunities in places you wouldn’t expect.”
The Graham Academy was one of his first big projects, which includes unusual native plants like the Paw Paw tree: “This is a tropical tree, it’s related to trees in the jungle but it somehow figured out a way to survive in cold weather, so it’s actually native to our area.”
The landscape does a lot more than just look nice.
“It’s teaching sustainable practices. You know this is something that students can help their family with if they have a garden,” said Jim Prisk, Director of Operations at the Academy. He says the garden helps students developmentally, from learning how to care for things to trying new foods.
The food is used for cooking classes, but students also get real-life work experience running a farm stand.
“We’re working with cash, real money, a inside preview into retail, customer service, things like that,” Prisk said.
In order to expand his impact, there’s now a Bear Creek nursery to give as many people as possible access to hard-to-find native plants, and there are also plans to offer educational courses.
“I have a much bigger vision than just one garden at a time,” Mitchell said.
You can check out their website here.