The Edible Schoolyard (ESY), established in 1995, is a one-acre garden and kitchen classroom at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California. It is a program of the Chez Panisse Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by chef and author Alice Waters.

The garden started as a cover crop in a vacant lot with once-monthly student participation. More than a decade later, it is a thriving acre of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. Now, each student at King Middle School attends 12 to 30 sessions in ESY kitchen and garden classrooms, depending on grade level. ESY reaches each of the nearly one thousand students at King Middle School.

The visibility of ESY has also increased. The program hosts over 1,000 visitors each year-from educators, to health professionals, to international delegates-and has inspired countless kitchen and garden programs. In 2005 we launched our first affiliate program in New Orleans, Louisiana. Today, we have a small network of Edible Schoolyard affiliate programs in cities across the country.

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