ROOTS & SHOOTS IN UPPERVILLE

ROOTS & SHOOTS IN UPPERVILLE

Bowen Slater has an over the garden fence chat with friends

Photos by Vicky Moon

The Roots and Shoots program for young children began in the mid- 1980s in California and has gained momentum across the country all the way to Upperville. The children plant flowers and vegetables and, in the example at Piedmont Childcare, they also learn the alphabet.

The program was launched by Alice Duggan after she took a course in2005 about it at Blandy Experimental Farm at the State Arboretum of Virginia in Boyce. Alice retired as executive director in 2020 and remains a vital force at the center.

Alice Duggan, Sidney Bowers and Joan Eliot help corral the children and the weeds. Executive Director Diana Lichliter oversees it all now.

The scare-girl’s name is Bucky

The bucket list at Piedmont Child Care garden includes reading, planting and clean up

E is for elephant just ask Sydney Bowers