How do we encourage stewardship of the land and our communities in the next generation? In this episode, Jeff Ishee, Eric Bendfeldt, and Sarah Koth continue their conversation with Kathy Yoder, the Education Outreach Program Director at Vine and Fig in Harrisonburg, Virginia, about the organization’s work to get youth outdoors and experience nature. Kathy discusses the mental health and learning benefits she sees in students from experiential learning in the garden and in nature. She also dives into the integrative farm-to-school work that she is involved with in Harrisonburg and how it has increased access to healthy nutritious food and benefitted both the area’s youth and the community more broadly.

To learn more about Vine and Fig and the New Community Project please visit https://www.vinefigeducation.org/ and https://www.vinefigncp.org/.

Learn more about the Virginia Soil Health Coalition and pledge your support for soil health at https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/ and https://4thesoil/take-the-pledge

4 the Soil: A Conversation is made possible with funding support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Agua Fund. Other partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia State University; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; and partners of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.

Disclaimer: Views expressed on this podcast are those of each individual guest.

To download a copy of this, or any other show, visit the website 4thesoil.org. Music used during today’s program is courtesy of the Flip Charts. All rights reserved. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is produced by On the Farm Radio in collaboration with Virginia Tech. The host and co-hosts are Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt.