Golestan Edible Garden

The Golestan Edible Garden, located in West Berkeley, provides pre-school age children with the opportunity to participate in growing their own organic fruits, vegetables, herbs and nuts. Amidst global food crises and rising health problems in the U.S., these children learn at an early age the benefits of growing local and healthy food as well as understand where their food comes from and how much labor goes into feeding our community. As Golestan school is "a fully immersive environment where children can learn to speak Farsi/Persian within a loving community, guided by a progressive approach to education", the Golestan Edible Garden specializes in traditional Persian fruits, herbs, and nuts which maintain cultural ties to their heritage and celebrate the diversity of their culture.

The Golestan School is a primary example of a small organization bringing sustainable knowledges and culturally diverse foods to the Bay Area. Yalda Modabber, the executive director of Golestan School, describes, “the kids were really excited about planting. They are really into watering it every day and they take really good care of it. They have gotten to learn to respect plants through it, because the toddlers want to pull it and rip it apart and they’ve learned to take care of these plants as opposed to destroying them. We had one small harvest where the kids harvested some stuff from the garden, as well as the side yard there are some garlic flowers they’ve been picking and eating. They made a soup from the garden and they are so excited about the project. We cooked it together and they spent all day working on it and served it to each other at the table. We are hoping the garden will actually help to feed them most of their lunches from the stuff we harvest” (Modabber 2008).

Yalda Moddaber also spoke at length about the nostalgic and romantic connection Iranians have to food and the ways in which Persian food is linked to cultural survival in the context of diaspora: “In terms of planting, we have these seeds from Iran and there’s a sort of nostalgic, romantic interaction with these seeds. They are from the motherland and you imagine them picking the seeds and drying them, and there is this whole mental process that goes with it. Then as the kids are planting them, there is this whole other level of emotional connection to it. These are our kids who haven’t set foot yet on Iranian soil, yet they are planting these seeds in American soil. When they harvest it, then it’s a connection with nature. Though there are some sensorial experiences, like smelling the herbs would remind me personally of my childhood and I would get excited about them experiencing that as well, because that formulates the same experiences that I had as a kid, growing up with that smell in the house. Preparation is valuable in having to interact with their teacher and the other children. They are speaking Farsi, they are learning about how to traditionally prepare this food, I am sure the teacher will be talking about her experiences preparing this food and maybe how her grandmother used to prepare it, infiltrating that experience with her stories and recreating that type of experience for these children that they otherwise wouldn’t have. Through the serving of food, it’s very important in our program that they children serve each other before they serve themselves, that they be aware of other people. That last component, the eating, the flavors, its the culmination of all these things coming together: the stories that they learned, growing it, harvesting it, cooking it. The smells and the tastes are different than ‘mac and cheese’ and then they develop a pallet for foods that are more complex in flavor and healthier” (Modabber 2008).

Local acts of resistance counter global systems of domination as these women save their seeds grown in Iranian soil and bring them to their children and grandchildren in the Bay Area to be planted together, harvested together, and eaten together. Practicing freedom we, in the words of the great poet Rumi, we “bury our seeds and wait…. Winter blocks the road. Flowers are taken prisoner underground. But, then green justice tenders a spear” (Rumi 1207-1273).

Check out more pictures and Golestan's website: http://www.golestankids.com/

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