{"id":1654,"date":"2019-10-17T14:31:11","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T14:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esynola.org\/?page_id=1654"},"modified":"2019-10-17T14:58:51","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T14:58:51","slug":"matt-durham","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/esynola.org\/matt-durham\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Durham"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Matt Durham<\/strong> grew up in an agricultural region in southeast Connecticut, and always loved hands-on learning. While studying writing, literature, and publishing at Emerson College in Boston, he got involved in food justice work and community gardens. After college, his City Year service year introduced him to ESYNOLA at Langston Hughes Academy, and he\u2019s been working in the Dreamkeeper Garden ever since. Matt, or \u201cMr. Durham,\u201d is a lead garden educator at LHA.<\/span><\/h6>\n
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[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text]How would you describe your job to a Pre-K student?\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We help people learn how to keep things growing. It\u2019s everybody\u2019s garden. We keep things happy and alive.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What first spoke to you about Edible Schoolyard\u2019s mission, vision, or values?\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I think what sparked my interest a lot was seeing how kid-driven all of this literally is. When adults come through the garden they don\u2019t realize that kids are doing all this stuff, but it is the kids who are building the compost pile, watering, pulling weeds, taking care of the animals. This garden is totally kid-driven, and that\u2019s what appealed to me at the start and has driven me for the past few years. Kids are the driving force behind everything we\u2019re doing here.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What is your favorite thing you grow here in the Dreamkeeper Garden?\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to say milkweed, because it\u2019s cool to see kids identify plants that most adults can\u2019t identify. We are growing milkweed for a specific purpose. It gives us a direct way of engaging kids in nature and being comfortable outside for them to be able to identify that plant, tell you about it, see butterflies and caterpillars on it, look for chrysalises around it, and tell you about how that habitat works together and there is intention behind plants we put in the garden. It\u2019s not edible, but it serves a greater purpose.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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What would people never guess that you do in your role.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Catch and release opossums. We\u2019ve had four so far this year that were trying to get to the baby chickens.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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What is your favorite age student at the moment?\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been enthralled with kindergarteners. Just coming out to the garden, it really throws kids for a loop, but I really love that. You turn the corner and there\u2019s something new for them to touch, smell, or feel. I love how amazed they are that there are all these things to interact with. Even if it doesn\u2019t have to do with the lesson, sometimes we\u2019ll just walk by something that\u2019s rotting or tip over a log and see what\u2019s underneath it. Those moments of pure awe from kids are special.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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What were you like when you were in kindergarten?\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

At my kindergarten I remember you only went for half the day: a.m. or p.m., and I was in a.m. I remember one day it snowed and we got to stay the whole day. That was amazing. Another thing I remember from kinder was dissecting a peanut. I\u2019m only connecting that and ESY right now, but maybe that\u2019s something hands-on I did when I was a young child that connects to what I do now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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What\u2019s your favorite place in the world?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I have many. City Park. It offers so many different things to different people. Art museum, exercise, nature, beauty. It\u2019s got everything you need. That\u2019s one.<\/span><\/p>\n

Grand Isle would be another, during the birding festival. It\u2019s indescribable what happens there when birds are migrating back and forth, you can see birds that have flown over the gulf that are really small. How did they do this? It gives you an appreciation for the little things in the world that are able to do things like that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you could share a garden salad with anyone, living or dead, who would you share the salad with, and what\u2019s one thing you\u2019d put in the salad?\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

My mom. I really respect my mom. And when you said, \u201cgarden salad,\u201d I remember as a kid my mom would always make this salad that had onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers from our garden. That\u2019s all that was in it, and Italian seasoning, oil, and vinegar. And I really love that combination of things, and it\u2019s a really homey thing for me to eat. When I make it on my own it reminds me of being home and being with my family. So that salad, with my mom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you have a favorite family tradition?\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

My favorite family tradition that we still do is Christmas Eve. It\u2019s a big thing in Italian American families: the Feast of the Seven Fishes. It\u2019s this big thing where you eat a bunch of fish and pasta. It\u2019s one of the things my family has held onto for a long time.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What has been a favorite moment or proudest moment for you as a garden teacher?\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The project I\u2019m most proud of in our garden is the way that we handle waste and compost. It\u2019s something we take pride in. I think what we try to instill in kids that instead of waste going to a landfill, we can do something different. It opens up a huge discussion about how we can impact how much we waste. I remember last year we had kids really questioning what to do with the plastic they get in their school supper every day. I didn\u2019t have a good answer for them, but I\u2019m really glad we\u2019re thinking like that and having that discussion. The way we think and act around waste at our school is something I\u2019m proud of, and I\u2019m proud of the higher level of thinking our kids put into it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I<\/span><\/i>n the time you\u2019ve been with ESYNOLA, how has your perspective of the need for or benefits of our work changed?\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I have come to think that what we\u2019re doing at our schools with ESYNOLA should be at every school in the country. I think every child deserves a good education, and part of that education is getting your hands dirty and doing what we do. It should be emulated and replicated at every school. Wouldn\u2019t it be awesome if school gardens and teaching kitchens weren\u2019t the exception but the norm? At school you learn where your food comes from and see butterfly life cycles all the time. The more I read about nature deficit disorder and kids who have no idea where their food is coming from across the country\u2026 the need is definitely there, everywhere, for what we\u2019re doing.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tell us about a moment in garden class when you couldn\u2019t help but laugh.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

There\u2019s one particular kindergartener this year, who\u2019s a kid that you can\u2019t really imagine telling him to sit down and do a worksheet, but he LOVES being outside. He always walks and stands right next to me. The other day he was whispering to me, \u201cI\u2019m going to touch EVERYTHING today.”<\/span><\/p>\n

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READ MORE STAFF & VOLUNTEER HIGHLIGHTS<\/a><\/h5>\n

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