Congratulations to the four winners of Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry‘s 2025 School Garden Contest sponsored by OKFB’s Women’s Leadership Committee!
The contest is made up of four different categories, each selecting the best school garden to win. The four categories are:
Best Harvest Garden: Little Sprouts Learning, Muskogee
Best Pollinator Garden: Tuttle High School, Tuttle
Best Startup Garden: Middleberg Elementary School: Middleberg
Best Education-Based Garden: Kingston Public Schools, Kingston
Best Startup School Garden
Middleberg Elementary School
Middleberg Elementary School has been named the 2025 winner of the Best Startup Garden in this year’s School Garden Contest, and it’s easy to see why. With a clear vision, dedicated educators, and community involvement, Middleberg is building a garden that is as inspiring as it is educational.
Their garden journey began with imagination—literally. Fifth-grade students were invited to draw what they envisioned the garden could become. From those sketches, a comprehensive plan took shape, and with the support of administration, faculty, parents, and students, a garden committee was formed. What started as student artwork has grown into a schoolwide mission.
The garden space will eventually span a generous 2,000 square feet between the elementary buildings. Currently, the school is developing its first 300-square-foot section as a pollinator garden with fall crops that students will plant and harvest for the school cafeteria. Future plans include raised vegetable beds, a compost and vermipost system, a sundial teaching area, an herb garden, an outdoor classroom, and a greenhouse for year-round growing. A drip irrigation system will support garden care during school breaks.
Each grade level—from pre-K through 8th—will contribute to and care for the garden, creating a powerful hands-on learning experience across all ages. Older students will partner with younger ones to tend specific areas, teaching responsibility, collaboration, and agricultural skills. Educators are already planning to integrate the garden into core subjects, using it to explore everything from ecosystems and pollination to history, economics, and sustainability.
Middleberg Elementary School received a $1,000 award to help start their new school garden.
Middleberg’s approach is rooted in simplicity and sustainability, making the garden easy to manage and replicate year after year. The school also plans to bring in guest experts—including a lepidopterist and local OSU Extension educators—and will seek additional community support this fall through student-led presentations to local churches and businesses.
While funding remains their greatest need, the school’s enthusiasm, creativity, and organization are unmatched. Middleberg Elementary is proving that with a strong plan and a motivated team, even the biggest dreams can take root.
Congratulations to Middleberg Elementary School—where the seeds of learning are being planted, and the harvest promises to be bright.
Little Sprouts received a $500 award to help fund their school garden.
Little Sprouts Learning Garden
Little Sprouts Learning Garden has been named the 2025 winner of the Best Harvest School Garden, and their dedication to hands-on, garden-based learning is nothing short of inspiring.
What began 12 years ago with a single grant, community support, and personal investment has grown into a thriving, year-round educational garden rooted at the heart of this home daycare. With over 35 raised beds and containers, the garden produces daily harvests during the growing season—fresh fruits and vegetables that the children help wash, prepare, and enjoy with their lunches.
At Little Sprouts, the garden is more than a side project—it’s the foundation of their curriculum. Children learn about healthy eating, the benefits of each color of produce, life cycles, pollinators, composting, and even garden visitors like bunnies and raccoons. Cooking classes, taste tests, and take-home produce encourage students to share their garden experiences with their families.
They grow without synthetic sprays, using the garden as a teaching tool to discuss the importance of clean food, the connection between what we eat and our health, and where our food comes from—whether it’s the garden, farmers market, or grocery store.
Despite being a small, home-based daycare, Little Sprouts’ commitment rivals that of much larger programs. The garden is run by the owner and her husband, with occasional volunteer help. Their passion, persistence, and love for the children and the earth keep the program going strong year after year.
Looking ahead, Little Sprouts plans to envelop the garden in flowers—sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, and coneflowers—to attract more pollinators and provide beauty and bouquet-making opportunities. A summer-long nature study will bring butterflies, grasshoppers, squirrels, and more into the curriculum, connecting students with nature on an even deeper level.
Little Sprouts Learning Garden proves that a powerful harvest isn’t just about the food—it’s about the growth of young minds, strong values, and lifelong lessons.
Congratulations to Little Sprouts for cultivating a truly exceptional garden experience!
Best Education-Based School Garden
Kingston High School
Kingston High School has earned top honors in the 2025 School Garden Contest as the winner of the Best Education-Based Garden for their outstanding integration of agriculture, science, and real-world learning into the classroom.
Launched in the 2024–2025 school year, Kingston’s school garden is a fully hands-on learning experience. Horticulture students began the process by starting every plant from seed in the greenhouse, learning about germination and plant care from the ground up. Ag Exploration and Intro to Animal Science students then designed and built raised beds to house wicking tubs—creating a sustainable growing system for a wide variety of vegetables and flowers.
The garden now produces a variety of crops, including broccoli, several types of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers, and more. These crops form the foundation of lessons in sustainability, food systems, and nutrition. Students harvested their produce and learned how to prepare healthy meals—some even participated in canning classes where they made jam and salsa. Every student was assigned two types of vegetables to research, grow, and present to the class, covering the full journey from seed to table and highlighting nutritional value.
To tie the experience into literacy, students also journaled about garden progress, writing twice weekly about greenhouse updates, flower beds, pests, and growing conditions, making science and writing come alive through meaningful, real-time observation.
More than just an academic exercise, the garden provides essential life skills. In a community where many families face food insecurity, Kingston’s program empowers students to grow food that can help support their families. There are also plans to grow extra produce to donate to the local food bank, strengthening the school’s connection to its broader community.
Kingston High School received a $500 award to help fund their school garden.
The agriculture education department has ensured this garden is built to last—partnering with a local commercial greenhouse for expert guidance and support. Students remain involved in every phase—from selecting what to grow and sketching companion planting layouts to constructing beds, installing trellises, and planning for future expansions, such as aquaponics and hydroponic systems.
Kingston High has created a model of how agriculture education can be deeply relevant, student-centered, and community-driven. By giving students ownership over the garden and integrating it across curriculum areas, the program fosters not only knowledge but also confidence, purpose, and pride.
Congratulations to Kingston High School for cultivating a garden that feeds both minds and communities.
Tuttle High School received a $500 award to help fund their school garden.
Tuttle High School
Tuttle High School has been named the 2025 winner of the Best Pollinator School Garden for its outstanding commitment to creating a thriving habitat for pollinators while enriching student learning across disciplines.
Now in its second year, Tuttle’s raised bed garden, led and maintained by the Special Education class, features two large pollinator zones filled with native plants chosen specifically to support the full life cycle of key pollinators like honeybees and monarch butterflies. The school has been recognized with certifications for creating both monarch and honeybee natural habitats, making it a standout example of pollinator-focused education.
More than just a beautiful space, the garden is a hands-on learning environment. Students planned, built, and now help maintain the garden, which includes vegetables, fruits, and herbs. The school’s cafeteria uses the herbs, and students cook with their harvest, share it with the community, and observe the insects and wildlife that visit their thriving space.
The garden is used by multiple classes and supports cross-curricular learning through Ag in the Classroom, plant and pollinator identification, native plant selection, and understanding the life cycles and ecological importance of pollinators.
With a goal of adding a water feature to attract even more wildlife, the garden continues to grow—literally and figuratively. Tuttle High School also shares updates with the Tuttle Educational Foundation and the school board, demonstrating the garden’s deep-rooted support and lasting impact.
Congratulations to Tuttle High School for cultivating a garden that supports both student learning and ecological stewardship.
