The Johnny Appleseed Playground
by alison grey I photo by royce gorsuch

Imagine a playground surrounded by cherry orchards, strawberry patches, and vegetable gardens. Amongst the slide and swing set is a plethora of foliage, and the majority of it would have fruit or vegetables hanging off the vine.

We’ve all heard the latest talk of getting local and healthy foods into our schools. Now, this idea is taking shape in Bozeman in the form of an edible playground at the new Hyalite Elementary School, slated to open this fall. It’s quite the evolution from the playgrounds many of us remember: rusted nails on creaky slides or strategically placed pavement landings under swing sets anyone?

And it all started with a request for a vegetable garden from Robbye Hamburgh, the future principal of the school. “I envisioned a school yard which would be landscaped to exemplify ‘No Child Left Inside,’” says Hamburgh. “In other words, I saw a place where children could watch, do and experience all of the stages of growing. I wanted the students to have an opportunity to be involved in growing a garden and in experiencing nature at a deeper level.”

Errol Schumann, the project’s landscape designer, took the veggie garden a step further. His plan is a full-fledged outdoor classroom, a living laboratory of sorts, that he calls The Johnny Appleseed Playground. This clean-cut 28-year-old moved to Bozeman about a year ago from Colorado. His enthusiasm for melding sustainable agriculture and local food by ways of landscaping is readily evident as he talks about his plans. “I’ve dreamed about the Johnny Appleseed playground for years,” says Schumann, who graduated from Colorado State University in 2004 with a B.S. in landscape architecture. “This is the most exciting project I’ve ever worked on.”

The idea is to connect students with the land and their food by creating an environment filled with as many edible varieties as possible, from herb and vegetable gardens to apple orchards and currant bushes. The landscape will provide a productive and beautiful space that inspires an engaging learning environment for students. Schumann also envisions this public space as a community resource and an inspirational model to inspire a better connection to our land.

Instead of investing energy and water into turf, why not redirect that energy into a productive space that grows food? And what is more local and sustainable than growing food in our backyards, or playgrounds in this case? “It’s just thinking about things a little differently,” says Schumann. “We’re so used to big green lawns and colorful flower beds. It’s time to change the paradigm. How can we displace these things with a more sustainable, productive landscape?”

For Schumann, encouraging this connection to the land in our children is important, because often those who are engaged in their public places are more likely to take care of them in the future.

Beyond stewardship, Hamburgh notes that the playground will also promote healthy kids. In a world touting the exercise benefits of Wii video games, indoors is the norm. When kids actually feel the sun on their skin, the soil beneath their fingertips, and develop healthy eating habits, their lifestyle will benefit future generations.

“Being involved in the whole process of growing food not only enriches students’ scientific knowledge, it furthers their knowledge of what foods are best for health throughout their lives,” says Hamburgh. “It is in nature that children learn to play and create.”