Our goal is to reduce our carbon footprint and to teach children, staff and families how we can live responsibly on planet earth. A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases produced by human activity.

The organic garden area functions as a true outdoor classroom - far removed from traditional recess. We foster a love of nature by encouraging horticulture play outdoors.

As part of our outdoor classroom we've included rain barrels that collect rainwater which is used to water our garden. Our compost bins teach children the process of decomposition and fertilization.

The observation of how nature nurtures us is year-round at DYC Learning Center. Besides composting lunch scraps and preserving rain water for our garden, the children have an abundance of hands-on activities to participate in: digging in April, planting in May, and harvesting in June through August. The anticipation is high in the summer when the organic gardens produce peppers, cucumbers, watermelon, corn, tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and herbs that provide the children with fresh snacks they've picked themselves. They also enjoy making beautiful dried arrangements from herbs and flowers. Then, in fall, the pumpkins arrive!

We are proud of our eco-minded vision and we look forward to expanding our sustainability footprint. In the next few years we plan to install wind energy for a percentage of our energy consumption to conserve our natural resources and to be a role model for children.