The space on the calendar between Earth Day and Mother’s Day often prompts me to consider when and where my environmental interest was nurtured. The answer is both Mother Earth and my own mother inspired me to care for nature. I grew up in a time when kids played outside until the street lights came on. I lived in a city most of my life, but front yards, parks, gardens, and trips to the lake provided access to urban nature.

Today’s kids are not getting the same level of unstructured, outdoor experiences, which is why we nurture a collective approach to creating and sustaining inclusive and accessible environmental science, outdoor-, nature-, and garden-based programs. Our programs nurture kids’ intergenerational connections as well as their relationships to the earth.

Allow me to share an example. A few weeks ago, I volunteered to staff both days of the spring plant sale organized by the Napa Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. The weather didn’t keep shoppers away. Despite the rain, we were nearly sold out by Sunday. While looking at the rows of nearly bare tables, I spied the mom of a former Dirt Girls program participant, Elisa. Elisa’s mom was shopping with her own mom, Elisa’s grandmother.

I told Elisa’s mom and grandmother about one of my strongest memories of Elisa’s time in Dirt Girls. One day, Elisa chose to turn the compost pile with her bare feet. Talk about connecting with the Earth! They laughed at this memory and Elisa’s mom shared that it’s tough to get eighth grade-Elisa to work in the garden with her now. I looked at Elisa’s grandma, who was making the face that suggested that she could relate–there was a time when Elisa’s mom didn’t want to work in the garden with her own mother.

Some time around middle school, kids try out different identities. They may temporarily break away from the values encouraged by their elders, but eventually kids who stray from earthly endeavors tend to gravitate back to them. I don’t remember a strong desire to connect with nature in middle school, but by the time I entered high school, I had taken up the charge of pressuring the adults in my life to start recycling (remember when that was new?)!

I hadn’t seen Elisa since 2023, when she was in fifth grade, but seeing her family at an event promoting native plants and conservation reminded me of these connections. It also reinforced just how important it is to have that ‘third space’ (not school, not home, but another sanctioned environment) for self-expression and social connection. Elisa’s compost dance happened during the time we always reserved at the end of a Dirt Girls session for participants to explore something that grabbed their attention or to or pursue a project of interest. These experiences provide supported opportunities to develop agency, which underlies any commitment to environmental change.

Here’s how our programs have been promoting intergenerational connection and care for nature during Earth Month.

Dirt Girls

Napa School Gardens

Three educators were selected for this year’s Erin S. Soper Award. They will be notified and announced during Teacher Appreciation Week in May.

Monarch Education and Habitat Monitoring

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