Lettuce Rejoice! A Garden Grows in the Food Desert June 14,
2011— In the Atlanta neighborhood surrounding Benjamin Mays High
School, it’s easier to get kidney dialysis than buy a peach. The
nearest bona fide grocery store is miles away. Obesity is
epidemic, and school kids breakfast on junk food and soda pop.
Nevertheless, when teacher Geri Nix and her students at Benjamin
Mays were casting about for a Michigan Tech High School
Enterprise project, growing healthy food did not immediately
spring to mind. Neither did competing in the world’s biggest
science fair. Nix wasn’t even a science teacher: she taught
technology classes and had an interest in art and architecture.
“We thought of making art out of junk and selling it,” she
recalls. “But that didn’t have much science.” Then the team
stumbled upon the concept of skyscraper farming: converting
entire buildings to agriculture. “We considered the neighborhood
where our school is located,” Nix says. “We have little access
to fresh foods and vegetables. And we t