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Several schools in the St. Louis metropolitan area have been planting fruit and vegetable gardens to teach children healthy eating habits at a young age and expand access to fresh produce, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Gateway Greening, a community organization that helps build and maintain gardens in the St. Louis area, has this year planted five gardens at day-care establishments, and expects to establish several others in the coming months. Among the gardens is one planted at Little Feet Home Child Care in the Shaw neighborhood where children as young as age 2 will learn how to grow their own food. Meanwhile, the University City Children’s Center has created a 110-foot long garden bed that will serve as an outdoor classroom to help children learn about the science of plants and teach math skills, with children asked to weigh the produce or count seeds. Since planting the garden, the Center has eliminated all canned goods and preservative-laden foods from its kitchen and plans to perform a food audit in the fall to determine how it can incorporate more fresh produce into menu offerings. Future plans for the Center, which feeds some children two of their daily meals, call for the addition of a greenhouse to allow for year-round growing, as well as the installation of a demonstration kitchen to teach children how to cook (Gustin, St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Columbia Missourian, 9/21/09).