Peace and Peanuts: 
Practicing Mindfulness and Cover Cropping

 Participants at East Oakland Youth Development Center serving peanut butter balls and showing gratitude.

Participants at East Oakland Youth Development Center serving peanut butter balls and showing gratitude.

Mindfulness can help us find and maintain a sense of gratitude towards life and the interconnectedness of our ecosystem. This lesson introduces participants to the lessons of Thich Nhat Hahn as they read poems, find nature’s beauty within, and make simple, nutritious peanut butter balls to share. Participants also are introduced to the lessons of George Washington Carver using peanuts or other legumes as a cover crop to fix nitrogen into the garden’s soil.