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GREENSBORO — Parents might soon say goodbye to the Happy Meal, if the Greensboro Children's Museum has its way. Children will learn the importance of health and wellness at the museum's new Edible Schoolyard, a project three years in the making.

"We want to have the children have the chance to taste something that many of them have never had the chance to taste," said Eleanor Farlow, the schoolyard's garden educator.

Although children may have tasted a cherry tomato from the grocery store, Farlow said, many have probably never tried a cherry tomato fresh off the vine.

Instead of simply observing how food is grown and harvested, the children who visit the Edible Schoolyard will get hands-on experience in the organic garden and teaching kitchen.

The Greensboro Children's Museum is the first children's museum in the country to have an officially licensed Edible Schoolyard, based on chef and author Alice Waters' original program in Berkeley, Calif.

"(It's) based on the whole philosophy of seed to table," said Steffany Reeve, the museum's marketing director. "It's really showing kids they can help plant the seeds, watch it grow, tend to the plants. And whatever season it is and whatever plants they are, they can then help harvest, take it in the kitchen, cook it and sit down and actually eat it and enjoy it."

The garden will include an array of fruits and vegetables such as strawberries and persimmons, herbs, a sensory garden, bean tepees, grains of the world and gourds of the world, a chicken coop, a rabbit hutch, a variety of insects and a barn with an outdoor kitchen.

The Edible Schoolyard also will host several workshops for children and adults, such as cider-making and canning .

"What I'm excited about is that we're going to have not just kids learning, not just kids in one particular school, but all kids," said Anne-Marie Scott, the schoolyard's kitchen educator. "We're also going to be educating parents and families. We're going to be touching on a lot of things people have never thought about."

Other programs at the schoolyard will include summer camps, school field trips, event programming, special activities, annual celebrations and cultural celebrations. The museum also will offer scholarships for some of the fee-based programs.

"Our idea is that we'll get as many children as possible through the school system and through private schools and Head Start to come through," Farlow said, "but also that there will be so much excitement among the children that even if their families have never been here, they will come."

When children first arrive at the Edible Schoolyard, they will sit down to talk about the rules and garden etiquette. They will then break into groups to explore pond ecology, visit the chickens, see worms in action, harvest whatever is in season and perhaps taste it in the garden.

The groups will note what month it is and discuss what is happening in the garden that month compared to what is available to harvest during other months.

"The seasonality is such an important theme because most people just don't think that way," said Charlie Headington, the Edible Schoolyard director.

"(They think) it's always available, so it will change, and that will be an outstanding theme of every morning."

Scott said the schoolyard will not focus on diets but rather on the benefits of good food and the importance of families sharing meals together. The Edible Schoolyard team also hopes children and parents will take what they learn in the garden home with them.

"One of the things we're hoping to do is inspire the families that come here to build their own gardens," Reeve said. "We have a half-acre, but you don't need that."

The creation of the Edible Schoolyard has been a community effort. Greensboro residents Jane and Richard Levy helped the museum raise money, Eagle Scouts assisted in the building of the chicken coop, rabbit hutch and benches, and some of the Extra Ingredient's vendors provided pots, pans and other equipment.

Children's Museum CEO Betsy Grant said the Edible Schoolyard is about having fun in the garden and kitchen, but also about educating the community.

"Lots of people think that what we do here is similar to McDonald's, with a bunch of balls in a big vat where everybody crawls through and plays around, and that's not what we do," Grant said.

"We're educators who care very much about the future of children."

Contact Alexa Milan at 373-7120 or alexandra.milan@news-record.com