OC students form 'green team,' get hands-on experience with gardening, composting

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Kids are developing their green thumbs at a Huntington Beach charter school. The Green Team at Kinetic Academy West is expanding their garden on campus, and the benefits go beyond what the eye can see.

Kid volunteers at this charter school have been getting their hands dirty by planting vegetables and flowers in raised garden beds on campus. Parent Daya Oyarzabal organized the Green Team. They've been teaching students environmental friendliness.

"How to plant plants, getting to know pollinator plants, going out in the community and cleaning up our beaches," said Oyarzabal.

The students have planted a variety of vegetables, including corn, tomatoes and cucumbers.

"It was as fresh as it gets," said Lucas.

"I thought the cucumber was pokey when I was holding it, but when I ate it, it was actually very good. It was actually soft and sweet," said Lennon.

"Very juicy and flavorful, tastes very crunchy," said Kaya.

They also dive into composting.

"We take kitchen scraps such as banana peels, apple cores, leftover tomatoes and grapes, things like that and put them into the compost, then the worms will eat those kitchen scraps, then they poop them out and it becomes fertilizer for the garden," said Oyarzabal.

They even get to see each stage of the butterfly life cycle in the garden. The kids are excited about what they have learned.

"I know a bunch of plants now, so if I have any job of becoming a farmer or anything with plants, I will know most of the plants already," said Emily.