ourfirstgarden.net

What It Is

Our First Garden (OFG) is a nonprofit organization focused on environmental education. Its core mission is to create hands-on learning experiences for children by building “learning gardens” and outdoor nature play areas in schools in developing countries. The project goes beyond teaching environmental concepts: it emphasizes authentic cross-cultural and interdisciplinary experiences, with the goal of inspiring students to make environmentally responsible decisions throughout their lives.

Core Dimensions

• Curriculum areas: Focuses on environmental education, health and nutrition planning, and research-based interdisciplinary learning.
• Delivery format: Primarily offline, physical projects such as building learning gardens and orchards, combined with a service-learning model. It also provides professional development workshops for teachers aligned with classroom curricula.
• Faculty and background: Founder Allen Stenstrup has 45 years of experience in education, is a pioneer in the green schools movement, and has received a global-level Outstanding Service Award from the North American Association for Environmental Education, giving the organization strong credibility.
• Target audience: Mainly schools, teachers, and K-12 students in developing countries such as Guatemala and Peru.

Pricing

As a nonprofit organization, OFG is designed to support and train schools in under-resourced regions. The source material does not mention any commercial pricing model, so its projects for target schools appear to be free or grant-funded.

Pros and Cons

Pros: 1. Turns abstract environmental ideas into concrete hands-on practice, making the educational impact more meaningful; 2. The founder and team have deep expertise in environmental education; 3. Emphasizes youth leadership development and community connection.
Cons: 1. Highly dependent on physical offline spaces, which limits scalability; 2. Focused only on specific developing countries, so the addressable audience is very narrow; 3. Lacks online courses or standardized teaching kits, making it hard to replicate directly in other regions.

Who It’s For

Strictly limited to grassroots schools and teachers in developing countries where OFG operates, such as Guatemala and Peru. For individual learners looking for online environmental courses, or users based in developed regions, the organization currently does not offer a directly usable product.

Access from China

Unknown. Since the website mainly serves a showcase and outreach purpose, and the project does not involve China, demand for access from mainland China is extremely low and network connectivity is unknown.