The Institute for Human Services helped a handful of children plant a seedling toward sustainability yesterday in a donated Wiki Garden at the women and children's shelter in Kalihi.

The garden is the brainchild of Alan Joaquin, a former Aloha Airlines pilot.

He donated the garden to the shelter as a way to teach children about growing their own food, developing a sense of sustainability and learning how to care for plants.

Madleen, an 11-year-old who was at the shelter yesterday, said she enjoyed planting a fledgling tomato plant. She was one of a group of kids who planted tomato, cucumber, strawberry and pepper plants yesterday. The plants will be ready to become part of their salad in three or four weeks.

"It will be kind of cool to grow vegetables," Madleen said. "It's really fun."

Even though a 13-year-old at IHS, who identified himself as Nakayama, only likes to eat tomatoes, he planted a cucumber vine.

"I've never seen how a vegetable grows before," Nakayama said. "We're going to keep a plant on the side just in case one doesn't make it."

The green-thumbers planted the garden on one side of the building in front of their air conditioner.

The shelter welcomed the garden concept as a way to empower the children and to teach them how food is grown.

"A lot of the kids at the shelter don't know how a banana grows," said Kate Bepko, IHS spokeswoman. "We want to teach the children about sustainability and growing our own food."

This spring IHS hosted a vertical garden outside its classroom. The eggplant , herbs, tomatoes, kale, spinach and peppers grew in a standing planter with their own watering system.

Connie Mitchell, IHS executive director, used clippers yesterday to trim out dead leaves and check on growing vegetables.

"One of the things we're trying to teach the children is how they can affect change in their own life, grow their own food and be sustainable," Mitchell said. "Food is one of the biggest costs in anyone's budget, so learning how to grow your own is always helpful."

Gardening also builds well-being and hope, Mitchell said.

The IHS garden was built with "wiki garden logs," which are about 3 feet long and weigh about 25 pounds.

Joaquin's company is donating 12 such garden systems to various nonprofit groups around the state. Yesterday was the first donation. Today, the company will be at an elementary school on Maui.

"I have high hopes of giving a special gift of sustainability," Joaquin said. "A lot of work goes into a garden and this takes all the guesswork out of it and increases the chance of success."

WIKI GARDEN LOGS

To request a donated garden from the Wiki Garden, contact the company at alan@thewikigarden.com or go to www.alohavictorygardens.org for more information.