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“Are the carrots ready?” shouts a 1st-grader at East Village Community School. “Are the onions ready?” asks another.

“As city kids, they don’t often get a chance to pick plants they can eat, and they love it,” says teacher Stefanie Henze.

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A decade ago, a huge weeping willow cast a wide shadow over the school’s patio. The willow is gone, but the Tree of Knowing Garden named for it flourishes there.

“It’s been a joy to see this space transformed into such a meaningful part of our school,” says Chapter Leader Christine La Plume. “The gardening curriculum has allowed it to become a place of discovery and learning.”

The garden is a magical place, says Principal Bradley Goodman, and for several hours each week, it becomes an outdoor classroom for pre-K, kindergarten and 1st-grade students.

“It allows them to experience a little bit of country farming life and also to relate what we learn in the classroom to a hands-on and visual experience,” says teacher Mae Jordan.

One sunny June afternoon, 1st-graders walk under a trellised archway to gather in “the circle,” a ring of metal benches surrounded by bushes and trees.

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“Why are flowers so beautiful?” garden educator Ruth Steiner asks the 6- and 7-year-olds.

“So a bee will pollinate the flowers and they can grow more,” offers one little girl.

The new vegetable garden has 11 wooden beds filled with organic soil and crops including turnips, beets, cucumbers, radishes and spinach, plus potatoes growing in burlap bags. The children are involved from seed to table, and they compost, too.

“Gardening ties in beautifully with our social studies unit about organic farming and our science unit on insects,” says teacher James Preimesberger.

One little boy is so excited he can’t decide what to do first, running back and forth with mulch, then with a watering can. “That looks so good,” he says, inspecting the greens.

“What are we eating when we eat carrots?” the young gardeners are asked. The leaves? No, they answer. The flowers? No. The seeds? “No, the roots!” they shout. And how do they taste? “Way better” than store bought “because these are fresh,” says one little girl. Another adds, “They take a lot of effort and the more effort, the yummier they are.”

While one group of children thins out the beds, another harvests and yet another works on journals. The previous week the students wrote about releasing ladybugs, which, they learned, are a natural form of pest control.

Keeping a journal is Isaac’s favorite part of the program: “We get to take them home and look at what we learned.”

Sasha likes planting and “getting all muddy.”

Nathaniel chooses eating. “I like the salad we made,” he says. “We made the dressing.” It was only simple vinaigrette, says Steiner, “but they ate like they’d never eaten before.”

The children use a trowel and their hands to transplant colorful portulaca plants. “Your hand is often the best tool,” Steiner tells them.

Logan, thinking he’s been passed over for a turn to plant, hides under his hoodie. Niko reaches out and offers a portulaca to the boy. It takes time but, eventually, Logan accepts the plant. Niko has planted some special seeds — the seeds of friendship.