Ah summer, when everyone seeks to break their routine and relax. Today might be a better day than usual to do that, since it is officially “National Relaxation Day.” The day was coined by 9-year-old Sean Moeller, an Iowa fourth-grader who decided in August 1985 that “people think too much about working.”

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Camp Horne was the dream of Albert H. Burchfield, a manager at the Joseph Horne department store and son of one of its founders. In 1907, he and fellow employees began raising funds to set up a summer camp where “juniors” - teenagers who worked as errand boys and package wrappers - could spend a week away from the smoky city camping in the outdoors completely free of charge.

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In 1996, California restauranteur Alice Waters joined forces with a middle school principal to turn an acre of asphalt into the first Edible Schoolyard. Students in Berkley, Calif., cultivated a love of nature as they learned how to make healthy choices and prepare the fruits and vegetables they grew. During the next two decades, Edible Schoolyards spread across the country. While many now exist in the Pittsburgh region, they are not the first schoolyard gardens to be cultivated by Pittsburgh students.

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