Gardens are not just good for food! Gardens are a great place for families and children and offer many benefits including peace of mind, health, science and math lessons. Vegetables are never better than when you grow them yourself; a sun-warm tomato will always beat out the one found in the grocery store. Studies have shown that kids who grow up with vegetable gardens are more likely to show interest in trying and eating different vegetables. When kids are involved in the growing process they are more likely to want to try the vegetables they are growing. Studies have also shown that kids that play in the dirt are less likely to get sick, because the friendly exposure to different germs boosts their immune system for later in life.
READ MORE >Since the Gardens Project was founded in 2007, we’ve worked with the people of Mendocino and Lake Counties to develop 45 community and school gardens. That’s an average of 4.5 gardens a year! A lot has changed since the first community gardens in Ukiah, but the need to increase food security in both counties is still there and the work continues…
Setting up the drip irrigation at the Willits Head Start Preschool Garden
READ MORE >Drought got you down, dirty and dry? Thanks to funding and support from the North Coast RC&DC, the Noyo Food Forest and MCOE Youth Garden and Talmage Preschool Garden installed rain water catchment systems to help with garden irrigation. Read the blog and . . . .
Fifteen young people celebrate the winter holiday by gifting Nokomis School Garden 10 new garden beds!
Three cheers for the Triple-C's!
For everyone who expressed an interest in the school gardens, here is some more information for you.
Twenty Mendocino County educators dug in and shared a nutritious meal in celebration of Garden Enhanced Nutrition Education in October. Let's ensure that healthy gardens and children grow in Mendo'!
Students in Willits might not realize it, but they belong to a school district that has been busy breaking ground in the local food movement. Over the past several years, the Willits Unified School District has changed the way it feeds its students. WUSD Food Service Director Christy Wisdom has been leading the charge to increase healthy, whole, and local foods served in the school’s cafeterias. Wisdom and her dedicated team partnered with the Farm2Fork project of North Coast Opportunities—Community Action in February 2012, and together they have continued to reshape the face of food in WUSD.
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