AGUA CALIENTE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Located in the "Dream Homes" neighborhood in Cathedral City, California, the Agua Caliente Elementary School students can now dream about growing their own vegetables in their new school garden. Agua Caliente Elementary School has classes from kindergarten to fifth grade as well as a Federal Head Start Program for preschoolers. All classes have projects growing in the garden. |
| The Dream Garden built in Spring 2009 was made possible by a joint venture between Slow Food Desert Cities, the local chapter of Slow Food USA www.slowfooddesertcities.org and Hidden Harvest www.hiddenharvest.org. |
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Slow Food USA is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote a bio-diverse, sustainable food supply and to bring families back to the table. Slow Food in School's programs are designed to connect young people with their food and provide meaningful, hands-on food experiences and education as a step to ensure a future full of good, clean, and fair food. |
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Hidden Harvest is a Coachella, California based produce recovery agency that employs low income farm workers to "rescue" produce that is left behind in the fields and orchards after harvest. The produce is distributed through local food agencies. |
Community built. Parents, teachers, neighbors, Slow Food members and Hidden Harvest volunteers constructed six raised garden beds and a storage shed. Irrigation was donated by PDM Plumbing. Organic plant mix was donated by California Bio-Mass. Construction expertise was provided by Daniel Morales’ construction company. Daniel has two children enrolled at Agua Caliente. |
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A schoolyard garden is an outdoor classroom providing opportunities for teaching children math, science and the values of eating locally, seasonally and sustainably through hands-on projects. In addition to growing vegetables, there are opportunities to explore theme gardens such as history gardens, butterfly gardens, ecosystem gardens, heritage gardens and nutrition gardens. |
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| What's going on? |
| Scarecrow Contest
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 Blooming Broccoli |
Thanks to Phil Noble of Sage Mountain Farm for lettuce, cabbage and green onion starter plants! If you would like to help with this project or future projects, |
