We grew a ton of food last year!

... literally...the harvest sheets have all been tallied and we harvested over 2200 pounds of food in 2009!

ADA/Senior Beds

In June we were visited by a fabulously enthusiastic and helpful youth organization from Atlanta, who built three beds specially designed to accommodate seniors, people with disabilities, and really just about anyone who would rather stand or sit comfortably while gardening. I harvested some greens today from one of the beds and let me tell you-- my back was very grateful.

In addition to constructing the boxes and filling them with soil they also planted loads of vegetables. They did a fabulous job!

To project was recently featured in the Pacifica Tribune- to read more about it click here.

An enormous thanks to them for traveling such a long way to help out! What a great addition to the garden.

School Day at the Gardens

On May 28th a 4th grade class from Ortega Elementary School came to the garden and spent all morning learning about growing food! We taught them about composting with food scraps and worms, the use of nitrogen in plant growth, how to plant seeds and raise them into mature plants, and how to know when a crop is ready to be harvested.

The kids got to do do what they do best: ask loads of questions and get their hands dirty!

They were all very curious to see what their food looks like when it's in "plant" form in the ground, and we teachers had tons of fun exploring with them and answering all their wonderfully insightful questions. The curious young minds often times led us out into the garden to touch, feel, smell, and taste the plants in the garden. We were impressed to see how many plants they could identify and how much they knew about what plants need for growth.
At the end of the day we all ate a yummy salad made with fresh greens, peas, and other produce from the garden.

We were told that because of budget concerns the school was forced to cut the life science portion of the 4th grade curriculum, so we were happy to be able assist with some hands-on experiential learning. I think it was truly a fun and educational day for everyone involved. We look forward to having more schools visit the garden in the fall!

Never too late to talk about Earth Day!

As promised... an extraordinarily brief recap of our Earth Day activities:
Loads of people came out to the garden to spend the day partaking in and learning about various gardening activities. Master Composters Cas Lesiak and Joe Lees were here leading demos, and many folks were interested in learning how to compost in their own gardens. Vermicomposting (with worm bins) seemed to be of particular interest.
Our own masterful gardening queen, Loretta, led a group of youngsters in planting sun flowers, which was also a hit! More photos and tales of the gardens coming soon!

Native Plant Propagating Day

This past weekend we planted an assortment of adorable natives (they're so little!) and it was a great success! We made potting soil and potted up over 300 native plants, including 150 Coyote Brush, 39 Sticky Monkey Flowers, 105 Iris Longipetala, and 29 Mock Heather.

They'll be kept in the shade for a couple weeks while they take root in their new soil, then we'll transfer them to a sunny place where they'll continue to grow throughout the summer and fall.

All will be available for purchase at our native plant sale later in the year!

An Over-do Garden Update!

Spring has sprung! Actually, it sprang rather suddenly and jubilantly many weeks ago, and now we're up to our eyeballs in chard, quinoa, strawberries, and loads of other goodies! We've been so busy cultivating and caring for the garden, in fact, that we abandoned our blogging duties entirely...
we hope you'll forgive us and accept this very condensed list of what what's been sprouting all winter long as our way of making it up to you.

• Planted 14 additional fruit trees in our already-existing mini-orchard of six apple trees.

• Planted 500 square feet of blueberries!

• Expanded our school education program to include field trips in Spring and Fall (more to come on how the spring classes went!)

• Held events for Earth Day and "Turn off the TV" week.

• Created food-donations partnerships with Pacifica Resource Center and St. Edmunds’ Church (and Food Harvest).

• Began a Teen Community Service program.

• Had a visit from St Bartholomew's Church, YAC group, from Atlanta Georgia, who helped build, fill and plant the ADA/Senior beds.

• Held a Seed Saving Workshop.

• Made our first donation to the Resource Center! 37 heads of lettuce, 6 lbs of kale, 3.5 lbs of collards, plus parsley and cilantro.

• Sheet mulched a 500 foot area adjacent to the mini orchard as a demonstration method for soil enrichment and weed control.


What in the world does it mean to sheet mulch? Visit again soon for information and details! We'll be working to fill you in on our Earth Day activities, the "Gardens by the Sea" tour, and more!

Happy Gardening~

Harvest passes 500 Lbs

Today the total produce harvested in the garden passed 500 lbs and there's more to come before we "put the garden to bed" for the winter. Great job everybody!