farm to school

I had the privilege to attend a session for educators last night in the Children's Education Garden at Redwood Roots Farm hosted by the Education Program Director Erin Derden. The session was wonderfully educational and a great example of a local Farm to School program designed for K-3. Erin Designed the garden and curriculum herself and we had the chance to explore the garden and talk about each purposefully planted area. Some of my favorites where the Huge Bean Tee Pee, the "Three Sisters" mounds, the Giant plant area and the Zoo garden. After our exploration we had the chance to create a spinach roll out of things directly from the garden just like her children do in the program. We learned the proper pinch maneuver for picking our spinach and then chose from carrot shreds, cucumber, borage flower, dill, cilantro, and calendula to make a colorful edible wrap.  Erin was very helpful and informative for educators implementing their own garden education program with a wealth of resources including the Monterey County Farm to school Partnership that is part of farmtoschool.org. 

This is a dream for me to have and hold for now until the time is right.