from the garden
Ladies Lead Way to Reducing School Waste
In an effort to reduce the school’s trash output, three bright young 8th graders at Martin Luther King Middle School have chosen to create a compost education project. I am honored to be working with these three and have enjoyed getting to know them. Recently we have been working on Read the rest of this post »
Posted by adriani March 4, 2010 Tags: compost, school lunch, youth involvement Posted in: compost, school garden, school lunch, youth involvement No Comments
Keeping resources in the garden with worm compost.
WATCH THIS VIDEO: A student videographer checks out one of our worm bins. We regularly harvest worm castings from these bins to enrich the soil, especially in raised beds. Read the rest of this post »
Posted by ami February 26, 2010 Tags: compost, school garden, worm bin Posted in: compost, school garden, urban garden, video, worm compost, youth involvement One Comment
View our Model & Results
I recently gave an overview presentation of our work, and here it is for your viewing.
This presentation was originally prepared by Lisa, Adriani and I for the Network for a Healthy California. I added a bit to this version, given at a meeting hosted by the California Association of Food Banks. I hope it is useful!
Urban Sprouts also offers a one-day training on the full model and how to implement it! Please contact me and we can set one up in your community! abby AT urbansprouts DOT org
Posted by abby February 23, 2010 Posted in: curriculum, evaluation, gbemodel, nutrition No Comments
Pollination 101
Middle school students are learning about plant reproduction in the garden at San Francisco Community. Flowers are blooming and our lettuces and arugulas are ready to create and scatter their seeds. Students are discovering how these changes in nature - observable in the city and not just in cultivated gardens - are part of the ongoing life cycle of many plants. Read the rest of this post »
Posted by wendy February 9, 2010 Posted in: curriculum, flower, pollinators, school garden No Comments
Cracked up!
Spring semester is in swing at June Jordan School for Equity. The favas and mustard planted last year are looking great and we are prepping the beds with compost for our spring plantings.
The chickens are thriving in their new coop, and they’ve started laying again! But it’s not all what it’s cracked up to be yet… Check out this short tale of suspense and mystery in the chicken coop! Urban chicken farmers, let us know if you have more clues to help get our eggs from the coop to the kitchen before this fate befalls them…
Posted by ami February 3, 2010 Posted in: chickens, video One Comment
Garden Work Days
We hosted a fabulous group of volunteers yesterday from the Presidio Graduate School up at the June Jordan garden. Their students built a new worm box, cleaned the chicken coop, readied the family garden for planting, and weeded the student garden. They even . . . Read the rest of this post »
Posted by audrey February 1, 2010 Posted in: event, school garden, volunteer No Comments
Cooking Collards on Video
I am very excited to bring to you a glimpse of a day in our gardens. Thanks to our new Flip cameras, you can see Urban Sprouts in action preparing freshly harvested collards into delicious, simple, gourmet snacks!
Students at both Martin Luther King middle school and International Studies Academy have gotten excited about sharing their perspective of the garden to the community and each other. In the near future I hope to use the Flip camera as a medium of communication between the two schools.
Posted by adriani January 29, 2010 Posted in: local food, nutrition, organic, school garden, video No Comments
The school garden teaches youth and their families how to plant, tend, harvest, and prepare fresh produce through hands-on experience. 
Teachers note that the garden is an environment where students and adults create trusting relationships. 
Urban Sprouts is a project of Neighborhood Parks Council, 451 Hayes St. 2nd Fl., San Francisco, CA 94102