Growing Resilient Optimism
Since school just got out, we thought it a good time to celebrate our Farm to School project called Growing Resilient Optimism With Nature (GROWN).
You may be aware of our Garden Blitz project where we invite the community to support each other and install backyard gardens. (We took a break this year, but hope to be back next Spring.) You may have seen our Farmers Marketmobile driving around town bringing food to Concow, Magalia or Forest Ranch. Maybe you are familiar with the Community Gardens we run, such as Bumblebee in Paradise and the wonderful Veteran’s Community Garden in Chico (exciting updates on that garden below). But you have probably not heard much about GROWN as it’s kind of in the background, although it’s one of our larger projects.
GROWN was born out of a desire to inspire kids and their families to grow and eat more healthy food. There is no better way to get a kiddo to eat more veggies and fruit than to include them in a garden where they get to grow it! Good, healthy food during childhood is one of the most important pieces of laying the groundwork for a healthy body that lasts a whole life. Gardens reconnect kids to their food- they get to see that it grows and that it is not just something that shows up, wrapped in plastic in a huge grocery store.
But It’s not just food the kids are learning about- it’s the important role insects play, how to grow healthy soil, how to conserve water, care for the environment and each other. There are studies that show how being in gardens with hands in the soil can impact mental health and navigating relationships. It is truly amazing how such a simple thing as a garden, impacts so many aspects of our lives!
GROWN began in 2022 with Achieve Charter School. We slowly added more schools over the past few years and now support three elementary schools, one high school and three preschools. Until last fall, the program struggled with funding, but then we were awarded two large two year grants. One was from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and a very large one ($198,000) from the CA Department of Agriculture (CDFA). Forty percent of the one from CDFA allows us to procure local food for the daycares, provide a monthly small bag of groceries for the families and weekly 50% off coupons for families when they shop at the Farmers Market.
What makes GROWN so fantastic is our two intrepid teachers, Eric McAnlis and Shelley Miller. They are amazing! We get constant feedback on how exceptional they are with the kids and the engaging curriculum they have developed. Both have certificates in Early Childhood Education and love to garden. And they are artists!! Shelly is a painter and seamstress, Eric is a musician. That perfect blend of additional talents have been such an added bonus for the kids whose lives they are touching.
We would love to expand the program and make sure school that wants a good school garden program in Butte County gets one. More and more studies of the positive impact of these programs has caught the eye of school districts around the state and country. As the funding situation at the federal level is not settled, we would encourage our community to develop strategies to not be do dependent just on state and/or federal government funding, but rather to realize that these programs are an investment in our community and our future. As an investment, it behooves us all to support these kinds of programs. There are tons of studies that show that the more we invest our time, energy and money into their healthy development, the greater the return in less spending on fixing things in them later.
The school garden current model usually relies on an overworked and exhausted teacher and/or parent to volunteer their time to grow the money and fundraise to support it. As a society, we can do better. It takes a village at every school, but when we come together, we know we can do better. So…what can you do to support this project and the other school garden projects around the county?
Are you a retiree who likes to garden? Consider finding a school that has a garden and volunteer with the team doing the work. If you don’t know of a school, contact us at info@bclocalfood.org and do our best to connect you to one.
If you don’t want to search for a school, join our team as a volunteer so we can expand to other schools.
Do you have garden equipment that you no longer need? Contact those schools or us and help defray costs
Encourage your PTO to raise their voices and let the school district know you want more support for school gardens and local food procurement. Tell the districts we want a full time School Garden and Local Food Procurement job embedded in the district. If needed, you can invite someone from our team to come give a presentation to the PTO.
Donate to school garden programs- either ones in your area, or to GROWN.
Does some child you love go to a school that needs support for their garden and/or want to develop a program? We have a waitlist with an application available if you contact Jen Goddard, our ED at Director@bclocalfood.org .
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Finally- school gardens are great, but consider bringing that home and putting in a garden in your yard. If you don’t have space, grow a few food items in pots on your porch or terrace. It all helps out, is fun and can provide an opportunity for your child to contribute to his family’s food security. Who knows, maybe they will get to feel proud they get to teach their whole family stuff they did not know! Keep an eye out for plant giveaways.
Sign up for our newsletter and track our social media pages on Instagram @bclocalfood and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ButteCountyLocalFoodNetwork to keep up on freebie opportunities and workshops and events for kids.
We invite anyone with interest to find out more about our school garden program to contact us at info@bclocalfood.org
