A Community Treasure

This December brings great promise to Mendocino County! There's the welcome rain, of course. But there's also a new social movement afoot... a movement towards creating a culture of health and wellness. It's called Leaders for a Healthy Community.

Over 40 service professionals (including professionals from health clinics, school gardens, family resource centers, afterschool programs, Health and Human Services, high schools, preschools,  hospital foundations, teen leaders, and parent leaders) came together in both Ukiah and Willits for the first of 10 monthly Leaders for a Healthy Community meetings. The participants officially signed on as Health Leaders, committing to work within their organizations to implement health, nutrition and physical activity programming and policies, and committing to collaborate and form new health connections across the community.

What a community treasure! The Health Leaders bring so much enthusiasm and experience to this work. All are dedicated to creating a community where health and wellness are front and center, where opportunities to eat well and be physically active abound. They are excited about sharing resources, learning more about nutrition education, promoting activity, building relationships across the community, and truly moving the dial towards greater health and wellness in Mendocino County.

In the new year, expect to see "health happening here" as the Health Leaders roll out their programs and make presentations to decision-makers and governing bodies around Mendocino County.

Natural Building in Community Gardens

I recently attended a week long Natural Building Intensive course at Emerald Earth in Boonville. In this course, we learned how to use basic materials such as wood, earth, rock, and straw to build beautiful, safe structures. The methods feel so intuitive, and the work is most often accomplished as a community. Using these techniques, you can build large homes and skyscrapers, but I'm to take what I learned and start small by constructing some structures and garden features in community gardens throughout Mendocino County. We are starting with a small cob greenhouse at the South Ukiah Head Start Preschool garden, a cob bench at the Cleveland Lane Community Garden, and counters and benches to surround the earth oven already constructed at Talmage State Preschool (there is also a cob greenhouse there!). In Willits, Mason has plans to also build a shed in the WISC garden, and in Ft. Bragg at the Learning Garden, Veronica Morales of the Noyo Food Forest plans to build an earth oven.


This is an example of a cob bench at Emerald Earth.

These structures will make the gardens even more functional, beautiful spaces for communities to gather. And the best part is, we're going to build them together, strengthening partnerships with different organization, such as the Solar Living Institute and Head Start Preschools, and building community so that we can then take what we know to share with others. I can't wait! See you out there.

happily yours,

Lovin' donation from Lovin' Blooms and AVHS!

A big thank you to Lovin' Blooms and the Anderson Valley High School Agriculture Department for such generous donations of starts to The Gardens Project. Last week we were up to our ears in plant starts - four different varieties of tomatoes, tomatillos, chives, bunching onions, two different varieties of eggplants, endless peppers, and so much more!

The donations were given to Nokomis, S. Ukiah Head Start, Orchard Head Start, Willits Head Start, Orchard, Jack Simpson, Grace Hudson Elementary, and Pomolita Middle School, Calpella Elementary, Round Valley Elementary, Blosser Elementary, Oak Manor Elementary, River Oak Charter School and Eagle Peak Middle School. Wooza!

Check out the picture to see how much they donated, its a sight to see. Imagine in September when these lovin' plants have a lovin' bounty of food.

Thanks Lovin' Blooms and Anderson Valley High!

Willits Volunteers Working Hard

Saturday proved a huge success at the Willits Head Start garden - 15 volunteers showed up at the head start to get the garden back into shape! Volunteers helped build new beds, remove pesky blackberries and bermuda grass, pulled weeds, and added new hose faucets in the garden. Check out the slide show below to see more pictures from the volunteer day.

A big thank you to everyone who came out to help at the Willits Head Start garden!

PreSchool Garden Training

They love to play and explore. They have a very short attention span. They have tons of energy. They are preschoolers! Working with this age group in the garden comes with a unique set of challenges. On January 9th, The Gardens Project organized a workshop to help educators of young children from around Mendocino County succeed in meeting these challenges and connecting the garden with the classroom.

The workshop was held at Talmage State Preschool, was co-sponsored by First 5, Head Start, and The Gardens Project, and was presented by Life Lab Science Program, a nonprofit organization that has been working in the field of science and environmental education since 1979. With their award winning curricula and programs, LifeLab helps schools develop gardens where children can create "living laboratories" for the study of the natural world. The workshop focused on designing a garden for young children (ages 3-6), lesson ideas for introducing children to soil, seeds, plants and animals, and songs and books that are designed to connect to garden lessons. We spent time in the garden and in the classroom and left the workshop with a booklet full of garden lesson plans.

One of the best aspects of the day was connecting with 25 other staff working in gardens with preschoolers at Fort Bragg Head Start, Willits Head Start, South Ukiah Head Start, Orchard Head Start, Nokomis Head Start, Talmage State PreSchool, and Caspar. We shared our experiences and ideas of what works and what doesn’t work with young children in the garden. It was an inspirational day of learning, sharing, and networking, complete with a yummy lunch and lots of laughs.

Thank You, Gardens Project!

Kim Morgan
Noyo Food Forester
& FB Head Start Family Garden Coordinator

Willits Head Start Garden

The Willits Head Start Garden has been blossoming and growing this summer. Our children have been enjoying watching the wonder of the garden and eating the wonderful vegetables it has produced.