West County DIGS
Developing Instructional Gardens in the Schools
Our Mission:
We support school gardens in West Contra Costa County by providing resources, advocacy, and partnerships. We build our community's resilience by cultivating wellness, academic achievement, and sustainable practices.
What's Happening NOW?
We had an excellent meeting in March! Over 25 people attended, at least 12 schools were represented, and a number of our community partners were present as well. Martha Berthelsen from the Watershed Project gave an excellent talk on native plants in the school landscape. Then, we began our first ever bulk order and supply swap! Everyone had a blast. We exchanged recipes, sampled salad dressing, loaded compost into trucks, selected seeds and seedlings to take back to our gardens, and gathered up our bone-meal, potting soil, and much more. We'd like to offer up a BIG thank you to the Center for Ecoliteracy for providing the funding to make this happen. Also, thank you to Annie's Annuals, Acapulco Rock and Soil, Gardening with Kids, and The Urban Farmer Store for your donations and discounts.
We aren't the only ones, who think that gardening with kids is important. The school garden movement got some much needed press when the the First Lady replanted the White House Garden with school children. Check out the video of her opening remarks:
