HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – At Coyote Valley Elementary School, the contrary Mary of nursery rhymes has been displaced by students who grow something far more nourishing than silver bells and cockle shells and a whole lot easier to digest.
Their crop includes spinach, lettuce, kale, garlic, carrots, onions, cauliflower, red beets, broccoli, radishes and peas.
The south county school has, in fact, been so successful at growing things that in May Lowe's awarded it a $4,550 “Toolbox for Education” grant, which will be used to renovate old garden beds and install new (redwood) ones.
It was not the first recognition for the hard work, community spirit and attention to agriculture the school has received this year.
Earlier the Whole Kids Foundation awarded Coyote Valley Elementary a $2,000 grant that was used to install new raised beds and fill them with top quality organic soil.
“It took that much money to try to rehabilitate our garden,” said Elsie Mackesy, the second-grade teacher at Coyote Valley Elementary who wrote the $4,550 grant. “With the generosity from Lowe’s we were able to use redwood and a 50-50 mix of top quality organic composted topsoil from Ellis Ranch in Lower Lake.
“We will be able to supply food to our school cafeteria harvested in the morning,” she said. “It’s just wonderful for kids to eat and love their fresh vegetables because they grow them.”
At least that’s the popular belief that is making its way into elementary schools around the country.
“If they grow it they will eat it,” proponents of healthier foods in the schools assert.
The emphasis at Coyote Valley Elementary is consistent with a national campaign aimed at raising the level of nutrition.
One report states that only 2 percent of school kids are getting enough vegetables on a daily basis.
“The kids love it. It’s a wonderful part of their day,” Lisa Rogers, Coyote Valley Elementary's Farm to School aide, said as she took a short break from teaching second graders the anatomy of plants. “I think a lot of schools have gardens now. People are trying to be healthier.
“A lot of families and a lot of school cafeterias are into nutrition. In Middletown we’re harvesting things almost every day,” she added. “The students love it when they can say ‘Oh, I grew it and I may eat it right now.’”
Three of the second graders from Mrs. O'Neil's class were asked to voice their thoughts on the program.
“I like the vegetables; they are healthy for you,” said Joshua Watson.
“I like the garden and how different types of vegetables grow there. And Mrs. Rogers is really nice and teaches us,” said Caelyn Ochs.
Baily Caldwell was impressed by the “very, very tiny carrots. But I haven’t tried one yet, so I’m not sure if I’ll like them,” she said.
Rogers, a specialist who is a temporary hire for the school, said what she enjoys is explaining to the students that all food “does not come from Safeway.”
“And we live in this beautiful county where there are farms and we’ve kind of disconnected from that. We show them a little seed and how it can grow into a beautiful plant and they have a new appreciation,” she added.
Rogers, the garden committee and the children planning the summer planting of tomatoes, squash, corn, pumpkins, beans, cucumbers, watermelons and flowers timed for the return of school in August. Beyond that, they're hoping to host a September harvest celebration.
Mackesy praised the school children, teachers and parent volunteers who have perpetuated the site where the Coyote Valley Elementary growing program began.
It was, she said “an arid, weedy” gopher hangout when a visionary teacher, Kathie Reeves, and her husband, launched a beautiful vegetable and flower garden that became “an outdoor learning laboratory for eager students.”
They originally brought redwood beds and drip irrigation to the site.
That was 19 years ago.
A year earlier it was a hand-planted garden created and maintained by the Hidden Valley Lake Garden Club.
In the last four years tools, weed barrier cloth and soil amendments were funded by the Coyote Valley PTO, Hidden Valley Lake Garden Club, California Women for Agriculture, attorney Angela Carter, Beringer Winery and Wells Fargo Bank, said Mackesy.
More recently, she added, Cindy Leonard of Cobb has aided in providing necessary funding.
All of which goes to prove that Coyote Valley’s garden is truly a community project.
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