The Julian Elementary Garden is pleased excited thrilled beyond ecstatic to announce that we were recently awarded a Sage Garden Project Grant.  It’s a bit dreamy.  Listen to what we receive from this lovely foundation:

-Funding for my garden educator position for next year

-A fully equipped cooking cart that can be wheeled into the classroom for demonstrations

-Access to all of their garden and cooking lessons

-Tuition and expenses at the Edible Schoolyard Academy—an comprehensive, 5-day academy built around the program at King Middle School.  King has an extraordinary garden, kitchen and cooking program fully integrated into their 6th, 7th and 8th grade humanities classes.  It was founded by Alice Waters, the owner of a French restaurant in Berkeley (Chez Panisse) and an internationally known speaker, writer on food and justice and all-around rockstar.

The academy took place last week in Berkeley, and it worked perfectly for me to attend.  Summers ago, my family had made a stop at this famous school garden and kitchen to look around.  The kitchen was locked but I snapped photos which are catalogued on this blog under the “children’s garden ideas” tab.  This time I spent five days learning, often experientially, about their garden, kitchen, cooking classes, dining commons, and school lunch.  It was completely amazing.  So amazing that I’ll be posting about it in a series of posts throughout the summer. For now, back to Sage.  None of this would have been possible without them, and our district is profoundly grateful for their support.  Another thing we “won” with this grant: inclusion in this cool cohort of grant recipients. I look forward to learning from them in the year to come. Sage Garden Project Grant Cohort at the Edible Schoolyard