The Davis Joint Unified School District has a garden in every school. Students plant in mosaic planters, raised beds, landscaped areas and more. They learn about plants, insects, soil, composting and growing fresh and tasty food.
Davis Farm to School supports gardens throughout all schools in the Davis Joint Unified School
District (DJUSD). We offer a competitive matching garden grant program to all interested school sites in Davis and Yolo county.
We support school site garden coordinators and are a resource for lessons, supplies, volunteers, workshops, networking and communicating with district maintenance staff. We also work with district administration to craft school garden policies.
Each year, garden coordinators or garden program volunteers from all sites are eligible to be nominated for garden GROW awards. The top nominee earns a monetary award.
Our school gardens support California’s academic content standards and provide important hands-on learning experiences for students.
Check out the individual school pages for more information on school gardens.
SCHOOL HARVEST PROJECTS
The Harper Harvest Project tended a large scale planting of broccoli and lettuce destined for use by the DJUSD Student Nutrition Services kitchen during fall 2013. In this pilot project, the SNS agreed to purchase produce from the Harper garden. School gardens can use this model to become self-sustaining enterprises while SNS gains an opportunity to serve premium fresh, local produce at lower costs.
The Birch Lane Harvest Project is a smaller scale test that provided chard, lettuce and oranges to SNS during winter 2013. The produce was served to Birch Lane students as part of their lunch time salad bar.
The Harper Harvest is not currently active, but Birch Lane Harvest is continuing.