Edible Education is based on the idea that the health of our community and future generations can be improved through hands-on experiences growing and cooking fruits and vegetables.
The Edible Education program includes School Garden Education, Cooking Nutrition Education, Food Day Celebrations, Farm to Preschool, and Earth Day Celebrations.
Edible Education is based on the idea that the health of our community and future generations can be improved through hands-on experiences growing and cooking fruits and vegetables. Over the course of three years, our program works in partnership with local schools to establish gardens and train teachers how to incorporate gardening and cooking activities into their classrooms.
La Semilla supports schools and teachers with the supplies, training and technical assistance to ensure they are successful. We currently offer Edible Education at 21 partner schools throughout the Las Cruces, Gadsden, and El Paso school districts.
The garden is an outdoor classroom full of opportunities for kids to explore and engage in hands-on activities.
Science, math, health, and language arts are just a few of the many subjects that can be taught using the garden – all while meeting state education benchmarks and standards.
La Semilla’s learning gardens are designed to grow an abundance of healthy food and serve as classrooms and living laboratories for hands-on learning. Students will engage with every step of the seed to table process from preparing the soil to planting seeds to harvesting and eating vegetables, ending in composting food scraps to return nutrients to the earth. In their first year, schools create a design for their garden space. In the fall, raised vegetable garden beds will be installed so that beds are ready for their first planting in January 2018. Schools will also plant 6-10 fruit trees in their first year.
La Semilla school garden staff will survey your desired garden site and create a professional design for your Learning Garden to be approved by district facilities staff. The design will plan for additional garden beds and garden components that your school can apply for in your second year of the program.
Each school will receive six raised beds for vegetable production. Each bed is 4 ½ feet by 10 ½ feet and 20 inches high. The beds are made of pecky cedar and are designed to be durable, easy to use, and low maintenance.
All Learning Garden components are connected to an automatic irrigation system to ensure plants receive sufficient water during the weekend, school breaks, and during our hot summers. Providing La Semilla access to the main water line, rather than a hose bib will ensure your irrigation will be long-lasting and prevent leaks.
Schools will receive 6-10 fruit trees selected from varieties that grow well in our climate and produce fruit while school is in session. Schools typically choose from apple, pear, peach, apricot, pomegranate, and fig trees.
Essential garden tools: shovels, rakes, digging forks, hand trowels, hand cultivators, and pruners.
Harvesting materials: 16-quart stainless steel colander, 5-gallon salad spinner, 3-bin produce washing setup, produce bags, etc.
A vermicomposting bin provides an introduction to composting.
Educational garden signage as well as vegetable identification signs.
…to see additional Learning Garden Components available in your second year of the Edible Education program.
Once your school garden has raised garden beds for growing vegetables and fruit trees, your school is eligible to apply for additional garden components listed below. The number and size of additional beds will be determined by school interest, funding, space considerations and weed pressure.
In this garden bed, students create a habitat for pollinators by including host plants for butterflies and nectar-rich flowers that feed bees, hummingbirds, butterflies and other pollinators. The pollinator habitat provides a place for students to observe lifecycles and attracts other beneficial insects that help manage pests and ensure healthy garden ecology.
Herbs are a staple in any garden, and many herbs are perennial and bring life to the garden throughout the year. Herbs are great for sensory explorations and can also be used fresh in salads and infused waters or can be dried for tea or culinary spices.
Project-based learning beds can be used to bring to life any classroom book or topic. Projects are designed by the school and supported by La Semilla. Some examples include: growing a food students are reading about, seed saving, three sisters gardens, cucumbers for pickling, tea gardens, growing corn to grind into flour, planting edible perennials, etc.
Composting offers students the opportunity to better understand how matter cycles through our ecosystem and observe the process of decomposition. In the garden, finished compost adds nutrients to beds that keeps soil healthy and ready to support plant growth. Our compost bins can produce a significant amount of compost; however, they do require a school to have a method for collecting compostable materials and a commitment to watering and turning the pile.
Schools can apply for a garden chalkboard that can double as a garden welcome sign on the reverse side. Depending on available funding, La Semilla may be able to offer limited benches for seating. Schools are encouraged to find shady places under tree canopies or consider installing shade structures to help make the garden classroom more comfortable. Seating options like hay bales and tree stumps can also be used to create a gathering space.
Cooking with kids is a fantastic way to get students excited about healthy foods.
Kids have the opportunity to try new foods and create healthy meals with their peers while learning math and reading skills by following recipes and measuring ingredients. Kids also learn essential life skills including food and knife safety, as well as how to make healthy food choices and read nutrition labels.
La Semilla celebrated Food Day 2013 & 2014 at Gadsden Middle School, offering students and faculty an afternoon fair with samples of local produce, raw honey, blender bike smoothies, and samples of recipes prepared by culinary students. Students also learned about traditional foods including sunflowers and amaranth, discussed farmworker issues and diet-related illnesses, and watched cooking demos with local chefs.
We celebrated Earth Day 2015 at Sierra Middle School with over 800 students! It was an afternoon of fun-filled activities designed to engage students in thinking about their impact on the environment. Students made seed bombs, planted milkweed for monarch butterflies, recycled bottles into garden planters, made delicious smoothies using a bike blender, learned about water conservation, and learned that on average food travels over 1500 miles to reach grocery stores. They sampled local produce and herb infused water and made art out of recycled t-shirts. Students also had the opportunity to pledge how they would work to protect the environment moving forward.
Are you looking for Food Day activities to incorporate at your school? Check out www.foodday.org for a variety of ideas.
Each month participating classrooms prepare a healthy recipe featuring locally grown, seasonal produce. La Semilla has designed eight monthly recipes and works with La Semilla Community Farm and other local growers to help us deliver nutritious, delicious produce right to your classroom!
Newly established, our Farm to Preschool program is designed to be fun and very hands-on to engage preschoolers, get them to try new foods, and get their hands dirty in the best way, all the while getting local produce into the preschools to support our local farmers.
We’re working to create healthy kids, families, and communities!
We provide resources and training to a limited number of childcare centers to integrate garden and nutrition lessons that encourage students to develop healthy eating habits from a young age while promoting access to local, fresh, and healthy foods. We are excited to share our new Paso del Norte Farm to Preschool Curriculum free for any childcare provider to download and use, created in partnership with Occidental College’s Farm to Preschool Program and Life Labs’ Sowing the Seeds of Wonder Workshops. Shaped around the traditional school year, this guide provides interactive and engaging activities shaped around healthy, fresh, and seasonally-available foods specific to our region. There is a featured fruit or vegetable each month with weekly lessons, culminating with a monthly fresh food tasting.
We are currently providing training and resources to four childcare centers in Doña Ana County to implement Farm to Preschool programs and anticipate doubling our reach in the near future. If you are interested in integrating Farm to Preschool at your childcare center, please email us your contact information, and we will be in touch as plans progress!
Partner Schools receive a complete cooking kit that includes cutting boards, knives, mixing bowls, measuring spoons, a salad, spinner, graters, peelers, and other tools to prepare basic fresh-prep recipes right in the classroom. After a school completes the 3-year Edible Education Program, the Cooking Kit remains at the school for future use.
New this year! Students in participating classrooms will receive our Edible Education Recipe and Activity booklet. The booklet centers around our eight monthly recipes with nutritious lessons, harvest guides, and veggie info sheets for each month. Bilingual copies are available upon request!
Seed to Table events are the culmination of the students’ experience in Edible Education. Students invite parents and family members to taste delicious dishes prepared with produce they have grown and harvested. These celebrations provide an opportunity for students to share their cooking and nutrition knowledge with their family and take Edible Education home. Returning schools have the option of holding two Seed to Table Celebrations each year. The first is either held in October or December depending on whether schools come back to a garden full of summer produce or come back and plant cool-weather crops in September. The second Seed to Table Celebration is held at the end of the school year. New partner schools hold one Seed to Table Celebration at the end of their first year.
Our Edible Education Program is currently accepting applications for new partner schools for the 2020-2021 school year. We currently work with 31 schools throughout Las Cruces Public Schools (LCPS), Gadsden Independent School District (GISD) and El Paso Independent School District (EPISD). In the current application cycle, we are seeking to add a total of 8 New Partner Schools: 3 new schools in LCPS, 3 new schools in EPISD, and 2 new schools in GISD.
Please reach out to EdibleEducation@lasemillafoodcenter.org with any questions or to submit your school’s application materials. Please return your application as soon as possible, but no later than Sunday, August 30TH, 2020.
La Semilla Food Center is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization incorporated in New Mexico and Texas.
101 East Joy Drive,
Anthony, NM 88021
P.O.Box 2579
Anthony, NM 88021