Santa Cruz Area School Food and Garden Tour

The Santa Cruz area is home to robust, long standing gardens and innovative school meal programs. Join us to visit resilient school gardens and scratch cooking school meal programs that are exemplary of the programming that has been running for decades.

On our tour we will visit Pacific Elementary School Garden that has continuously operated since the mid 80’s and gave rise to the FoodLab School Meal Program where 5th and 6th graders scratch cook lunch everyday! After checking in at the FoodLab kitchen we will head to Live Oak School District. At Del Mar Elementary School we will visit the LOSD central kitchen, enjoy a school meal, hear how they have adapted the FoodLab student chef program in their food service and visit their 40+ year old school garden and future production farm site. The day will end with visits to Branciforte Middle School and DeLaveaga Elementary School.

LEARN

Funding models for staffing school garden instruction
Examples of school year scope and sequence for k-8 garden programs

EXPERIENCE

School garden educators with decades of teaching experience
School food service program directors and staff who are cooking scratched cooked menu item
Tours of School Gardens in Santa Cruz county