Benjamin Franklin Elementary

Garden Leader: Allie Molinda – blainenewby@yahoo.com

Ben Franklin Elementary has a medium to large size garden composed of about 14 4×12′ raised beds, and 2 2×20′ flat beds. A small but adequate shed houses our garden tools. We produce mainly vegetables and herbs. The garden is surrounded by xeric plantings. We have a compost system and the garden is irrigated by an automated drip system. We use the garden for gardening, cooking, social studies and art classes.

It’s time to get organized for spring! We are planning what we will be growing this spring to harvest next fall. We will be working more with a local chef to increase and improve our cooking classes. We plan to participate in the Youth Farmers’ Market program for the second year. We are hoping to get some of our garden produce into our school cafeteria.

All this is, as always, focused on educating our kids about hte goodness and importance of home-grown, nutritionally-loaded, good tasting food!