Sierra House Garden Program

The population of South Lake Tahoe consists of mainly low income families with 50 % white and 50% hispanic. At Sierra House over 60% of our students receive free or reduced lunches. In 2012 the Barton Community Health Needs Assessment for South Lake Tahoe showed that more than 1 in 3 children, ages 5-17 was overweight or obese. In response to this issue various groups within South Lake Tahoe began to work together on new ways to positively impact the health of our community. Gardens have been proven to be instrumental in improving children’s diets and health nationwide and we began to focus on creating community gardens as a means of change. A small grassroots group formed to raise funding for year round growing domes to be built in our community.

In 2014 after two years of fundraising our local grassroots group, composed of parents and community members, raised enough money to construct two growing domes at Sierra House Elementary in South Lake Tahoe. 

The mission of the Sierra House Garden Program (SHGP) is to increase awareness of good nutrition, local food systems and ecological stewardship, provide fresh, local, and organic food for our school, and educate students about growing food using energy-efficient design in an alpine setting.

In other words, the SHGP team is working towards the following goals:

1) Teach students, families and staff about permaculture, four-season growing techniques, and energy efficient design in an alpine setting

2) Encourage students, families and staff to eat more locally-grown, organic seasonal produce

3) Improve the mental and physical health of our students, families and staff

4) Provide fresh produce for students at our school and within the community

5) Create a scalable model for schools in the Tahoe Basin

The growing domes fit squarely into Sierra House Elementary’s focus on health, nutrition and mountain sports. We have created a year-round ecology lab that promotes a sense of social and environmental responsibility in current and future generations of South Lake Tahoe students and their families.

We are firm believers in 'Show, Do, Teach' . Our students learn through their own experientential experience how to plant, transplant and harvest the food that they then prepare and enjoy as a community.