Willow Creek Academy Culinary Farm Program

Established in 2014 by a group of committed students, teachers, parents, and community leaders, the Willow Creek Academy Culinary Farm’s mission is to create an engaging, systematic and sustainable outdoor education program in the fields of cooking, gardening and nutrition that deepens the understanding of core knowledge and nurtures a lifelong connection between mind, body, spirit and the environment. Leveraging a team of parent volunteers, our three campus gardens, and utilizing the Sage Garden Project curriculum, students receive a weekly lesson that underscores what is being taught in their respective classrooms. Our program serves an extraordinarily diverse population of students with no significant majority of any specific socio-economic group. We believe that digging in the dirt alongside each other, to grow, cook and enjoy food can act as an equalizer to bring students of a variety of backgrounds and beliefs working together to build community and connectivity with one another and the environment.

In the fall of 2015, we launched a hugely successful new meals program in partnership with The Conscious Kitchen. The program offers daily scratch-cooked meals (breakfast and lunch) from an on-site kitchen. Prepared by a dedicated head chef and staff, the meals are within the USDA budget, exceed nutritional guidelines and are entirely FLOSN (fresh, local, organic, seasonal, non-GMO). The program is committed to zero waste as well as garden and nutrition education. Our food is procured through partnerships with local farmers and purveyors. Willow Creek Academy, along with our district partner, Bayside MLK, make us the only school district in the country to offer this type of a program.