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Check out the new web site just for the Garden Club!

https://sites.google.com/site/eldoradogardenclub/

Garden Project Overview:

Our after school program Garden Club plans to support, expand and enhance the Farm To Table Garden Project at El Dorado Middle School. We plan to introduce to our students the full circle of a garden life from seed, irrigation, fertilization, harvesting and sanitation to food on the table.
Our Farm to Table program will also include the following Life Skills;
** Safety and sanitation in the kitchen, food borne illnesses, temperatures and storage. Basic survival cooking skills for the day our children leave the nest. How to shop on a limited budget, read labels and shop the perimeter of a Grocery store for healthy choices. Then finally the students will prepare and serve, to their supervisor’s, a healthy meal from their garden and healthy choices from the grocery store.

Our Garden Project will be held at El Dorado Middle School and will include students from sixth, seventh and eighth grades. Our garden project is currently being supported by our after school program on campus, however, it is open to any students who has interest as well as any classroom curriculum. The students will be involved in all planning of this project; we have already measured and mapped our garden together. Although the students are all responsible for the total projects building and maintenance, they will break down in groups to work on an individual section of interest. Our current plans include; a butterfly garden area, citrus area, vineyard area, good insect area, vegetable area, composting and worm farm area, herb garden, flower and native plants as well as a space reserved for science and history class participation. There will also be a quite place for students to go to regroup or read.

My role as their resource teacher thus far with the garden project has been acquiring it’s acceptance as a part of the after school program. Followed by the support of our school’s administration and staff, Technical and Video Production department to track our progress and share it with our students, Journalism class to inform students and parents of our progress through the school’s newspaper, to get the support from our District’s Maintenance Department by volunteering their time to share and teach our students their individual skills to aid the completion of our project. We are currently holding a Flower Power fundraiser to get our project off the ground. I have finalized all of the above-mentioned items from Sept. 2010 to date Oct. 24-10 and I am currently seeking funding to accomplish our goals.

The items that we will use our grant money for are as follows; soil conditioner, plants, irrigation supplies and garden boxes.

Thank you for supporting the efforts of bringing school Gardens and necessary life skills back into our schools for our students.

Joanne Domingoes
Sr. food Service Manager
After School Program Resource Teacher
At El Dorado Middle School