Give the gift of health, knowledge & nutrition this Holiday when you donate a Woolly School Garden. Just in time for Spring planting, your Woolly School Garden will arrive at the chosen school donated on your behalf, or in the name of someone of your choice. The donor’s name will be listed on the Woolly School Garden website, on your chosen school’s unique page.

Give your niece, nephew, grandchild, son or daughter a gift that will impact the rest of their lives!

Or take ‘team-building’ to the next level by having a day outside of the office & giving back to the community by helping out your local school!

The gift of a complete Woolly School Garden & nutrition curriculum is $1000. Smaller contributions can be made in any amount & are appreciated just as much! If you’d like more info, or to customize something, contact Becky: becky@woollyschoolgarden.org

Thank you for helping our schools grow!

Woolly Yours,
Becky + Aurora

Look what the amazing kids of Tomoka Elementary School sent us! They’re so happy to have a Woolly School Garden. Does your school have one? Get it here:

www.woollyschoolgarden.org

Tonight at the Teen Choice Awards, celebrities of all ages will stand before a gauntlet of photographers to have their pictures taken. This time honored tradition will have a twist as celebrities make their way down the red carpet. Behind them will be a living wall full of edible plants of all colors shapes and sizes! Eggplants, tomatoes, and peppers will share the spotlight with the likes of Leighton Meester, Justin Bieber, David Beckham and Jason Derulo. This first-ever edible step and repeat will turn red carpets green! The wall measures 56 feet long by 6 feet, consisting of peacock blue Woolly Pockets that will be filled (by volunteer students) with strawberries, peppers, tomatoes, squash, eggplants and onions.

Once the festivities are over, the Fox Network will donate the pockets to local Los Angeles schools, including Wonderland Avenue School and Ocean Charter School in addition to three others throughout Los Angeles. These Woolly School Gardens will help teach returning students the importance of nutrition, gardening, and sustainability. Both Fox Network and the Teen Choice Awards understand the importance of educating our nation’s youth about nutrition and have worked with Woolly Pocket founder, Miguel Nelson, to create this revolutionary step-and-repeat in the hopes that it will ultimately bring more attention to the need for nationwide school education about these important issues.

“It’s my mission to create thousands of Woolly School Gardens around the country and FOX and the Teen Choice Awards are helping to spread the message to young people everywhere by allowing my team and I to create this one-of-a-kind edible step and repeat,” says Nelson.

Tune in tonight to see all the greenery, and may the best teen choice win!

The Teen Choice Awards airs on FOX Tonight Monday, August 9th at 8:00 pm/7:00pm Central

See more Woolly School Gardens on our Flickr page!
Let us know what you think, Tweet us or visit us on Facebook!

If food brings people together, why not bring them together for a great cause–like Woolly School Gardens? Nothing gets people going for a good cause like food does!

The LA Street Food Festival was held this past Saturday at the  Rose Bowl, and we have more to thank them for than just gathering 60 of LA’s best food trucks together in one place–the Food Fest generously donated three new Woolly School Gardens! Thanks a Woolly Bunch, guys!

We wanted foodies from all over LA to get a taste not only of the scrumptious bites from Patty Wagon or Coolhaus, but also get the word out about what Woolly Pocket and the Woolly School Garden program are up to! So we set up our mobile version of the Woolly School Garden consisting of two living walls chock-full of edibles and other beautiful plants. The foodies were definitely distracted from thoughts of which vendor to hit up next by the sight of them!

Feast your eyes on snapshots of (just) some of the highlights of the day! People to see, food to eat, and vertical gardens to enjoy–what more could you ask for?

Image via LAWeekly.com

Here in Los Angeles, the food truck has become a culinary & cultural phenomenon of epic proportions. Before a certain mexican/korean mashup taco truck opened a twitter account and started serving delicious cross-cultural tacos, L.A. had over 4000 traditional food trucks serving hungry Angelenos at construction sites and anywhere people were hungry. The power of the internet made it possible for foodies to track down and locate a new breed of “gourmet” food trucks serving narrow bands of culinary creations such as ice cream sandwiches, indian dosas, deli food, BBQ ribs and the ubiquitous yet satisfying grilled cheese sandwich.

Image via LAinBloom

Image via Filter-mag.com

Image via komodofood.com

Now L.A. has well over 100 trucks tweeting and roaming the city bringing yummy delights to a hungry and connected populace! But what if you want to try everything in one place?

The LA Street Food Fest is the answer! On July 24th, over 60 of the city’s best gourmet mobile food vendors will be serving samples of their wares at the Rose Bowl! There’s even a live concert featuring local bands as well as beer and tequila tastings! The best part is that by gorging yourself on yummies from all over L.A., you’ll be helping to plant 3 Woolly School Gardens in schools all over town!

We believe in fostering great community, which is why it’s important for the LA Street Food Fest to give back to local organizations at each of our events. The LA Street Food Fest Summer Tasting Event will fully fund edible school gardens at at least 3 LAUSD elementary schools including: Elysian Heights, Crescent Heights and Annandale.

We’re so grateful to LA Street Food Fest for their generous support of these worthwhile schools and Woolly School Gardens! Please show your support by attending the LA Street Food Fest. Tickets are selling fast!

Woolly School Gardens is in the midst of a month long effort to bring school gardens to 250 schools across the country. Each of these schools has a story to tell. Their students are eager to begin growing plants and learning about nutrition. As we spread the word about Woolly School Gardens, and ask for your support, we thought it would be woolly to profile some of the schools in line to receive gardens. Except today, we’re bringing you a school that has already planted their Woolly School Garden!

Taylor Jones is the Assistant Principal of Arcadia Neighborhood Learning Center. She was awesome enough to give us a virtual tour of her school and tells us a little about their gardening initiatives, including their Woolly School Garden!

We are a K-8 public school in Scottsdale, AZ. We have almost 600 students in our school. We are a very diverse community, as students in our school’s community represent many different cultures and socioeconomic levels. Additionally, we just received a Title I designation based on the percentage of students who receive free and reduced lunch.

We already have – and love – our Woolly School Gardens! We wanted them to extend our gardenable space and to be able to give each student their own plot! We also plan to supplement our school’s café offerings with fresh herbs, fruit and veggies grown in our pockets. We hope to teach the students that they have the power to grow things in the earth and help them understand the connection between the foods they eat and the plants they can grow themselves.

At our school, we strive to provide all sorts of experiential learning opportunities for our students, so our students are already accustomed to learning by doing. Students develop a sense of responsibility, pride and accomplishment, and the knowledge and confidence in knowing that they have the power to grow something themselves, in our school gardens. Our school garden enables our teachers to extend their classrooms beyond the classroom walls and into the gardens. Students need space to grow and move and they need to be able to access fresh air, dirt, and plants, and they can accomplish that in the garden. Our teachers teach art, music, poetry, writing, science, cooking, health, math, yoga and endless other topics and activities in the garden. Our gardens are extensions of our classrooms.

Thanks Taylor! Now we NEED YOUR HELP! Vote today and everyday in June for Woolly School Gardens on Pepsi’s Refresh Everything Website!

To vote, click on the above image or visit WoollySchoolGarden.org for a direct link to the voting page! And Please Spread the Word! Thanks for your support!

Woolly School Gardens is in the midst of a month long effort to bring school gardens to 250 schools across the country. Each of these schools has a story to tell. Their students are eager to begin growing plants and learning about nutrition. As we spread the word about Woolly School Gardens, and ask for your support, we thought it would be woolly to profile some of the schools in line to receive gardens.

Today, we visit Melrose Avenue Mathematics/Science/Technology Magnet School located in the heart of Hollywood, California! Kim Lansill is helping the school coordinate their garden project and was kind enough to tell us about the school! Kim tells us she loves the principal and teachers, who are passionate and driven to help their students succeed! They have all embraced the new magnet status and garden program, and work hard to implement programs that benefit the students!

Hi Kim! Thanks for taking time to tell us a little about your school. Please tell us a little about your school’s student population.

Our school is comprised of 350 diverse students. Demographics of the student body: 57% HISPANIC, 20% WHITE, 11% AFRICAN AMERICAN, 7% ASIAN, 2% FILIPINO.

Why does your school want a Woolly School Garden?

Last year we started our Garden Initiative which means making our school “green” with grass, native plants, vegetable gardens etc…  Since 75% of our school is concrete we need to get creative….hence the Woolly School Garden.

Are the students familiar with gardening or will this be a new experience for them?

Currently we have 6 raised beds that the kids have experienced this year. They have planted seeds and seen them grow into edible vegetables.

What skills and/or lessons do you hope to teach in your Woolly School Garden?

Many families live in apts with no backyards or traditional garden options. This will teach kids and their families that there are options that are effective and ornamental.

Is health and nutrition a concern for students at your school? How do you see the School Garden addressing those concerns?

Absolutely, a few parent volunteers teach the kids about the gardens and how it relates to nutrition and the food we eat. The gardens and nutrition classes have opened their eyes and made them rethink what they put in their body.

Do you think students will appreciate the experiential knowledge of gardening for themselves? How do you see that benefiting them in other areas?

Gardening is great because you see the process from beginning to end and it doesn’t always work out. Some seeds dont germinate and grow and others do. Why is that? The kids are getting to see all this. When it does work they hare so happy and they eat the food they grew. When if doesnt they have to wonder why and start over making changes.

What other benefits do you see in creating a school garden? Are there specific needs the children have that the garden will address?

This year our school turned into a Science, Math and Technology Magnet. The gardens have been a huge part of our science curriculum. The kids study the raised beds once a week with their class. They have journals for writing and drawing what they learn and see. They learn about pollination and when plants “go to seed”. One thing I love is that kids see where food can come from. The supermarket dosn’t make vegetables : )

The kids at Melrose Elementary Magnet NEED YOUR HELP! Vote today and everyday in June for Woolly School Gardens on Pepsi’s Refresh Everything Website!