It’s our 15th anniversary in Boulder Valley School District! Let’s celebrate! On September 26, from 4-7 pm, we will be hosting a Garden Festival at Lafayette Elementary. There will be garden-themed games, a concert by Jeff & Paige, food & drinks, and gardening education. Everyone is welcome! You do not need to attend Lafayette Elementary to attend the Garden Festival.
Dinner will be served by Eats & Sweets and Kingcomo’s Quesadillas. Pre-order your meals when buying your tickets and pick up at the event when you’re ready to eat.
County Commissioner, Marta Loachamin will be present for conversation on topics related to the health and development of Boulder County.
Have you been pining to visit Black Cat Farm for a romantic farm dinner? Play a quick and easy fundraising game to win a $450 gift certificate to spend at their farm dinners, online shop or farm stand. Purchase game tokens with your tickets.
Book lovers rejoice! In partnership with the Boulder Book Store, we are selling bundles of garden-themed children’s literature. These books have been carefully selected by the Garden To Table team and will be ready for you to pick up at the event. Be sure to purchase your book bundle while ordering tickets. Perfect as gifts and for bedtime stories!
Do you have a garden? At the event, we will be teaching you how to improve your soil and protect your garden over the winter with compost and cover crops. Free cover crop seeds donated from Pawnee Buttes Seed Inc. will be available. A1 Organics donated the compost for this fundraiser to support school gardens.
Want some swag? We have super comfy t-shirts that you will love! Purchase t-shirts and hats when buying your tickets and we will have them ready for you to pick up at the event.
This is a fundraiser, but we won’t turn anyone away. An additional donation on your part will help cover the costs for those who can’t afford a ticket for everyone in their family. All remaining proceeds will go directly towards supporting school garden programs. Garden To Table partners with 19 schools in Boulder County, providing gardens, curriculum and support so that all students can participate in garden-based learning. Parents are not charged a fee.
This is an outdoor event. In case of inclement weather, we will move indoors with masks. Whether or not you choose to join us indoors, you will be able to pick up all pre-ordered meals and add-ons outside at the event, regardless of weather. No refunds.
This event is sponsored by Oatis, making fresh, delicious and pure organic oatmilk served in zero-waste, reusable glass bottles. Oatis oatmilk can be found at the Boulder Farmers Market on Wednesdays and Fridays, and Denver’s South Pearl Market on Sundays. Also at Moxie Bread Co. in Boulder and Louisville, and Ruby’s Market in Denver. Why should you drink oatmilk? Read the story here: https://oatislove.com/story
Our Commitment to this Community
School gardens provide many benefits for health, education and the environment. After a year of being cooped up, students need more opportunities to step away from their computers, get outside, move their bodies, interact and connect with nature, and participate in hands-on, experiential learning. Because of this, our goal is to get every child out into their school garden this growing season. We are committed to supporting our teachers with flexibility and creativity.
In 2020, we used school gardens to grow and donate 8,500 pounds of fresh produce to local food banks. We created 7 new video lessons, in English and Spanish, to assist teachers and parents with home learning. We published our Home Garden Resource Guide to support home gardeners in growing the garden of their dreams. We created a How-to Guide to Container Gardening, available in Spanish and English.
In 2021, we will be updating our curriculum to meet new academic standards, translating all new materials into Spanish, offering professional development for teachers who want to teach outdoors, maintaining 20 abundant school gardens and installing bilingual signage so that everyone knows they are welcome in their school garden.
It is our goal to get every child out into their school garden this year and to support their teachers in the process. Can you help? Join our Every Child in the Garden campaign with a donation today.
Environmental Education for a Changing World
To build resilience in a changing world, we need to educate our youth about the environment and teach them skills that will help them to live well and heal the earth. Garden to Table believes that garden education can do exactly this. Students with an understanding of ecological processes and an ethic of environmental stewardship will be able to solve problems and create solutions for a more regenerative world. Our school garden program provides the content and the context for impactful learning.
Health Education for At-Risk Youth
Children who grow their own food are more likely to eat it and to express a preference for fruits and vegetables. At a time in history when rates of new diagnosed cases of diabetes are on the rise for kids and teens, especially among minority groups, it is imperative that we teach all students the importance of healthy eating and active living. Equally important are the skills needed to grow their own food and the opportunity to develop a taste for fresh fruit and vegetables. Garden education has the ability to do exactly this and our standards-based curriculum is designed to engage children in this type of learning.
Teacher Support to meet District Goals
We are the only school garden support organization serving Boulder County. As academic standards change, teachers are asked to implement new teaching strategies and curriculum in their classrooms. Garden to Table provides a standards-based, hands-on curriculum for teachers to use in their school gardens. Our curriculum is designed to address the Next Generation Science Standards and the 2020 Colorado Academic Standards, and is being translated into Spanish to allow for better participation by an increasing Hispanic population. Each school has access to a private website with curriculum documents, scheduling tools and gardening resources.
Our school has unanimously chosen year after year to renew our contract with Garden to Table because of the quality of support they offer, the benefit to students and the ease of use for teachers.
Amber Billington, Fireside Elementary 3rd grade teacher