Did You Know?

Did you know Willard's Gardening and Cooking Program:

• grows 20 to 30 different types of vegetable and fruit on 1/3 acre.
• cans over 450 pounds of tomatoes to use on the 900 pizzas for four school events.
• harvests enough produce to use during cooking classes for over 500 students (53% qualify for free and reduced lunch)
• allows students science-based hands-on experiential learning, examples:
• 6th graders learn ecology and geology standards by using the garden and compost to build landforms.  They also design and build their dream garden
• 7th graders learn genetics, cell biology, and animal anatomy and physiology standards working with the garden chickens and hatching eggs
• 8th graders learn chemistry by understanding yeast and bacteria by making pizza dough.
• composts waste from neighborhood cafes and Whole Foods
• raises seedlings and starts for ten schools
• provides all kids the change to make healthier decisions and creates a norm of eating healthy and local
• offers evening cooking and nutritional classes for families, using school produce
• provides at-risk youth summer employment, harvesting and selling produce to area restaurant