Urban Sprouts Loves Philly

I recently got back from a weekend trip to Philadelphia. Christine Manoux of the UC Botanical Garden asked me to join her for a conference at the Franklin Institute. The Franklin's BRIDGES conference asks about 50 cultural institutions from around the country — like science museums, children's museums, zoos — to bring a community partner and share how they work together to make the museums more accessible and exciting for new audiences, like the families we serve.

Christine and I presented on our shared work of supporting school gardens in the Bay Area, and I was excited about the idea of connecting families more to our botanical gardens. What better way to get inspiration for your home garden? Botanical gardens can be a fun and educational way to connect families to the garden-based education we're doing at schools. Thinking back . . . that was always one of my dad's first stops in any new place!

The format of the conference was very interesting - it was like a giant focus group to gather best practices on making museums accessible to more families. I loved what folks from the American Museum of Natural History in New York said, about empowering the youth in their programs to explore the museum, equipped with flashlights and the gear of scientists, so THEY feel like the experts and like they belong in the very grand museum. Folks from the Boston Children's Museum shared about exhibits created not by white-scientist-experts, but by members of the city's immigrant community, to share stories and history from the city's diverse voices. I know I am often turned off by museums presenting generalized archeological information about a culture as if all its members were the same and all now dead.

A very thought-provoking conference, including a visit to the Real Pirates exhibit at the Franklin. So much fun! I highly recommend it. We also enjoyed our time in Philadelphia, a truly beautiful, historic and fun city! Go there, if you can!

Salad Day and School's Out!

The last couple of weeks of school were a flurry of activity as we rushed to prepare the gardens for summer vacation, held end-of-the-year parties and BBQs, and said goodbye to our friends and teachers.

Of course, we couldn't end the year without one last garden bash. At MLK MS and Excelsior MS we held our annual Salad Day events. We harvested huge amounts of lettuce and veggies, made homemade ranch dressing, collected flowers for decorations, and created advertisement posters. Then, we setup a table in the cafeteria at lunchtime and served fresh salad to the whole school.

The salad was a huge hit -- one student told me she ate eight small plates of salad! Many students have told me that they don't like school lunches, so... I think everyday should be Salad Day, don't you?

Here is our recipe for delicious homemade ranch dressing - it goes great on everything, from salad to chicken strips. You can also find it in the Urban Sprouts cookbook, which you can get by sending an e-mail to: abby AT urbansprouts dot org.

Ranch Dressing

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream/buttermilk
1/2 cup buttermilk (or less, adjust for desired thickness)
1/2 teaspoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon dried/fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried/fresh dill weed
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper


In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, buttermilk, chives, parsley, dill, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Adjust seasonings to taste. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.

Job Opportunities at Urban Sprouts

GARDEN EDUCATOR (part-time)

What is Urban Sprouts?
Urban Sprouts is a school garden organization that serves low-income youth from San Francisco’s under-served neighborhoods. We teach youth to grow, harvest, prepare and eat vegetables from the school garden in order to help youth become more engaged in school, eat better, exercise more, and connect with the environment and each other.

Urban Sprouts uses garden-based education to:
• Improve students' learning in science and their ecoliteracy (environmental awareness and responsibility)
• Improve students' nutrition and physical fitness
• Build community involvement within urban schools.
• Help youth and their families take action to improve food access and environmental justice in their communities.

Each year we work with over 700 youth at five San Francisco public schools: Aptos Middle School, Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School, International Studies Academy, June Jordan School for Equity and Ida B. Wells Continuation High School.

Job Description
Urban Sprouts’ Garden Educators facilitate our core garden-based education curriculum. The Educator will facilitate primarily high school and some middle school science classes, combining environmental science education, nutrition education, hands-on experiences in the school garden (planting, tending, harvesting and cooking), and youth development principles. The Garden Educator co-teaches with the classroom teacher and mentors the teacher in outdoor classroom management techniques. The Garden Educator builds involvement in and commitment to the school garden within the school community, including teachers, administrators, students, parents and community volunteers, by collaborating with Urban Sprouts’ Program Manager. The Garden Educator will also support a group of student leaders to engage in garden-related action projects through after school or extra-curricular programming.

Job Responsibilities
• Facilitate 3-4 garden-based education classes per day two to three days each week;
• Prepare for each lesson by gathering supplies, worksheets, and reviewing each lesson plan;
• Manage the school garden, plan and prepare for garden work activities, manage cropping schedule, prepare for availability of tools and other necessary materials.
• Participate in biweekly staff meetings, which include professional support, collaborative curriculum planning, and completing reporting paperwork.
• Coordinate Garden Party Work Days in collaboration with the Family and Volunteer Programs Manager. Garden Party Work Days bring students, families, teachers and community members together to work and celebrate in the garden on a Saturday.
• Coordinate school-wide events such as Salad Days, in which students prepare and serve garden-grown salad for the entire school at lunch.
• Supervise classroom volunteers who assist with garden work activities.
• Meet with each teacher on a monthly basis for assessment and coaching.
• Monitor, document and report on all activities and extent of student and teacher participation to Executive Director.

Desired Skills and Experience
• At least 2-3 years of facilitation or teaching experience with youth aged 11-17; outdoor group management experience preferred.
• Knowledge and skills in small-scale organic food production or home gardening.
• Knowledge of or interest in topics including urban gardening, botany, environmental science, health and nutrition, food systems, food access, urban schools and social justice.
• A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent preferred.
• Bilingual and/or bi-cultural preferred (languages include Spanish, Tagalog, Cantonese).
• Demonstrated ability to work with diverse populations including youth and adults.
• Strong oral and written communication skills, including public speaking skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively and independently, flexible, enthusiastic, creative thinker.

This is a part-time position working 20-25 hours per week, $18-20 per hour DOE, during the 10-month school year, with summer work as a possibility.

To Apply
Please send a resume and cover letter via email to Abby Jaramillo, Executive Director, at abby AT urbansprouts DOT org or by mail to 326 Prospect Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110. For more information, visit our blog and website.

Coffee & Kale a Success!

A HUGE Thank You to everyone who attended our Coffee & Kale Garden Brunch at Ida B. Wells High School on Sunday. This was the first time ever we have hosted an event like this. And it was so much fun!

First, in preparation, students harvested five boxes of produce from all our school gardens, including kale (of course), beets, onions, turnips, radishes, lettuces, sage, and lots of flowers. And we delivered them to our neighborhood chefs!


Then, on Sunday, Jeff and Laurence from Nopa Restaurant transformed our produce into beautiful fritatas with onion, kale, sage and more, crostini with radishes, and salad, to feed our hungry guests!

At Coffee & Kale, guests enjoyed garden tours, garden-grown greens cooked by students, seed saving, and a brief presentation with remarks by Claudia Anderson (Ida B's principal), Claire & Julius (2 students from our programs), Lena (board member), and me (our director)! The event was a huge success, especially for our first try! More than 50 guests attended and we raised over $10,000 in gifts and pledges.

THANK YOU!!!! To everyone who helped, attended, and contributed, you made a huge difference for Urban Sprouts! Here are some photos, and for more visit our Flickr page.

Our Staff

Abby Jaramillo, Executive Director. abby AT urbansprouts.org
I've worked as a gardener and educator in the Bay Area for the past eight years. I started Urban Sprouts at Luther Burbank Middle School in 2004 with my colleague and friend Michelle Ratcliffe and a group of dedicated teachers. I love Urban Sprouts because I can share with young people the kinds of outdoor gardening experiences that changed my life when I was a teen, trying to find peace in an urban environment. I've also worked on rural development projects in Ecuador and the Peruvian Amazon and worked in non-profit funds development at Streetside Stories. I was trained in organic horticulture at the UC Santa Cruz Farm & Garden and studied Economics at Haverford College. I also hold my Masters of Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco.

Wendy Huang Landerholm, Garden Educator. wendy AT urbansprouts.org
Aptos Middle School, SF Community School, Ida B. Wells Continuation High School.
My passions in life are traveling, backpacking, and living sustainably. Adventures through China, India, and Nepal and then volunteering on an organic farm in Ecuador taught me the importance of connecting with the earth and with the people around us. I have worked as an educator for the past seven years, including with Americorps and Teach for America. I earned my Master of Education degree from the University of St. Thomas and my Post Master Special Educator degree from the University of Portland. I am especially excited to combine all my interests and be a part of Urban Sprouts!

Adriani Leon, Garden Educator. adriani AT urbansprouts.org
International Studies Academy & Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School.
My love for environmental education comes from working for and living aboard the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater in New York City, writing and teaching about the ecology and conservation of the river. I bring my interest in plants and love of cooking to the Urban Sprouts youth and am excited to serve Spanish speaking families and help include them in the urban greening movement. I am a graduate of Brandeis University, where I was a leader in the Latino Student Association.

Ami Puri, Garden Educator. ami AT urbansprouts.org
Log Cabin Ranch.
I am an educator, filmmaker, and urban gardener who works with adults and youth on bike education and urban sustainability. I believe that bikes are a great starting point to make the connections between food, transportation, and the creativity we need to transform our environments into healthy beautiful spaces for everyone. My background in urban gardening has been broadened through the Garden for the Environment's GCETP class, as a youth educator with Koshland garden, and through natural building and Permaculture courses with Kleiwerks and Aprovecho. My current work with Urban Sprouts centers the spokes of the past five years of work and learning I've been doing to mash community art, good food, and wholesome fun together!

Audrey Roderick, Community Programs Manager. audrey AT urbansprouts.org
For the past 10 years I've served as a community organizer and volunteer coordinator in San Jose, CA and Missoula, MT: at City Year, the Girl Scouts, a youth residential facility, and Girls for a Change. In Montana I also worked at Garden City Harvest, a production garden, community garden and garden-based education program. Here at Urban Sprouts I manage our volunteers and our family involvement program, including our new family Farmers-in-Residence – school families growing their own food right in the school garden.

Visit us in the Garden on June 1!

We at Urban Sprouts are super excited to offer you the chance to get to know us a bit better and experience the school garden this June!

Please join Urban Sprouts for our ‘Coffee & Kale’ Garden Brunch!

When: Sunday, June 1st, 10:30am to 12 noon
Where: Ida B. Wells High School, 1099 Hayes St. at Pierce, San Francisco
What:

• Tour the Ida B. Wells school garden
• Enjoy garden activities like seed saving, seed sowing and herb harvesting.
• Taste dishes made with organic school garden-grown ingredients, prepared by local chefs from Nopa Restaurant!
• Support our work by bringing friends and neighbors, and bring your checkbook! You will be invited to give - no gift is too large or too small. Every donation helps urban youth learn to grow their own food at school.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO RSVP. If you can't make it to the event and you'd like to make a donation, click HERE.

Invitation (above and below) by Lisa Chen.

I hope to see you there!!

Urban Sprouts is Starting a Chicken Coop!

Urban Sprouts is starting a chicken coop in collaboration with June Jordan Small School for Equity! The coop is a wonderful way to learn about where eggs come from and how they are produced. It is also a wonderful opportunity to explore chicken diversity, biology and to understand how chickens fit into garden and farm ecology.

Just yesterday the chicks arrived! The Urban Sprouts Program Manager has a coop of her own and they chicks are being fostered at her urban farm in sunny Oakland until they are old enough to be moved to their new coop home. Some interesting notes to take on keeping chicks, straw is too difficult for them to walk on. Their tiny wings and feet get caught and they tend to fall over. Ground corn cob works better. Also, we located an excellent source for all things fowl: Concord Feed. They carry the exact feeders and water containers and other supplies needed for tiny babies. The staff there is also very knowledgeable about livestock. For now the little peeps will grow strong in their chick hut.

Worm Bench Inauguration

Several months back, a wonderful crew of volunteers from Skywire helped students at June Jordan to build an amazing worm bin-slash-garden bench (photo below). These worms need a wooden box to protect them from the elements — those plastic bins often aren't enough in the outdoors. We use red worms, also known as Eisenia foetida for worm-composting or vermiculture, in which the worms eat plant waste and turn it into compost.

Today, we introduced a "gaggle" of red worms to their new home (top photo). (what do you call a group of worms??) We inaugurated our worm bin-bench with its new resident worms, and by enjoying the view of the garden from our new perch. Que lindo!

You may be wondering, how can I start a worm bin at home? It's not hard, but it takes patience and persistence to help your worms feel at home and begin doing their job . . . eating your garbage! And turning it into nutrient-rich castings for your garden plants, of course! To learn more about worm composting, start HERE, and then check out Worm Woman!