Seed to Table Program

We serve Kinder through 5th grade students in a longitudinal program that engages a child over the entire six years of elementary school. Alternating between gardening and cooking classes during their regular instructional day, students learn how to collaboratively grow, harvest, cook, and eat their own healthy foods, as well as how they can impact the broader environment and their own communities. GSF Garden Educators lead classes as well as maintain the gardens, liaise with classroom teachers, outreach to school communities, coordinate volunteers, and facilitate weekend Community Garden Days. 

Our Seed to Table curriculum comprises 120 grade-specific, Standards-aligned lessons developed with chefs, educators, nutritionists, parents, Master Gardeners, and community volunteers. The science-based Garden Lessons cover such topics as growing and life cycles, plant structures, environmental sustainability, composting, garden maintenance, and urban garden wildlife. See a favorite 2nd Grade Grade Garden Lesson on the water cycle here. In Cooking Classes, students harvest from their own school gardens and then make every step of our 60 recipes - chopping, peeling, mashing and mixing their way to a shared meal. We encourage “brave tasters,” often introducing a whole food or ingredient for the first time. See a sample 2nd Grade Cooking Lesson here.

Cafeteria to Compost Program

Started in Spring 2018 as a city-funded pilot, and now serving three GSF sites, our Cafeteria to Compost food recovery and food waste diversion program composts food waste to nurture our school garden beds. Every day at the lunch tables, our paid Cafeteria to Compost Team Members help students sort unwanted items from their lunches to either compost or redistribute to other students during lunch and again with families after school. During the 2022-23 school year, we redistributed 9,241 lbs. of edible leftover lunch items with school families and composted 18,237 lbs. of cafeteria food waste, significantly reducing the amount of food waste headed to the landfill. Through the simple daily practice of sharing, sorting, and composting their cafeteria food, children learn firsthand that they can take concrete action to address both food access and climate change. Cafeteria to Compost is supported through a partnership with Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation.

Community Garden Days

We host regular Community Garden Days at all GSF school sites on weekends and after school. Our school families, service organizations, and volunteers come together to help plant, weed, water, mulch, enjoy demos/workshops, share a meal, and more! No garden experience needed - come make new friends in the garden!  See the full Fall 2023 schedule here.

School Farmers Markets

Modeled on our historic monthly produce give-a-ways at the 24th St. weekend Community Garden Days, our school based Farmers Markets became even more urgent during the pandemic. Given the ongoing need across our school communities, we host bi-monthly markets at 24th Street on the first and third Thursdays of the month. With generous donations from our long-time collaborators, Food Forward, we set up our markets right out front of school as families are picking up their kids. During the 2022-23 school year, we hosted 24 Farmers Markets, sharing over 34,687 lbs. of fresh produce with 4,468 individuals.