Cultivating Health & Connections with Farm to School
By Jenny Sandbo
Back-to-school means we’re back in the garden, but really…we never left.
It’s been a busy summer for our Farm to School team, volunteers, and student participants. In Concrete, we welcomed weekly volunteers (both adults and students) to work in the garden, harvest, stock, and host the farm stand. Throughout summer, we engaged youth in fun outdoor activities and local events, like Concrete Youth Activity Day and Cascade Days. We even held a Bouquet-Making workshop, utilizing flowers from the garden as a fundraiser for the program.
In Sedro-Woolley, we’ve made great progress on our new project at Cascade Middle School (CMS).
The CMS garden has been in the making for over a year. It started in spring 2025, transforming a grass field into a nutrient-rich garden space. To break down the sod, volunteers spread compost and covered it with a tarp, letting it “cook” over the summer months. In the fall, students uncovered the space, broke up the soil, performed a pH test, added amendments, and planted a cover crop.
In early 2026 students harnessed their spring fever energy, creating beds and planting crops. Their enthusiasm was contagious.
“Both myself and Heather Hirschi, the CMS teacher spearheading garden education at the middle school level, were amazed by the positive energy those students brought to the physically challenging work of creating a new garden by hand”, Program Coordinator Adele shared. “Around seven students from various High School CTE (Career and Technical Education) classes showed up in the pouring rain and worked with determination and good humor on a garden space that would ultimately serve those younger than them. It really got me excited about the opportunities and learning this garden will facilitate for secondary students in the Sedro-Woolley School District.”
Tender plant starts were nurtured over the summer to become the school’s first harvest this fall. In September, we celebrated with students, teachers and volunteers through a Harvest Friendraiser, where we pressed fresh apple cider, enjoyed snacks, and shared a variety of arts and crafts.
Next steps at CMS include integrating food systems education into curriculum and incorporating garden produce into school meals. Adele explained, “We are already doing this with the 7th grade science classes taught by Hirschi. We’re hoping to expand to the other 7th grade science classes and – eventually this year – engage teachers of other subjects and see increased use of the garden space for teaching across the middle school! Construction of a more effective seating area for learning is one of our top priorities, as well as breaking ground on the next 20×50′ in-ground bed, hopefully this fall!”
The middle school garden projects build off the success of partnerships with elementary schools in Sedro-Woolley.
At Samish Elementary, our participation in their outdoor education program started in the spring of 2021, helping them design and break ground on their first garden beds. We also utilized reclaimed trails through the woods for native plant identification while engaging kindergarten through sixth grade students in outdoor lessons.
The school requested and received $15,000 from the SW Rotary for expansion of their outdoor learning infrastructure, including the garden space. Funds were used to install murals, outdoor benches, raised beds, a new garden shed, and storage for woodchips and compost.
At Clear Lake and Central Elementary Schools, students have updated the gardens with hand-crafted multi-lingual signs and integrated garden activities into their math and science lessons. A Clear Lake educator shared this feedback “Kindergarten loves the timing of our garden lessons [spring], which fits perfectly with our spring science unit. We also love that they get to taste foods like radishes!”
Last spring, students at Evergreen Elementary installed over 20 native plants. This was the culmination of a year-long project planning and designing an overhaul of their front courtyard. Future additions to the area include pathways, benches, bilingual signage, and pollinator homes.
Earlier this year parents from Big Lake Elementary reached about designing their own school garden, which they plan to install next to their newly unveiled outdoor learning classroom. We are excited to support them in visioning the future of garden education for Big Lake students and families!
Our team is full of energy to be back in the (outdoor!) classroom and looking forward to watching our student-friends learn, grow, and thrive in the garden and in their daily lives.
When asked why gardening is important, one student responded,
“Better mental health [and it] sparks creativity!”
Learn more about United General District 304’s Farm to School programming and how it benefits our kids and communities!
For more information, contact:
Rachel at Rachel.Muia@UnitedGeneral.org
Adele at Adele.Eslinger@UnitedGeneral.org
Margo at Margo.Heffron@UnitedGeneral.org
Click the recipe to download
