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CENTRAL COAST — Fun, kid-friendly gardening activities from Students for Eco-Education and Agriculture (SEEAG) are now available for children who are at home due to COVID-19 school closures. SEEAG, a local leader in agriculture education, conducts learning programs in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties at schools and farms where it teaches students how food is grown, healthy eating habits and proper nutrition. The program is called “Let’s Grow A Garden!”
“Although schools are closed, we still wanted to reach students as part of SEEAG’s Child Wellness Initiative,” says Mary Maranville, SEEAG’s founder and CEO. “‘Let’s Grow A Garden!’ gives kids the information they need to plant their own vegetable garden at home. As with all our programs, our goal is to help kids understand where their food comes from and to use that knowledge to make healthy food choices.”
Program lessons are now online and new lessons will be posted every Monday through summer. Topics include how to plant an outdoor vegetable garden or indoor container garden, how to select the right plants and soil, information about local agriculture and links to where families can order seeds and gardening materials online.
Co-sponsoring Let’s Grow A Garden! is Agromin, an Oxnard-based manufacturer of earth-friendly compost products made from organic materials including food and yard waste collected from cities, landscapers, businesses, farms and community members. Agromin (201 Kinetic Drive, Oxnard) is giving away 500, 20-quart bags of potting soil (one per child), Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Follow all social distancing rules posted on site.
The program will also feature a weekly garden photo contest where students submit photos (#letsgrowagarden2020) showing the progress of their gardens with the chance to win garden-themed prizes.
“Let’s Grow A Garden! is an educational outdoor activity for kids while they’re away from school. These gardens can provide a sense of accomplishment while creating a lifelong love of the land,” says Maranville.
No registration is required. New gardening tips and information will be posted each Monday at 8:30 a.m. on seeag.org/letsgrowagarden. To learn more about SEEAG, go to www.SEEAG.org.
About SEEAG: Founded in 2008, Students for Eco-Education and Agriculture (SEEAG) is a nonprofit organization that aims to help young students understand the origins of their food by bridging the gap between agriculture and consumption through its agricultural education programming. SEEAG’s “The Farm Lab” program based in Ventura County teaches schoolchildren about the origins of their food and the importance of local farmland by providing schools with classroom agricultural education and free field trips to farms. Through this and other SEEAG programs, over 40,000 elementary school students in Southern California have increased their understanding of the food journey. For more information, visit www.seeag.org or email Mary Maranville at mary@seeag.org
About Agromin: Agromin manufactures earth-friendly soil products for farmers, landscapers and gardeners. Agromin is also the composter for over 200 California cities. Agromin receives more than 750,000 tons of organic material each year and uses a safe, natural and sustainable process to transform the material into soil products. The results are more vigorous and healthier plants and gardens, and on the conservation side, the opportunity to close the recycling circle, allow more room in landfills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Agromin is a U.S. Composting Council Composter of the Year recipient. www.agromin.com, Call 800-247-6646 to arrange product delivery from one of Agromin’s compost or mixing/blending facilities located throughout California.