Madison Elementary School has a new garden.
Thanks to a grant from the Pasadena Community Gardens Conservancy to PEF and PUSD, the new Madison Elementary garden will bring families, school staff, and the community together to cultivate a healthy environment and serve as an outdoor classroom for more than 430 Madison Elementary students.
New orchard trees planted along the perimeter will now offer community members fresh peaches, plums, apples, oranges, and pluots, among other fruit. The school garden will include vegetables, herbs, and fruit grown from seeds and seedlings. Herbs will be used in parent cooking classes held at the Madison Family Center that are part of PUSD’s Nutrition Network and grant-funded Healthy Start. The garden will be maintained by PUSD staff, interns, parent and community volunteers.
The garden will enrich science learning in all grades by incorporating gardening into state-certified curriculum for pre-science classes. Teachers, trained in Farm-to-School curriculum, will lead students through lessons in seeds and germination, soils, insects, gardening, harvesting, and nutrition.
Children, families, volunteers, and local officials came out to help prepare and celebrate the grand opening of the school community garden on Saturday, January 30. Pasadena PUSD Superintendent Brian McDonald, Ed.D., Mayor Terry Tornek, PUSD Board Members, and PCGC President Eileen White Read helped plant the very first fruit trees in the new orchard.
Pasadena Community Gardens Conservancy has a Public-Private Partnership with the City of Pasadena and Los Angeles County, and is also a proud founder and funder of the Villa-Parke Community Garden, northwest Pasadena’s first public community garden.
