Valley of the Moon Community School
The Valley of the Moon Children’s Home Garden has been in existence for over 10 years. During that time it has continued to grow and develop as both a therapeutic and educational to supports the needs of children who come to stay at Valley of the Moon Children’s Home. Valley of the Moon Children’s Home, a program of the County of Sonoma Human Services Department, provides temporary care for children ages newborn through 18 who are victims of abuse, abandonment, neglect, or whose parents or guardians are unable to care for them.
The Valley of the Moon Children's Home Garden provides an opportunity to to connect school curriculum with real life experiences in the garden. It is also a chance for the children to get much needed exercise by being outside and working in nature. The kids are able to connect the food they eat at meal time with the plants they are growing in the garden. They learn to work collaboratively, and understand that living things require nurturing in order to grow and thrive. These are invaluable lessons for them to learn that they can carry with them throughout their lives.
The Garden program is run by 3 amazing volunteers; Megan Berlin, Leslie Cook, and Amy Christensen who give tirelessly of their time to both maintain the space and support the work of the children in the garden. This year our volunteers and children have planted tomatoes, lettuce, chard, kale, broccoli, beans (including scarlet running beans), cucumbers, raspberries, strawberries, asparagus, 3 kinds of zucchini, celery, corn, gourds, pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloupe, geraniums and herbs (including basil, dill, chives, sage, rosemary). They also found and dug up oak and pine tree seedlings which they repotted them into pots that they had painted earlier in the season.
The children participate in everything from weeding, planting, to harvesting. Some of the produce they grow is used in cooking classes so the children learn how to transform what they have grown into meals. Their favorite part of the garden is watching things grow from week-to-week and harvesting the vegetables, fruits, and herbs.
