CALIFORNIA NATIVE GARDEN FOUNDATION

Design/Build/Manage: We design, build, and manage approximately 15 native and sustainable regenerative food gardens per year. Approximately 20% are teaching gardens at schools which we use CNGF volunteer labor to help build. The remaining 80% are private homes, churches or small businesses. Clients served: The schools we have built gardens for have approximately 750 students. Our private clients are approximately 45 people per year, churches are 250 people per year, and or businesses are 15 people per year.

Nature Camp: Our summer camp is held at our Sustainable Sites.org internationally certified ELSEE (Environmental Lab for Sustainability and Ecological Education) teaching gardens. We are the only certified teaching garden recognized in Santa Clara County, with 200 bench marks that protect ecosystems services in our urban environment. We taught between 50 students for seven weeks. Camp begins at 9am and ends at 3pm. We also offer early drop and late pick up options for working families. Besides at ELSEE, the classes are also taught at Hester Farms, a nearby teaching, training and research farm largely managed by volunteers and overseen by professional staff. The teachers are college students majoring in Early Childhood Education, Environmental Science, Biology, or the Arts. The program is managed by a professional pre-K and a specialist in 6-12-year-old outdoor learning. Over the years, CNGF has developed up to 100 lesson plans in outdoor STEAM education, specifically designed to be taught in a SITES-certified outdoor classroom. Once a week, the campers take field trips led by a naturalist who studied with Native American tribes, and takes campers and families to city and county parks with natural plant communities and riparian.