Making Home Gardening a Little Easier During the Pandemic in San Francisco
West County DIGS is helping families offer their kids off-screen learning and enrichment by providing plant starts and gardening tips.
By Graciella Rossi
Earth Island Journal
Summer 2020
Excerpt:
At Mira Vista Elementary in the City of Richmond, Principal Gabriel Chilcott helped us reach every single family by sending emails and text messages to their phones. The result was that over 50 families responded when invited to come pick up free plant starts for their home gardens.
So far, we have given away over 600 plant starts — seeded by schoolchildren in our greenhouse back in February and by our partner, Master Gardeners of UC Berkeley — to teachers and families. These plant starts gave many families the impetus to begin the home garden they had always dreamed of. (Check out this neat video about the plant give away!)
A positive aspect of this pandemic nightmare is that it presents the opportunity for a rebirth of urban agriculture. This is evident from the unprecedented surge in demand for seeds and plants across the nation. We were thrilled to make home gardening a little easier for the communities we serve, and to help families avoid the long lines and increased exposure at nurseries.
Meanwhile, with the support of an intern, we updated our look and developed all our online platforms, including our website and social media pages, and we are regularly posting instructional videos on gardening techniques, recipes, and arts and crafts projects.
