Stevenson PACT School is a public K-5 school that offers progressive education and a developmental curriculum. Through experiential learning, innovative teaching methods and a strong collaboration between teachers and parents, we emphasize growth of the whole child – intellectually, socially, physically, and creatively.

drought tolerant. Mr. A will be giving them a budget and they'll be planning how to spend it.

Last week we dug a hole and filled it with water to see if the area would drain well. We found out that the drainage is not great so we need to roto-till the area and add some amendments.

The class has put out a call for parent volunteers to assist with roto-tilling and getting the soil amendments from the SMART center.

Garden Workday - November 7

Two shifts of Stevenson PACT parents worked all day to prepare the new garden - two small patches of grass and a dozen tangled rose bushes will be replaced by seven raised beds. A local company provided a grant to buy redwood, and parents provided the volunteer labor to build the beds. The rose bushes were dug out and carted away by parents who had volunteered to give them a home. More parents did detail work on the finished beds - they needed sanding and copper tape to repel snails. There were bricks and buckets of soil to be hauled from the trunks of volunteer cars over to the school. The worm bin and the shed got a coat of primer, and all the half-barrel planters got bricks underneath to help with drainage. It was a productive and exhausting day. Next week there is more work - putting the planters (and their 4-food pilings) into the ground and filling them with a healthy mix of soil. Stevenson PACT parents will be there, working hard.

Garden Workday - October

Stevenson PACT parents and a large contingent of helpful students arrived to plant climbing sweet peas in the planter barrels, build trellises, and choose just the right spot for some herbs and geraniums (grown from cuttings). In the front of the school, bare dirt was transformed into new landscaping: plants chosen by our garden committee and the district advisor, "stepping stones" cut from a fallen tree, and a soaker-hose irrigation system to be staffed by Stevenson PACT volunteers. The spaces in between were planted with thyme groundcover, a fragrant and hardy choice to resist little footfalls. Many wheelbarrowsful of mulch completed the project - spread to cover a wide area of adobe-hard dirt in front of the school. The children assisted by planting voilas along the path into school and playing our friend, the earthworm. It was an exciting and educational weekend.

Garden Workday - September

After the busy rush of the first week of school, dozens of Stevenson PACT parents arrived on Saturday morning to shovel soil and compost into several dozen planter barrels to be placed around the campus. The students will be using container gardens for their garden lessons. Check back frequently to read about our progress!

Garden parents

Interested in joining the garden committee? The Stevenson PACT garden committee consists of parents with diverse skills. We have parents who use their experience in landscaping, irrigation or carpentry to build and maintain our beautiful garden areas. We have parents who are avid home gardeners. We have parents who live in apartments without a yard and enjoy the opportunity to participate in a garden at school. We have parents who want to learn gardening skills. And we have parents who never dreamed they would or could teach a garden class, but who have been infected with the kids� enthusiasm for learning outdoors and wish to help continue this valuable program.

"It's garden day!" "Are we going to the garden today?" "What are we doing in garden today?" "Do we get to taste something today?" The kids' excitement about the garden makes it a lot of fun to teach this class. Many garden parents enjoy it so much they return as garden parents for multiple years. If you are enthusiastic about getting kids outdoors to learn hands-on, don't let having limited gardening experience scare you off. Garden committee members support each other with their gardening and curriculum expertise.

The main committee positions are as garden parents (generally 1 per class) who take the kids into the garden once a week in small groups. In addition, we have need of people with other specialized skills (such as landscaping, carpentry, composting, irrigation) who can help out from time-to-time with maintenance and other garden projects.

For more information about committee positions, or the garden program in general, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .