Cesar Chavez Parents working in the garden

Hello Dears I am Lupe, Veggielution’s very own School Garden Organizer. I have been working towards building two amazing school gardens on the East Side of San Jose. These gardens will serve as powerful educational tools for local children. These projects are at very different phases.

For the first project we are working with Somos Mayfair and La Mesa Verde on creating community support for building garden beds at Cesar Chavez Elementary. I have been working with Parents whose kids attend Cesar Chavez for the past 8 months. Together we strive to start a school garden.

Every Thursday we get together for 2 hours and garden at Veggielution. Working on the garden together helps cultivate a love for gardening, and further the parent’s and their children’s drive to learn more about gardening and good food. It is wonderful to work with this group of parents. They are very hard working and grateful for the opportunity to get access to healthy, quality food, which they receive from Veggielution. Their children have developed good self esteem from coming to the farm and exploring, learning how to tend the land, and finding new ideas about the world from their experiences at the farm. The kids even ask the parents if they can go to the farm more often.

Throughout the year I have continued working with this group of parents as well as reaching out to more parents in the community. Together we are finding more and more parent advocates for their children’s school garden education.

Aside from my work as a liaison between Veggielution and local school gardens, I spend my time organizing Veggielution Promotoras. Yonara Acevedo, our Outreach and Education Coordinator and I are organizing a team of women who will act as a bridge between Veggielution and the Spanish speaking community. The Promotoras are leading our cooking and nutrition classes, Cooking Matters. They are also recruiting participants from the community to attend these educational classes. The Veggielution Promotoras play an important role in informing the community of the resources that Veggielution can provide to their families. We welcome our new Promotoras and we look forward to the change we will make together in our community.

You’re all invited to our Winter Volunteer Appreciation Lunch! It will be held at the community Meeting Hall, near the main entrance to Emma Prusch park. We want to acknowledge all of the hard work you veggielutionaries do for the farm. Even if you are a new or one time volunteer, come enjoy a wonderful lunch in honor of you!

For any questions please email: yonaraa@veggielution.org

Farmer’s in the old days would be really worried right about now. But the fact that we can continue farming as usual even in a drought year reminds me of how spoiled we are, since we don’t depend as much on the rains to make our crops grow. Instead, we have reservoirs and aqueducts, metals, plastics and electronics that help us irrigate our crops. When you’re striving to be as sustainable as possible, it’s important to reflect on these bigger picture issues. It reminds you that good soil conservation practices, mulch and growing appropriate crops in the right season is the responsibility of all good farmers and gardeners.

Mark Medeiros
Farm Manager

The month of December also saw an increased amount of food available at our weekly Saturday farmstands, something we hope will draw more regular customers to the farm. December marked the end of a very successful year at Veggielution, including nearly 23,000 pounds of food grown by our community volunteers!

With the New Year upon us and spring not too far around the corner, there is a lot of planning to be done. New crop maps will allow the farm to operate smoothly, with consistent successions of crops starting in the spring and lasting all the way to next winter. We will finalize the curriculum for our highly anticipated workday leader training class that will begin in February. Starting our tomato varieties this month on heat-pads and under fluorescent lights will result in three foot tomato plants ready for planting come late march. The green house will quickly become overloaded with late winter and early spring crops too. A busy January will undoubtedly be the jump start we need for another successful year on the farm!

Tommy Pierson
Asst. Farm Manager

Click here to become a member

Student or AmeriCorps membership — $25

The Veggielution community has made an impact on your life, and you want to ensure that we can impact many young hearts, minds and food choices in 2012 through our Dig Crew youth program and local elementary school gardens.

Individual membership — $35

You’re an active volunteer or a fan who loves Veggielution’s mission because you know you’re making organic produce more accessible to low-income community members and others who struggle to bring good food into their lives. You’re helping us deliver.

Family membership — $65

You and your family have made a commitment to Veggielution’s mission, and you want to ensure that our society’s youth have Veggielution as a place to learn to eat healthy food, understand our world’s most pressing problems and become active community leaders that create solutions.

Guerrilla Gardener membership — $100

You are stepping up to give more because you know how transformational Veggielution can be. People come away from Veggielution empowered to plant a garden at home, eager to cook the farm-fresh produce they earned with their own hands, and excited to increase their involvement in the community. Thank you.

Veggielutionary membership — $250 or more

You have been fortunate despite the poor economy. You want to give more during these hard times. You are making an investment in your community, giving all you can afford. We thank you deeply, and will show our appreciation by including you in special donor events and giving you discounts at our annual Bounty of Heart’s Delight dinner.

Click here to become a member

Membership Benefits

All members will receive discounts at an ever-growing number of local businesses offering a wide variety of services. Members will also receive a 30% discount on all of our workshops. Once you sign up for a membership, you will receive your card in the mail within 2 weeks. You will also be signed up for our monthly newsletter, so you can stay updated about our activities.

You will get discounts at the following businesses:

• Good Karma Vegan Cafe
• Bay Maples Sustainable Landscaping
• Satori Tea Company
• Eulipia Restaurant and Bar
• and more to come!
• Click here for details on the discounts

Your membership purchase beyond $35 is tax-deductible. If you have any questions, email us at memberships@veggielution.org.

Click here to become a member

We wish you a very happy and warm holiday season.

Cheers,
The Veggielution Crew

December workday cancellations:

• All workdays are cancelled between Dec 20th and Jan 3rd.