Noble Elementary's Garden

Whole Foods' Grant...BIG THANK YOU to Lori!

"A few days ago, Whole Foods Kids Foundation announced that Noble
Elementary PTA in Berryessa School District is the recipient of a $2,000 Garden Grant. The awarded grant will be used to communicate garden rules and care by building a large outdoor garden map, posted in the garden, with movable red (stop!), yellow (yield, caution required), and green (go for it!) color coding, plus classroom numbers to indicate which  vegetable boxes belong to which classrooms.

"I think the most important aspect of signage is for it to use simple,
highly visible, symbols and color coding, with as little text as possible." Said Lori Pushinaitis, Noble PTA parent and garden volunteer, who submitted the grant application. "It is quick and easy way for everyone to figure out what areas to work on, even for volunteers who are distracted or those who are not native English speakers."

Noble PTA was able to start a school garden several years back thanks to the effort of a dedicated group of parents and with the help of Jubilee Christian Center.

The Whole Kids Foundation grant will help improve an already thriving community and school effort to provide an educational and safe space for students to learn about nature and science along with other Common Core Standards."

About our Garden​

Our Garden was kicked off as part of the San Jose Beautiful Day. Noble Elementary was fortunate enough to have been selected by Councilman Chu as 2012 beneficiary for district 4. Jublie Christian church donated the lumber, soil , irrigation and an awesome crew who put together 24 boxes for our classrooms. They also donated many plants that are in the garden today.

We have had a few successful growing seasons and our garden has produced a wide variety vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers planted by our kids and their classroom teachers.  Some of the more notable plants we are growing in the garden are figs, pomegranate, sugar cane , a three sisters planting (corn, squash and beans in combination) and giant pumpkins.

Volunteers and suggestions are always welcome. Contact our garden coordinator Maarit Tallila