Burbank Urban Garden

Take a mid winter tour of the Burbank Urban Garden (BUG)! This is a little rough but it was a first take/first tour of the Garden on Instagram live as part of the year 3 Capstone class in the Urban Agriculture Academy. Distance Learning is creating a lot Firsts like this! Let us know what you think abs if you’d like to see more of what’s going on in the garden ... https://www.instagram.com/tv/CKFRdpeHCNm/

Garlic planted (5th Generation of our Inchelium Red) and Cover Crop sowed to continue building our soil in the @burbankurbangarden before the rains come in today. These long days split between my screens for distance learning and trying to do all thefarm work myself sure makes me miss the students even more...the garden is certainly not complete without them. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they will all be back in time for us to harvest the garlic together -... Mr McPherson #lbhsurbanagriculture #burbanurbangarden #nohustlenoharvest #urbanagriculture #distancelearning #garlic #covercrop #soil #cte #sacramento #southsac #sacfarm2fork

More #distancelearning Garden Lab materials staged and ready for pickup! Second and third year Urban Agriculture Academy Students are required to have their own home garden labs during distance learning. They can choose a Sub Irrigated planter (SIP), raised garden bed, or in ground bed. Nobody ever said Distance Learning had to mean Stuck Inside on a Screen right.! zoom classes are about to get a lot more interesting...let the garden tours begin! #lbhsurbanagriculture #cte #burbankurbangarden #nohustlenoharvest #southsac #urbanagriculture #studentgrown #sacfarmtofork

Pickup day for Distance Learning Sub Irrigated Planter (SIP) Garden Labs for Urban Agriculture Academy students. Next week it’s garden bed materials and tools for those that chose to do in ground or raised beds. We may not all be able to be together in the garden this fall but doesn’t mean we have to stop growing! #burbankurbangarden #burbankurbanagacademy #distancelearning #cte #southsac #studentgrown #buglife

Amidst the launch of Distance Learning, Smokey sky’s and adjusting to an empty classroom and a garden full of weeds getting new chrombooks out to Urban Ag Academy Alumni was by far the high point! A Huge shoutout to the Center for Land Based learning to working with us and their partner orgs to secure these chromebooks for our Farms Alumni to assist in there studies of Agriculture, and animal science! *Humble Brag, Ternel, Andy, Esme, and Madi (Justin is a senior this year) ...took all available Urban Ag Classes, participated in CLBLs Farms Leadership Program, were Garden Interns for 1-2 years, and are now furthering their studies of Ag and Animal Science at Consumned River College full time! They were all in the first official classes of the Urban Agriculture Academy at Burbank and played a huge role in helping to build the physical garden and the culture of the Academy. We owe them a debt of gratitude and are so proud of them! See more

Attention Parents and Guardians! Today is the last day to complete your student’s Return Together Form. Please view and complete this form at www.scusd.edu/return-together-form

Please join with Board Member Maiv Yaj Vaj to share your experiences with Distance Learning this Spring, and concerns, hopes, and dreams for fall...

As I’m sure everyone know by now we will be starting school this fall via Distance Learning so this is a big step in the right direction

Sorry to leave all you BUG supporters in the dark for a while, it’s been a long strange spring and summer full of adaptation and new experiences. With the shift to Distance Learning the garden has been left without a vital component, the students...and it shows. Despite our efforts coming out a couple times a week the weeds are winning the battle for the beds and the pathways. I’ve been focusing on the essentials, keeping things alive, keeping the perennials and trees going a...nd focusing on a few summer crops in hopes we will at some point be granted permission by the district to host our small cohort of paid summer interns to start the work of reclaiming our space. In the mean time we’re keeping our local population of birds happy with all the fruit and berries, our beehive is thriving and I’ve never seen so much pollinator action. Through all the weeds our flower garden is in full bloom which despite all the frustrations and growing To Do list never ceases to bring a smile to my face. I hope you all are staying healthy, safe, and take any chance you get to step outside, take a deep breath, and find some bit of natural beauty to enjoy and smile about. I look forward to the day when we can host another big community garden day to put in some work and share a meal together. Until then I’ll try to do a better job to keep you all posted on the garden and here’s a few of our beautiful dahlias to enjoy! -Mr McPherson @ Luther Burbank High School See more

Please read this important message from our school board representative Maiv Yaj Vaj and share your thoughts, opinions, and ideas about returning to school safely this fall. For my south Sac scholars, families, and staff/teachers . As our city, state, and the nation continue to struggle to contain the spread of coronavirus, there is considerable debate about when and how to reopen schools. While I do not speak for the entire board - based on the science and rising cases of... COVID19, SCUSD is not ready to re-open our neighborhood schools physically. The health and safety of our students, families, and staff must continue to be a top priority. I also want to call out, that unfortunately, it's our most vulnerable scholars and families (Black, Latinx, ELL, low-income students, and students w/ special needs) that will bear the brunt of the devastating effects of COVID19 and we must do everything in our power to educate them while also keeping them healthy and safe. Over the past weeks, I've had many one on one conversations with parents and teachers -- who have shared w/ me their ideas from utilizing our school's outdoor learning spaces (Burbank Urban Garden) to our city parks. While some may think it is only the District's responsibility to educate our students, in the midst of a pandemic, we need all partners and hands-on deck. As a District, we cannot do this alone and will need our city and county partnerships and leaders to help us. In the next few weeks, Area 5 LCAP reps and I will be holding several virtual community meetings to hold space for our south Sac students, parents, and community members (in Spanish and Hmong) to get additional input. Please stay tuned for updates on Area 5 virtual townhalls. For now, I’d like to ask parents and community members to join our Board this Thursday, July 16th at 6pm as we discussed item 7.2 the District’s proposed Health & Safety Draft Plan for the reopening schools (see draft here: https://www.scusd.edu/return-health) and submit your public comments to by 12pm on Thursday at https://bit.ly/3h31G7Z Stay safe and remember if you must go out, #WearAMask I look forward to being in space with you all soon again. Mai Vang

PSA... all SCUSD students are now eligible for Pandemic EBT funds regardless of income. More info copied from the Valley Vision announcement: Students currently receiving Cal Fresh, Medi-Cal, or Foster Care benefits should have automatically received the new P-EBT debit card by May 22, 2020. If you have not received the P-EBT debit card by May 22, 2020, please go and apply online. Applications for P-EBT debit cards are available starting May 22, 2020, through June 30, 2020.... Since all SCUSD schools are classified as a provision school each and every SCUSD student regardless of income. Apply here:

Congrats Esme and Madi! Soo cool to have two of our Urban Agriculture Academy graduates honored with Scholarships to assist in their continued studies in Agriculture and Animal Sciene at Consumnes River College next year. A huge thank you to Center for Land-Based Learning for all their support and fantastic programing that opens doors, lifts our young people up, and providing amazing opportunities such as this!

Please take a minute to fill out this survey for our good partners at Center for Land-Based Learning One day I hope we can partner up to get one of these to stock it up with produce from BUG and etter serve the south area! What do you think Larry Carr Maiv Yaj Vaj, Les Simmons Berry Accius Effie Gant LaTisha Sohai Keith Hudson Kelsey Lundberg Nederveld Marissa Munzing Hannah Hyuna Kim Karen Abrego

For those still looking for plant starts for your garden keep it local, keep it community focused and hit up our good friends over at the The Yisrael Family Farm

For those who asked about houseplants or succulents during the plant sale here is a great opportunity to support fellow school garden program run by Mr Kevin Jordan at Palmiter here in the Sac. They’ve got tons of houseplants and succulents up for sale to support their program.

If your interested in learning about turning food waste into great compost and fertile soil for your home garden check out this great Free Online Workshop Tomorrow, hosted by the good folks at The Yisrael Family Farm!

There are still a still a few plants left from our spring online plant sale. Supply is limited (mostly tomatoes, some zucchini, cucumbers and few other assorted garden veggies). We will be accepting orders for only a few more days so if you still like to order some plants and support our program order on the form below. https://docs.google.com//1hD5sjVyYn4JQvKiithzQcX8O1lN/edit