The Mission of Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center is to inspire youth and adults to be healthy and active citizens through organic gardening, environmental stewardship, and nutrition education.
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"How has Olivewood NOT inspired me?
Being a volunteer for two years helped me grow as a person and professionally. It is a family that inspires each person to lead healthier lifestyles with those you care about.”
-Itzel,
Cooking for Salud® & Children's Field Trip Program Intern
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Seedling Soirée 2020: Social Distance-Style
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Thank You!
On behalf of the entire Olivewood team, we would like to express our gratitude to the incredible
chefs, Kitchenistas, cocktail creators
, and most of all
YOU
for making our first Virtual Seedling Soirée a success.
With cooking demos and recipes from the Olivewood Kitchenistas and local chefs, stories from the garden, cocktail building and music to set the mood, we had the best
'Socially Distanced' Soirée
we could have imagined!
Your generous efforts have helped us exceed our goal, raising
more than
$60K!
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Thank You to our Chefs and Partners!
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Join the Olivewood Book Club
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Olivewood is committed to justice and equity, to listening and learning, to action and advocacy, and we know that food justice and health equity are only possible when we achieve racial equity.
As part of our commitment to this crucial work, we are starting a Book Club that will focus on the voices and experiences of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities; food justice and racial equity; and moving education to action.
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We hope that you will join us in reading the first book in this series:
"Farming While Black"
by Leah Penniman
of
Soul Fire Farm
.
Meet with us virtually to connect, reflect, and identify action opportunities to continue the work justice and equity in our community.
Mid-Read: Thursday,
July 16, 5:30PM
Post-Read: Thursday,
August 13th, 5:30PM
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High School Engagement
In May, our high-school engagement team began weekly check-ins with our
Garden-2-Kitchen Interns
through virtual cooking demos and classes in garden sustainability. By providing easy pick-up of ingredients and supplies to follow alongside the lessons, our students are empowered to get creative from home, while still getting the Olivewood experience with their peers.
One student shared her first
zucchini squash harvest
from her family's home garden with us, which she created for her family to start cultivating their own food from home!
From pickles to paletas, and a
DIY compost lesson
, we have now reached out to our
Sustainable Agriculture Interns
and other High School interns to join in the weekly calls. With a monitored
chat room for students to share recipes, ideas, and photos of their creations
,
our high-schoolers
have been staying busy and engaged from the comfort of their own kitchens.
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"If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it."
-Toni Morrison
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Since March, we have ramped up our weekly,
donation-based Produce Stand
to help provide quality produce and dry goods to people in need within our community.
Soon after, we have had the extreme honor to partner with
Phillip Esteban
and his team,
Craft Meals SD
and
White Rice
to provide
over 100 donated rice bowls, weekly
to people in the community.
Through a #1for1SD donation-based program in partnership with
World Central Kitchen
, families can pick up donated, healthy and delicious prepared meals at no cost during these trying times.
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Olivewood Virtual Summer Grilling Class & Fundraiser
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Tune in to our first Virtual
Summer Grilling Class
while helping us raise funds to expand our partnership program to support
Black maternal and infant health in San Diego County
.
Partnering with
Specialty Produce
, local chef,
Kevin Templeton
of
Barley Mash, Spill the Beans, and The Smoking Gun
, will be bringing you some inventive plant-based recipes and ideas for your backyard BBQs curated from the ingredients from Specialty's Farmers' Market Box (not required to participate in class)!
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Keep an eye out for an e-mail with the ingredient list so that you can cook alongside Chef Kevin or view it as a demo, all
while helping us raise funds to expand a collaboration with Black Infant Health!
Thursday, July 9th
5:00 - 6:30PM
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Meet Itzel
One of the great joys of our community is seeing the inspiration that comes with the love of good, quality food. Itzel began her journey with Olivewood as an intern from San Diego State University, helping with the
Cooking for Salud®
and
Children's Field Trip Program
. Now graduated she is on her way to becoming a
Registered Dietitian
. Itzel has always welcomed us with a desire to spread healthy, organic food and lifestyles to others.
After building lessons, leading cooking demonstrations, and personally reaching out with program participants, Itzel showed the impact she is capable of making in the world. Itzel has been busy creating inventive takes on Olivewood classics like the
Healthy Smoothie
with spinach and dates,
Roasted Chickpeas,
and a
Green Quinoa Salad
.
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Support Olivewood's COVID-19 Relief Efforts
These are unprecedented times, and we are working hard to serve the needs of our community.
Your gift today
supports our efforts to provide healthy, pre-packaged produce & dry goods to community members in need, develop online educational tools & resources, and ensure our community's mental health & social participation needs are met through outreach & engagement.
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Olivewood Gardens & Learning Center | 2525 N Avenue | (619)434-4281 | [email protected]
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