December 8, 2020
A Look Back At 2020
Friend,

This year marked the 10th anniversary of Olivewood Gardens. In ten years we’ve accomplished so much:

  • Hosted 100,000 visitors to our property
  • Led 18 generations of Cooking for Salud®
  • Graduated 260 Kitchenistas®
  • Taught thousands of elementary students the connection between a seed and a meal on their plate
  • Supported 300-500 volunteers annually, resulting in thousands of hours of service and nearly 1 million dollars in donated time
  • Built future leaders through our high school leadership programs

In our pivots this year, the most important thing we learned was the power of community and how far support can go. This video shows a snapshot of how our garden team showed up every single day to ensure people in our community had access to healthy food – something that 1 in 6 people in San Diego don’t have. Thank you MA Beyster for this beautiful snapshot of the garden production.

Please check out our latest impact report to learn more about how YOU have helped make all this possible. Whether you volunteered, attended a program, took a tour, or supported us through direct donations, YOU played a role in supporting health equity initiatives and environmental stewardship programs.
Looking Ahead In 2021
As we kick-off our year-end campaign, we know you’ll show up again to support the important work Olivewood is doing.
We are grateful for each and every one of you and are already 1/2 of the way to our year-end goal! Thank you to Sprouts Chula Vista/Eastlake for your matching gift, and to all of you who have already supported this campaign. Together we can go far – to have an equitable and attainable food system, environmental sustainability and a culture of health and wellbeing for the entire community.
December Events
Family-friendly Virtual DIY Foodie Gifts Class
When: Thursday, December 10, at 5 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Join: RSVP Here 
Learning with Leonard on Facebook Live
When: Friday, December 11 at 10 a.m.
Join: Watch Here
Virtual Chefcitos Cooking Class: Soft Pretzels
When: Saturday, December 12 at 10 a.m. - 11 a.m.
Join: RSVP Here
When: Saturday, December 19 at
11 a.m. - 12 p.m. 
Join: RSVP Here
Countdown to The Last Tortilla - Virtual Book Reading

When: Monday, December 21 at 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Join: RSVP Here

A virtual bilingual reading with local award-winning author, Dr. Maria De La Luz Reyes
16 Weeks of STEAM
16 weeks of learning and enrichment opportunities for K-12 students and their families

We're happy to be apart of National City’s 16 Weeks of STEAM initiative, designed to offer families enrichment opportunities that focus on science, technology, engineering, art, and math with a special emphasis on conservation. The initiative and its partners will provide a variety of resources, activities and fun challenges that raise awareness of our city’s natural resources and ways to preserve them for future generations.

From February 1 through May 31, 2021, the objective is to create, cultivate and sustain more family centered STEAM programming in National City. For example, culminating virtual or live field trips to local STEAM facilities such as Olivewood Gardens will connect and engage residents to local organizations.

In addition,16 Weeks of STEAM is aiming to translate its engagement activities into Spanish and Tagalog to reach more families in the community with informal, non-intimidating STEAM activities.

We look forward to working with the 16 Weeks of STEAM partners: Ocean Connectors, The Fleet Science Center, National School District and Mundo Gardens, and more. Contact Angelica at [email protected] for more information or to get involved.

"Getting more Sweetwater High School graduates to pursue STEAM studies and careers begins with more young people with interest, engagement, and identity in STEAM," said Says Tom Davis, Chair of the 16 Weeks of STEAM initiative.
16 Weeks of STEAM: Art Contest
16 Weeks of STEAM is kicking off with an Art Competition for grades K-3, 4-6 & 6-8 with a chance to earn a $100 scholarship for college with the winning design in each division.
Dip Into This Recipe
Herbed White Bean Dip
Ingredients
  • 1 15oz can white northern or cannellini beans - rinsed and drained
  • 1 head roasted garlic
  • 1⁄2 bunch dill
  • 1⁄2 bunch parsley
  • 1⁄2 bunch of basil
  • 1 TBSP nutritional yeast
  • Lemon - 1⁄2 juiced
  • 2-3 TBSP olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  • To roast Garlic: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Kee garlic bulb whole, chop off top to expose garlic cloves.
  • Place on baking sheet, pour olive oil over garlic so it drips inside and saturates.
  • Place in oven for 20-30 minutes or until cloves start popping out of the shell.
  • Place rinsed beans, roasted garlic, dil, parsley, basil, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt and pepper into bowl of food processor or blender.
  • Pulse to incorporate ingredients, continue to process and slowly drizzle olive oil into food until mixture is smooth.
  • Serve room temp or chilled by placing in fridge for at least an hour. Drizzle with more olive oil and serve with crudite, pita or crackers.
Cooking for Salud® Highlights
Our research for the 14th generation of Cooking for Salud® has made headlines. Along with the health outcomes of participants, we were able to look at lab tests and survey results for the first time. The 7-week program showed significant reduction in diabetic numbers and increase in HDL “good” cholesterol. This is giant!

It is with great excitement to share that we were accepted to share these findings at 3 different national medical conferences, all of which took place in November 2020:

  • American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) - First prize in the Professional Research Category for the abstract
  • Teaching Kitchen Research Conference, which is part of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Department of Nutrition
  • The Culinary Medicine Conference Poster Session by Health Meets Food

There was incredible interest in the work we are doing at Olivewood and we have had many people reach out to find out more about what we are doing and fantastic future collaboration potential.

With gratitude for expanding our health outcomes and the joint efforts to make this possible, thank you to Dr. Sabrina Falquier Montgrain, Olivewood board member and consulting physician, who presented on behalf of Olivewood.
Send A Little Sunshine



Purchase an Epicurean SD Sunshine Box and receive $5 off plus a $5 donation to Olivewood through December 31.

Code: FRIENDSOFOLIVEWOOD
SDG&E Tip
To stay informed about SDG&E public safety power shutoffs, download the new app at sdge.com/pspsapp.
#sdge #energytips4u

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