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¡Cultiva! Youth
get a jump on the growing season
by starting seeds in the greenhouse.
We had a great 2009 summer season. Highlights of the 2009 ˇCultiva! season include our most successful Farmer’s Marker season to date, collective completion of 460 hours of community service, and youth participation in a number of educational seminars. Read on to find out more about the 2009 season.
Youth Leaders
Twelve Youth Leaders worked year round with Cultiva to plan and implement the program. In the spring they interviewed and hired 51 additional teens to work for the summer.
We have hired eight new Youth Leaders for 2010 they are:
Mic Cepulis
Madison Harman
Quin Joel
Emily McNellan
Anna Mitchell
Josue Sales
Hunter States
Mariah Wisner
And we have four returning Youth Leaders who have been working hard with ¡Cultiva! for many years:
Sebastian Cabeza
Juan Montoya
Melissa Schreiner
Sam Streeter
Farmer’s Market
In 2009, Cultiva had its most successful Farmers‘ Market season ever, attending the most markets in our history (32 markets, from April to December!), increasing sales by 30%, and involving more youth in the small-business and community service aspects of Cultiva through our work at the market. Our stand was brimming with seedlings in the spring, an abundance of vegetables in the peak of the season, and anchored by greenhouse arugula and storage crops (garlic, onions, beets, carrots, potatoes and winter squash) all the way through the Holiday Farmers’ Market and Gift Show in Longmont December 5.
Leadership Skills:
The Youth Leaders did an amazing job this summer leading garden projects and managing groups of their peers. Each of the ¡Cultiva! summer participants was responsible for leading at least one game, activity or lesson for the participants. It is always an amazing transformation to witness as the teens step into a new role and teach their peers. Through these activities the youth learn public speaking, effective communication and group management skills and perhaps most importantly, feel empowered as they are looked up to as role models and teachers.
| Giving Back to the Community: | |
As they learn about how to grow food and become more connected to their food sources the youth find it a natural extension to address food and hunger issues in the community. They partner with local agencies, such as Community Food Share (CFS) and the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless for service learning projects and to donate food they have grown. In 2009, the ¡Cultiva! youth completed 460 hours of community service during 3 different projects, including a a day working with Wildlands Restoration Volunteers, two days gleaning veggies for CFS, and each week, ¡Cultiva! youth volunteered time at the end of the market to collect leftover veggies from other farmers. Combined with our own leftover veggies, all of this produce was donated to the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, providing a much-needed supply of fresh vegetables to the Shelter’s menu. In total, over 8,000 lbs. of produce was collected and donated by ¡Cultiva!
In 2009 ¡Cultiva! also began a meaningful collaboration with the City of Boulder Parks and Rec Department’s YSI program (Youth Services Initiative). YSI is a program providing social, educational and community involvement opportunities for youth from low-income families, and ˇCultiva!’s goal was to bring more youth into the garden to learn and have fun, and also provide fresh, nutritious veggies for their families. Last season we had several groups from YSI out to the garden to learn about our programs and help harvest, and in turn donated over 2,000 pounds of fresh organic produce to families, including zucchini, peppers, chard, cucumbers, garlic and winter squash. We really take pride in the fact that the food we grow in the garden is donated weekly to Community Food Share. Last summer we donated over 1200 pounds of fresh organic produce including zucchini, squash, cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes to CFS. |
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| Nutrition and Environmental Education, and Physical Fitness | |
The Youth Leaders developed and taught two different nutrition workshops in 2009. These seminars included nutritional education, how to identify and avoid junk foods, and tastings of food fresh from the garden. And we continued our partnership with Slow Food. Five cooking classes were attended by Cultiva! youth (approximately 15-18 youth at each class). A different local chef taught each class, which focused on preparing simple nutritious meals featuring vegetables grown in the garden. The chefs taught the youth to pay attention to the sources of their food and how it is processed and highlighted the importance of supporting local sustainable agriculture with their food choices. The youth brought seasonal vegetables to each class and learned how to prepare what they had grown. The food was delicious and we all enjoyed eating and cooking together. Additionally, ˇCultiva! youth participated in sustainable gardening seminars taught by ˇCultiva! staff and interns. |
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Summer 2009 youth evaluations results:
- 89% felt ˇCultiva! showed them ways they could help in the community
- 81% thought they were a good role model for younger children
- 89% felt proud that they were able to help others in the community through ˇCultiva!
- 81% thought that they were a better leader after working at ˇCultiva!
- 78% said they believed they could make a difference in their own future because of what they learned at ˇCultiva!
- 81% said they ate more nutritious foods this summer because of working at ˇCultivaˇ
Thanks, Thanks, Thanks!
We are so grateful for the support of the community for our program. Our accomplishments would not be possible without the presence of such a generous, dedicated community of volunteers and donors.