Outdoor Learning at its Best!

Valuable lessons are learned along with patience as children wait for vegetables to grow, share in the responsibility and care of the garden.  Even the value of exercise is instilled as children physically work in the garden, individually or cooperatively.  If you garden at home, you know that families learn to work together and share, and that gardening helps build a child's senses.

There are research studies in regard to gardening and outdoor education which include control groups, pre- and post-measures, well-controlled correlations, or in-depth qualitative analyses. For more studies and an analysis of research, please see Blair (2009), "The child in the garden: An evaluative review of the benefits of school gardening."

Peace Garden: A Rainbow of Diversity
A Drought Tolerant Garden Inspired by the Colors of the World
Sponsored by California American Water
Designed by Olwyn Kingery
Supported by CVUSD, Master Gardeners of Ventura County, NWF Eco-school USA

A space of approximately 250’ x 100’ has been set aside for the EARTHS garden project.  EARTHS gardens have several sections which were installed in phases over the course of a year. The largest garden is the Native Plant garden, which measures 105’ x 90’. This garden provides habitat for native wildlife and is used to increase student understanding about native plants and wildlife. It also allows students to participate in environmental stewardship through installing and maintaining the garden. 

The other gardens include raised beds for vegetable gardens, herb and flower gardens, and pollinator gardens. There is a second area which is divided by the regions of California to include the desert, mountain, valley, and coastal regions.

EARTHS has a combination of trees and shrubs to maximize the wildlife usage. Particular focus has been placed on growing plants that were used by the Chumash people in addition to the plants that our students are working with through the SHRUBS program.