Napa School Gardens

06/09/2026

Seasonal News: Summer 2026

Wishing you a restorative and joyful summer!...

Wishing you a restorative and joyful summer!

06/01/2026

May Monarchs and Signposts

As the 2025-26 academic and fiscal year comes to a close, I made the rounds to visit our school garden partners. A strong theme for May was signposts marking monarch habitats....

As the 2025-26 academic and fiscal year comes to a close, I made the rounds to visit our school garden partners. A strong theme for May was signposts marking monarch habitats.

03/28/2026

Submit nominations for the Erin S. Soper Award by April 4th to celebrate school gardens.

Nominations for the Erin S. Soper Award are due April 4th, recognizing community contributions to school gardens and sustainability.

12/30/2025

Just a few more days to make your year-end donation. Give $10 or more to 90+ worthy Napa County nonprofits. Nov 1-Dec 31

https://www.instagram.com/p/DSnzgJUD9AX/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

We are just a few days away from closing out and we wanted to remind you, if you haven’t yet, to make sure to make those end of year donations to one of the amazing 91 Napa Valley nonprofits in this years campaign!

12/29/2025

Last summer, I met a friend at to catch up while her four year old safely climbed, roamed, and explored. We spent the morning wandering the grounds and eating our fill of blackberries. This colorful fence caught my attention. It’s the type of whimsical element that engages the senses and adds beauty to an otherwise bland and conforming school landscape.

12/23/2025

💛 School Site Shout Out! 💛 This fall, we had a fantastic crew of dedicated participants in Dirt Girls at Willow Elementary, co-led with the talented Lea Ortiz. We used every tool in the shed and weathered our way through hot days of summer and cold days of late fall. We harvested tomatoes, strawberries, and flowers and planted garlic, fava beans and milkweed. Partnerships like this enable school gardens to thrive and allow Napa School Gardens to meet our mission to collectively create and sustain programs that are rooted in equity and grounded in nature.

12/22/2025

As a project of The School Garden Doctor, Napa School Gardens supports outdoor, nature-forward, and garden-based education. Kids need time to explore, play, and learn outside and school gardens provide just enough structure for that to happen. But, we also engage in other spaces. The activity Mind Pie is adapted from Beetles: Science and Teaching for Field Instructors and was recently used prior to a nature journaling session at a Land Trust of Napa County property.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DSdEfDogRbU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

12/01/2025

When kids get their hands in the dirt early and often, they become the next generation of stewards. Napa School Gardens is a longstanding grassroots collective dedicated to nurturing school gardens and the educators who bring them to life. We know that when school gardens thrive, students thrive—experiencing hands-on lessons in science, sustainability, nutrition, and community.

But thriving gardens don’t happen by accident. Your support makes this possible.

It takes five kiddos to fill and push a full wheelbarrow. It takes a community of givers to fund change. Make your gift on GivingTuesday.

11/30/2025

Donor Spotlight on Louann Carroll who made a donation through Napa Valley CanDo's GiveGuide Thank you, Louann! 🥰

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRdsg-qkUvy/

11/19/2025

Yesterday, new did an activity we co-designed with This activity simulates the fall migratory journey of the It starts with kids partnering up and putting on their monarch finger puppets. Then, they read signs and perform actions that mimic the conditions (like freezing weather 🥶) and obstacles (traffic on a busy highway 🚘) monarchs encounter on their route. By the looks on kids' faces, they enjoyed it, especially being able to read the signs in both English and Spanish.

"Brrr! It’s 50 degrees outside. You need to warm up before you start flying. Do five gentle jumping jacks."

"¡Brrr! Afuera hace 50 grados. Necesitas calentarte antes de empezar a volar. Salta cinco veces suavemente."

As pretend monarch butterflies, they encounter a school garden with native milkweed, just like the the will soon plant