Hello everyone! This is Kyle here with SustainSD. I have big news regarding our objectives of gardening and composting at schools in San Diego. We have teamed up with Sherman Elementary School AND Scripps Ranch High School to start reducing our school’s waste.
Sherman Elementary:
Special thanks to Christina Abuelo who has been incredibly hands on and helpful throughout the early stages of building this project. As of 1/28/22, with the help of 60+ students who wanted to spend their wellness break in the garden, we built our first compost while learning why it is so important to reduce, reuse and recycle. More to come every Friday!
Scripps Ranch High:
The gardening club of 20+ students showed interest in learning about composting. This week, the students and I began building ‘smart stack’ composts. The students learned how to use some tools such as a saw, measuring tape and drill. We are still in the process of building the compost before we can fill it with waste. The school will be adding green waste collection bins around the campus with signs, encouraging the students to place the appropriate waste in there. I hope by the 2nd week of February to begin composting.
Smart shopping:
With each update, I would like to highlight a specific topic in which we address how we can improve our body, mind, and the environment. We all know that shopping organic can be excessively expensive, but does it really need to be? Organic produce are fruits and vegetables that are grown without the use of herbicides, pesticides, or other harmful chemicals. They often tend to use smart farming practices such as crop rotation, no till farming, or closed loops practices. There are certain fruits and vegetables that you should buy organic and some that are just fine as they are. They are known as the “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean Fifteen”.
Dirty Dozen:
1) Strawberries 2) Spinach 3) Kale, Collards, and Mustard Greens 4) Nectarines
5) Apples 6) Grapes 7) Cherries 8) Peaches 9) Pears
10) Bell peppers and Hot peppers 11) Celery 12) Tomatoes
Clean Fifteen:
1) Avocados 2) Sweet Corn 3) Pineapples 4) Frozen Sweet Peas
5) Onions 6) Papaya 7) Eggplant 8) Asparagus 9) Kiwi
10) Cabbage 11) Cauliflower 12) Cantaloupe 13) Broccoli 14) Mushrooms
15) Honeydew Melon