building Better Communities Starts With Youth

Two students prepare their Wooley Pockets

East Palo Alto, CA. As Traveling Trainers, we try to participate in community events as often as possible. We have enjoyed countless river clean ups, participated in National Public Lands Day, and have worked to improve our trails because, after all, it is all about leaving a place better than you found it!

Leave No Trace is about making good decisions in the out of doors in order to keep our public lands sustainable. We saw, first hand, how important it is to connect children with nature, no matter where you live.

Yesterday, Team West was able to participate in helping a 5th grade class at East Palo Alto Academy plant their own little community garden. With little space on the school grounds to plant a garden in the ground, this class held a bake sale at the begining of the school year to raise the funds to purchase Wooley Pockets (garden pockets that hang on a fence) and other various supplies that would be needed for this start up project.

Each of the students selected which fruit or vegetable they would like to plant in their Wooley Pocket. Determining the distance between each seedling, depending on the type of plant selected, posed as a challenging math lesson for the students! It was exciting to hear about how enthusiastic they were to watch the growth of their hard work each day at recess. Although the plants will not be ready to eat until June, the memories created during this experience will last a lifetime.

Thank you to Ms. Bullock for creating this opportunity for her students and for us as well.

Explore Responsibly...Kate and Tracy

Nature Name "Carbon" and two of her friends cradle their starter plants.