Veggie taste tests, the planting of fruit trees and the installation of bird houses are being made possible at Thurston Middle School and El Morro and Top of the World Elementary Schools thanks to annual grants from the Laguna Beach Garden Club. “We have been harvesting many salads from our garden and the new drip irrigation with battery-operated control is nearly complete,” says Penny Dressler, who serves as a garden mentor at Thurston Middle School.
In addition to the $1,000 annual grants to the lower schools, the garden club has footed the bill for the installation of a garden at Laguna Presbyterian Preschool.
At Top of the World, students are planting potatoes, lettuce and snow peas and have purchased milkweed plants at attract Monarch butterflies, says garden liaison Terry Hustwick.
At El Morro, garden coordinator Molly Zurflaw says “…peer influence can work both ways; if children are offered healthy vegetables without the input of peers and without preconceived opinions, they in fact may find that they do like vegetables of all types.”
For older students showing an interest in horticultural studies, the garden club has also provided two $1,500 scholarships to students at Laguna Beach High School, four $1,000 scholarships for Saddleback College students and one, $1000 scholarship to a Laguna College of Art and Design
