Raised Garden Beds Restore Hands-On Agricultural Education for Cortez Students

Students at Mesa Elementary have gone without a functioning school garden for three years because surrounding cottonwood trees create soil conditions that prevent plants from growing, leaving approximately 400 students without hands-on agricultural education. Watching students at other school sites thrive in productive gardens, one staff member with Montezuma School to Farm Project came up with a solution. LOR’s funding helped Montezuma School to Farm Project purchase raised garden beds, a dump truck of fresh soil, wood chips, mulch, and plants. A volunteer community build day will bring the new garden to life and cuttings transplanted from well-established gardens at other school sites will ensure plants are already growing when students return in September.

This project is fiscally sponsored by Onward! A Legacy Foundation.