WELCOME TO THE RUCH SCHOOL GARDEN!
The Ruch Garden is the centerpiece to all food education at Ruch Outdoor Community School. In partnership with White Oak Farm and AmeriCorps, K-8 students are involved in the process of planting seeds, caring for seedlings, preparing the soil for transplanting, weeding, harvesting produce, and planting cover crops to prepare garden beds for the winter. We have a strong network of volunteers, which includes parents and community members, who supplement our paid staff. This year, students will engage in a few garden projects including constructing a cob structure, saving seeds for future plantings, offering fresh produce to families, and setting up a full perimeter flower patch for pollinators and birds.
In addition to serving the produce harvested from our garden, Ruch Outdoor Community School is dedicated to link with nearby farms to provide locally grown food for students. Models such as the Edible Schoolyard Project and the Rogue Valley Farm to School Program advance the current goal of Ruch Outdoor Community School to serve as much lunch food from locally grown farms as possible in the years to come.