Franklin Elementary Garden Receives $1,200 Grant

A vegetable garden that was planted by students, teachers, parents, and volunteers at will now be expanded through a $1,200 grant received from the California State Fertilizer Foundation.

The garden project was initiated by 3rd-grade teacher Irma Gonzalez and assisted by other teachers and community volunteers.

The raised beds were built and planted with winter vegetables (a lot of cabbages) in January, which was captured in the following photos and videos by Altadena Patch.

The California Fertilizer Foundation was founded in 1999 and has a mission of enhaning understanding of agriculture, according to Corri Pelt, an organization official in charge of the grant process.

She said the group gives out 24 grants a year to California schools.  Whichever school makes the most progress in their garden is eligible for a grant the next year, as well as a field trip to an area farm.  This year's winner, for example, went to a dairy farm and made their own ice cream, Pelt said.

Franklin will receive the grant in an official presentation on May 25, Pelt said.

So far, the Franklin garden has struggled a little bit because of the cold winter weather, Gonzalez said.

"We barely survived the freezing nights and floods," Gonzalez wrote in an email.

She said the kids would be doing some replanting in the next week or so, and that the garden currently has a total of nine beds.