Gardens with committees and curriculum are 4x more likely to succeed—and we’re here to help make that happen. Volunteer members of our Leadership Board consult with administrators and school garden committees to strategize, learn, and grow.

“Students have been through a lot…so having this sensory space …I think it’s a really nice space for kids to just pause and slow down and reconnect.”

— Christie Wolf, Environmental Science Teacher, Garden Club co-coordinator and co-author of the Napa School Gardens post, Build a Diverse Community.

School Site Partners

Willow Arts Integration Magnet School

NEW in 2025-26! Together with their garden committee, Carrie will lead a fall season of Dirt Girls at Willow Arts Integration Magnet School.

Shearer Career Exploration Magnet School

NEW in 2025-26! Grade levels are integrating garden-based learning into their curriculum.

Alta Heights Elementary

NEW in 2025-26! Educators are planting habitat as part of the Monarch Education Project.

Napa Valley Language Academy

In spring of 2024, participants in the Dirt Girls after-school garden club planted a Monarch Waystation. At least three dozen youth participated in Dirt Girls during the 2024-25 school year. In May of 2025, NVLA was featured on Napa RCD’s Climate-Friendly Garden Tour.

Stone Bridge School

During the fall of 2024, longtime farm/garden educator, Chris Hattich, invited Carrie to work with his fifth grade students. She taught an eight-week nature journaling sequence as a pilot for a community program (to be offered soon). She dropped in monthly during 2025 to engage students in a seed ball design challenge. In 2025-26, they will join the Habitat Monitoring Project.

Valley Oak High School

Science teacher Julie Lovie welcomed me into her classroom during the winter of 2024 to plant native plant seeds with her students as a therapeutic horticulture practice. All students responded positively to the activity. In June of 2025, we installed 36 native plants and registered their Monarch Waystation. Later that fall, they hosted a dedication event for International Peace Day.

New Tech High School

After a two-year pandemic pause, it was thrilling to bring Grow Smiles @New Tech High in 2022. We had seven participants from two different schools and for the first time we welcomed three first graders to the mix.

Pueblo Vista Magnet School

Our signature program, Dirt Girls, orginated at Pueblo Vista in 2016. In 2018, Pueblo Vista Magnet School was featured on the Bay Friendly Garden Tour hosted by the Napa County Resource Conservation District (RCD). Carrie continues to contract with this site to coach teachers to integrate environmental sciences into their dual language immersion curriculum.

Community makes thriving school gardens possible.

Resources + Support

3-fold more likely to have funding and a community partner

Physical Care

12-times more likely to have adequate district and admin support

Student Engagement

4-fold more likely to have a garden committee, curriculum, 100-200 students using the garden annually, and teacher training