Andres Villagran, Youth Gardens Coordinator for Texas A&M AgriLife enjoys his time spent at San Antonio schools in their on-site Vegetable gardens. He is currently partnering with Angie Gutierrez, Family and Community Health Agent, with her Learn, Grow, Eat & GO! (LGEG) Program at Riverside Elementary and Perales Elementary (every Friday). Both schools are learning about the nutritional benefits of healthy eating and pair these lessons with growing their own vegetables! Andres assists Angie, the educators, and the students with their vegetable gardens, checking on their plants and being available to answer questions. The two biggest days of the season were the first day (“Planting Day”) and the last day (“Harvest Day”). For Planting Day, Andres and various other AgriLife staff assisted the children with planting vegetables into their garden beds. Vegetables included swiss chard, broccoli, cabbage, marigold flowers, various herbs and more! For Harvest Day, the students were tasked with harvesting the vegetables they spent all season growing. Andres enlisted the help of his Youth Garden Buddies to attend in his place. Linda Sierra, Robert Vasquez, and Cindy Hernandez stepped up and helped these schools on Harvest Day. A special note should be made for Cindy Hernandez, as she volunteered her time to attend multiple sessions at Perales Elementary prior to Harvest Day!
All photos by Angie Gutierrez, Texas A&M AgriLife, Family and Community Health Agent