ONE COOL EARTH
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Food Forests

Food Forest
 More than a garden, a planting method that imitates nature and the natural relations between plants to minimize labor and resource inputs while maximizing outputs.
Planting a tree with One Cool Earth
Healthy food from a garden
Kids picking vegetables in a One Cool Earth school garden

More Than A Garden

 A Food Forest differs from most gardens: it intentionally combines natural and agricultural processes to create sustainable, productive ecosystems.  Food Forests are great classrooms for science, and have many benefits over conventional gardens.
Less Work
Perennial, appropriate plantings minimize labor inputs.  For instance, we are using fruit trees, grape vines, tree collards, and herbs that only need to be planted once but are productive for many years.  Reducing maintenance tasks improves the usefulness of the garden to teachers and students as a learning tool.
More Food
Food Forests maximize food: yields increase as time goes on plants become more established.  Native plants attract beneficial pollinators which make plants more fruitful.  All this adds up to more food in the mouths of the youth who learn in and tend to the garden.
Low Cost
Selecting climate-appropriate plants (many of our plants are drought-tolerant, Mediterranean plants suitable for our Central Coast climate) uses less water.  Beneficial insects attracted by native plants eat pests.  Ground covers (low, spreading plants) prevent weeds.  

Our Past Projects

Atascadero Lake
Avila Hot Springs
Bellevue- Santa Fe Charter School
Baywood Elementary
Bodhi Path Center Garden
Cal Poly Walters Ranch
Laguna Lake Golf Course
Lopez Lake
Odd Fellow's Hall
Pennington Creek
Sinsheimer Park, Disk Golf Course, and School
St. Benedict's Episcopal 
Colleen Rosenthal
Cork Stop Studios
South Hill
Terrace Hill
Unity Church
Whale Rock Reservoir
Virginia Peterson Elementary
Walter Capps Memorial Forest
Laguna Lake
Jewish Community Center
El Chorro Regional Park
Cal Poly Rodeo Grounds
Cuesta College Entrance
D'Anbino Vineyard
​Hogue Action Pistol Range

Phone:
805-242-6301
Email:
action@onecoolearth.org
Mailing Address:
P.O Box 150
San Luis Obispo CA 93406

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  • Home
    • Our Team
    • Our Story
    • Our Schools
    • Volunteer
    • Community Network
    • Contact Us
  • Program
    • About our Program
    • Become a Partner School
    • One Cool Earth Curriculum
    • Virtual Learning
  • Resources
    • Educator & Parent Resources
    • Donor & Sponsor Resources
  • Donate
  • New Page