In the heart of Los Angeles, kids learn about agriculture and farming

By Charlotte Mitchell, Executive Director

With just 1.3% of the US population employed as farmers and ranchers and a steep decline of farms in the US, it is refreshing to see teachers like Carrie Robertson who, in the middle of Los Angeles, are engaging students in the practice of farming and appreciation of open space.

In this issue of the Legacy, we are highlighting this amazing story of a teacher who is committed to giving city kids a chance to connect with the food they eat and to appreciate the people who grow it every day. On her 2 acres of land that backs up to Sunset Boulevard and a school that has frequent Hollywood filming on campus, her “land lab” is an oasis of wonderment. Students are learning how to take care of goats, chickens, rabbits, and other small animals. They also tend to grape vines, orchards, and row crops, producing grapes, stone fruit, alfalfa, pumpkins, tomatoes, and herbs.

Carrie works towards building a land ethic that reaches beyond the classroom. These students have a sense of pride when they pick the crop they worked so hard to produce, feeling the same as real farmers and ranchers do, she explains. In her classroom, she uses our Orange You Glad We Have Farmland activity, to explain the finite resource of farmland and further support her teaching of land ethics and appreciation for producing food by so few.

Just like Carrie who is leaving an immense impact on her students who are going on to their adult lives with an appreciation and understanding of what it takes to be a farmer, you can also leave a legacy by making a gift to CFT. No amount is too small, it takes all of us! You can use the enclosed envelope to make your gift, online at cafarmtrust.org/donate, or call me at 916-544-2712 and I can take your payment over the phone. Thank you to all of our donors on the Big Day of Giving, May 4 th With your generosity, our impact and your legacy will be felt for generations to come.

I hope you will enjoy this issue of the Legacy.

Wishing you a wonderful spring,

Charlotte Mitchell, Executive Director

THANK YOU! Big Day of Giving (BDOG) 2023 was May 4th and was a 24-hour community-wide movement uniting the charitable sector to help raise unrestricted funds for nonprofit organizations. For California Farmland Trust, BDOG was used to raise vital funds to better position us to protect valuable farmland throughout California and we did just that! With your financial gifts you are now leaving your legacy to ensure that your children, grandchildren, and the generations to come will live in a place that has fresh, healthy, and safe food, produced by family farmers on local farms. For CFT, we are using your generous support to continue our vital work of protecting farmland, preserving family farms, and promoting agricultural education.