Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint USD
Teaching Kids About California Agriculture – Food, Farmers & Fun!
Yucaipa-Calimesa JUSD is proud to be the first official school district to partner with our local farmers at Old Grove Farms for nearly 20 years. Our Farm to School program and partnership has been a cornerstone of our district and in the past 3 years we are proud to have increased our fresh fruit and vegetables options to be approximately 40% locally grown and sourced. Our partnership has flourished as Child Nutrition was a grant recipient of the California Department of Food and Agriculture Farm to School Incubator Grant which allowed us to expand and fund our program with 3 main farmer-led activities between 2022-2024 through the following activities:
1.Old Grove Farm Field Trips for all 2nd-5th grade students.
2.Mini Farmers Markets for all TK-1st graders.
3.Harvest of the Month Education program for all students.
These initiatives were designed to enhance our students' understanding of local agriculture and healthy eating. This month we celebrate Farm to School and showcase some of the fresh fruit and vegetable options your students will get to enjoy this month!
C elebratin g local food & local farmers!
Apple Pears | Grapes
Old Grove Farms
Old Grove Farms
Old Grove Farms is a group of 15+ small family farms in Southern California
Old Grove Farms has been providing produce to schools for 20+ years
Sustainability is VERY important to Old Grove Farms.
ALL of Old Grove Farms
Old Grove Farms rely on sheep
Old Grove Farms grows fruits, flowers!
California
Apple Pears
There are 4,000 - 5,000 acres of apple pears in the California, Oregon & Washington region.
Apple pears have a unique shape that resembles an apple.
Japan & China. Apple pears are one of the O L D E S T known variety of pear.
Pears prefer to grow in cooler climates
Over 3,000 varieties of pears.
Pears ripen best after they are picked.
Pears are a part of pears are picked
. 30-40 ft. tall trees.
California
Grapes
99% of all commercially grown grapes in the U.S. come from California.
The majority of grapes from California Southern Central Valley.
90+ varieties of grapes are grown in California.
One vine produces around of grapes.
Each cluster contains grapes.
Grapes are a berry!
Grapevines can reach 50 feet
Colors of grapes: green, white, black purple, blue & gold
Dragon Fruit
California grows between to 200 acres of dragon fruit.
The darker the dragon fruit, the sweeter it is.
dragon fruit in California is grown in southern region.
Dragon fruit is a night
Dragon fruit plants grow to be up to 20 feet
Dragon fruit tastes like a mix between a kiwi and a pear.
Dragon
California
Oranges
California is home to 140,000 acres of land that grows oranges.
Orange season is 9 months long, October - June!
600+ varieties of oranges.
of oranges are processed into juice.
Oranges are the most popular type of citrus.
Most oranges are harvested by hand.
Sub-tropical areas have ideal climate for growing oranges.
Oranges need a lot of sunshine temperatures to grow.
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California is the number 1 milk producing state in the U.S.
46% of California milk goes into making California cheese.
Cows:
Ayrshire
California is home to 1,100+ dairy farms.
Nearly 98% of U.S. dairy farms are family owned & operated.
Milking Shorthorn
1 cow produces around 6 gallons of milk per day. Holstein cows all have a unique pattern of spots!
The reason milk is white is because it contains “casein” –a type of protein.
ALL 50 states have dairy farms!
The U.S. produces ~21 BILLION gallons of milk each year.
Milk is the source of ALL products!
Driftwood Dairy
Driftwood Dairy all started with Pat J. Dolan starting a dairy business in 1918.
Florida is ranked the #1 state for growing fresh tomatoes.
Delivers milk to 2,500 schools each day.
Driftwood Dairy is the milk provider to schools in Southern California.
Driftwood Dairy is a member of CDI –California Dairy, Inc.
300+ CDI dairy farm members.
17 BILLION pounds of milk produced/year by CDI dairy farms.
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