More Details and Register here: https://www.lifelab.org/santa-cruz-area-school-food-and-garden-tour

How can we possibly manage 30 students in an Outdoor Classroom?! Participants in this workshop will explore best practices for establishing and maintaining a positive, engaging culture of learning and fun in a garden setting. Together we will experience and discuss setting the tone for equitable and inclusive instruction; garden class routines; station rotations; and specific techniques to maximize student engagement and participation.

Details and Register: https://www.lifelab.org/responsive-classroom-management

Sign up here: https://lifelab.app.neoncrm.com/eventReg.jsp?event=9554&

Questions: Contact daniela@lifelab.org

The 2026 School Garden Leadership Institute - June 22-27, 2026 - Apply by January 30th!

Every year, the School Garden Leadership Institute provides an opportunity for school garden professionals from across the country to collaborate, learn from one another, and develop resources to share with a national audience. In this way, we all become able to better support school gardens in our regions, and also advance the national school garden movement.

The 2026 cohort will be comprised of up to 20 teams of two. Teams may be individuals from the same organization or individuals from different organizations collaborating on supporting multiple school gardens in the same region or school district.

For 2026, we are particularly seeking teams of two from organizations that:

• Support 4 or more school gardens in their district or region

• Will be implementing training for garden-based educators in the 2026-2027 school year

• Are willing to administer a pre-designed school garden program assessment survey to their partner or district school sites with the purpose of building long-term program capacity through enhancing their student experiences, physical garden sites, fundraising, and/or community involvement.

Details and apply here: https://www.lifelab.org/leadership-institute

📅 Date: Sunday, Dec 7
📍 Location: Life Lab Garden Classroom, on the UCSC Farm.
⏰ Time: 1:00–4:00 PM

Join Life Lab for a family-friendly day of nature-inspired crafts to make and take home!

Crafts May Include:

• Flower Pressed Bookmarks and Greeting Cards

• Veggie Print Wrapping Paper

• Wreath Making

• Family Tea Bags

• Seedy Mosiac Ornaments

• Burlap Wrapped Seedlings

✅ Please RSVP

Free to attend - donations are welcome to support Life Lab programs.

Thank You to Our Event Sponsors!

(Español Abajo)

📅 Date: Saturday, November 1
📍 Location: Life Lab Garden Classroom
⏰ Time: 1:00–3:00 PM

Join us in the Life Lab Garden Classroom for a Día de Muertos gathering for the whole family! We’ll harvest the marigolds planted by summer campers and honor loved ones by building a community ofrenda together. This joyful, reflective celebration weaves nature, tradition, and memory into a vibrant community experience.

🌼 Activities may include:

• Scavenger hunt for elements to add to the ofrenda

• Poetry activity

• Skull prints filled with marigold petals & seeds

• Marigold flower harvest for the ofrenda

• Paper butterflies with loved ones’ names to add to the ofrenda

• Seed packet making with garden-collected seeds

• Garden tour

Free to attend - donations are welcome to support Life Lab programs.

✅ Please RSVP Here

Thank You to Our Event Sponsor!

Únete a nosotrxs en el Jardín de Life Lab para una celebración del Día de Muertos para toda la familia. Cosecharemos las flores de cempasúchil plantadas por los niñxs durante el campamento de verano y honraremos a nuestros seres queridos construyendo una ofrenda comunitaria. Esta alegre y reflexiva celebración entrelaza la naturaleza, la tradición y la memoria en una experiencia comunitaria llena de vida.

Fecha: Sábado, 1 de noviembre
Lugar: Salón en el Jardín de Life Lab
Hora: 1:00–3:00 PM

Las actividades pueden incluir:

• Búsqueda en el jardín para recolectar elementos para la ofrenda

• Actividad de poesía

• Impresiones de calaveras rellenas con pétalos y semillas de cempasúchitl

• Cosecha de flores de cempasúchitl para la ofrenda

• Escribir el nombre de seres queridos sobre mariposas de papel, para agregar a la ofrenda

• Elaboración de sobres de semillas con semillas recolectadas del jardín

• Recorrido por el jardín

Entrada gratuita – se agradecen  donaciones para apoyar los programas de Life Lab.