Muir High garden cultivates life lessons

A student-run garden at John Muir High School is helping local teens cultivate green thumbs, entrepreneurial skills and summer paychecks.

The 1.5-acre Muir Ranch — and its roughly $2,000 in weekly vegetable and flower sales — sprouted from just a handful of plants propagated behind the campus science building last summer.

Retired science teacher Doss Jones then recruited urban farming advocate Matthew “Mud” Baron to coordinate student interns, and the Pasadena Educational Foundation stepped in to handle finances. Now dozens of paying customers have enrolled for weekly produce pickups, and the program sells hundreds of fresh-cut floral bouquets at farmers markets in Pasadena, Altadena and Hollywood.

Subscribers retrieve weekly vegetable boxes on Monday mornings at the campus or Thursday afternoons outside school district headquarters. Full shares, enough for four to six people, are $25. Half-shares are $15.

Boxes contain a dozen or more types of vegetables, with leeks, peppers, cucumbers, basil, onions, tomatoes, celery, cabbage and kale recently in the mix. For variety’s sake, some of the goods are purchased wholesale from other local growers.

Baron, a volunteer, said Muir Ranch moves some 50 full shares each week but needs more business to become self-sustaining.

Purchases are partially tax-deductible and fund $300 seasonal stipends for about 20 student workers who also receive school credits as they grow, water, weed, harvest, package, advertise and sell their wares.

The money’s nice, said Michael Johnson, who is entering his senior year at Muir’s Business and Entrepreneurship Academy, but “most of us are working here because we believe in the project. We’re trying to promote a healthier life.”

Johnson’s sales pitch: “It’s tax-deductible, keeps you healthy, and it’s a lot cheaper than the grocery store.”

Sophomore Jazmin Robles and junior Brandon Betts said they ate more junk food and less fresh produce before joining the Muir Ranch team.

“It wasn’t around the house,” Betts said. “Now I eat a fruit or a vegetable every day. Some of the stuff I’ll try straight from the dirt.”

Subscriptions coordinator Ericka Redke said Muir Ranch is seeking state approval to begin accepting food stamps this fall.

With few fresh produce vendors in Northwest Pasadena, Pasadena Public Health Director Eric Walsh, a Muir Ranch subscriber, said he is seeking funding to expand the operation.

“This is bigger than nutrition,” said Walsh, a subscriber. “It’s an opportunity for students to practice what they are learning in the academies at Muir. Education is key to a qualified workforce, especially in a community where unemployment is high and far worse for society than most diseases.”

Pasadena Water & Power has sponsored summer stipends for six student workers to outfit Muir Ranch with a water-saving drip irrigation system.

“We’re just at the beginning stages of identifying all the ways this garden can support learning, but the possibilities are huge because the students are really invested,” said Muir Principal Tim Sippel.

Customers also say the program is a hit.

“I love that it supports the community and the kids,” said Julie Hill, who signed up for vegetables after buying flowers at the Altadena Farmers Market.

Jamie Jung, who discovered the program at the Pasadena Farmers Market, now plans to hire Muir Ranch to do flower arrangements for her upcoming wedding.

Muir senior Leah Young said Muir Ranch helps grow students’ self-confidence.

“A lot of people look down on John Muir High School. This is something to be proud of,” she said.