Cauliflower transplants donated to Paso Verde Elementary
An international seed company helped a Sacramento school get it’s new garden off to a good start. Paso Verde Elementary in northern Sacramento had a dedication ceremony called ‘Lettuce Turnip the Beet’ for their newly-built school garden. The school only had one problem. “They had beautiful beds made, and they had all the soil in, but they had no plants,” HM.Clause Media Specialist Sierra Scott said.
Scott was leading an HM.Clause pumpkin tour at the time but contacted Trial Specialist Katie Chin to see if she could find some plants that would do well this time of year. “In Sacramento, they don’t have any local transplants because they don’t do a winter crop,” Chin explained. “The only region in California that is doing some winter planting is the Salinas Valley, Santa Maria area and down into Arizona.”
Chin and Scott holding a flat of cauliflower transplants
Chin met Scott in Salinas and delivered a couple of flats of broccoli and cauliflower transplants. Scott gave the plants to Paso Verde Elementary just before their dedication ceremony.
HM.Clause does a lot in the form of donations through the year. So much so that Scott said they have a group explicitly designated for that area. “We have a community engagement team that consists of people from various divisions, and they volunteer their time to be on the team,” Scott said. “It’s a good combination of people because we can meet all of the different requests that come in and then coordinate with the research on which trials that are being worked on in the field can be released for certain donations.”
Those donations can be in the form of seed, transplants and even produce. Scott said they harvest some trials specifically to donate to local food banks. “We work with the Yolo Food Bank, and we have been able to donate an average of 15,000 pounds of produce per summer,” Scott said. “This year we have been able to increase the amount of total tonnage because we have coordinated with the food bank to create more volunteer teams.”
Scott said donations are important to HM.Clause and the seed company helps their employees express their values through community involvement. “I think it helps you as an employee of a company. If you have some of your own goals and values that are dear to you, and your employer will help you facilitate that action, then it makes you more proud to work for that company and HM.Clause is happy to provide that opportunity to their employees,” Scott said.
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