Creating Healthier Lives, One Seed at a Time!
It is our vision at the Joseph P Cory Foundation (JPCF) to educate children, families, and communities so they may navigate through daily living in the most beneficial, simple, yet effective ways, to achieve and maintain wellness.
Through our signature program Gardens of Hope, we provide an absolute mind-body-spirit experience to students and all those involved, to include hands-on nutrition education, movement, leadership skills, and peer collaboration.
Gardens of Hope engage and teach students, so they may utilize strategies that increase fruit and vegetable consumption, food literacy, and offer the availability, safety, and convenience of fresh organic produce. The companionGardens of Hope curricula provides a series of unique lessons to be taught, in the form of cooking, gardening, and eating herbs/vegetables, thereby multiplying the learning through the classroom, as well as their garden experiences. The efficacy of this evidence-based program and its syllabushave resulted in a published paper in the International Journal of School Health, July of 2021.
Gardens of Hope offer a unique opportunity to combat obesity and other diseases that were once considered adult limited, thereby fostering improved health, while cultivating an early appreciation for beneficial foods. We partner with other leadership who agree their students, employees, and community, should be encouraged to participate in child nutrition programs such as Gardens of Hope, that offer such overarching courses, safe food practices, healthy eating environments, school gardens, nutrition education, and promotional outreach, with the intention of improving staff and student’s health, academic achievements, and reducing childhood obesity.
Please partner and support our efforts; You literally become a seed of change for students and the health and wellness movement emergent across our world. Become a “Homegrown Hero” and your alliance will help us fulfill our mission and exceed our goals. We are seeking both financial and in-kind support, volunteers, affiliates, instructors, and new locations to plant our gardens. We encourage you to adopt a leadership role as we partner and nurture this magnificent Gardens of Hope dream!
Ready, Set, Grow School District
Gardens can grow in many places and many spaces. In Florida, everything seems to grow, even when you don’t want that; especially plants that like lots of sun, and can go through periods of dryness & rain
Harvest your Own Seeds
It is easy to save seeds from one year to the next as long as you know what you are doing. However, even some skilled gardeners often forget two simple tricks that turn harvesting into hassle: CLICK ON THE PHOTO BELOW to learn How to Harvest Your Own Seeds from Garden Plants
Lasagna Gardens
Lasagna is super healthy, especially when it is in the form of a garden!
Lasagna gardening is a no-dig, no-till organic gardeningmethod that results in rich, fluffy soil with very little work from the gardener. The name "lasagna gardening" has nothing to do with what you'll be growing in the garden. Instead, it refers to the method of building the garden: adding layers of organic materials that will “cook down” over time, resulting in nutrient-rich soil that will help your plants thrive. Also known as sheet composting, lasagna gardening is beneficial for the environment because you're turning yard waste, kitchen scraps, and anything else you would add to a normal compost pile into organic fertilizer to grow new plants. READ MORE
Grow your own Pineapple
Growing Pineapples from scratch.
Grown successfully in Zone 10!
- Plant in full sun, avoid shade of structures
- 12-36” from other trees
- Grasp the top of a ripe pineapple
- Twist off the leafy top
- Let the crown dry 1-2 days
- Sit crown in a jar of warm water, submerging leaf-free area
- Change water every few days
- When roots are 3” long, plant it crown down
Watch This YouTube video!