LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lakeport Elementary, Coyote Valley Elementary and Lower Lake Elementary’s Environmental Outdoor Club were recently awarded $100 mini-grants from Lake County Chapter of California Women for Agriculture (LCCWA) to fund agriculture-related educational projects.

All Lake County classrooms from kindergarten through eighth grade were eligible to apply for these agriculture-focused mini-grants.

Pam Klier from Lakeport Elementary stated that her kindergarten class will “put the money to good use with hands-on agriculture-related educational experiences for our students.”

These kindergartners will focus on a project entitled “Where Does Our Food Come From” in the coming months. Students will grow vegetables from seeds and they will taste foods made from all parts of the plants that they grow.

Coyote Valley Elementary plans to maintain its school garden, paying particular attention to fall and spring planting. Eventually, students would like to develop a worm farm and insulate the water pipes so that their garden has year-round water.

When Elsie Mackesy of Coyote Elementary School heard that her school was awarded with the LCCWA mini-grant, she responded, “We will use the money wisely to promote agriculture at our school and foster an awareness and appreciation of quality food sources with our students.”

Lower Lake’s Environmental Outdoor Club will use the LCCWA mini-grant to begin a composting program.

Lisa Rogers, a teacher at Lower Lake Elementary and the coordinator of the Environmental Outdoor Club, added, “The students will be the educators and managers of the compost bins; we will also be using the compost bin in our science classroom. Students will see their ‘garbage’ breakdown into something that is not only interesting, but useful to grow more fruits and vegetables.”

“We were thrilled to see the variety of grant application projects for the 2013/14 school year,”LCCWA President Annette Hopkins. “We hope that these grants enable our community’s classrooms to demonstrate to local kids how important agriculture is in our daily lives.”

To learn more about the Lake County Chapter of California Women for Agriculture, visit www.lakecountycwa.org .

The Lake County Chapter of CWA (LCCWA) actively educates their members and the public about matters concerning agriculture at both the County and State levels.

LCCWA awards scholarships to students pursuing agricultural-related education and provides mini-grants to teachers in local schools who are educating their students about agriculture and food.

In addition, LCCWA sponsors AgVenture, an educational program for community leaders who wish to learn more about agriculture in Lake County.

To learn more about the Lake County Chapter of California Women for Agriculture, visit the group's Web site at www.lakecountycwa.org .