Garden For Ghana
California Native Garden Foundation copyright ©2020
Garden For Ghana is a project of the California Native Garden Foundation based in San Jose, California. The first two locations of Garden For Ghana were established at Mt. Zion Catholic Middle School and Sacred Heart Catholic School in Yamoransa, Ghana. Projects are under development in Chile, India and France following the same model.
Our vision 
Our global food supply; the health, security, and welfare of the world’s people; and our future as a species are under assault from climate change, species extinctions, deforestation and other human-caused erosion, and degenerative agricultural practices. Solving these problems must include a commitment to regenerative organic agriculture and the restoration of ecosystems using native plants. ROA in urban agriculture and small family farms can lead a transition to an agricultural system in harmony with nature. We envision small ROA farm plots flourishing in courtyards, on rooftops, in vertical gardens, in private yards, in public spaces, and as a regular feature of landscaping at buildings and facilities of every description. We believe that schoolyard ROA farm plots additionally provide myriad educational benefits, including helping youth learn and practice eco-literacy and environmental stewardship, improve their health and wellbeing, and benefit from a healthy connection to nature. As asphalt in and around urban areas gives way to urban agriculture using ROA, reliance on long supply chains for food, and food insecurity, will be lessened; biodiversity, soil ecology, and the health of local ecosystems can measurably improve; and atmospheric carbon will be reduced.
Our Mission 
The mission of California Native Garden Foundation is to promote use of regenerative organic agriculture (ROA) with native plants in urban agriculture.
Our Work
CNGF designs ROA farm plots that incorporate native plants and native hedgerows to regenerate healthy topsoil, reduce atmospheric carbon, conserve water and raise crop yields. Our utilization of native plants, including in vertical garden space, helps create microclimates suitable to denser plantings and helps foster the look and feel of a beautiful, wild garden, while at the same time aiding in restoration of local ecosystems. CNGF provides educational programs teaching ROA, eco-literacy, and environmental stewardship at our headquarters in California, in addition to garden-based lessons for use in schoolyard ROA farm plots worldwide.
Suggested Articles and Websites
Urban Agriculture Could Provide Billions In Ecosystems Services:
https://eos.org/research-spotlights/urban-agriculture-could-provide-billions-in-ecosystem-services
Centre For No Till Agriculture (video demo/trainings/consultation):
https://centrefornotill.org/
Engineers Without Borders:
ewb-international.com
AFS Intercultural Exchange Programs, Ghana:
https://www.afs.org.gh
Regeneration International:
https://regenerationinternational.org/
Agroecology Now!:
http://www.agroecologynow.com/futurefood/
Common Edible Plants of Africa
http://www.indiana.edu/~origins/teach/TW_dom_plant.pdf
Lost Crops of Africa: Volume II: Vegetables
https://www.nap.edu/read/11763/chapter/17
Shrinking Biodiversity Poses Major Risk to The Future Of Global Food And Agriculture, Landmark UN Report Shows
https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/02/1033331
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/feb/21/worlds-food-supply-under-severe-threat-from-loss-of-biodiversity
Our Team
Alrie has designed and installed over 800 native gardens throughout California, USA, awarded over 85 school garden grants in California, and co-authored Designing California Native Gardens: The Plant Community Approach To Artful, Ecological Gardens, University of California Press, First edition (June 4, 2007). Alrie teaches and lectures widely on regenerative agriculture, ecology, landscaping, native plants, and nature appreciation to children, adults, and schoolteachers. She founded Garden For Ghana in 2014.
Alrie Middlebrook, Founder and Executive Director, California Native Garden Foundation
Reuben has worked with Garden For Ghana since its inception, first as a community service volunteer and currently as Farm Project Manager in Yamoransa, where he directs the work of Junior Green Club members in propagating, cultivating, and harvesting plants; schedules and oversees garden maintenance, tracks production targets; and performs general oversight. In addition to pursuing his interest in regenerative agriculture, Reuben is also pursuing a graduate degree in Qualitative Health from the University of Cape Coast School of Public Health and Population Studies.
Reuben Foster Twintoh, Farm Project Manager at Garden For Ghana installations in Yamoransa, Ghana/Green Club Team Leader.
Our Community Partners and Volunteers
We thank the principals and teachers of Sacred Heart Catholic School and Mt. Zion Catholic Middle School for making space available to Garden For Ghana, and for their ongoing assistance and support of this work, including their support of the Junior Green Club members, whose work is indispensable to maintaining the gardens.We are also grateful to the members of the Yamoransa Green Club for the work of garden installation and to the school families and teachers and the Yamoransa chief and elders for their kind support of these projects throughout their duration. Additional community partners have also provided invaluable assistance, including volunteers with American Field Service and Engineers Without Borders, and the Centre for No-Till Agriculture. We are also grateful to acknowledge University of Cape Coast, Dean of School of Agriculture, Head of Department of Crop Science, for collaborating with Garden For Ghana and providing technical advice in pest control and seed storage, as well as promoting student interest in conducting community garden research projects tied to Garden For Ghana, Yamoransa. Thanks, too, to Samuel Owusu Afriyie for producing this website to help share our work with others.