Green Thumb High

You might think kids these days wouldn’t know a vegetable from a hole in the ground. Perhaps, but the students in the GEO Environmental Science and Design Academy at Grant Union High School, however, not only can tell you the kind of vegetable, but also the kind of hole in the dirt it needs to grow. At the academy, they teach high schoolers how to harvest organic produce, design eco-friendly landscaping and cook and eat nutritious meals. They even make their own organic salsas, sourcing tomatoes from local farmers and contracting the processing and bottling. The delicious Spicy Peach and Traditional Tomato salsas are sold at farmers’ markets and the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op (1900 Alhambra Boulevard), but you can also buy them this month in gift baskets on their Web site, www.eatfromthegarden.org. Try the Spicy Peach on your holiday turkey or a grilled pork loin. The chunky Traditional Tomato is perfect for a quesadilla or scooping up with tortillas.