Growing Children and Gardens

[Deanna Lloyd]

I liked your proposed title for the discussion Heather, so here it is. A quick update regarding the Whatcom County School Garden Collective (WCSGC). We're a non-profit group formed earlier this summer from a diverse group of individuals who were all, in some way, interested or active in school gardens. We decided to combine our energy into a collective to support one another and make sure no one was reinventing the wheel. The committee is open to anyone interested, but currently is made up of teachers, parents and a couple of us who want to help see gardens at schools. We have funding and were able to provide grants of resources and people power to six different schools in the county including Roosevelt, Columbia, Birchwood and Beach Elementary, Squalicum High and Lummi Nation School. I have the privilege of working with two other women as a "Garden Corps Educator" which requires us to work with our schools (I'm in charge of Roosevelt and Squalicum) to create the gardens, motivate the community, work with kiddos, help create sustainable procedures for caring for the garden and much more. My two schools are starting from flat, grassy fields and turning them into gardens, Lummi Nation is in this same boat. The other schools have established gardens in some way, shape or form and we're working on getting teachers comfortable out in the garden, providing extra support, etc. We're looking for help at workparties (I'll post them under the events category), resources (tools, lumber, straw, plants, etc) as well as volunteer "experts" who can help with lessons, garden care over the summer, etc. All the gardens are in different stages, but if you're interested in helping out somehow, let me know! It's pretty quiet this time of the year, but come spring, action and growth will abound. Cheers!

[Heather K]

More information & discussion on Growing Children in School Gardens at the TW forum/discussion
(accessable to all TW members beyond our food-security-group) at:
http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/forum/topics/growing-children-in-school

Thanks Dianna for the great news & detailed summary!

We can share info here...or flow over to the broader discussion site and be accessable to a larger TW audience.

[Forest Garden]

THis sounds great !
Deanna, don't know if I have met you, but let me know if you need help with garden site prep....
I have kid crews available ! So put me on your workparty notice list - [e-mail].

[Deanna Lloyd]

Just wanted to let everyone know that their is a workparty this Saturday, January 30th at Roosevelt Elementary from 10am - 1pm. It will be a great mix of students, parents, teachers and community members doing lots of fun things such as bed creation, fence erection, sheet mulching and more! More details are listed under the events page. We'd love to see you all there!