Girl Power gets it done at Grimsley High School’s Garden and Greenhouse

Twelve female seniors at Grimsley High School make up the Gardening Club sponsored by Environmental Science teacher Mr. Robert “Bob” Barnard. Last year Mr. Barnard and his students refurbished their greenhouse which hadn’t been used for quite a few years.

This year’s club members are excited and energized about using the greenhouse to grow seedlings to plant in their outside garden plot in the spring. They are also working with the School Garden Network to connect with elementary schools in the area as part of a service learning project.

These young ladies are harvesting the last of their warm season crops having heard about the frost predicted for the coming night. Master Gardener Mentor Stanly Corbin is also working with Mr. Barnard and the Gardening Club at Grimsley. We will keep you posted as their garden based service learning work progresses!

Lindley Elementary third graders serve pesto pasta to the entire school!

Pesto is popular way to prepare and consume the bountiful basil crop many schools harvest when they grow this warm season staple. There are many varieties of this fragrant herb, the Herb Society’s plant sale at the Greek Orthodox offers quite a few of them. 

The pesto, a combination of fresh basil leaves, parmesan cheese, and olive oil was combined with elbow noodles. This stuff was so delicious that just about everybody that had some after lunch in the cafeteria gobbled it up!  

Way to go 3^rd grade!

These third graders were also able to take all the extra pasta to a local shelter 

that provides food for homeless and people in need!!! Way to go Lindley kids!

Jones Elementary Recovers from an Overgrown Summer Garden

Has this ever happened to your school garden? Summer can be a time when no one is available to tend the school garden. Many of us choose to cover garden beds with attached black plastic to keep weed seeds from germinating. Ideally, community members or school staff maintain a garden in the summer and get to reap its benefits. These before and after photos show how Jones’ gardening committee (parents and school staff) pitched in on two Sunday Gardening Days in September to clear weeds and add amendments. Jones’ is back in the gardening game!

                                          

 

        

       

       

       

Jones Elementary has had an active school garden for at least five years. This year they underwent a change in Garden Committee leadership. At first Jennifer Jacobs (pictured) felt nervous about taking the lead with the garden. We were able to connect Laura Tew, one of our Master Gardener Mentors. She has worked with a number of schools with gardens and answered most of Jennifer’s questions. Please let us know if you know anyone who is interested in this program.

 Here we see kindergartners ready to harvest sweet potato plants and planting radishes. Students stand in the low areas of the rows and plant in high areas because the beds are quite large. Jennifer pulls 3 to 4 students at a time from Ms. Novo’s Spanish class to plant!

IRVING PARK ELEMENTARY’S GARDEN DEDICATION OCTOBER 1^ST

It’s hard to believe that just last February the school garden at Irving Park was just a twinkle in the eyes of parents, teachers and the principal of this diverse campus serving 684 students. We discussed the fact that there had been gardens at the school years ago and how they would need to create a SUSTAINABLE garden for future generations.

 By-in on the part of all stakeholders, adequate training and support, and processes to ensure transfer of knowledge and support to next generations of parents and new teachers are all essential. 

             

A core group of teachers and parents attended our Garden Based Learning workshop at Edible Schoolyard in the spring.  The networking that goes on at these workshops is so valuable. This is where Dana Davis, a parent and a key member of the Gardening Committee at IPE, met Keith Gardener who heads up the Chefs Move to Schools program in Guilford County.

     

Keith and his group of GTCC Culinary School students provided an amazing “Eating the Rainbow” experience for ALL of the IPE students all morning long! Chefs Move to Schools is available to any school in Guilford County who would like to sign up http://www.chefsmovetoschools.org/.

                        

The support and optimism for garden and nutrition based learning at Irving Park Elementary is wonderful to see. Such a celebration makes it very clear to students that these things are valued by their teachers, principal, and parents!

Cynthia Nielsen

GCCE School Garden Network Coordinator

Pleasant Garden Elementary shares its plans for a 5th grade Colonial Garden!

5th grade teacher Amy Pegram shares this garden update:

Fifth grade students and teachers at Pleasant Garden Elementary School are stepping back in time by creating and tending a colonial herb garden on the school grounds. They launched the garden project last year as a service learning opportunity in order to give back to the community, making herbs available to those who may want or need them. 

The garden is a raised bed area with a variety of herbs that would have been used in colonial cooking and medicines.

 Students are excited to work in the garden and plan to enjoy the fruits of their labor by preparing some recipes that will include their homegrown herbs. The teachers envision and look forward to a very tasty future for their herb garden.   

Lindley Elementary: September Farmers Market

Lindley’s monthly Farmers Market has become a welcome tradition in the Lindley Park neighborhood.

This Saturday’s offerings included yummy cherry tomatoes, peppers, basil and a fabulous crop of ZINNIAS and MARIGOLD!

A wide selection of crafts were available from community members: pottery, jewelry, handmade clothing and bags and some lovely art for children and adults. Lots of tasty baked goods rounded out the selections.  This is a great fundraiser for Lindley’s garden. One of my favorite things to do is check in on the school garden on these Saturday mornings.

Okra thrives above and a new planting of broccoli below, peppers still holding on.

Herbs like rosemary thrived in the summer heat. This perennial herb should thrive for years!

Can’t wait to see what the next market will bring!

Cone Elementary showcases school garden at Open House 

Friday evening, August 23^rd  GO COUGERS!

                  

This is the last of the summer garden which was shared with some 

members of the community near the school and draws the interest of 

students returning to school this fall.

A number of teachers at Cone Elementary took our Garden-based 

learning Workshops in the spring. Master Gardener mentors are also 

working with the gardening committee. The Junior League is getting 

involved the Cone’s gardening initiative this school year.

Murphey Traditional Open House, 

Open School Garden!

The PTA President and Linda Gordon, School Social Worker pose with the school garden display. There is a lot of excitement on campus about the new school garden.

Here is the garden planning diagram the gardening committee drew up before beginning to dig.

Here is one of the many students who have signed up for the school gardening club.

Eagle scouts built the four 4'x16' garden beds and raised enough money for the school garden to move to phase two which will include benches.

Master Gardener Mentor Mike Hughes has begun working with the Murphy Elementary staff on their Fall garden. We will keep you posted on what they plant and how the teachers us the garden.

Second graders and teacher Ms. Victoria Bartell  are already busy planting transplants into the school garden!

OPEN HOUSES AND OPEN SCHOOL GARDENS!

Many schools celebrated their new school gardens at Open Houses days before school began.

Irving Park Elementary

Thursday evening Aug. 22nd this school showcased its newly forming International Community Garden. The structures were made by Eagle Scouts.

The school's garden support team includes their Principal Ms. Mckee, a core group of parent volunteers  and many of the school's teachers. Teachers and parent volunteers attended School Garden Network's garden based learning Workshop at the Edible Schoolyard last spring.

Heather Fullagar and her son Keegan; Heather is one of many parent advocates for the new school garden. The big Open Garden date is October 1st!