The garden is made up of a rose garden entrance leading to the Kindergarten raised beds (5).  Through the arbor there are 22 more raised beds on the left side of the path and a reading circle and bench, pumpkin patch and butterfly garden on the right side.  Along the playground fence, there are citrus trees, blueberries, grapes and other berries.  Along the field fence, there are apple trees, mulberry tree, persimmon tree and a kiwi teepee.  At the end of the pathway, there is a berry patch, followed by an artichoke bed.  An apple and pear orchard is beyond with a vegetable bed along the playground fence bordering the orchard.  There is a greenhouse on the other side of the orchard and worm bins and two compost heaps past the orchard.

 

There are lots of volunteer opportunities in the garden, none of which require gardening experience or expertise.  The first Saturday of every month (unless a holiday weekend) there is a garden workday, open to all who want to come out and volunteer between 9 am - noon.  The tasks changes with the season but may include, weeding, planting, pruning and general maintenance.  This month's workday will be September 12.

 

Friends of the Garden (FOG) meets once a month, generally the first Tuesday of every month (this month it will be September 8).  There is a meeting at 8 am for teachers and parents that can make it before class and a second meeting following at 8:35 am for parents that can't make the earlier time.  The FOG meetings are open to anyone and are a general forum to discuss things that are happening in the garden; problems that have arisen; future projects; etc. 

 

Each classroom will (hopefully) have a parent who will volunteer as the garden parent.  That parent will coordinate with the teacher to take the students to the garden weekly to spend time in the garden on various tasks.  Weekly emails with suggested tasks and news about the garden will be sent every Sunday to help garden parents plan their visit to the garden.

 

Each classroom will also hopefully have a parent who will volunteer to cook with students.  That parent will harvest produce and check out the portable cooking station, which includes a rolling cart, a portable induction cooktop, cookware and a knife, scissors and cutting boards.

 

This year we are implementing a new plan in the garden.  Once the summer crops have finished, each grade level will be assigned a garden bed.  It will be up to the teachers and garden parents for that grade level to communicate and collaborate on how they want to use their shared garden plot.  They may decide to divide the bed into quadrants to be used separately by each class or they may choose to plant the bed together and share all duties.  The goal is to encourage cooperation and communication and also to ensure that all beds are being maintained.  This will not apply to the Kindergarten beds. 

 

The remaining 17 beds will be planted with individual crops for use and tending by everyone.  This will make it easier for people to learn to identify the crops we use as they will be clearly labeled and there will be no other plants in that bed and this will make available useful crops for classroom cooking or the farmer's market.

 

Volunteer Opportunities:

Class Garden Parent

Class Cooking Parent

Fall Harvest Festival Committee (lots of volunteers needed - Festival will be October 25)

Farmer's Market Volunteers (harvesting or selling)

Fundraising/Grant writing

Greenhouse volunteer

Compost volunteer

 

If you are interested in volunteering or have any questions, please contact me.

Posted by Saor Stetler on September 15