Past projects 2
Garden Club 2.0 Energized for the Indoor!
Funded Nov 29, 2022Our journey the past few months has been amazing. We started in January and with a few ups and downs, we were able to establish a growing hydroponic garden. The entire school community has been involved in one way or another in this project. From our garden club, to individual classrooms, to our visiting families and district personnel, the hydroponic garden has been a great educational experience. The children AND staff were shocked to see that we could grow plants without soil. Some of our younger students thought the plants were fake because they only knew of growing plants in dirt.
Our Garden Club students were so enthusiastic about the project that some even came to school early to tend to the plants. Walking past the garden, puts a smile on everyones face as they all stop to look and see if anything is blooming/growing. When we found our first Pea Pod, we shared the picture with our school families and the reactions were heartwarming.
Our Garden Club is now working on growing the Micro Greens that we received from this project. Our first try is not so successful, but we are back it again and hope to produce a new batch or micro greens. This is another great learning experience for our students.
I can not thank you enough for your generous donation. The impact of this project on our school is beyond words. We are still working out some kinks in our system, but with a little time and more trial/error, we should be able to grow edible fruits, vegetable and flowers that we can share with our families and community.
Thank you once again.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Z.
This classroom project was brought to life by an Anonymous Classroom Supporter and 2 other donors.Growing with a Garden
Funded Apr 7, 2022Our Howe Garden Project has been a labor of love for our entire school. Over the course of the year, we have had over 30 students, 10 staff members and numerous parents join us on our journey of transformation. As you can see in our earliest pictures, we had nothing but a long weeded area, that needed to be cleaned up and broken down before we could even think about creating any type of garden. Our Fall student group went full speed at tearing away the weeds, debris and junk that laid around our garden project area. We had contests to motivate the students, asking who could collect the most bags of weeds, biggest branch or most trash. The contests were fun, but we didn't need them to motivate students because each week they came out ready to tackle the weeds.
In the Spring, we gathered a core group of about 10 students who returned to finish the project we started in the Fall. The soil and seeds were a good transition into showing the students what our project can become once we reach our goal. I don't think they really understood that one of our goals was/is to actually grow real fruit, vegetable and flowers. Once they began to see the seeds sprouts they became even more determined. Our garden project area is about 6' x 100' and we knew we would not complete it all this year. We continually fought against the weeds from neighboring properties and the urge to use any type of commercial weed killer so we could keep it as organic as possible. Craigslist and Facebook became our good friend as we continued to scour the ads for free items to add to our project.
As our progressed continued so did the determination of our students. They worked harder and harder as the end of the year started to fall upon us. As we finished one section we were able to move on to the next. We added the decorative solar lights, and bird baths along with a few bird feeders. This was to an amazement of OUR WHOLE SCHOOL COMMUNITY. Each morning, students would run up to me in the school yard and tell me stories of how they saw the birds at the feeder or taking a dip in the birdbath. They have seen birds before, but now we are attracting a myriad of different types of birds. I have seen a lot of cardinals and a few bluejays have flown by, besides all the other wrens and finches that call our neighborhood home.
Our project is not complete, but we have transformed a once useless plot of dirt into a working garden. We have hostas, black-eyed susans, coneflowers, a raspberry bush, tomatoes, corn , watermelon and cantaloupe seedlings. They all need time to grow and mature, but it is an inspiration to our school community.
This morning alone as I was planting some seeds before school, I had about 10 students come up and ask if they could help. I think I answered over 2 dozen questions about the garden, growing plants, the wildlife we can attract, and many more questions.
Our next steps, are scheduled for the Fall. We would like to plant more plants and trees in the remaining area. We will probably have to deal with more weed control but that is okay, our students are up to any challenge. Once we get the entire area manageable, we can adjust our Garden Project goals to sustainability. Teaching the children how to maintain the garden, care for it and nurture it so we will be ready for more planting AND harvesting next spring.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Z.
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose community & an Anonymous Partner and 2 other donors.