Growing Together: Open Forum

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  • 1.  Welcome to your community!

    Posted 03-17-2021 04:18:00 PM

    Welcome!!! I'm so glad you're here. 

    The technology to host this community has been a long time in the making and we're excited to finally be able to welcome you to this space. For years you've asked us for a way to connect with like-minded garden educators to learn, share, and grow together. Now we have it! 

    The Kids Garden Community is yours to use. It is also yours to share and develop in whatever ways meet your needs. So please, jump in! Make some connections, engage with folks around mutual interests, start a discussion, share some resources, and let us know how it's going.

    We want to hear from you. If you love a feature of the Community or if there is something you'd like changed, let us know. This is your community, and we're here to serve you.

    Maybe you are the only teacher in your school using the garden as a classroom.  Maybe you're a homeschooling parent looking to teach hydroponics at your kitchen table. Perhaps you are a retired Master Gardener volunteering to teach youth at your local community garden. Or maybe you're the program director of a youth drop-in center looking to teach kids how to grow their own food. If so, this is the place for you to make new friends, share what you are learning, ask questions, get help, and stay inspired.

    Together we are building a strong, joyful community of champions using youth gardens to support and strengthen youth and their communities. 

    With gratitude,

    Em



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    Em Shipman
    Executive Director
    KidsGardening
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  • 2.  RE: Welcome to your community!

    Posted 03-17-2021 05:36:00 PM
    Thanks for the warm welcome, Em, and for kicking off our open forum community! I'd like to echo the sentiment that this is YOUR community. If there's something you'd like changed, let us know in the Feature Requests and Ideas community, through the Contact Us page, or by sending myself or other Community Managers a message. 

    This open forum community is a great place to ask questions and share resources or ideas that don't fit into the more focused topic communities (e.g. Early Childhood Gardening). Don't be shy! Your questions and experiences could help dozens of other educators and caregivers as they garden with kids.

    I'm looking forward to learning a ton from this community :)

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    Amelia Dupuis
    Kids Garden Community Manager
    KidsGardening
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  • 3.  RE: Welcome to your community!

    Posted 03-31-2021 08:27:00 PM
    HI - Thank you so much for this platform.  New here and excited to engage.  Outdoor classrooms and gardening could be the remedy for the social emotional needs of our kids this pandemic.  Who had a pandemic garden last year? ME~  


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    Lynne Bussott
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  • 4.  RE: Welcome to your community!

    Posted 03-31-2021 09:14:00 PM
    Welcome, Lynne! I'm glad you're here.

    I agree about the social-emotional benefits of gardening and am so passionate about gardens as places for kids to find emotional regulation and heal.

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    Em Shipman
    Executive Director
    KidsGardening
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  • 5.  RE: Welcome to your community!

    Posted 04-01-2021 11:58:00 AM
    You are so right about the SEI of gardens.  Last spring when everything shut down my cat developed pancreatitis and nearly died. So, between the stress of all of the unknowns of the pandemic, caring for a sick cat, trying to figure out what running a museum was going to look like, and keeping my staff calm was taking a toll, so I gardened like a mad woman. 

    Then, when the American Camp Association and our Governor came out with a list of safety requirements to hold day camps I leapt all over it.  We successfully held 3 weeks of mostly outdoor camps.  The kids went all in on working in the museum garden, being thrilled to pieces over taking home the veggies, begging to go pick blackberries.  It was a mental, social, emotional, and intellectual win for them too! 

    This year it is wash, rinse and repeat! 

    --
    Michelle Zupan
    Curator 
    Hickory Hill & the Tom Watson Birthplace
    502 Hickory Hill Drive
    Thomson, GA  30824
    706-595-7777
    FAX: 706-595-7177

    Visit us at www.hickory-hill.org or on Facebook.
    Follow us on Twitter: HHEducation

    Historic homes of the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc








  • 6.  RE: Welcome to your community!

    Posted 04-01-2021 04:59:00 PM
    This is AMAZING!!!! I am so excited to learn and connect! Thank you SO much for giving us this space. Its almost emotional🥰.

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    Autumn Rook
    Cullman City Schools Garden Educator
    North Alabama Agriplex
    Cullman AL
    (256) 606-9916
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  • 7.  RE: Welcome to your community!

    Posted 07-06-2021 11:46:00 AM
    Thank-you for the welcome and for setting up this community - I was so happy when I found it!
    I'm still trying to find my way around but bit by bit I'm looking forward to becoming more involved.

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    Patrice Porter
    The Gardening Grandma
    Big River SK
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  • 8.  RE: Welcome to your community!

    Posted 07-07-2021 10:48:00 AM
    Welcome, Patrice! We're so glad to have you here and can't wait to learn from and with you. Feel free to reach out to me anytime if you have questions about using the site or ideas for how we can improve it. Happy to help!

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    Amelia Dupuis
    Kids Garden Community Manager
    KidsGardening
    ------------------------------