Growing Together: Open Forum

Fourth and final week of our Kids Garden Month "Let's Grow Together" discussions!!!

This week's question for everyone: How does your garden or garden program celebrate your community? Do you grow culturally-relevant foods? Do you host events in your garden? Are there any art features? What else???

Anyone who responds is entered into a drawing to win a $50 gift card to Gardener's Supply Company! 

If you missed the last three weeks, check out all the ways youth gardens are supporting communities, communities are supporting youth gardens, and kids are connecting through gardening. 

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

Our community has a large Latino/a population, so we usually try to grow salsa ingredients. And in the past we had a salsa making program using some of the garden produce. As I mentioned in a previous question, I am hoping in the future to find a spot to grow marigolds in order for community members to use during their Day of the Dead celebrations. Also, we often do garden-related crafts and have had the children decorate their own watering cans and create windchimes for the garden.

------------------------------
Karen Stuppi
Children's Librarian
New Brunswick Free Public Library
60 Livingston Avenue
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
------------------------------

Our Y garden is located in a culturally diverse neighborhood and which also happens to be in a food desert. As lead gardener, I have been taking classes on planting a multicultural garden so now we are making a concerted effort to not only plant items from different cultures but to identify them with signage, and then use the produce in our cooking programs, specifically aimed at children. We are working hard to make our garden as inclusive as possible.

------------------------------
Elizabeth Shideler
Roanoke VA
------------------------------

Our school garden celebrates our community in many ways. As I teach students about various food crops that we grow, we talk about and explore the origins of that crop and its agricultural and cultural hearths. Our spanish classes recently toured the garden and translated plant names into spanish, then added that information to our plant signage. I collaborate with core teachers to utilize the school garden in cross curricular activities. 

Our community, like many others is multi cultural and we strive to grow culturally relevant foods wherever possible. We take what we grow into our classrooms and prepare healthy food for the students to taste test.

------------------------------
Anne Baines
School Farm 2 Fork teacher
Acworth, GA
------------------------------

This is our first year having a garden.  We decided to plant vegetables that are easy to grow and that have noticeable changes, such as tomatoes,  cucumbers, peppers, and carrots.  We are planning activities for the children to do in the garden such as using elements of the garden to create art with, such as soil painting or chlorophyll paintings.  We are planning activities such as Garden Bingo and Garden Scavenger Hunts.  I believe once we've established our garden, in the years to come, we will include children building and creating art for the garden.  I would love to add birdhouses, painted rocks, and bee hotels!

------------------------------
Cassandra Treese
Selinsgrove PA
------------------------------

I will be doing an open house with my outdoor classroom in May.  We do give aways of extra vegetables, etc.... during open house, conferences, and literacy nights. 

------------------------------
Ms. Carrie Taylor
Highland Elementary / EXPO ALC
Waterloo COmmunity Schools
------------------------------

We celebrate it by dashing everything in diversity. 

------------------------------
Cindy Stutler
Homeschool
Oklahoma City OK
------------------------------

Our garden represents more than one culture.  We have 8 garden beds.  In one of the beds to honor Native American and other indigenous cultures we have a three sister bed. Corn, beans squash.  In another bed to represent our multi cut garden experience we have pepinos, lechuga y okra.  And in one we have cilantro, assorted Chile y onions.

------------------------------
serilda goodwin
Bi- Lingual Teaching Garden
Lumberton NC
------------------------------

Hello. I am a Spanish teacher and I am working along with the Transition from School to Work coordinator. We are redesigning our garden to make it accessible to all our students, including students with disabilities. This is a great opportunity to celebrate our diverse community. We are also using seed labels in English and Spanish and we are going to add Diné. We are going to plant the three sisters! Thanks!

------------------------------
Francy Solarte
------------------------------

Our school gardens, planted and ably and lovingly maintained by our Sustainability Coordinator and students, celebrates our community by showcasing its beauty and potential. Students play a key role in planting vegetable and flower seeds and spreading compost from cast off fruits and vegetables from the school cafeteria. Thanks to the nutrient rich compost, our crops, plants and trees are visibly more robust than other strains.

The red bud trees in front of the school are several shades brighter than neighboring trees, and have held their buds two weeks longer, a testament to the resilience needed and exhibited by students living in an shorefront community that is battling the legacy of engrained  environmental racism on several fronts.

Most important, the garden celebrates students and their commitment to teaching themselves and others about caring for our planet.

------------------------------
Laura Silver
------------------------------

Wrapping up our Kids Garden Month discussions with our last weekly winner - congrats @serilda goodwin (I sent you a message)! HUGE thank you to everyone who participated in Kids Garden Month this year and helped inspire this community to "grow together" with so many great examples of engaging and lifting up your community. Let's keep growing! 

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