The second quick win

In the previous post you can see the lovely forest path hard working volunteers created in the fall of 2011.  Since that time it has been used by classes, recess, and some of the community.

The second quick win I wanted the school to experience was their garden.  Now fall is not an ideal time to start gardening but then again, our school years are not ideally set up for gardening.  So, in order to extend their gardening season I built some cold frames. 

Realitvely cheap they do the job. Made from pieces of 3' rebar, pvc pipe and 5mil plastic, held down with ground staples.

There are a few issues with this design.  The ground staples do not like to stay in place.  Infact, I underestimated the wind coming off of the wide sweep of playgrounds; which would take off with the plastic and staples several times that winter.

The other issue is snow.  If it gets heay it weighs down the plastic, causing it to buckle.  Maybe more pvc is needed? Yet, the 4th graders were still able to harvest some lettuce before they headed off for winter break!

sprouts

 

yummy!
 

Other classes harvested carrots the PTA had planted that year



 

 What an easy way to start the school off in using their school garden and forest in their classes.  Now to get everyone involved and this current school year is solidly headed that way!

Our Trail

And so we begin with the path.  When I first met with the teachers at Gearity Elementary School to talk about what they wanted to see happen in the garden everyone of them mentioned the woods.  That they have these woods back there, but no one uses it and wouldn't it be nice to have a path thru those woods there.

 

 

I left this initial meeting with a light heart and thousands of ideas in my head.  But first, to create a couple of quick wins for the school.  A way to jump start their interest in what is going on outside.  One of these quick wins was to create this forest path.  With that in mind, we asked the district for mulch.  I quickly tagged a path, measured it, and requested mulch.  Little did I know what was instore for us.

 

The week before our workday I learn that we have mulch coming.  Lots of mulch coming...

WOW

 

 

The weekend before the mountain of mulch arrives I bribed my then 4yr old to go with me out to the woods.  We marked a path with tape, raked that path up and lined it with downed branches. 

In the photo you can barely see the orange flagging and kinda see the raked path lined with branches but I promis you, it is there.

This is the begining of the path from the Shag Bark Hickory begining.  You can see the pile of mulch we still had off to the right of the photo.  But what a beautiful path.



 This is the view coming off the baseball field.  Although not a huge fan of the black mulch I will say that it does make a striking visual through the woods.

 



Our Forest Path Begins

I believe in documenting work done.  Whether it is a part of a small, personal project, or much larger ones with volunteers and staff.  This blog is an effort to record the amazing work done by a small urban school, dedicated parents, inspiring PTA, and a staff I could only wish every school employed.

As an environmental educator for over 10 years, this community has brought me to tears many times.  Their selflessness for their students, and their willingness to accept my guidance in their garden and forest should be inspiring to all.

I was first introduced to this group in the fall of 2011.  They had a garden, the PTA was maintaining it, and a few teachers wanted to benefit from it in more ways than they could imagine.

Over the past year I have had the privilege of assisting them in creating a forest path, adding more garden beds, adding 3 butterfly gardens and a perennial bed, and working with each grade level to add the garden into their current curriculum. 

And so we begin with the blog, to increase interest in their site and to document all of their hard work.

The following set of photos are what we began with.  In following posts I will add each area's progress through photos and stories.

 

     Our Forest, no underbrush, no path, lots of potential

 

Grate to the headwaters

 

 

Raised beds

 

Compost bins

 









 

the corner, drainage area?

 

 







 

the main gate