Eugene weekly., June 07, 2012, Page 29, Image 29

getting back to the garden
Bilingual summer camp sprouts from grassroots
W H I S K E Y
R I V E R
R A N C H
But it won’t be all seedlings and spades for
these campers. The traditional staples of any
solid summer camp, such as games, field trips,
storytelling and art projects, will be thrown
into the mix as well — but with a bilingual
twist.
“It’s really important for kids to be exposed
to more than one language,” Greensberg
says. “Having the bilingual part of the camp
puts them around Spanish in a way that is
functional and can help them learn it better.”
Greensberg says the campers will be spoken
to in Spanish from time to time, as well as
being told stories in Spanish as well. She says
that while the camp is not intended to be a
full-immersion program, the campers will be
engaged in Spanish every day.
Although this is Grateful Growers Summer
Camp’s first year, Scott and Greensberg
foresee the program being a long-term
project that will nurture the community and
hopefully reach kids who would otherwise not
be able to attend a summer program.
“We are looking into getting grants for
next year’s program,” Greensberg says. “That
way we can reach families who don’t have the
money to put a kid in summer camp. It didn’t
happen this year because we are so busy getting
started up, but soon.” — Dante Zuñiga-West
C OURT E S Y GR AT E F UL GR OW E R S S UM M E R C A M P
There is perhaps no better teacher than
Mother Nature. Her curriculum is seasonal
and her pedagogy is patience. And though we
may at times ignore her lessons, her classroom
remains willing to receive us. It is this truth
that inspired Lydia Scott and Leela Greensberg
to create the Grateful Growers Summer Camp
for kids age 5-10.
“Kids need to be outside more, engaging the
natural world and learning about where food
comes from,” Greensberg says.
Based out of the community garden at The
Village School, Grateful Growers Summer
Camp will run Aug. 6-10 and Aug. 20-24, with
a bilingual program focused on permaculture,
Spanish and Waldorf curriculum.
“It’s going to be a lot of planting and
harvesting and preparing food,” Greensberg
says. “Kids will be learning about soil and insects
and the communal aspects of growing food.”
During the academic year, Greensberg
teaches part-time at The Village School, where
Scott functions as the garden coordinator;
between these two is a combined 20 years of
childcare, teaching and gardening. Although
Grateful Growers is its own operation and
independent of The Village School, Greensberg
and Scott received the go-head to base their work
out of the school’s garden — a well-established plot of
earth that will serve as a classroom to the campers.
“The outdoor classroom is an important one,”
Scott says. “We wanted to offer kids a camp where
Kids can play with growing food at
Grateful Growers Summer Camp
they are connected to their food and the earth.”
Food is the best way to connect people to
the natural world, Scott says, and as far as she
and Greensberg are concerned, the earlier this
connection is established in someone, the better.
For more information on Grateful Grower’s Summer Camp, send
an email to gratefulgrowersummercamp@gmail.com or call 343-
1583.
P R E S E N T S
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EUGENE WEEKLY JUNE 7, 2012
29