COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL April 29, 2015
Making
gains in the
garden:
According to the KidsGar-
dening.org website, school
gardens:
Signifi cantly increase science
achievement scores.
Improve social skills and
behavior.
Improve environmental at-
titudes.
Instill appreciation and re-
spect for nature.
Improve life skills, includ-
ing working with groups and
self-understanding.
Increase interest in eating
fruits and vegetables and
improve attitude toward fruits
and vegetables.
Improve/increase nutrition
knowledge and vegetable
preferences.
Improved snacking choices.
G ARDENS
Continued from page 1A
Garden Plant Sale, where most
of the plants have been planted
or transplanted by the garden
class.
Creslane Garden Plant Sale
— Saturday, May 9
Contact: Bill Freid 541-895-
6166, Debbie Windheim 541-
520-7194.
creslanekidsgarden@hotmail.
com
DORENA
SCHOOL
Things are busy, too, at the
Dorena School Garden, where
the 98 students are germinating
seeds, transplanting seedlings,
fi lling garden boxes and helping
with a grant application to allow
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them to purchase native plants.
Now in its third year, the garden
has grown into two distinct ar-
eas.
“One is a native garden area
where we hope to attract native
pollinator species and birds into
our garden – there are already
tadpoles swimming around in
the pond!” says garden coordi-
nator Valerie Rocco. “We have
been installing natives into the
area this spring, after a wonder-
ful effort last fall to clean up the
weeds and grass and mulch the
whole area.
“Our second area is a raised
bed area where the students are
fi lling up eight beds with garden
soil purchased through a grant
and many generous donors in
our community. We are planting
veggies and fruits and trying to
get an irrigation system in place
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Pair your meal with
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Cinco de Mayo
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El Tapatio Mexican Restaurant
photo by LaRae Ash
Harrison Elementary's garden offers a way for its students to get outdoors and even
get dirty! The garden recently received a $5000 grant.
so that the garden will grow in
the summer when the students
are no longer around.”
The program has developed
with the help of students, par-
ents, staff and “many generous
donors in the community,” Roc-
co said.
This year, she says the Dorena
Garden could use pots for start-
ing seeds, trellis materials, as-
sistance for their irrigation sys-
tem and volunteers to help make
it all happen.
Contact: Valerie Rocco 541-
946-1506
HARRISON
ELEMENTARY
“Things are happening in the
Harrison Garden!” says teacher
Shari Skadburg. “We were the
recipients of a $5,000 grant by
the Cow Creek Umpqua Indi-
an Foundation, and additional
funds from the Farm-to-School
Grant. This allowed us to add a
tool barn to our garden, built by
Jerry Settelmeyer. We were also
able to purchase more kid-sized
tools and upgrade our adult
tools.”
The Harrison School Garden,
which is in its third year, is lo-
cated on the north playground
of Harrison Elementary. Each
year, the garden donates seed-
lings and produce to the Com-
munity Sharing Garden and the
Cottage Grove Farm Stand.
“This spring we are bring-
ing the garden curriculum ‘Eat.
Think. Grow’ to the K-2 classes,
connecting our garden projects
to the classroom,” Skadburg
says. “We have been busy start-
ing seeds in our greenhouse, pre-
paring the beds for planting, and
planting cool weather crops. We
are looking forward to another
beautiful Harrison garden and
sharing with our community!
She sends a “special thank
you to all the people who are
making things happen and to
the businesses and individuals
who have contributed donations
of money or goods.”
“We can always use volun-
teers, so contact us if you would
like to be a part of our garden!”
Contact:
Trish Gillespie,
541- 520-7871, Shari Skadburg,
541-767-5105
725 Gibbs, Cottage Grove, (541) 767-0457
AL KENNEDY
ALTERNATIVE
HIGH SCHOOL
The Sustainable Gardens at
Al Kennedy Alternative High
School involve students “in all
aspects of growing, harvesting,
preparing and enjoying food to-
gether.”
Started in 2007, the curricu-
lum combines organic farming
and seasonal cooking in an ef-
fort to change “the way students
and families eat, learn and cre-
ate community.”
Over the years, Kennedy stu-
dents have assisted with many
garden-related projects within
the community. This year, In-
structor Matt Hall says the gar-
den is a little behind because
students were busy in woodshop
constructing seven of the “Little
Libraries” that will soon dot the
community.
“However, the leaf mulched
beds are being turned one by
one, and fava beans, lettuce,
spinach, broccoli, carrots, rad-
ish, beets, onions, peas and
cabbage have all been planted,”
Hall says. “The fall planted gar-
lic is looking strong and the over
wintering broccoli has plenty of
fl orets to harvest. Summer crops
such as tomatoes, peppers and
squash are already started in the
greenhouse and will be planted
in mid to late May.
“And the students are busily
planting seeds to produce plants
for our annual plant sale.”
The greatest challenge for the
program is managing the garden
during the summer break. Vol-
unteers are needed to water and
weed.
Contact: Matt Hall 541-942-
1962
Plant Sale — Saturday May
16, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
All proceeds go to support the
garden/greenhouse projects.
LATHAM
SCHOOL
Each class at Latham Elemen-
tary will enjoy its own section of
garden this year, says Principal
Anne Fisk. “And they enjoyed
strawberries and pumpkins from
their gardens last year.”
Students at Latham not only
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First recognized as an im-
portant teaching tool in Eu-
rope during the early 1800s,
by 1869 the school garden
was deemed so valuable that
Austria issued a royal edict
proclaiming that every school
must provide one for its stu-
dents.
In America, the concept
was a bit slower to take root,
with school garden programs
emerging around 1890 from
the community garden move-
ment, which saw gardening as
a means to cure various social,
moral and educational mala-
dies. It was extremely popu-
lar, and by 1906 the US Dept.
of Agriculture estimated that
there were more than 75,000
school gardens nationwide.
At that time, gardens were
seen to promote civic beau-
tifi cation and to instill an ap-
preciation of nature in youth.
During WWI and II, Victory
Gardens in homes, communi-
ties and schools were promot-
ed to demonstrate a love and
commitment to country.
enjoy the fruits of their labors
and gain the hands-on skills that
come with gardening, they learn
of the importance of compost-
ing through utilization of all
the schools breakfast and lunch
scraps.
“Unfortunately,” Fisk says,
the staff member who oversaw
the garden is no longer with us.
It would be nice to have some-
one who could help us oversee
the garden, as well as volunteers
to assist with summer mainte-
nance.
Contact: Anne Fisk 541-942-
0147.
LONDON
SCHOOL
Things are starting a bit slow
this year, says teacher and gar-
den coordinator Deb Henderson,
but it’s all coming along, with a
little help from their friends.
“We always get a lot of sup-
port from our neighbors at Ter-
ritorial Seed, and the Bookmine
has been very generous to us,”
Henderson says.
In the past three years, through
a combination of grants, indi-
vidual donations and the labor
of many, London staff and vol-
unteers created a large, art-fi lled
garden surrounded by a 10-foot
high fence. In the fall, staff and
students harvested, prepared and
shared their bounty with their
supporters at a community din-
ner at the little country school.
This year, those who would
like to have their own family
beds within the fenced garden
in exchange for helping main-
tain the student beds through
the summer are invited to apply
for space.
“And we are always in need
of folks who want to volunteer
to help with garden upkeep – es-
pecially folks who are willing to
work with students in the gar-
den,” Henderson adds.
For those who would like to
learn more — or to apply for a
family garden space — a meet-
ing is being held on April 29 at
2 p.m.
Contact:
Deb Henderson,
541-942-0183
After WWII, interest de-
clined until the 1970s and the
environmental movement, but
by the 1990s, school gardens
were back and growing.
In Oregon, the Farm-to-
School program, which began
in the 1990s, has been focused
on increasing the number of
schools with an edible gar-
den that are: actively used for
education; contributing to the
school’s meal program; have
a dedicated, funded staff po-
sition. Its goal was to have
at least one garden in every
county. There are now more
than 500 school gardens in
Oregon alone.
Recently, Congress passed
the Healthy, Hunger-Free
Kids Act and created the Farm
to School Competitive Grant
Program in which $5 million
annually is awarded for “train-
ing, planning, purchasing
equipment, building school
gardens and developing part-
nerships to create new or sup-
port existing programs.”
The program is designed to
improve the nutritional health
and well being of children,
support experiential nutrition
education activities and pro-
cure local foods from small
and medium-sized farms.