Project Orange Thumb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Tilling Tigers had such a good time “passing their Fiskars Orange Thumb baton” to the Junior Master Gardener groups in Coppell, Texas, that the Tigers decided to invite another school group to participate in Orange Thumb.

 

 

 

Carver Elementary School in Greenville, Texas, put the word out last year that they intend to develop an outdoor Science Lab behind the school.  Hopefully, it will involve some square foot garden plots, a pond, a weather station, and a butterfly garden.  The bad news is there is no money for science for the schools!  Carver must beg for every dollar for every item they will need from the community.  So far, $1,500 has been raised to erect a fence (the first step).   Next year, we’d like to help them apply for their own Orange Thumb grant from Fiskars!

 

We decided to partner with Carver and help with the plans for their garden.  One of the fundraising ideas we came up with is to collect bureau drawers from dumpsters and garage sales.  We’ll drill holes in the bottom of each drawer for drainage, fill the drawer with potting soil, and divide the drawer into 2 or 3 sections with string.  We’ll sell the completed “individual square foot garden kit” with some packets of easy-to-grow seeds.  (You can see a picture of the square foot drawers in Picture #9296.)   We’re thinking moms and grandmas will love to buy these and get their kids and grandkids started with their very own, portable gardens!

 

Another idea is to make “garden fairy chairs” to sell or auction off.  (You’ll see a “before” picture in #9296 and #9307)    We’ll look for old chairs at garage sales or thrift shops, punch the seats out of them, paint them, add decals, and sink a peat moss “hanging basket”-type plant where the seat would be.   These really turn out beautiful and are so pretty and unusual in a garden!  (In the picture, we just stuck a basket with 3 plants in it to give the Carver kids an idea of what we plan on doing.)

 

Since we got a compliment on the Fiskars blog about the pretty stepping stones we featured in one of our earlier blogs, we thought you might also enjoy seeing a smaller stone the children had fun with last week at the Coppell Community Garden JMG class.  (In picture #9262 you can see the cute stone on the right, a couple of (real!) butternut squashes we harvested for the Food Bank on the left, and a variation of a “Plant Person” in the middle.  (We make “plant people” who grow real hair this way:  put a couple of spoonfuls of ryegrass seed into the tip of a knee-high pantyhose.  Fill with a couple of cups of potting mix.  Tie tightly, decorate to make a face, and put the “wick” (bottom part) of the hose in a glass half full of water, after you soak the whole head well.  The wick will draw water up into the plant person’s head and grow the greatest head of green hair you’ve ever seen!  You can braid it, make ponytails, cut it, etc.  In the picture here, someone made a caterpillar but we’ll have to figure out how to position it to take up its ongoing water supply.  Cute, no?)

 

From another suggestion we got from the Fiskars’ blog, we’ve begun talking about introducing some of the fresh vegetables we grow and harvest to the rest of the kids in our school in the fall.  Since the Tilling Tigers’ garden isn’t as big as the Coppell kids’ gardens, we’ll have to do it slowly:  maybe one class at a time.  We think we could help other children learn about better nutrition if we can “spread the good word” to the kids not lucky enough to participate in the JMG program.

 

In Picture #9297, the Carver kids have just received their Orange Thumb T-shirts.  Carver is an inner-city Title I school.  Almost all of the children at Carver are on the free lunch program.  The children were very happy to receive the T-shirts.  (The teacher confided to us that the Orange Thumb shirt will probably be a regular part of the boy’s after-school wardrobe, as he doesn’t seem to have more than his school clothes to wear.)

 

In the same picture, you’ll also see that the children have received personal letters with their new shirts, with a picture of a Tilling Tiger kid.  The letter says how excited we are to be “rooting” for Carver and Carver’s garden plans.  We enclosed a packet of wildflower seeds they took home with them, and each child got a 4” pot with soil and began growing radishes the same day.  (Some of us adults who work with kids who garden have the children make a garden-theme notecards with a greeting in Spanish for needy children in Spanish-speaking countries that we adults distribute when we’re on humanitarian mission trips to South and Central America.  Sometimes it’s the first time the children there have received a photo of anyone.  The idea has been so successful that we now try to do it on all the projects we do when our kids are involved with kids from other schools or groups.)  In Picture #9311, you’ll see a sample of a picture each Carver child will glue onto a letter for each of the newest fifth grade Tilling Tigers who will be starting their 2008/2009 JMG program in September.

 

In Picture #9307, despite the heat, the Carver kids love working with the nifty Fiskars tools as they “break ground” for their future garden.

 

The Carver kids show off their new duds in front of the school playground in

#9323.  Thanks, Fiskars, for helping to make gardening and Science so much fun!

 

P.S., we’d love to hear others share their ideas for community fundraising!

 

 On Friday, June 27, we had a huge wind/hail/rain storm sweep through the county in 10 minutes. Although not a tornado, winds were measured up to 110 MPH. Three of our 23 gardens were destroyed-- although we are vowing to re-build. Omaha as a city had downed trees, much property damage from trees falling on houses, cars, streets, and power lines. Several driveways and sidewalks were destroyed when the trees were uprooted.  Please keep us in your thoughts this week as we work to assess damage and continue to clean up after this very, very scary storm.      

 

 

 

Hey everybody,

We have started to produce the fruits of our labor! The squash and tomatoes are coming in abundance. The herbs are doing there job in helping us keep out the bugs. The children at our day camp which numbers about 600 a week have been weeding and watering. It looks great! I had some old benchs at my house and they have been put in there for and inviting feel. We have a compost that much of our staff is helping maintain, so when we need some fertilizer we just put the compost on the plants. I don't think I could be more happy with the way things are going. I will take a few pictures so everyone can see the beauty in Touch the Earth.

Summer vacation has arrived!  Actually it has been in effect about a week now.  During the past week or so we as teachers have decided to take a small hiatus from work and take a much needed break.  We did finally get about seven yards of soil mix dropped on our garden site the last school day.  The soil will be moved into berms around the garden to give it some contour and help give it more of a pond-like area in the winter months.  Planting will be done mainly in August and September when the children arrive back from vacation.  They are the main reason for the garden so any major steps will be made with them at our side.  
Moving dirt is not always the most enjoyable experience for children but planting can and will be the most memorable and gratifying for them.  Thus the adults will move the dirt make the plans and then bring out the children for the planting celebration/educational day.  During this time we will work on making another video and hopefully getting some local news coverage for these days to come.  This is also when the ribbon cutting ceremony will take place sow that our garden takes root in our community!

I've been working with other borough gardeners and everyone admires my Fiskars tools. Jealousy has been expressed! The light aluminum shafts make a big difference when carrying tools and loading and unloading a truckload of tools. People (including me) admire the extra length of the shafts also, less bending is required which makes a difference on a big job. And I appreciate the orange color of the handles so I can easily distinguish my own tools from the rest. The hard rake has interestingly angled teeth and it's very effective at grabbing material and spreading material efficiently, especially wood chips and leaf mulch. The loppers are great for pruning the deadwood off young trees at Cadman Plaza Park which was relandscaped in the past couple of years. The lighter weight helps when holding a tool high for a long while, moving from tree to tree along a perimeter. And the shrub rake remains my favorite, such a good size for clearing weeds and leaves from between perennials and shrubs, under and behind benches, and out of narrow places where a wide rake is too clumsy.

The gardens we planted in May and June are thriving since there's been enough rain. People are thrilled to see flowers blooming now, that were little green stubs when planted! We had some extra T shirts that came in handy too since one group of volunteers got soaked in a sudden rain, so we gave them crisp dry orange T shirts which perked up the rainy afternoon.

 Our gardens are growing!   Last Friday marked the last day that The Big Garden built gardens. We are now switching over to caring for the gardens. Each intern is assigned 3-4 gardens. They are responsible for checking on them, helping weed and water and interacting with the neighbors.  

The Sierra Club recognized The Big Garden last Thursday in their national report: "Faith in Action: Communities of faith bringing hope for the planet"     Check out the pictures of the work that went on behind the scenes at the press conference. 

The GREEN TEAM will meet every other Wednesday, starting July 9th at 10:00 am.  Our last event of the school year was a rainout.  We have teamed up with a program called The Buffalo Employment Training Center which will boost our numbers by twelve students and three adults.  See you on Bailey Peninsula July 9th and 23rd as well as August 6th and 20th!!!!

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Nearly 1,000 western New Yorkers recieved this letter.  When South Park is on the list of sponsors, it is in part due to .........FISKARS.  A thousand thanks, from both South Park and BuffaloNiagara Riverkeeper. 

With the June 15th frost date past, the summer garden interns have been hard at work transplanting our greenhouse starts in the garden.  Pumpkins, squash, watermelons and cucumbers are in ground, with many other plants still patiently waiting their turn  Our root crops sprouted, and in no time fell vicitim to hungry grasshoppers.  We have since re-seeded, and remembered to cover everything with remay to protect our seedlings from any further munching.

Residents from the neighboring PEAKS Senior Living Community have also been hard at work in the garden, planting flowers and tomatoes in their raised garden plots adjacent to the youth garden.  Only three days into our summer program, and the garden is already buzzing with new energy, life, and laughter!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The “Tilling Tigers” have passed the baton to the next group of Junior Master Gardeners who will be participating in our Orange Thumb project.  (Altogether, 4 groups of children will be running with the Orange Thumb banner, and all will qualify for their Junior Master Gardener pin at the end of the project.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got up early to prepare for the arrival of the 9 – 11 year olds who would work in the gardens this week.  In #9203 you can see that the Fiskars tools are all ready for the newest swarm of young gardeners!

 

In #9210, the children receive their T-shirts, along with a packet of wildflower seeds and a note and picture from each of the first group of Tilling Tigers.  (They wished them well and told them how much fun they’re going to have.)

 

This phase of our project takes place in one of the two community gardens in Coppell, Texas, where vegetables are harvested every weekend for the local Food Bank.  In Picture #9207, you’ll see what the children will realize when they arrive at the gardens…they will be participating in “planting a row for the hungry.”

 

Hey, what do you think of our fancy new orange duds?  We’re learning tool safety and garden basics (#9212) as we’re finally let out in the soil to “do our stuff!” 

 

Oh, wow!  What a new experience to dig in the beds with all our new tools and pull up cuties like these little carrots!  (Picture #9220)

 

We can’t wait to see what next week brings!

 

 

 

Several of our teachers are taking advantage of  the beautify garden and benches we have outside for teaching outside. Some of the centers include drawing pictures of flowers and insects on the sidewalk using water and paintbrushes and then watching it evaporate instantly under the sun, they are also drawing pictures using butcher paper and real paint and hanging them outside the garden fence to dry, catching flying animals around the garden and determining if they are insects by counting their legs, digging for worms and measuring them.

Every day the students look forward to going outside and spending time around the garden. In addition, they are always looking for the different stages of butterfly growth on our milkweed plants. They have learned so much through hands on experiences and real life situations.  Most of them know the parts of a plant, the butterfly stages of methamorphosis, what is an insect, what is a weed and why are they bad for plants, what are the needs of a plant, garden took names, what is an ecosystem and much more.

Hey everyone,

Welcome to Hotlanta! We have been enduring a n early heat wave,with temperatures of 95 plus for over a week. Adam has got our water going and the weeds are in full swing. We spent some time weedingand beautifing. The tomatoes are in full swing and the squash looks tasty.  Our biigest problem and mostly my fault was our friends the deer. I plantted several hostas in the back of the garden due to shade... only to read later that this is one of there most favorite treats.(HGTV told me this after it was too late) They took off the tops of most of the peepers but i think they will recover. Otherwise we have been mulching to make it look pretty. Thanks for whoever checks on us and remember toi Touch the Earth gently!

 Oh my gosh we just got all of our pictures back from our gardening project this spring and they look awesome!  For the past few months we have been planning to do a garden in Altgeld Gardens, which is a housing area on the far South Side of Chicago, IL.  Joe Lamp'l, or joe gardener as many know him, designed a beautiful garden for us.  The group at Altgeld wanted a garden to maintain, prune and grow a variety of things in but lacked the resources to implement the first initial large planting that was necessary.  We knew they would be a great group and  really deserved the help so we started planning.  It took about eight weeks of planning and

60 people on

site planting, but we got it done in one day.   It was great too because the entire day there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  Which was beautiful, but to be honest left a few of us little pinker then we would have rather been.  Brent and myself got things started a few months ago and with some donated green goods from Lowes and the vounteered hours of around 25 individuals besides the 35 that came from Fiskars, we "Greened" this 96'x134' plot.  The poeple who run the housing offices at Altgeld were amazing throughout the planning process and the community really helped us on the actual day of planting.   There were around 15 trees, hundreds of perennialls and annuals, 10 raised beds with vegetables and herbs.  Putting in those darn raised beds was sort of difficult, they needed to be built 18 inches high!  There was even a community gathering area that was put in the middle with benches and a bird bath in the center, it really livened up the place.  You can see more pictures at http://www.fiskars.com/content/garden_en_us/Garden/Community/Green-Up.  There are pictures videos, it was a great experience, hopefully we get the opportunity to do something like this again! 

 I will keep you updated with how things are going wiht the garden now that the Altgeld neighborhood is taking care of it and things will really be blossoming soon especially those crabapple trees:) Aw it's going to be georgeous!

 

   

 

 Whew!!! It's been a stormy couple of weeks here in Omaha!  We are slowly drying out--- with more rain in the forecast. 

 The Big Garden is an initiative of United Methodist Ministries, which has direct ties to the United Methodist Churches in Nebraska. Part of the added benefit the relationships is the opportunity to work with junior high and high school youth not from urban Omaha.  Last week we had a group from the middle of the state come to Omaha. Part of their experience was building a path for the residence at JC Wade for the garden (slippery muddy path+ older adults= disaster). They did such a great job on the path! What's more, they feel that starting a community garden in their 300 people town would be a great way to create a sense of community and get vegetables in the summer.  YEA!!!!! We love to spread gardens!!!!!!!

 

 

Well we here at Nuestra Zemlya Garden are proud to say that the garden project has taken a step forward. Or shall I say a few steps forward. On the morning of May 8th Woodburn Public Works showed up with a small crew and some large equipment; a forklift, track hoe, several 7 cu.yd. trucks, and some shovels. I am sure coffee or some sort of caffeinated beverage was thrown in the mix somewhere too. By 10 a.m. the ground breaking took place! The track hoe had made its first scoop, the first of many. Over the next several days Public Works dug out approximately 4680 sq.ft. of our soil! During this time they removed sewage and gas lines no longer in use, fixed the existing sewer line and replaced our drain for the garden area. On May 12th, 49 tons of drain rock was put in its place to a depth of 1 foot. Two days later our garden was filled back with amended drainage soil. This soil consisted of 1/3 sandy loam, 1/3 fine woodscraps, and 1/3 of the original soil. The most encouraging ordeal of it all was the interaction between the students and the work crew. Classes were free to go and observe, take notes, ask questions, or simply passively enjoy the engineers at work. Smiles shinned on the kids faces. Interest was sprouting in their minds. Curiosity was raking at their thoughts. The majority of the students were flooding with questions and "answers". During this time I gave several presentations in the elementary school and Brad Agenbroad I am sure was busy with presentations and explinations on his end in the Middle School. The following week we had a meeting with Al's garden center, Marion SWCD, and FFA teacher from the High School. Plans were laid out and ideas tossed around and eventually a rough sketch came out of the mixture. Thereafter, Brad Agenbroad and I got together to finalize, chalk out, measure more precisely the area so that we could have a better representation of what our garden is going to look like in the end. We added berms for contour, gravel river beds to mimic natural streams, observation points for collecting data and making scientific illustrations. The first goals in the gadren have taken hold. But now the goals has budded new growth with new goals and purposes. Not only will it serve as a "living laboratory" for the students to do some long-term-ecological-research (short term too), but it will function as a demonstration garden for the Woodburn public. Hopefully this garden will educate them on water issues and what can be done to help conserve and clean our water. Our garden will serve as an example to local businesses, schools, and neighborhoods for Public Works of Woodburn and options they can provide for water treatment alternatives. We should have a video and newspaper clip coming up soon. I will post them as soon as I receive them.

We are all learning gardening lessons as we experience this journey of community building. There have been many different lessons. For example: Whe using square foot gardening techniques to plant swiss chard there should be 4 seeds per square foot. If you plant 16 seeds per square foot there will be more work needed to thin the plants to allow room for grow.  The good news from this "mistake"  was there was lots to eat when the lush green plants were thinned. Some of us had fresh greens for a salad and others were treated to lightly sauteed swiss chard at our pot luck supper tonight.  

 Along with the bounty our garden is starting to produce, we are learning to battle potato bugs and keeping weeds from over taking the rich beds, which is a challenge!  The tools we have received from Fiskars are helping with the weed control! God is good.

Slate and Tim mowing some of the overgrowth. Can you see our deer fence in the background?

Thinned swiss chard ready to go to the kitchen.

How satisfied we were to end the school year with a garden party that featured all of our very own vegetables, herbs, fruit, and flowers that we grew ourselves (in the first picture you see some of what we’ve been growing!)  A few of our parents warned our teacher, Mrs. Feduccia, that we would never eat things like lettuce, radishes and cauliflower.  Well, it made a difference when we grew it ourselves – from babies.  By the end of the season, we were fighting over who got to take what home!

We’ve used a lot of our school subjects by learning about gardening.  In Picture 8952, some of us “Tilling Tigers” are entering in our Junior Master Gardener journals how many inches of rain got measured in our rain gauge, what the soil temperature was on that day, and how many inches of mulch we still have in the raised beds.

We then harvested some of the beautiful irises we grew in that bed for pretty bouquets for our end-of-school-year garden party (see proud Mrs. Feduccia in #8917.  She and her husband are iris & daylily award winners:  wow!)   As we pull up things like lettuce and spinach and other things for our salads and dips, we’re making room for other plants and vegetables to grow in the same garden beds (#8954); in this picture you’ll also see the stepping stones each group of Jr. Master Gardeners decorate and add to our school garden each year.   Not only did we prepare some great vegetable and fruit platters to enjoy, we experimented with some of the herbs we love to grow (#8928).  

 

 

(Now we get to taste on a salad the neat things we’ve been chomping on during the school year!

It was really awesome to see how huge so many plants got after our tender loving care (#8959)!

 

Over the next couple of weeks we’ll be starting some new projects, and we can’t wait!  Stay tuned!