We could not be more rewarded for all the work and resources put in this project with just looking at the happy faces of the kids when they completed their first seeding session. They are ready to take care of their little baby plants when the seeds will start to germinate. They learned what is needed to grow a plant (fertile soil, sunlight and water), some learned about compost and all of them review with us some things people can do on Earth Day: plant trees or food plants, like our garden to reduce transportation and the use of chemicals, and the four R - Reduce, Reuse Recycle and Remember.
We also were on Cincinnati.com as an Earth Day activity (picture 21 and 22)
And like David says every day should be Earth Day for all of us.
A big thank to David, feel free to visit him at his fresh vegetable booth during spring and summer at the Anderson's Farmers Market.
Finally after long weeks of intense preparation we were able to start this new adventure.
A group of volunteers under the guidance of David Lindquist, Wilson parent and owner of Cassandra Farm, rolled up sleeves and start digging. The weather has not been with us. We hoped for a big rain on Friday, but instead we only had very dark clouds and a little rain, so the ground was extremely hard. Lucky we brought our kids so we had many little hands carrying water to soften the soil and picking up the unwanted grass. Finally after 3 days of hard work we were able to prepare the first 13 beds needed to start seeding with 177 kids.
At the end we were sore, tired and sweet, but very proud of what we had accomplished for our kids.
You can look at some picture taken during the work on the right of the blog page. There is one picture that was never taken we will always miss. The one with Kirsten, one of the moms in our committee, courageously pushing the tiller for her fist time in her life.
Thank to all of you Alisha and Mike Molloy, David Lindquist, Kirsten Stilgenbauer, Mark and Kristen Page Alt, Mike Curry, Susan Prince.
This garden has been proven to be a real community effort, as we all care for the education and health of our kids.
It is an effort of promoting healthy foods, community involvement, increase environmental awareness and in general raise exceptional citizens of USA and of the world.
School gardens are popping up all over USA, the benefit and the rewards for parents, kids, teachers and the community as a whole have been proven to be unlimited. There is something to discover and experiment for every age (science, health/nutrition, math, community service, literature, art, social studies, cultural studies, history, etc).
It is a wonderful way to teach kids environmental attitude, self-confidence, community spirit, leadership skills, volunteerism, nutritional attitudes, positive attitude toward school, social skills and motor skills.
This project would not have been possible without the dedication, time, knowledge, hard work and financial support kindly donated to us by
ACE Hardware on Beechmont Av., Alisha and Mike Molloy, Anderson Town Center Kroger, Anderson Township (Steve Sievers, Dir of Dev and Richard Shelley, Staff members: Eric L., Don T., Jamie B., Rob G, Lorry D.), Burger Farm, Civic Garden Center, David Lindquist owner of Cassandra Farm, Ron and Diana Reynolds, Isabelle Reynolds, Granny's Garden School, Greenfield Plant Farm, Hamilton County Solid Waste Management District, Joan S. Thomas and Mike Weingarten, Junior Girl Scout Troop 48861, Kirsten Stilgenbauer, Mark and Kristen Page Alt, Mike Curry, Plants by Wolfangel, Wilson Elementary Principal Dr. Ann Roberts, participating teachers and school staff members, Sheila Vilvens, Susan Prince, Susan's Natural World.
A big thank to all of you and to all the kids who are participating to this project.
Vanessa Scocchera
Wilson Garden Wonder Chair
