Category — Children

SEED, SHOOT, GROW! Kids from the BTU Green Dragons program show off the stages of one of their warmup stretches. Check out the beautiful sugar snap peas they grew in the background!

The Green Dragons program teaches about mental, physical and agricultural benefits in a combined program.

By Steve Annear
Boston Daily
May 8, 2013

Excerpt:

Here’s how it works: the Green Dragon approach starts with students growing their own seedlings that eventually get transplanted for full harvest either in an outdoor raised bed or garden, or in indoor greenhouses in Boston. The group has five agricultural sites around the city, including their largest one located at the South West Boston Community Garden in Roslindale.

According to Mike Cermak, one of the co-founders of Green Dragons, some of the earliest weapons used in martial arts were developed from modified farming tools, as a means of defense, something the program highlights when connecting the “common roots” of their teachings.

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Community gardens, like this one on DeLair Road in Abbotsford, are thriving and there’s a waiting list for garden plots. Photograph by: John Van Putten.

Reimer Middle School plants a garden for the nearby community

By Christina Toth
The Abottsford Times
April 25, 2013

Excerpt:

Five years ago, there were maybe 10 from Langley to Agassiz, and now there are 28 and counting, but that’s not a surprise to community garden crusader Kayla Feenstra.

People crave to feel the soil, to be in the fresh air, and to fuss over tender green things. While growing one’s own grub is important, there is also a social component for those who yearn for green thumb fellowship, especially for those who are retired and have downsized into an apartment, said Feenstra.

“They don’t have land anymore but are itching to get their hands into the dirt,” she said.

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See news report about the garden here.

“I cooked collards for sixty 5th graders in my classroom and out of 60 kids, 60 ate them. And 57 loved them. Now that’s a miracle,” Sherri said.

By Laura Hussey
ABC WEAR
April 27 2013,

High prices in the produce aisle won’t be a problem for a group of Okaloosa County kids. They’re learning to grow their own food in a garden that was dedicated Friday. Look, we have tomatoes!

Matter of fact, looks like a bountiful crop at Edwins Elementary and the gardeners are all under 12 years old. Urban agriculture is a fast-growing movement.

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Getting to the roots of the community

One Vision Housing
25 February 2013

Excerpt:

The Hinton and Lawler Community Garden project recently launched in Litherland; converting an unused and unsightly dumping ground into a functional garden where the community can grow their own healthy fruit and vegetables.

One Vision Housing planned and implemented the community project in partnership with The Conservation Volunteers, the local residents, and year 5 and 6 pupils from Lander Road Primary School in Litherland; who have continued to demonstrate their commitment.

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“We’re growing a lot of food in small spaces, so we try to rotate at least three crops through a plot per season.”

Organic Connections
March April 2013

Excerpt:

UrbiCulture now consists of 15 lots being utilized throughout Denver for growing, with very satisfied CSA subscribers—so satisfied, in fact, they can’t accommodate them all. The waiting list is upward of 80 people.

But Candice’s work only begins with the CSAs. Within the main city area of Denver, UrbiCulture took over a piece of land on which they grow produce for low-income residents.

“In downtown Denver we have a 6,500 square-foot dirt lot that we took over and beautified and then put in this extraordinary garden,” Candice said. “We farm it; we garden it.

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Funding the Jacob Sportsman’s Memorial Garden at John S Park Elementary

Via Green Planet Org

Excerpt:

Jacob K. Sportsman, 22, of Las Vegas, died on Nov. 26, 2012 while serving in the U.S. Navy. Jake’s life, though brief, touched many others. He was a multifaceted character. He was a dedicated son, loyal brother and exceptional friend. When he walked into the room, his grandparents’, aunts’ and uncles’ faces would light up with pride. He could make you laugh, he was a prankster. You were never bored with him around. He could decide to throw a party and within hours have more than 100 people gathered and having a blast!

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“Each vividly colored spread is accompanied by one simple, descriptive sentence with garden-centric language.”

By Bonnie Christensen
Roaring Book Press
32 pages, 2012

“With a little help from a watering can, bright sunlight, and a lot of patience, two friends plant seeds in their community garden and watch how they grow. Slowly, the seeds turn into sprouts, which grow into stems, followed by leaves and buds! The garden will soon be teeming with life and ready for a harvest season celebration. But until then, the children water and wait and dream . . .”

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Growing food and selling it back into the neighbourhood as well as institutional cafeterias

By Emily Jackson
Metro News
March 26, 2013

Excerpt:

By next fall, Vancouver Technical Secondary School students will be able to eat fresh kale, arugula and turnips harvested from the school’s field.

The eastside high school is the first in the country to host a commercial urban farm on school board property, Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society director Ilana Labow said as she and a team of student volunteers broke ground on the garden on Tuesday. While her society has helped with school gardens before, this is the first larger scale farm.

It’s an idea so appetizing to other schools that Labow has already had calls from across North America asking how to replicate Fresh Roots’ agreement with the school board.

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Tina Ksor, left, Jenny Ro’mah and Susan Siu are excited to start their community garden at Moberly elementary school. Photo by Richard Lam.

Back in Vietnam, these young refugees would be living off the land like their forebears

By Darah Hansen
Vancouver Sun
March 23, 2013

Excerpt:

“Here it is school, home, sleep, eat. In Vietnam it is farming all day long, every day.”

The garden has the potential to balance both worlds.

Set to break ground April 2 at Moberly, with funding from the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Foundation, it promises to yield fruits and vegetables enough to help feed several families.

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Children involved with the North End Community Health Centre project, Hope Blooms, display their produce in 2011. Current participants in the project have been invited to take part in the CBC entrepreneurial show Dragons’ Den. Photo by Eric Wynne.

Funds needed to get kids to Dragons’ Den

By Michael Lightstone
Herald News
March 20, 2013

Excerpt:

They want to enter the Dragons’ Den, but first a resourceful group of Halifax kids is counting on the kindness of strangers to help get them to a CBC television studio in Toronto.

The children are part of the Hope Blooms enterprise that grew out of a Halifax community garden project the North End Community Health Centre launched around 2007.

After a successful audition in February for the business-promoting TV show, the youngsters have been invited to tape an episode for the next television season. Seven children and three adults are planning to go to Toronto for the April 27 taping.

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Summer harvest ladies. Photo by Diana Vinh.

Interview with founder Laura Dewell

By Diana Vinh
Urban Farm Hub
March 21, 2013

Excerpt:

What are you growing this year?

We are growing so much: potatoes, carrots, scarlet runner beans, radish, lettuce (lots of different kinds), turnips, collards, cabbages (lots of different kinds), peppers (lots again), tomatillos, herbs, (basil, mint, tarragon, thyme, oregano, etc.), tomatoes, flowers (including sunflowers), kale, ground cherries, cucumber, squash, winter squash, onions, garlic, peas, beans, artichokes and cardoons (mostly for decoration), raspberries; just about everything that is possible to grow here….which means I’m forgetting stuff!

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From left are Luke Attwood, Joel Wilson, Richard Leatherby, of Tool Shed, Zoe Jordan, Matt White and Kelvin Pashby. Left: the planting area.

A UK City college is working to turn disused land into an allotment-style community garden.

By Claire Jones
Plymouth Herald
March 7, 2013

Excerpt:

Grow-Allot is an initiative created by City College Plymouth to restore an area of disused ground at its Kings Road site.

With funding from the Big Lottery’s Local Food Programme, its aim is to create a relaxing, green space for students, staff and the local community.

Allotment project co-ordinator at the college Matt White said: “This project will give budding gardeners the opportunity to explore the wonderful variety of edible plants that can be grown here.

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Our garden has 4 kinds of fruit trees; apple, pear, peach and cherry.

By Dan O’leary
Coordinatinor Princess Park Children’s Play Garden
March 3, 2013

Its the first week of March and the time to prune fruit trees is now.  

Pruning means to cut away unwanted branches. Pruning devices are used to make the cuts.  They are like oversized scissors and are  called secateurs.  Pruning is done to control shape of the tree,  remove diseased areas  and take off branches that touch so fruit production is maximized.  

Our garden has 4 kinds of fruit trees; apple, pear, peach and cherry.

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Mark Twain Middle School, a Title 1 school where 83% of students get assistance with meals

By MeiMei Fox
Huffington Post
Feb 25, 2013

Excerpt:

Mark Twain Middle School’s Seed to Plate Program in Venice, Los Angeles is a model for school nutrition programs in the L.A. Unified School District and across the nation. The garden serves as not only a source of healthy food for the students, but also as a classroom. The children learn entrepreneurship by selling their produce at a local farmer’s market; math by counting loaves of bread baked from the wheat harvest; and history by studying Aztec and Mayan agricultural techniques.

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OXFAM film about garden. Documentaire réalisé par OXFAM sur un rojet d’envergure de micro-agriculture à l’école secondaire Hélène-De Champlain qui accueille des élèves manifestant des troubles graves du comportement.

For 19 years now, Daniel Lefebvre has taught students suffering from severe behaviour disorders.

Excerpt about instructor Daniel Lefebvre:

As the instigator of Les mains de Champlain cooperative that was created a few years ago, Mr. Lefebvre can truly grasp just how committed his peers and students are. “The moment you do something for others and not only for yourself, everything seems to fall into place. The students can feel this and in turn do what it takes to ensure that everything runs smoothly.”

When he established the cooperative, Mr. Lefebvre wanted to offer students a genuine work experience, a unique opportunity to develop their employability and learn to tackle concrete situations in project management.

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In 2003, Rebecca Lemos and Lola Bloom took on the name City Blossoms and began teaching year-long workshops in schools, after school programs, and in summer camps. Today City Blossoms works with over 3,000 children and youth all over the Washington D.C. area.

Their book is coming in early March 2013 for early childhood educators

By City Blossoms

After years of teaching children ages 3-5 City Blossoms is publishing Our First Harvest/Nuestra Primera Cosecha, a bilingual year-round curriculum consisting of 30 garden-related lessons plus all kinds of resources and helpful hints. Lessons align with typical educational standards and investigate subjects including:

* Observing plant life cycles
* Learning about insects and their roles in a garden
* Creating nature-inspired artwork
* Making garden-inspired recipes

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(Very funny video. Mike)

“We’re empowering people to teach their own communities how to ‘fish’ so their whole community will be self-sustaining and will be able to eat for life,”

Matt Petronzio
Mashable
Jan 22, 2013

Excerpt:

Whole Kids Foundation, PACT and Indiegogo have joined forces to create an inspiring crowdfunding initiative: building 100 urban gardens across the United States. This is the first time a non-profit, a brand and a global crowdfunding platform have partnered to help drive change in local communities around the country.

Whole Foods’ non-profit arm will facilitate each grant and provide online resources, while PACT, an organic apparel company supporting global causes, will provide physical perks in exchange for donations. Indiegogo will provide the platform through which donations can be made until Feb. 28.

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2009 video showing Camden youngsters learning about nutrution. The state has given the garden’s operators until March 31, 2013 to remove all property from the Children’s Garden.

The nonprofit Camden Children’s Garden has two months to vacate most of its state-owned property before the land is transferred to the Adventure Aquarium next door.

By Claudia Vargas
Philly.com
January 25, 2013
Excerpts:

In a letter sent last week, the New Jersey Department of Treasury ordered Children’s Garden director Michael Devlin to remove all property – including the facility’s amusement rides, gazebo, and giant dinosaur – by March 31.

The garden has the option to sell its items to Herschend Family Entertainment, the private owner of the aquarium as well as amusement parks around the country.

The state, which owns the four-acre waterfront property, will allow the Children’s Garden to rent a small area to house office space and a greenhouse.

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Lincoln-Sudbury High School in Massachusetts.

We’re not going to pretend that every day went smoothly.

By Katie LaScaleia
Alliance for Climate Education
Jan 24, 2013

Excerpt:

Our Action Team has undoubtedly accomplished a lot over the past few years in Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School and our community in terms of recycling, energy conservation, and environmental awareness. Yet every time we’ve completed a project, even though the students did most of the work, we couldn’t deny the help we needed from our club advisors in seeing the project through to the end.

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Trina stopped walking and turned to look at this spot.
“You know, this could be a wonderful community garden. I like it a lot.”

By Barry Thomas Becht and Binah Godisall
2013

My loving Partner, Binah Godisall crafts the stories and I add any ideas and all the illustrations to our world based in Peace Valley to explore the Seven Kind Kids Team adventures.

Recently, I have been co-authoring and illustrating a collection of books based on characters I created to share the ideas of conscious creation to people aged 5 to 105. Each book is a 26 page children’s picture book.

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