Late Spring in the Garden – A Recap
This beautiful spring made it difficult to sit and post to the blog, so here is a recap of all the activity in the garden from the past month or so.
ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages): Throughout the year, ESOL have been the hardest and most diligent garden helpers. However, with the start of the garden unit for PE classes, ESOL had to take a short hiatus from their garden work each week. Here are some photos of their last day planting flowers and spreading mulch (their favorite) for the year.
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ESOL students spend time writing after visiting the garden each week to help build their English skills. Here are a few excerpts from their beautiful prose:
“Sitting on a log under the tree felt good and silent. Nobody was talking in the forest. The birds were making sounds, chaw chaw chaw. It was peaceful. The birds were coming from far away sitting on the tree making different sounds. I saw the trees moving in the wind singing sh, sh, sh, sh.” – Santosh
“It’s a big tree, it’s thick and crawling with ivy. It took me back to when I was 9 years old, I sat with my cousin quietly thinking, then shared what we were thinking about. It’s a good feeling when you sit with someone that you trust, and say what you are thinking about.” – Ula
CIVICS & ECONOMICS: As part of their Earth Day celebration, the Civics & Economics classes seed bombed the Buford creek as a continuation of their study of community service. After throwing the seeds, Mr. Driver, Mr. Benson, and Mr. Presley led students on a neighborhood trash clean up walk. I heard from the teachers it was a race to each piece of trash and that the students had to be dragged back to school at the end.
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GARDEN UNIT FOR PE/HEALTH CLASSES: The last week of April marked the start of our 1-week garden unit for all PE/Health class students. Groups of 15 students rotate through to spend 1 week in the garden during their PE/Health period at school. A big thanks to Troy Jackson from Pennline Tree Company for cutting, loading, and delivering 20, 18 x 30 inch oak tree stumps for seating in the garden. They have made a perfect space for gathering the class, and students love relaxing (and lying, walking, jumping, etc.) on the stumps during garden activities. Here is an outline of the week’s curriculum and some photos:
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Day 1: Why grow food? – Students explore where food grows in and around Charlottesville, and how their food needs are being met. Students learn the most important skill as a gardener and naturalist – curiosity – by asking 21 questions of a plant in or around the garden. Here is a sampling of their questions: What’s your name? What plant family are you in? Are you at all related to roses? Are you edible? Do you protect anything? Do you have to be planted each year? Why are some leaves rougher than others? Are you aware there is a fly on you? What can I make out of you? What purpose does your smell have? Why do you have holes in your leaves? How long have you been here? Do you wish you were in more sunlight?
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Day 2: Soils – Students dig holes in the creek and grassy areas surrounding the garden to ask questions about the existing soil in Virginia, and to explore soil layers, soil textures, soil colors, soil organisms, & soil smells.
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Day 3: Planting Seeds – Students explore where seeds come from, how they develop, why in a garden setting we often don’t see plants flower and seed, and how to plant seeds.
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Day 4: Processing Plants – Students learn the energy it takes to process the foods grown in a garden or on a farm into the products we commonly find in grocery stores. By using a grain mill students turn hard red wheat berries grown and harvested by Heartland Farm in Mount Solon, VA outside Staunton into flour that will be packaged into presents for the teachers at Buford.
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Day 5: Friday Funday Garden Activities – Students assist with garden responsibilities including digging new garden beds, transplanting peppers or greens, making bouquets, planting radishes, watching hawks circle above, watering seedlings, building boobitraps, exploring the woods, and on and on.
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EARTH DAY: Buford had an Earth Day assembly for students with storytelling from Principal Johnson & Frances Fife (the former owner of the farm where Buford sits) about their days growing up on a farm and the important role their experiences in nature had on their childhood.
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GARDEN AND CHEF CLUBS: After fending off attacks from students (and teachers and administrators) on the strawberry patch all week, the garden club finally harvested our first batch of strawberries. So so sweet! And… The chef club made salads last week combining the strawberries with fresh lettuce from the garden. Delicious!
We want to say a special goodbye to a dear friend and garden volunteer Jennifer Bedrosian who is heading south to fill the position of Chef Teacher and Kitchen Manager at Edible Schoolyard Greensboro. We are sad to see her go as she has been such an integral part of our Chef Club and garden activities, but we wish her the best on her journey! Thank you, Jennifer!
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And remember to join us tomorrow evening from 5:30 – 7:30 pm for the Planting Seeds Music Festival at Buford. See you there!
A very special visitor…
We were thrilled beyond belief to host none other than Alice Waters in the garden at Buford this week. She is the godmother of school gardening, founding the renowned Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, CA sixteen years ago. A passionate advocate for fresh, organic food for all, Alice’s work as a chef and teacher has been an inspiration to our program. We are grateful that we were afforded the opportunity to show her our work at Buford. With huge thanks to all our supporters and friends who have helped to build our program — we would have no garden program in Charlottesville if it weren’t for the incredible community investment in this effort! Below are some pictures of our visit with Alice, taken by wonderful C’ville photographer Sarah Cramer Shields (and you can find more photos on our CSG Facebook page).
 Program Director Linda Winecoff greets Alice Waters with a City Schoolyard Garden button |
 Alice is joined by Charlottesville City Schools Superintendent Dr. Rosa Atkins, school board chair Ned Michie, and vice-chair Juandiego Wade |
 Alice and Emily talk gardening |
 Friends and supporters tour the garden |
 Buford Principal Eric Johnson and Alice embrace |
 Alice, Emily, and Buford 7th grader/garden intern Elizabeth Beling |
Relaxing in the cover crop and giving compost tea to the life science beds
There is fresh spinach and lettuce all throughout the garden and students have been grazing on shoots from the winter pea cover crop all week. Delicious!
 Life science students enjoyed a cat nap on a bed of winter peas & winter rye before heading up to class |
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 The compost tea set-up |
 Filtering the compost tea into the spray bottle |
 Applying the tea and its abundant microbial life to the life science beds |
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A lovely Sunday workday
Last Sunday’s workday was a lovely afternoon of vine pulling, trash collecting, root digging, and enjoying the company of friends. Volunteers cleared a roughly 2,000 square foot area of debris, giving hope to existing native plants and giving us the opportunity to design an additional learning space for Buford’s community. We are so grateful for the help of all our volunteers, many hands made light(er) work.
Our volunteers included:
-Charlottesville City School Students: Mary Hicks, Wazhma Yousafi, Saria Calloway, Angela Calloway, Waynesha Rowland, Tanika Rowland, Rachel Manto, Caleb Rose, Jenna Ashby
-Buford Teachers: Brad Presley, Gail Heard, Betsy Donahue
-Community Members: Martin Bailes, Tyler Lavenburg, Katy Schutz, Lorie Craddock, Nathaniel Galea, Brandon Rose, Brian Wilson, Victoria Young, Caitlin Howell, & Ken Victor
-UVA: Alana Johnson, Darcy Alimenti, & Winston Plunkett
-Virginia Silverbacks football team
I would also like to send a big thank you to Amtchat Edwards from the U.S. Forest Service for consulting on the project.
Next week, Mr. Driver and Mr. Benson’s Civics & Economics classes will toss their seed bombs into the newly cleared area to populate it with native wildflowers, and that is only the beginning of this creek restoration project. Look out for upcoming events and updates on this exciting new addition to Buford’s garden.
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 After - Look closely |
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Life Science classes start measurements and BRC students make leaf prints
This week, Ms. Donahue and Ms. Kovarik’s Life Science classes took their first measurement for their spring science lab. This semester the students will be testing eight plants to measure the success of compost tea in adding nutrients and beneficial microorganisms to the soil to improve plant growth.
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Also this week, students from the Blue Ridge Commons after school program worked with Emily to make gorgeous leaf prints. Check them out!
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AND REMEMBER TO JOIN US THIS SUNDAY ANYTIME BETWEEN 2 AND 5 PM FOR OUR STREAM RESTORATION WORKDAY.
CONTACT EMILY AT (314) 799-9394 IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS.
CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU THERE!
Upcoming Events: Volunteer Work Day & Introduction to Gardening Workshop
March is just starting even though it feels like spring has been here for weeks! CSG at Buford is hosting two events this month to kick-off the spring:
Buford Forest Trail Restoration Work Day – March 18, 2012 from 2 pm – 5 pm: Join us for a community work day to restore the Buford Forest Trail that runs through the creeks behind the athletic field at Buford. Opportunistic species have taken over the trail and trees, restricting student and community member access to this beautiful city hideaway. With your help we are planning to restore the health of this forest ecosystem and to begin replanting both native and edible plants that will thrive in this moisture-rich, shady environment. There will be food and drinks for all volunteers, not to mention lots of laughs and the reward of seeing a stream come back to life. Please RSVP to Emily Axelbaum at emily@cityschoolyardgarden.org or (314)799-9394.
Introduction to Gardening Workshop – March 24, 2012 from 10 am – 12 pm: Come out for a hands-on workshop designed for beginner and seasoned gardeners alike. The morning will cover garden siting, soil preparation, predator control, planting, maintenance, and harvesting techniques. The course is free with a suggested donation of $10.00 for those able to further support CSG garden programming. Money raised will go toward seed-starting equipment for the Buford Garden. The course will be taught by Buford garden educator Emily Axelbaum and Guinevere Higgins of Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest. We will be there rain or shine and space is limited so RSVP soon to Emily at emily@cityschoolyardgarden.org or (314)799-9394.
Boys & Girls Club Back in the Garden
Boys & Girls Club members returned to the garden yesterday to help double dig new beds in the beautiful light of the late afternoon. Our new garden layout plan will be uploaded soon, and you can always feel free to stop by and see what we are up to in the garden!
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Buford Partners with Southern Exposure Seed Exchange for its first Seed Fundraiser
Buford Middle School is excited to be partnering with Southern Exposure Seed Exchange to host a seed fundraiser this spring. Family, friends, and community members will have 3 different collections of seeds to choose from, #1 Herbs & Flowers, #2 Salad Mix, and #3 Rainbow Vegetables. Each collection contains 4 seed varieties (see the image below, click the image to enlarge it) and comes with a free growing guide for planting in the Charlottesville area. Each collection costs $10 and a free seed packet comes with orders of any 3 collections. 50% of the proceeds go to Buford Middle School for the construction of a greenhouse space for the garden.
The top 7th and 8th grade sellers will receive a $50 gift card, and the second place 7th and 8th grade sellers will receive a $25 gift card. In addition, all students that sell over 20 seed collections will be invited to spend Rewards Day on March 30, 2012 in the cafeteria with smoothies from Smoothie King and food from Chipotle.
In conjunction with the fundraiser, Emily Axelbaum and Guinevere Heathcote Higgins, owner of Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest, will be offering a free workshop on starting a home garden on Saturday, March 24, 2012 from 10 am – Noon. A potluck lunch in the garden will follow the workshop.
With all this warm weather the time is now to get seeds for your spring and summer garden, so find a Buford student and support the school!
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Meet our Garden Educator
You may be thinking, “What an interesting title!” And yes, it is. So when we looked to hire for it, we sought out just that kind of person, someone out of the ordinary.
Meet Emily Axelbaum!
The City Schoolyard Garden is indeed fortunate to have Emily, who joined us in June 2011, as our garden educator at Buford Middle School. In a pool of qualified candidates, it was the side roads Emily’s taken in her life thus far that made her stand out and that truly speaks to her qualifications and infectious enthusiasm.
Emily hails from St. Louis, MO where she spent her afternoons and summers exploring the woods, from the creeks and rivers of her home state all the way to the mountains out west. The daughter of two career teachers, Emily began teaching as an instructor for the Outdoor Recreation Center at the University of Maryland, College Park where she studied Economics and Government & Politics.
After graduating, Emily went on to work as an instructor for Outward Bound’s At-Risk Youth Program, leading month-long backpacking and canoeing courses, and as the RiverSmart Schools In-School Educator, assisting teachers in learning to use outdoor spaces as an extension of their classroom. In addition to her current work with us at CSG, Emily is further honing her teaching skills instructing with the Blue Ridge Permaculture Network.
Aside from her experience as an educator, Emily also spent the years since leaving St. Louis studying regenerative design and ecological agriculture. She completed a certificate program at the Ecosa Institute in Prescott, AZ and from there went on to work and study in gardens and farms from the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in Northern California to The Ecovillage Training Center in Summertown, TN to Conreu Sereny outside Barcelona, Spain.
Supported by this wealth of non-traditional experience, Emily has built significantly on our existing garden programming with the amazing community of teachers, students and administrators at Buford. She engages the students in ways that belie our traditional ideas of the role of a teacher. Whether it’s building compost bins or rolling seed bombs, writing poetry, trekking along the school’s stream corridor, mentoring students on garden planning and stream restoration, kicking-off a seed fundraiser, or simply planting fall and spring seedlings, she offers something for every child. We and the entire Buford community are so happy to have her in our garden and classrooms. Her self assuredness and willingness to take on challenges strengthen our program and allow us to build on this beautiful pilot garden project we began nurturing just a few short years ago.
Cheers to Emily, her unique qualifications marry so well with CSG’s hopes of re-connecting our children with the natural world.
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Mr. Driver and Mr. Benson’s Civics & Economics classes make seed bombs
After learning about citizenship in Mr. Driver and Mr. Benson’s Civics & Economics classes, students made seed bombs as an act of service for the Buford community.
Seed bombs were used by Japanese biologist and farmer Masanobu Fukuoka as a simple way to sow seeds in remote or uncultivated areas. Buford students made the seed bombs using red clay from the garden subsoil, wildflower seeds generously donated by the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants, and a little bit of water. Everyone got muddy mixing together the ingredients and rolling them into spheres. The seed bombs will spend time drying before they are distributed to the students to disperse throughout the community. Enjoy these photos of the entire process!
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