The "seeds" to the Dysart Community Garden were sowed in the Spring of 2008 when a few teachers at Dysart Elementary School got together to write a School Garden Grant, in hopes to create a productive vegetable garden for the children and their families of our community. We did receive the grant, and three third-grade teachers spent two fun-filled days at the University of Arizona's Master Gardening Training Center. It was inspiring to see how melons and vegetables grew in 110* heat that week, and we left the workshop with great plans for our own garden.
Soon afterwards, we purchased the lumber, soil, tools, and plants to create raised vegetable beds that would line our portable classrooms at our school site. I had stored all the materials and tools in my classroom, located in a portable, and locked the door on a late Friday night. A fellow teacher was going to meet me on Saturday to build the veggie boxes. I arrived early on that Saturday to broken glass, an open classroom door, and missing/broken gardening supplies and tools. It was all a mess, and all of the necessary tools were stolen. One of our students was so upset by this crime, she wrote a letter to Home Depot and Lowe's, asking for help with providing us with necessary gardening tools to get going again. Lowe's answered almost immediately, rising to the need, and they were gracious and generous when providing free materials. So we began our raised box gardening, planting lettuce and tomatoes during October 2008.
But then our third grade team received ANOTHER shock: we were going to have to move out of our portable classrooms because our school was finally beginning its long-deserved renovation!! And, that meant to us as gardeners, our raised veggie boxes would have to find new homes soon. Luckily I had moved to a remote classroom at the very edge of the school property, and it had land behind it, not being used. So we transported our boxes over to the empty land, and got set up again. But I thought, "Are we really having an impact on our school's families by growing a few vegetables in boxes?" The answer was obviously NO! I saw all of that empty land and knew what to do.........
And, thanks to the landscaping crew at our district, they came in on a late October Saturday morning and backhoed the new vegetable garden. I purchased bales of alfalfa from a local feed shop, added some steer manure and other soil additives to increase the pH, and we had our true vegetable garden!!!
At this time, I began our School Garden club, and at first, we had over 40 students participating! But as the time went on, about half the students realized that gardening is not all fun and games; instead most of the time you are pulling weeds, chasing bunnies, and trying to herd off underground gophers. After a few months, we settled down to 20 faithful students, ranging from 2nd-5th grades, who came twice a week to help in the garden and take vegetables home to their families.
During the winter and spring crops, we grew: lettuce, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, artichokes, tomatoes, and herbs. The summer crops included: cantaloupe, honeydew melon, watermelon, squash, and zucchini. I have never seen zucchini and watermelon grow so abundantly!! The vines would go over the "fence" and try to grow up the walls of the building. I also learned that zucchini plants HURT badly when scratching bare legs. I still have a scar on one of my legs! I harvested the zucchini and froze over 20 gallon-sized baggies of shredded zucchini for families to make bread with. The watermelon seemed to have a mind of its own, always "disappearing" at night and during the weekends. I hope our secret garden visitors enjoyed their free fruit. :)
Then, once again, the school garden had more bad news........ it was time to be demolished during the second part of the school renovation. But, once again, we had another blessing arise.......
We were given free fencing, irrigation, and soil from the construction company (thank you, D.L. Withers!!) and our school/district!!! Our new garden is almost an acre, and is equipped with everything a gardener dreams of..... but.........
ROCKS. Rocks and rocks and rocks. I don't even have to purchase river rocks for the paths of the garden, because there are so many. As I dig furrows and mounds, I come across the most unusual and beautiful rocks I've ever seen in a garden. I keep wondering if I will strike gold at some point, as this IS a mining and mineral state. So I still dig and throw rocks into paths , and it's been the 2nd year of the garden.
To be quite honest, the first year of our new school garden was disappointing, and it was my fault. I let the overwhelming amount of rocks and weeds deter my focus and energy away from the end goal= free food for families. Also, our irrigation pipes were stuck up high at different areas of the garden, and when children try to help, they trip on the pipes, hurting themselves and breaking the irrigation system. So I spent a year thinking about how to solve all these issues, but never taking initiative.
But after school ended in May 2011, I knew it was time, and I've been in that silly garden for at least 1 hour every day for the past 3 weeks. It's been hard, but fun and productive. I am hoping to have it open for the community in the next few weeks, and then we can set up times for volunteers to help me out so it can truly be a community garden.
So that's the history...... hope you are part of the present and FUTURE! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment