Giving Thanks

At the garden, we have many reasons to be thankful:

Thank you to everyone who worked in the Banana Grove last month. It was exhausting, but the cloud cover, bagels, coffee, muffins and camaraderie made it all bearable. Thank you to Jonathan who delivered and unloaded a truckload of mulch, to Steve who tilled the Smoothie Garden and to Neal, Liz, Leslie, Rasheeda, Katie, Victoria, Kimberly and Peter who pulled up roots, unloaded bags of mulch and spread it around. Thank you to baby Jack who sat quietly while his mum, Katie, worked!

Thank you to Peter who put the new bed together and to Kimberly and Catherine who spread tarp underneath it and to Neal who filled it with good soil, peat moss and vermiculite.

Thank you to Steve who tilled the sunflower bed, to Neal and Andy who brought up the soil and to Victoria who spread the soil. It was a communal effort - and we are fortunate to have so many parents on board who aren't afraid to get dirty ;-).

In the next few months, we’re transitioning garden plots to classroom teachers who have shown interest. We have identified the teachers and will work closely with them in the upcoming months. We are thankful for their adventurous spirit and enthusiasm for the gardens!

Thank you to Adam Mopsick, who is working on irrigating the gardens.

Special thank you to Jason Russell, Andy Augusta and Andy Prescott for putting the shed together! Once it's secured, we'll have a place to store all the garden supplies! And, thank you to Eric and Victoria Elliott for bringing hundreds of pounds of bricks to the Banana Grove, which will act as a border to keep the mulch in. Thank you to the random volunteer who helped me lay some of the bricks.

We've also begun a butterfly garden by the school store in memory of Betty Arsenault's father who passed away last month. Thank you to Jason Russell for transplanting the Porte Weed and Small Milkweed plants and to our children who cleaned out the Sunflower bed and sowed seeds.

Thank you to the Criscitos and the Benzels for their generous donations to the garden. With their donations we’ll be able to purchase more butterfly-attracting plants to the gardens and seeds for the teachers to sow in the new year.

Thank you to Geane and to the school administration, which continues to support our efforts as the garden grows! New grass on the great lawn compliments our green efforts.

Thank you to the plants which grow and proper almost in spite of us – our green cherry tomatoes are now turning red, the heirlooms are rounding out and the broccoli plants have just sprouted tiny heads.

Thank you to chef Cindy Hill who uses the produce from the garden in her cooking class!

Thank you to all the green garden volunteers for all their work – their minds and their muscle! Without them, none of this would be possible.