Warm thanks from the Children's Garden for a very special 

Family Garden Day!  

We had over 35 kids and adults working together.  All of the beds were prepped with compost and soil.  The grass was cut out for the water box, the Butterfly Garden was trimmed,  the Herb Garden was weeded and the cinder blocks got a colorful facelift.  Kids left with several little seedlings!  What a successful, positive and productive afternoon!

A special thank you to 

Cindy Hill from Once Upon a Carrot.  

We grow the garden together!

  

THANK YOU CINDY HILL AND ONCE UPON A CARROT!

Back To The Garden

Welcome back SPE parents, students and teachers!

As you may already know, South Pointe Elementary school has been reaping the benefits (no pun intended!) of our very own Organic Edible and Smoothie Garden! The mission of the gardens is to foster invaluable lessons about growing healthy fruits and vegetables and about cultivating respect for the environment to our children.

Last year, under the dedicated leadership and green thumb of SPE parent, Catherine Prescott, and troops of students, administrators, teachers and parents; we achieved the following:

1. Added a new Butterfly Garden using Florida Native, drought-tolerant plants and flowering vines (donated by Silver Palm Nursery and designed by Morel Landscape).

2. Planted a Carambola tree (star fruit) at the southern edge of the garden in memory of Mr. Philips' father (feel free to put this earlier in the list).

3. With the Wellness Committee led by SPE Phys-Ed teacher, Coach Gary Bond, offered food tastings for all students showcasing in-season fruit and produce.

4. Hosted FREE Healthy Eating Workshops for the SPE community with Once Upon a Carrot founder Cindy Hill.

5. Added colorful stepping stones throughout the garden painted by the After School Care Garden Club led by SPE parents, Miss Jacqui and Annhy Shim.

6. Harvested bell peppers, spinach, lettuce and herbs which were all used in the food tastings. 

7. Hosted the Annual Green Market which raised over $3000 in funds to buy mulch, soil, seeds, supplies for the garden.

8. Hosted Family Friday, where families and kids came out after school to help weed, mulch and harvest the gardens. Organic cookie treats were donated by Ginnybakes. Getting dirty never tasted so good!

9. Raised over $200 for the garden, by selling Peace Lily plants during the holidays. This year, we hope to do this again and double the sales! Peace Lily plants are rated as one of the top indoor air cleaning plants and are perfect for shady areas in your home or office! Read this article from the New York Times and learn more- then make sure to stock up this December! No pressure... :)

This year, we welcome in the skills of SPE parents Eve Scheinblum and Jessica Burns who will be growing the gardens to the next level and keeping their hands dirty! We also have the generous help of Roger Horne of UrbanGreenWorks and Native Splendor in Miami. His efforts and expertise are incredibly valuable and his tireless work in the community is absolutely inspiring. 

So- we now welcome YOU to join us and help us accomplish fantastic green-minded things this year!

Our first meeting will be held on Friday September 21 at 8:40am in the SPE Media Center.

Please feel free to send an email to Jessica at spegarden@gmail.com! 

Subject: Garden. 

Hope to see you in the garden this year!!

Helping Hands and Green Thumbs!

September has come and gone quickly, but we are pleased to report the latest garden news.

To date all of the garden beds have been tilled and mulched thanks to our resident green thumb and garden advisor extraordinaire, Roger Horne! 

And although last weekend's rains delayed some planting, they didn't stop Ms. Jaqui and her Gardening Club from planting the first bed.  We plan to complete the planting for each grade level within the next week. Trust us, we'll keep you posted.

Last week we received a donation of herb plants from Morel Landscape including some fragrant Rosemary, which is delicious to eat and known to be a natural insect repellent properties. Thank you!

The mixed veggie and herb seedlings that we're putting into the ground have been donated by Teena's Pride. Teena's Pride, in Homested, Florida, has specialized in locally grown produce for over 35 years - and has been a strong supporter of the SPE Edible Garden from the outset. This year, Teena also gave us a Raspberry bush, which is a new addition to our garden.  Come October, we'll also receive some of her award-winning, to-die-for Heirloom Tomato plants to add to our garden. Can't wait! We encourage you to check out Teena's website and sign up to be a part of her CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Picking up your share of fresh produce from Teena's CSA from the Whole Foods on Alton Road makes the 'farm to table' concept a very simple reality for your family.

We truly thank everyone who continues to help our garden grow in so many ways, and we encourage everyone to take an interest - even if it's by simply taking the time to read our blog updates - because we promise you that every step along this year's growing season will be a journey worth sharing that will hopefully inspire parents, teachers and students to take pride in this special green initiative we've nurtured at South Pointe Elementary.