Shorecrest Lower School Garden There has been a garden in the Shorecrest Lower Division (K-4th Grade) for quite some time. Over the years, it has been a vegetable garden, a classroom project garden, a Florida Native plant garden and a rock garden. Finally last spring, it evolved into a beautiful flower garden, planted with much love, in memory of a dear friend, colleague and educator. The one constant has been that the garden has been tended by teachers passionate about instilling in their students a love of the environment and a sense of stewardship for the earth. This fall, a big leap forward was taken to create a truly wonderful, sustainable garden space. With funds from local county sources, the garden will become an extension of the classrooms, a model school garden for Shorecrest. It will be a student-friendly outdoor learning space, allowing young children the freedom to explore, observe, record, engage with and learn from their outdoor learning environment. Ray Wunderlich and Diane Friel will be working with Shorecrest to coordinate the educational garden environment and curriculum. They began in July 2013 to evalute and plan with the School for an educational, functional and active raised bed learning garden with eight beds. They have received some Farm-to-School Grant funding for materials, and Florida Agriculture in the Classroom Grant, and are seeking other donations and grant resources. Contact Diane at [email protected]. Pinellas Pioneer Settlement This is an education demonstration community garden. It was created by Boyd Hill Preserves Pioneer Settlement volunteers in the summer of 2012. It continues to evolve. In one year, the soil is more mature and richer. This is largely due to a mixed layr of compostd horse, chicken and goat manur, topped by a 10-inch layer of seagrass. The seagrass layer killed the weeds that were beginnning to develop and added important nutrients to the soil. It has also reduced watering byhalf, due to its excellent moisture retention. After a mostly fallow summer, raising only okra and sweet potatoes, we have now planted by direct sowing crops including: collards, kale, onions, leek, arugula, swiss chard, fennel, dill and carrots. We had a champion sweet potato, weighing in at 6 pounds, 8 ounces! Additionally, we hope to associate with PARCs horticutural program, to have their clients learn garden skills by working at Pioneer Garden and other area gardens. The goal is that they may eventually derive income through paying garden positions in the community. This garden is managed by Ray Wunderlich. To volunteer (we usually garden together Wednesday and Sunday, 8:30 a.m. to Noon), contact Ray at rayrunner@gmail. Lakewood High School Raised Bed Gardens This past summer, members of the SUAC Board,Diane Friel, Emmanuel Roux and Ray Wunderlich reached out to Lakewood High School and began to plant the idea of establishing a garden. It was anticipated that the garden would beautify the campus and, most importantly, allow students to discover how to grow edible plants as well as harvest and prepare them for consumption. The garden project would also have an educational component through the school’s newspaper, signs and planned presentations. The focus would be on the benefits of eating locally grown foods with the slogan of “Grow What You Eat … Eat What You Grow!” Lakewood represents an excellent opportunity to incorporate a garden into the curriculum of se veral science-based programs. The Academy for Aquatic Management Systems and Environmental Technology (AMSET) and the Center for Advanced Technologies (CAT) at Lakewood both expressed interest in the garden project. James Kostka, Director of AMSET, takes a “hands-on” approach to his teaching his students, and they have a fabulous outdoor classroom that includes a small lake. The first above-ground planter box was delivered to Lakewood on October 4, 2013. The box is a monster (8’ x 4’ x 22” deep X 2” sides) that will hold 2.2 cu yards of soil. It was constructed by Ray and Diane, mother of a Lakewood student, using materials purchased by the Florida Farm to School Program operated through the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. It is anticipated that this will be one of four that will be installed in a 663 square foot interior courtyard located in a high traffic area where students sit at outdoor tables and eat lunch. The garden will replace an area of the campus that currently is an empty lot, containing only scraggly bushes, a dead oak tree and bare soil. AMSET students completed a blitz of the site just after school started. The first box was installed in mid-October. For future boxes Diane and Ray (a Lakewood alumni) plan to use wood that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an organization that promotes environmentally sound, socially beneficial and economically prosperous management of the worlds forests. The soil they use will be locally sourced in a sheet-mulched design of soil builder, seagrass, coffee grounds, horse manure, compost and anything else with a higher nitrogen content. The garden box and its future sustainable wood source will likely serve as an example or template of future above-ground boxes for other projects. Shorecrest Lower School Garden There has been a garden in the Shorecrest Lower Division (K-4th Grade) for quite some time. Over the years, it has been a vegetable garden, a classroom project garden, a Florida Native plant garden and a rock garden. Finally last spring, it evolved into a beautiful flower garden, planted with much love, in memory of a dear friend, colleague and educator. The one constant has been that the garden has been tended by teachers passionate about instilling in their students a love of the environment and a sense of stewardship for the earth. This fall, a big leap forward was taken to create a truly wonderful, sustainable garden space. With funds from local county sources, the garden will become an extension of the classrooms, a model school garden for Shorecrest. It will be a student-friendly outdoor learning space, allowing young children the freedom to explore, observe, record, engage with and learn from their outdoor learning environment. Ray Wunderlich and Diane Friel will be working with Shorecrest to coordinate the educational garden environment and curriculum. They began in July 2013 to evalute and plan with the School for an educational, functional and active raised bed learning garden with eight beds. They have received some Farm-to-School Grant funding for materials, and Florida Agriculture in the Classroom Grant, and are seeking other donations and grant resources. Contact Diane at [email protected]. Pinellas Pioneer Settlement This is an education demonstration community garden. It was created by Boyd Hill Preserves Pioneer Settlement volunteers in the summer of 2012. It continues to evolve. In one year, the soil is more mature and richer. This is largely due to a mixed layr of compostd horse, chicken and goat manur, topped by a 10-inch layer of seagrass. The seagrass layer killed the weeds that were beginnning to develop and added important nutrients to the soil. It has also reduced watering byhalf, due to its excellent moisture retention. After a mostly fallow summer, raising only okra and sweet potatoes, we have now planted by direct sowing crops including: collards, kale, onions, leek, arugula, swiss chard, fennel, dill and carrots. We had a champion sweet potato, weighing in at 6 pounds, 8 ounces! Additionally, we hope to associate with PARCs horticutural program, to have their clients learn garden skills by working at Pioneer Garden and other area gardens. The goal is that they may eventually derive income through paying garden positions in the community. This garden is managed by Ray Wunderlich. To volunteer (we usually garden together Wednesday and Sunday, 8:30 a.m. to Noon), contact Ray at rayrunner@gmail. Lakewood High School Raised Bed Gardens This past summer, members of the SUAC Board,Diane Friel, Emmanuel Roux and Ray Wunderlich reached out to Lakewood High School and began to plant the idea of establishing a garden. It was anticipated that the garden would beautify the campus and, most importantly, allow students to discover how to grow edible plants as well as harvest and prepare them for consumption. The garden project would also have an educational component through the school’s newspaper, signs and planned presentations. The focus would be on the benefits of eating locally grown foods with the slogan of “Grow What You Eat … Eat What You Grow!” Lakewood represents an excellent opportunity to incorporate a garden into the curriculum of se veral science-based programs. The Academy for Aquatic Management Systems and Environmental Technology (AMSET) and the Center for Advanced Technologies (CAT) at Lakewood both expressed interest in the garden project. James Kostka, Director of AMSET, takes a “hands-on” approach to his teaching his students, and they have a fabulous outdoor classroom that includes a small lake. The first above-ground planter box was delivered to Lakewood on October 4, 2013. The box is a monster (8’ x 4’ x 22” deep X 2” sides) that will hold 2.2 cu yards of soil. It was constructed by Ray and Diane, mother of a Lakewood student, using materials purchased by the Florida Farm to School Program operated through the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. It is anticipated that this will be one of four that will be installed in a 663 square foot interior courtyard located in a high traffic area where students sit at outdoor tables and eat lunch. The garden will replace an area of the campus that currently is an empty lot, containing only scraggly bushes, a dead oak tree and bare soil. AMSET students completed a blitz of the site just after school started. The first box was installed in mid-October. For future boxes Diane and Ray (a Lakewood alumni) plan to use wood that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an organization that promotes environmentally sound, socially beneficial and economically prosperous management of the worlds forests. The soil they use will be locally sourced in a sheet-mulched design of soil builder, seagrass, coffee grounds, horse manure, compost and anything else with a higher nitrogen content. The garden box and its future sustainable wood source will likely serve as an example or template of future above-ground boxes for other projects. Shorecrest Lower School Garden There has been a garden in the Shorecrest Lower Division (K-4th Grade) for quite some time. Over the years, it has been a vegetable garden, a classroom project garden, a Florida Native plant garden and a rock garden. Finally last spring, it evolved into a beautiful flower garden, planted with much love, in memory of a dear friend, colleague and educator. The one constant has been that the garden has been tended by teachers passionate about instilling in their students a love of the environment and a sense of stewardship for the earth. This fall, a big leap forward was taken to create a truly wonderful, sustainable garden space. With funds from local county sources, the garden will become an extension of the classrooms, a model school garden for Shorecrest. It will be a student-friendly outdoor learning space, allowing young children the freedom to explore, observe, record, engage with and learn from their outdoor learning environment. Ray Wunderlich and Diane Friel will be working with Shorecrest to coordinate the educational garden environment and curriculum. They began in July 2013 to evalute and plan with the School for an educational, functional and active raised bed learning garden with eight beds. They have received some Farm-to-School Grant funding for materials, and Florida Agriculture in the Classroom Grant, and are seeking other donations and grant resources. Contact Diane at [email protected].
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 11:41:40 +0000
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