Garden+Helpers+Plans

Plans Spring 2014 Contact Ms. McIntyre at karen.mcintyre@mnps.org Agenda 1. Supporting a Garden supervisor -- Introduction of Liz Meeks - Grants? Supporting an after school club? Other suggestions 2. Caring for the garden over summer break. Signing up for a week and planning a time for training. 3. Planting the rest of the crops this weekend. 4. Weeding and watering - how to.... Any other ideas?.

Fall Plans - What does it mean a volunteer in the garden and how can we help motivate and keep our volunteers. []

[|http://www.kidsgardening.com/growingideas/projects/aug04/pg2.html#mystery] []
 * Finding and gathering seeds -** I did a seed hunt a couple of weeks ago --- but this is much better and more detailed than what I did --- which was like what my granparents did -- the kind of learning in the garden from a gardener -- not from a science lesson... [|http://www.kidsgardening.com/growingideas/projects/aug04/pg1.htm]

Part of this unit might be learning about heirloom seeds and visiting the Hermitage's relatively new garden which is attempting to create a a garden that would have existed at the time Andrew Jackson lived there --- wouldn't this be another GREAT field trip for the kids after they understand some of the ideas!

[|http://www.kidsgardening.com/growingideas/projects/aug04/pg2.html#go]
 * Seed dispersal and Adaptation --** this could come after a seed hunt (Tammy suggested we harvest the oregano seeds which come in an interesting package!) But I think we should expand it to find seeds of weeds as well.

Winter Plans
//Seed Swapping// - [] Have kids plan next springs plantings --- by pouring over seed catalogs -- we can also turn that into art (collage) Here is a school garden directory -- which we might use to contact another school garden and see what they are up to or swap seeds with...

It would be great to do a backyard bird count at school for the Great Back Yard Bird Count which is typically in January for the winter count.

//Building Soil// -- tending the compost []

Spring Plans Creating an Herb garden. -- Herbs arouse kids' curiosity and interest because they thoroughly engage the senses. What better motivator for student investigations than plants that feel cool, smell great, and can turn mere tomatoes into pizza sauce? Their life stories, it turns out, are fascinating too. After all, these humble plants were early humans' first medicines, food preservatives, and cosmetics. []

Possible spin offs --- girls make cosmetics --- kids make pizza one day using herbs and tomatoes --- cheese that they have made ---This would be a several week long event --- we'd have to have a cheese making experience once --

// Creating a Hummingbird Garden -// this could be either fall or spring --- during the migration time [] []

I'd like to do a spring garden POETRY session --- maybe Ellen Rust would do this for us --- I will check with her []