RYE EATS LOCAL October 2009 Newsletter

What was your hope in creating in a school/community garden?

The name of the project is "No Child Left Inside". Our hope in creating the school garden was to have children enjoy being outside, make connections to the food they eat, and to learn how to use the "human technology" skills needed to start and tend a garden. Secretly, we wanted the kids to respond to the garden with wonderment and awe, to become connected and to love it.

Have your hopes been met? How?
Yes and exceeded! Every student was given an opportunity to be a part of the garden in a variety of ways. They dug holes for the posts, poured concrete, built the raised beds, planted seeds, weeded or picked vegetables. Students created garden flags, peace sticks, wind chimes, a birdbath, a sundial, and scarecrows. They have been able to observe the garden as scientists, artists, photographers, and poets. The garden is open for students to enjoy at recess. Some students have harvested enough to make pickles and on several occasions we have had items in our school salad bar. While digging potatoes with the sixth graders last week all of those secret hopes came true - they could have been digging for gold. Not only were they riveted and focused on the job at hand, but they also started planning next year's garden and the variety of potatoes we should grow. This is the epitome of middle school expert Nancy Doda's "WOW" philosophy (Wonderment, Opportunity, and Wisdom).

What surprised you about the garden?
The garden has held a few surprises. The garden at the school was initially intended to spark student interest and it did. It also sparked the interest of many of the staff. Several adults in our building either went back to gardening or started a garden for the first time. What a great way to show children that learning goes on beyond the school years. When the staff met before the school year started in August several of us ended up out in the garden and we all had a new common interest - it was great.
Another surprise was how the older students (8th graders last year) although initially skeptical, became connected to the project and even after they left our school, many of them signed up for the summer care. When I saw this group of kids at the high school recently, they asked how the garden was doing. They see the garden on the same level of importance as the new library project and remarked to the effect "Wow, first the garden, now the library!"

How does your work with children and your own history with gardening inform the junior high
garden?
We made the garden for middle school students: sturdy and practical yet attractive and fun. It will look different every year based on what the children do with it. When growing up and raising my own children, I learned that there is something magical about the garden. Like digging those potatoes - they didn't know what they would find but it was going to be good!

Can you say a few words about what you are planning for next summer and ways in which the Rye community might support these plans?
We were so pleased with the involvement of the community for our summer garden care this year. I hope that people enjoyed it and want to participate again. We are talking about ways that not only classes can take on parts of the garden, but how we can share it with the community for next year. There are quite a few more ideas out there now that we got the ball rolling. I think there is a challenge to grow a bigger pumpkin, for one. Someone else might grow and sell cut flowers at the farmer's market for a charity, another group talked about specialty gardens like a "salsa garden". So, we don't really know what it will look like, but it all sounds promising.

Any sneak previews about the Oct. 29th harvest celebration?
We have some wonderful garden inspired art and poetry that will be on display. There will be a Contra Dance with caller and musician Chet Celenza and fiddler Ramona Connelly with the possibility of students accompanying them on either guitar or fiddle. We have the beginning of a pumpkin contest, with a wide variety of categories, a sawbuck demonstration, star and moon gazing and the drama club will be acting out a scene from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Finally, what is your favorite unsung garden vegetable?
Celery - it is easy to grow, gorgeous to look at and delicious to eat.