Groundwork Somerville News!
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  GWS Upcoming Events!

In the next few months, Groundwork Somerville will participate in many events across the region.  Here are a few!

Argenziano Garden Work Day: Wednesday, June 4th, 12pm at the Argenziano School at Lincoln Park (Union Square) -- Come help create a new garden in our community!

Bikes Not Bombs Green Roots Festival: Sunday, June 8th, Stony Brook T Station: 12-5:30pm (GWS staff will be riding and tabling!)

Green Team start date: Monday, June 30th: Watch out folks -- our high school Green Team will be on the loose all summer, making our community an even better place to live, work and play!

ArtBeat: Saturday, July 19th, Davis Square: Check out the GWS activities and table!

Groundwork Somerville Yard Sale!: Saturday, September 6, 10am-4pm, Davis Square

Local Roots Food and Music Festival: Saturday, September 27th, 5-10pm, Somerville Community Growing Center (Vinal Ave, Somerville): Featuring RedBones BBQ and the Rex Complex!
 
Sign Up for a Tree Planting Block Party

Dear Somerville Resident:

The Groundwork Somerville Green Team, our high school environmental jobs program, is hosting Tree Planting Block Parties this summer co-sponsored by the Llewellyn Foundation, RCN, the City of Somerville and the people of Somerville, Massachusetts.

The Green Team will coordinate three Tree Planting Block Parties this summer between July 7 and August 15 for neighbors who come together to petition for these Block Parties, pay for half the planting costs, and promise to commit to the trees' after-planting needs (watering, weeding, mulching). Group leaders must live on the street of the Tree Planting Block Party and commit to organizing their neighbors for active participation on the Block Party Day. A minimum of five households involved is required for applications for a Tree Planting Block Party.

Inquire about becoming a Tree Planting Group Leader and collaborate with the Groundwork Somerville High School Green Team to "Green Your Street!" The Groundwork Somerville Green Team will provide education, entertainment, trees and labor if you will recruit your neighbors. Contact us at 617-628-9988 or greenteam@groundwor ksomerville.org by June 10 to get started. Thanks for stepping up to make your neighborhood a greener place!
 

Growing Healthy Gardens Program!

Spring Break Camp 2008 "Spring Into Action"

Our annual Spring Break Camp took place April 21st- 25th at the Cummings School and the Somerville Community Growing Center.  1st- 3rd graders joined us for 4 days of planting in the garden, cooking nutritious lunches, visiting Gaining Ground Farm, and exploring our natural community.  The week was a huge success thanks to beautiful, sunny weather and the help of 10 enthusiastic volunteers!

Our Newest School Garden

The Argenziano School at Lincoln Park is up and running and with it our newest school garden!  With the help of our 3rd grade after school Garden Club, led by wonderful Tufts volunteer, Anna Feldman, and GWS staff, Aviva Asher, we are laying the foundation for a beautiful garden.  The garden bordering the playground, is equipped with a pollinator garden to attract butterflies, bees, and bats, a maze of herbs, berries for every season, and of course, nutritious and delicious vegetables!  We are looking for families, gardeners, and neighbors of the Argenziano School who would like to join our Adopt- A- Garden program for a weekthis summer in exchange for fresh produce and a nourishing experience.  Come join us this coming Wednesday, June 4th, from 12pm- 3pm as we plant, taste, and then celebrate the hard work of the 3rd grade Garden Club, who designed and planted a garden at the new A.F. Argenziano School at Lincoln Park.

Urban Wilds II at the Healey School

After the huge success of the Urban Wilds pilot last fall, we introduced the spring Urban Wilds program to the Healey School in celebration of Earth Day.  Eight classes from 3rd- 6th grade came to the garden to learn about ways we can make a positive impact in our community.  We tested these methods as we used our water catchment system to water seedlings, considered how we can reduce our waste by composting, and considered alternative energy as we pressed apples into cider!  Students also went down to the Mystic River to learn about the river habitat.  We discussed the pollution levels in our river and considered the reason students were unable to go canoeing as they had planned, following a large rainstorm.  These classes will be going canoeing on Tuesdays throughout the spring with parent volunteer, Jen Capuano.  If you are interested in accompanying our youth onto the river one Tuesday this spring, please contact us!

Garden Workdays

It's that time of year again and each school has been gearing up for a school-wide family workday!  Contact us if you'd like to help organize a workday at your child's school.  Last month, we had students from the Brown School and the Healey School plant peas,  sunflowers, and other seedlings around the garden that they had started in their classrooms.  We finished our new perennial herb garden and installed a Butterfly Garden at the front of the school (led by parent, Jen Capuano.)  Thank you to all the teachers, parents, and students who joined us for a beautiful day!      

This past Wednesday, May 21st, the Edgerly Center hosted a festive workday that united elementary students from ESCS with middle school and high school aged students from Next Wave and Full Circle Schools. Over the course of one day, students, parents, teachers, and community members came together to lay down raised beds built during a Tufts University Alumni volunteer day.  We all worked hard, hauling soil and planting, while artistically inclined painted colorful signs and murals, and the chefs prepared a delicious cucumber yogurt salad!  Visit us at the Bonair Street garden on Friday afternoons.

English Language Learners help Groundwork in the Garden

At GWS, we feel it is important to strengthen the connection between youth and gardening, especially for those students who have recently made a home in Somerville after moving from another country.  Recently, students from high school and middle school SEIP classes have engaged in gardening lessons and activities.  These lessons have offered students an opportunity to improve language skills outside the classroom while engaging in hands- on activities that open students to considering ways that gardening in Somerville can help us maintain our cultural identities.  After all, growing food is a universal act!

After- School Garden Clubs

This spring, Groundwork Somerville teachers and interns spread out across the city; offering 65 students from 5 schools the opportunity to design and plant in their school garden or design and paint a mural with a Somerville artist as part of a 21st Century after School Garden Club or Mural Club. 

Art and Gardening go Hand in Hand

What do ART and GARDENING have in common?  Community Beautification.  Over the past year, GWS has welcomed the expertise of Tufts University art student, Nora Chovanec, and community artist, Rachel Asarnow, who have worked with youth at ESCS, Healey, and WSNS to design and paint murals that examine the theme of "Farm to School" while beautifying their school.   Try your hand at painting a mural as we work to finish our newest mural at the West Somerville Neighborhood School before the end of the school year!

Butterflies Are Teachers

Groundwork Somerville is piloting a Community Service Learning project with the City of Somerville, in which 8 middle school youth from the East Somerville Community School work with science/ math teacher, Greg Cook, and Groundwork Staff to design and implement lessons for 2nd grade students from their school.   Middle School students employ "just in time learning" as they work in a Pollinator Garden discovering the importance of pollination, native habitats, and the roles of different pollinators.  After ESCS was closed due to a fire in December, the B.A.T. students have adopted the Pollinator Garden at the Somerville Community Growing Center as their learning garden.  This program was first created and implemented by Groundwork Bridgeport who is helping us adapt the program for Somerville.  Butterflies Are Teachers is generously funded by the Tremaine Foundation.

 Where can you find Groundwork Somerville this summer???

We will be returning to the Community Schools' SomerAdventure camp at the Healey School after last summer's success!  We lead "nature and garden" sessions in the Healey school garden for campers in pre- K to 6th grade.

Our middle school Garden Youth Crew, comprised of 20 middle school youth from 5 schools, will be growing veggies and working in their school garden and at the Somerville Community Growing Center.  We will be harvesting our veggies to sell at the "Grown in Somerville" table at the Union Square Farmer's Market every 3rd Saturday of the month.  Make sure to test the students' savvy marketing and enterprise skills when you buy their fresh produce! We will be pedal- powered this summer and are looking for donations of bikes, bike locks, and helmets to help our youth bike safely around town!  Interested in helping?  Join us for one of our weekly community service trips. 

Email aviva.asher@groundworksomerville.org with questions or to volunteer.  Our programs wouldn't be possible without the wonderful support of parents, teachers, and volunteers!

Groundwork Gala a Success!

A sincere thank you to all artists, guests, Board members, staff and sponsors for making our first annual Groundwork Greening the City Gala event a success!  Groundwork Somerville hosted art by over 40 artists and sold 15 pieces of art to residents of the Somerville/Cambridge community.  We look forward to hosting this wonderful "green" event next year with ten times as many participants!
 
amber        phil, amber, tricia                americorpsandgt

A message from Amber Espar
:

"To be parting with such sweet sorrow! These last four and half years working with Groundwork Somerville have been so rich in growth and connection for me-- an absolute dream job come true. I remember my first Spring waiting and waiting, wondering if the seeds we sowed in the new garden beds would ever sprout. With patience and perseverance and a lot of help from many hands I had the delight to watch the development, growth and transformation of seven school gardens in the city and see GWS through many phases. It is a true gift to have worked with so many dedicated and inspiring people! Somerville has my heart. Thank you everyone for all you have shared with me. And thank you to those who will carry on this work of many hands!

Keep in touch and keep cultivating the healing, nourishment, connection and wonder of the gardens in our lives. (yeah, it's sappy, but what can I say?  It is sure hard to leave, even when you know your time has come to leaf out!)"

Sincerely,

Amber Espar
Former Gardens Coordinator

240 Elm Street, Suite B-7
Somerville, Massachusetts 02144