Spring Harvest Day for Mrs. Norris' Kindergarten

We had a great day in the garden today!  

The Garden Grows!

When we began the rejuvenation of the native garden, there were a lot of folks who were skeptical of it's ability to grow and thrive with so many children using it. It became a real irony; wanting to give the children the gift of a garden yet being afraid of what might happen to all of the plants once we did.

Our way of working with this was two fold:

1) Install a path and some stumps, so that children can jump and play in the garden.

2) Make sure that the students understood that this garden is a special place for them, one that needs to be treated with care in order to grow.

The great news is it worked! After four months of being open to the public, the garden is looking better than ever! (It also appears to be a pretty good spot for a game of hide-and-seek.)

Montclair Native Garden Grand Re-Opening

Last spring COMPOST was lucky enough to receive a grant from the California Department of Education to revive our existing California Native Garden! We quickly got to work: researching, re-designing and then re-planting the area across from our friendship garden.

And now- low and behold! We have a beautiful new green space with a plethora of flowers and plants (and hummingbirds!) growing nicely.

Now that the plants have had a chance to grow and settle into their new surroundings, we wanted to let the children in! So on Friday, December 5^th, we had an official opening in which each classroom had a 15minute guided tour. The day was a great success- it was wonderful to be able to walk small groups of children through our new space. The children learned about the different plants that are growing and about how they were used by native Americans. They were also taught that this new garden is a place for quiet play and careful feet- so that it can continue to grow and flourish and be shared by all.

The success of the day was largely due to the wonderful teachers at the UC Botanical garden who volunteered to help us with the classroom tours, as well as the wonderful parents who spent the day helping with introductions and explanations.

Now that this new space is open, please take some time to come check it out! Stroll on our lovely new boardwalk, check out the beautiful plants that are flourishing throughout the space, and ask your kids what they remember from their tour. There are maps available if you are interested in knowing what is planted where- just send me a message.
THANKS to all of our kind helpers for their support! The garden is a visible testament to what a community of people can do when they each take time out to work together. May it continue to grow and be a shared treasure for our school. A special thanks to the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, Ploughshares Nursery, & our impromptu COMPOST committee: Eric Veldhuizen, Lara Jealous & Cathy Sharp - without all of their generosity the garden would still be bear.

Bagels and Mulch for all

We've been off to a bit of a slow start for Gardening at Montclair school this year, but yesterday we set things straight with a wonderfully hardy crew that got things going with a bang- our fall compost cleanup day was once again a pleasurable sight of people putting their muscle, sweat, and kindness directly into our school- not to mention having a little fun along the way.
Our big task of the day was a generous (~9 yard) supply of mulch that was donated to our school from Traveres Tree Service. This mulch is now spread throughout the floor of the friendship garden, between all the plants in the native garden, and on top of most of the soil at the front of the school. It was a lot of hard work and now that it has been dispersed everything looks great!
Meanwhile, we weeded and turned the soil in the beds for the friendship garden, and put a few more plants in the native garden, which is getting ready for it's school-wide unveiling on October 3rd.
If you missed this cleanup day, never fear! There are many ways of getting involved with the gardening program at our school, and there is talk of another cleanup day in just a few months. Kids are invited to come and help or just to ride their bikes and play. Bagels and Coffee and juice are served- these events are a wonderful way to build community and to help our school. The old phrase "many hands make light work" really applies on these days- so please, bring a friend!
And to those of you who did come for the Cleanup day-
THANK YOU!!!

California Garden Rejuvenation!

Last weekend a bunch of wonderfully kind-hearted parents gave up their Saturday to come out to dig in the soil here at Montclair Elementary. And what do we have to show for it? A beautifully restored all native garden- with a wonderful new boardwalk, a new irrigation system, and bunch of new plants growing in the soil! 

This garden was first established ten years ago by parents who wanted to give their children a place to learn about the beautiful plants that are native to our landscape. A wonderful plan but unfortunately between the kids playing and very little upkeep, the garden had fallen into some disrepair. But no longer. 

With much thanks to George Manalo-LeClair and Tracy Zeltser, the school received a grant to bring this garden back to life. Suddenly not only did we have the money, but we needed to spend the money quickly- or else we would loose it. A rare problem for the programs here. I got together some fine parents and we set to re-designing this much needed green space. 

The new garden is full of some wonderful fast growing flowers and shrubs- so many that a few years from now it should be overflowing with greenery and flowers. 

Much thanks to all of the people who came out on this unusually warm spring Saturday to help revitalize our garden- demonstrating that digging in the dirt can be both worthwhile and fun. A special thanks to the parents who helped get things ready before the big day- most notably Lara Jealous and Eric Veldhuizen. And a great thanks to Nancy Bloom, who has supported us all along the way. We're keeping the fence up for the remainder of this school year to give the new plants a chance to grow. Starting next school year the students will be able to walk and touch and even learn from our beautiful new garden.

Name that Bean

I made it outside today in time to catch Ms.  Morozumi's 2nd grade class rummaging in the garden. Look at these amazingly large and hearty unidentified beans! Who cares what they are, as long as they taste good...

Daffodils! It must be spring...

Here is a quick photo in appreciation of the beautiful daffodils that popped up all around the new trees along Mountain Boulevard. These daffodils bulbs were donated to our school through the city of Oakland. Cathy Sharp was the wonderful one that figured it out and picked them up. Meanwhile it was Eric Veldhuizen  & his landscaping crew that got them into the ground in time. Look how great they are- thanks to all of them for the beautification.