Twas a Great Corn Year!

Here is a visual summary of our corn growth. The class that planted it in the summer got to eat the corn this year. They were thrilled to eat “their” corn! We are experimenting with leaving the stalks to stand all winter with a heavy leaf mulch.

August Garden Hours – Come lend a hand!

Summer School just ended and we need extra hands to help in the garden until school starts. Open garden hours on Mondays are now 6:00-7:30pm. Stop by and find out how you can help during the rest of the week. The corn the 2nd graders planted is doing awesome!

Veggie Fest 2011

DATE: Saturday, July 9th
TIME: 1pm – 5pm
LOCATION: SAGE Garden at the Bruce Starker Arts Park, SW 45th Place- just north of Country Club Drive in Corvallis.

Join us for Veggie Fest, an open community day at the Starker Arts Garden for Education (SAGE). Fun for all ages! The days festivities will include: planting in the SAGE Garden, live music, garden crafts, face painting, food drive, gardening demos, kid-friendly activities, free pedicab rides and so much more!

Free admission! In place of an admission fee, we ask that you bring a can of food to Veggie Fest – all canned food from the day will be donated to the Linn Benton Food Share. Popular items for the Food Share are tuna, beans, canned fruits and veggies and peanut butter.

Veggie Fest is being brought to you by the Corvallis Environmental Center & AmeriCorps NCCC.

For more information please contact Christine Beste at: bestece21@yahoo.com or call (302)584-2611

Plant Sale Fundraiser a Huge Success!

Thanks to everyone who supported us in the sale – the sale helpers; the students who transplanted them; the volunteers who watered them; the folks purchases tomatoes; the folks who told their neighbors and those who offered to buy any leftover plants. We sold out of all our plants by 3pm and raised $218. We will plan to plant even more next year! We also sent home seeds in pots with kids along with other free seeds, if they had a garden. We all had fun! Now to just plant my own tomatoes! Much love to you all!

Roots 4 Kids! Help kids dig new veggies!

Check out this contest with the goal to get 1 million kids introduced to veggies! Anyone who wants to inspire kids to dig real food can join Root 4 Kids simply by committing to helping kids in your life complete at least one of these activities: 1) Eat a new veggie; 2) Plant a new veggie; 3) get new veggies to schools; 4) play games and learn about real food or 5) encourage 5 friends to join Roots4Kids.

Sign up and make your commitment at http://root4kids.com/join/. (This is being sponsored by Annie’s Foods.) Then let us at the Lincoln Garden know how we can help you reach your goal. Use the “contact us” page if you’d like. The contest ends May 31st but our love for kids and food will not stop there.

Plant Sale Fundraiser- Tomatoes!

Please join us this Saturday May 21st 12-5pm in the School Garden at Lincoln Elementary (110 SE Alexander, Corvallis) for our annual plant sale fundraiser and garden open house! This is being held during the Kermes School Carnival. Enjoy food, games and activities! Or just help out in the garden!

Featured plants: Tomatoes are $1/each! We have over 20 varieties – come early for best selection!
Other plants: tomatillos, strawberries, peppers, artichokes, etc…
Garden activities: Free Seeds; Plant a plant to take home; drawing/painting; see how “worms eat our garbage!”

Here’s to great kids through good health from good food from good gardens!

Visit our Garden and be a lifesaver!

We have tomato transplants growing in the greenhouse and more to arrive soon. The greenhouse needs to be opened in case it gets too hot and closed for the night. Transplants and new seeds need to be watered to make sure they get a good start. Let Cheryl know if you are able to help in ams or pms for 1-2 days a week through June or be a back-up! Contact Cheryl if you are interested in helping cgood4 (at) yahoo.com.

Monday Open Garden hours – (We will be changing these times, as needed. To get updates on garden hours, sign up for this blog or join our email list and indicate you want to volunteer in the garden. You can also check the gate by the garden to see what is happening.) We aren’t afraid of some rain or occasional showers, but if its pouring continuously we will cancel. Come learn about gardening or add your knowledge to the day’s activities.
Monday April 25 5-6:30pm – Plant lettuce and beets. Turn compost pile.
Monday May 2nd 5-6:30pm – Build new compost pile – Bring your kitchen veggie waste and coffee grounds!
Monday May 9th 5-6:30pm – TBD
Monday May 16th 5-6:30pm – TBD
Monday May 23rd 5-6:30pm – TBD
May 30th – Memorial Day (as volunteers are available) – TBD

Project Based Learning

Gardens are excellent places for learning in multiple disciplines. Math, reading, science and language are all easily taught in a single lesson. And of course social science, nutrition and health are obvious topic matters in a garden where food is grown.

Here is a link to an article from the Creative Educator. It is an overview of Project-based Learning as covered in the book “Fires in the Mind – What kids tell us about motivation and mastery” by Kathleen Cushman. They have other great resources as well!
http://creativeeducator.tech4learning.com/v09/stories/How_Project-Based_Learning_Develops_Drive_And_Mastery

Education for Educators

Oregon Natural Resources Education Program offers regular workshops for educators throughout Oregon. Through hands-on, interactive, and investigative strategies that foster how to think, not what to think , teachers learn how to meet state and national learning standards while engaging students in relevant, meaningful, and place-based learning. Through the use of balanced, non-biased curricula teachers involve students in lessons that promote the development of the critical thinkers and creative problem solvers of the future, who are prepared for life and work in the 21st Century. They also provide substitute reimbursement for teachers in Oregon. Check out their website to see their upcoming workshops http://www.cof.orst.edu/onrep/. Thanks for your work ONREP!

Thanks Willamette Graystone!

Thanks to a generous donation from Willamette Graystone here in South Corvallis, we were able to put in stepping stones into our garden walkways. The goal is to have “steppables” or other plants grow among the pavers so that we only have to weedwhack a couple of times of years, if any. A student group from Steve Cook’s Geo 300 Sustainability Class at Oregon State, worked hard to clean up the paths and put in pavers. Here are the before shots…

And the after shots…

Thanks to Rick, Karan and Rob at Willamette Graystone for their support of our goal to connect kids to fresh vegetables.