Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Last weeks of gardening @ Dickson (for the 2016-2017 school year)

4x4 for Wild beds, built by kids =)


Danged if you don't, Mr. Mikulski!

A water garden that we grew on our campus!




Salad, for sure, for everyone =)


Climbing on fallen trees... nature stuff, ya know!



Students in the pollinator garden 


Monarch caterpillar in the "J" position


Milkweed Day, and the awesome Tailgate Market that 3rd grade made happen!

Alan Barry, selling milkweed starts. This is a particularly beloved plant for Monarch butterflies! 
Kate Lis, AmeriCorps Project Conserve worker, representing Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy



Moni Hill gathering the troops
It has been a great year. Looking into the year ahead, I wanted to encourage anyone and everyone that is happy about the green 'activism' that exists at Dickson -- to please help us find novel ways (or even better, directly contribute) to fund our school's Garden Coordinator position. I don't know... Kickstarter, GoFundMe, there has to be a way that we can pay a fair working wage to someone who spends 20+ hours every week ensuring that teachers and students have as much access to garden-related experiences as they possibly can.

This past year, we had a generous grant that funded MOST of Joan's work at the school. This coming year, it is not clear that the same funds will be made available -- nor is it certain that Dickson's Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) can continue funding any gaps. It is not an uncommon problem, paying experienced adults a living wage to enable schools to have vibrant, local food-based gardening programs. However I am confident that we can tackle the issue. Let's regroup, when school is back in session in August!

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