This past week... and, another chance to get dirty (and fed =)

Well, I must apologize for getting very busy outside of my commitment to keep you all informed about the awesome things Joan, the garden leadership team, and our amazingly generous volunteers are engaging in with the young people at Dickson! I'm trying to sort out a balance of work, play, and more work these days, and something seems to suffer, every week :)

A short scrapbook from the past 7 days (Joan, sorry for not getting to your photos from late Feb.):

Ms. Duffy's students made tea for Dickson's monthly staff meeting

Ms. Moore's first graders, making seed balls with awesome volunteer Eleanor Underhill

Courtney Bloomfield works on gardening-related activities with Ms. Leslie's kindergarten every Wed.

Dickson kids and the wonderful coordinator-extraordinaire Raymond Smith, unloading goodies donated by Haywood Street Congregation (the hard-working church across the highway from us)

Students fearlessly taking home fresh produce!

Everybody loves peppers (everyone except my daughter Josie)

Tea, anyone?

Sifting soil (to help with potting plants)

Mr Withrow's third graders harvesting SALAD. That's right, all caps... just the way Joan likes it

Finally, if you haven't already signed up / planned to come out, please join us for our next group garden workday, this Saturday, from 10 - 1 PM. RSVP with Joan (whose email should be on the right sidebar of our blog):

I love how the version of this that got printed out -- and disbursed to you (or others) via your child's backpack -- had the words "FUN" and "WORKDAY" joined together in bold and underline. Hey, we know that work and fun can be paired together! ;)

Let me close by saying that I continue to look forward to every step along the way in this foundational work that we're doing this year and into next. We're slowly but most assuredly building a school that makes cultivation an act that takes center stage (or at least is not relegated to a diminutive or otherwise trivial role)

Stirring up in spring

Is it OK to declare the present time as spring? It certainly feels that way... all kinds of things are pushing forth with a vigor unheard of in winter...

We work to help the greenhouse, counting seeds!

Start with an empty container, and then do volume calculations

Of course, final volume doesn't get there without a fight :) 

With a set amount of water and a starting height, we can best understand gravitational potential energy, forces, and motion

But certainly we should give it the most interesting path possible :)

There's a reward to all our experimentation, that is continually springing forth (and being tasted)!

Eleanor Underhill, a local musician with an interest in community involvement, helps us make fun guerrilla gardener 'grenades' -- made from clay, seeds and soil

Ms. Sizemore's class has been playing around with trying to be as crafty as birds (in caring for their young!)

A special seedling-starting party, to help give the demonstration food plot / CEA a strong footing!

I've never been more excited about the growing season as I am this year. Let us achieve something that doesn't simply enrich the academic experience of the young people at Dickson... let us realize something that touches both the local community AND a select group of parents and teachers focused on local, sustainable enterprise and social justice!!! =)