School Garden Gateway — Leave the leaves

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Q4: LATE FALL 2023

Save the Dates

Spring into School Gardening @ WYG

Saturday, March 23rd

SPROUT Field Trips

April-June season starts April 8th

Registration will open early March

GARDEN TIPS

Grow through the winter

Are your Fall crops still small? Do you want to continue harvesting greens through the winter? Learn how to extend your gr owing season with row cover from Farmer Emilia.

Not sure how to prep your Fall beds for Winter? Tips shared during our Fall into School Gardening event are below.

GARDEN BED PREP TIP SHEET

Leave the leaves: create wildlife-friendly habitats

Take a close look with your students. Do you see old flower stems, beans, or lettuce? Farmer Emilia shares how leaving dried plants, even though they may seem "unsightly," is actually beneficial, educational, and less work!

What to plant now:

Cover Crops (Rye)
Garlic (for an August harvest)

Jump to events & resources below to learn composting basics in December and how to plan your future harvest in January from Capital Area Food Bank.

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

Friendship Woodridge's Pumpkin Smash

Learn how one school invites their neighborhood community to transform a common seasonal waste item into nourishment for the soil through an embodied release. Fun for kids, families, and staff!

Do you have a garden tradition that brings your community together?

A SEASONAL COMPOST PARTY

GARLIC PLANTING PARTY HIGHLIGHTS

FONA welcomed over 250 visitors to the Washington Youth Garden on Saturday, October 28th for the 12th annual Garlic Planting Party.

Attendees harvested this year’s sweet potato crop and planted several rows of garlic that will be harvested next summer. A tasting of fall treats including fresh sugar cane, roasted pumpkin seeds and different soups was a hit. Visitors engaged in activities including an herbal card reading with fresh and dried herbs offered as tea bundles, nature-inspired button making and a poetry workshop led by Charity B lackw ell, Director of Poetry Events at Busboys and Poets. After attending the event, one participant wrote, “The Garlic Planting Party was great. It was a family friendly event with lots of fun activities… It gets better every year!”

Curious about how to plant garlic yourself? Check out this graphic below to get some tips about how to plant and harvest garlic!

-Caroline

UPCOMING EVENTS & RESOURCES

School Food Forests webinar TODAY

Wed, November 29 2:00-3:15pm

Learn from two programs creating vibrant edible forests at schools that mimic the natural ecology of the local land.

Grants for Schools List (Regularly Updated)

Need $500 for school garden supplies? Want transportation for a nature-based field trip? Search our list for funding that can help get what you need.

Composting Basics

Tue, December 12th

12:00-1:00pm

Plan Your Future Harvest

Thu, January 18th

12:00-1:00pm

RSVP for Zoom link by emailing Avery across@capitalareafood

bank.org

School Gard en Coaching Sessions

516 Kennedy St NW

February 6th: Planting Plans & Organizing a Community Workday

April 2nd: Garden Maintenance 101

May 14th: Cooking with Youth and Community

Seasonal Cooking Class

Thu, December 14th

5:00-6:30pm

4900 Puerto Rico Ave NE

Free Outdoor Learning Virtual Workshops

7:00-8:00pm

Jan 16: Managing Eco-Anxiety through Outdoor Learning

Jan 23: Outdoor Learning Astronomy

Feb 6: Indigenous Resources for Outdoor Learning

Feb 13: Apprentissage de l'astronomie en plein air

Feb 20: Stories in the Wild: Animal Tracks & Traces

Feb 27: Enhancing Climate Education through Active Learning

We find great garden-based resources through other newsletters we subscribe to. Receive Rooted's newsletter below.

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Come see us next time you're at the National Arboretum!

The Arboretum is open every day from 8 AM - 5 PM except December 25th.

Check Our Website for Full Details >

Washington Youth Garden is the youth outreach and education branch of Friends of the National Arboretum. By supporting FONA, you support WYG connecting thousands of students each year to food, the land, and each other.

BECOME A FONA MEMBER

FONA 2022 END OF YEAR REPORT

FONA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization with the mission to preserve and enhance a vibrant public space and support experiential programming that instills a love of plants, nature and the outdoors in all who visit, while promoting the overarching research and education mission of the U.S. National Arboretum.

Since its inception, FONA has helped support the Washington Youth Garden, Capitol Columns, Flowering Tree Walk, horticultural and research internships, restoration of Springhouse Run, and much more.

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