DEAR GARDENERS

Dear School & Learning Gardeners,

This is the time of year when I put my plot in the community garden to bed for the winter -- pulling up spent plants and covering the soil with a thick layer of leaf mulch. Many of the programs and projects that I’m a part of start winding down in November, allowing me to reflect on the year and dream for the year ahead. 

I am so grateful to work with you all, to come together to support growing spaces for our youth and communities. Research shows that gardening and time spent outdoors in natural settings reduce stress, support mental health, and improve social relationships -- for people of all ages, youth and adults! I wanted to share a few resources about therapeutic gardening, and garden therapy:

Garden Therapy Healing Through Nature, a quarterly publication of the American Community Gardening Association
  • This edition is dedicated to garden therapy, and features case studies from throughout the United States and Canada. 

  • This Zoom presentation features presentations about the many benefits of gardening. Starting at [23:34], Dr. Lucy Bradley shares specific gardening programs that are underway in North Carolina in collaboration with NC Cooperative Extension. 

Re-Naturing Urban Childhood-A Sustainable Development Strategy by Robin Moore and Nilda Cosco (An article in "Forests for Public Health")
  • Robin and Nilda lead the Natural Learning Initiative in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning in the College of Design at NC State.


Wishing you all health and wellness,
Quina Weber-Shirk
Community & School Garden Agent
NC Cooperative Extension Guilford County 
NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHT

On Saturday, November 7th, volunteers from NC A&T State University cleared and mulched the school garden at Andrews High School to prepare the garden for winter. This event was part of The Big Sweep, a community wide event organized by Keep High Point Beautiful.

The first photo is about halfway through the workday, and the second photo is at the end! Joy Watson and Greg Desern started the garden several years ago to work with their students. Neither teacher works at Andrews this year, but both came back to prepare the garden for future students. Joy and Greg shared gratitude to the volunteers -- saying that it would have taken them days to do on their own. It took 15 volunteers only an hour and a half to clear the weeds and lay straw in 13 raised beds!

UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES

Growing Black Roots: The Black Botanical Legacy (Monthly Lecture Series from Holden Forests & Gardens)

  • This lecture series will take place entirely online, with a new speaker on the second Wednesday of the month from October 2020 to September 2021. 

  • This 11-part lecture series will cover a broad range of botanical disciplines, delve into the historical legacy of formally trained and self-taught Black Botanists who inspired others to pursue a career in plants, and highlight pathways toward diversity and inclusion in botanical sciences. With this series, the organizers and contributors seek to shine a light on the Black roots within botany, foster a community of Black Botanists, show that diversity is found within this community, and inspire others who may not have considered Botany as a career choice. 

  • Free Educational Materials: HF&G will provide short lesson plans based on each talk, for use by teachers and parents. The videos, along with the educational materials, will be made permanently available on YouTube for public viewing after the live event has ended. The YouTube video description will contain a link to a Holden webpage describing and hosting the Educational Materials. These materials will be aimed at grades 7-12, focusing on the comprehension and connection to the biological concepts and lived experiences of the speakers as presented in the talks. 



Outdoor Learning Early Adopter Learning Group (Zoom)
  • Green Schoolyards America is hosting Zoom meetings every other Tuesday from 2-3 pm this fall. The meetings are an open and welcoming discussion forum for schools, school districts, and county and state education departments from around the country that would like to share information with one another as you move forward with your outdoor learning plans for the school year. “Our goal is to support you in this work, and to connect you with others who have similar goals. Our meetings include opportunities for educational institution teams to share their work and questions with one another in large and small group formats, and to work together across jurisdictions to cross-pollinate ideas and build a community of practice. We also share timely information and resources as they are developed, and we usually invite one or two guest speakers to share their work during each session.”
THIS MONTH IN THE GARDEN

Our night-time temperatures are dropping, and while it may be too late to plant outside (with the exception of garlic and onions) there are many fresh produce items that can be re-grown indoors by curious gardeners. Chris Gunter, vegetable production specialist with NC State Extension, shares tips for using your seed scraps in a short video, Can I plant the Seeds from my Fresh Produce?

For more information (and inspiration), read No Seeds, No Problem: Growing Vegetables from Scrap.

RESOURCES


  • Does your learning garden need seeds? Contact Quina Weber-Shirk, Community & School Garden Agent, jjwebers@ncsu.edu.

  • A Guidance Template for Gardening during Covid-19 created by the University of Minnesota Extension provides best practices for minimizing risk while working in a garden space. Originally created for community gardens, this template has sections that are most definitely applicable for schools interested in thinking critically about sanitation and safe social distancing protocols.

  • Green Schoolyards of America’s Covid-19 Outdoor Learning Page serves as a compilation of resources to help teachers and administrators creatively and realistically navigate re-purposing outdoor spaces as classrooms. Many of the resources listed here are not specially focused on school gardens, because the truth is you don’t need a growing space to have an outdoor classroom or to teach outside. That being said, many of the tips and strategies recommended by Green Schoolyards of America and their working groups are relevant to folks invested in school garden programming and infrastructure.