Garden Club
This summer we ran a program called Gardening Club where every Wednesday we picked up 10 of our STAR Club Students and brought them to the Pumpkin Patch Community Garden to pull weeds, compost, harvest vegetables and connect with caring volunteers. We ran the program for 8 weeks and the kids loved it!
If you haven’t been to the pumpkin patch community Garden, but you live or work in Millwood, you have likely passed it without realizing it. The garden is on the corner of Maringo and Argonne and is directly across the river from the IEP Mill. The Mill graciously allows the community to use the land for a community garden space and as a result, we can utilize the space to grow vegetables and to educate the students we serve about not only gardening, but also what it means to be a community member with shared space for a common purpose.
Kris Major, a resident of Millwood and Master Composter, taught our 10 students about Composting during our 8 weeks. On our first day of Gardening Club, Kris was there with two other master composters ready to teach the essential components of composting. Each student was given a gallon-sized bucket to collect kitchen waste from their homes throughout the week along with a list of approved items to be composted.
From that day on, we were in gardening mode. Each week had the same basic format, with a different kid paired up with a volunteer to measure the temperature, appearance, smell of the compost and to add the collected scraps from the week along with any necessary amendments of carbon (brown material such as leaves or cardboard) and water. Each week before going home we would make time to harvest vegetables and every time, kids left with any number of vegetables, including but not limited to, carrots, zucchini, sunflowers, pumpkins and more. On our third or fourth week one student proudly said, “We ate good at home last week because of all the veggies I brought home.”
I loved seeing the excitement each student brought with them every Wednesday we were together. I even loved the day when we picked-up one student who brought a compost bin more than halfway filled with cabbage! When he brought it into the van, I nearly puked, so we put a lid on it and brought it to the garden. When we arrived, Elizabeth, one of the master composers, was so excited! She said, “This will make great compost!” It was a great metaphor for me to see even something stinky that would normally be thrown out being seen as potentially contributing to usable compost for a garden one day.
As I reflect on this summer, there were certainly times where kids sat on the sidelines, too hot or less than enthusiastic about pulling weeds or getting work done on the compost, but each student that showed-up became more and more comfortable with spending time with one another, contributing to the community space and learning where their food comes from and how to care for it. I am so grateful to each staff member; Brandon Comella, Rebecca Waterford and each volunteer who contributed to this effort, including Kris Major, Elizabeth and Kat (Master Composters), Wayne Johnson, Athena Mays, Diane Cater, Anya Redman, Kyle Roberts and Caydence Watson. I also need to thank Teressa and Doug Sadler for their continued support. They are the managers of the garden and have been a great help for this program!
Written By: Program Director, Jeremy Clark
