A little goodbye (for now)....

A photo of Orleans Childcare Centre garden. Boy, is it ever growing!

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In the span of 7 weeks, it is a little crazy to think of what has transpired. 

As a community, in 7 weeks, we’ve worked with 9 different schools to expand and build food gardens. 

We resurrected 12 garden beds from the previous year and created an additional 20  spaces designated for the purpose of growing food. 

Furthermore, we’ve worked with close to 100 kids and a few dozen community members including parents, neighbours, and Bridgehead staff.

 

That said, like our old friend Albert Einstein notes, “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” Indeed, I cannot count the number of smiles, 

the number of times kids were amazed to see roots,

nor the number of times I had to tell kids (and adults!) that cutting a worm in half does not make two worms but rather just a dead one. One. 

I cannot enumerate the number of emails that helped to conspire and inspire new thoughts and ideas, the amount of coffee I drank, 

the number of handshakes, 

the number of helping hands along the way, 

nor the number of times when simple words of encourage kept the fire going.

Speaking of keeping the fire going, our dearest Tracey Guptil has signed on to continue with the programming aspect of the food gardens for the remainder of the summer and into the fall. She'll be working with each garden to bring out their potential as a community space. Yeah!!!

As I reflect about my time working with GUO, I realize that there are many things that could have been done differently, perhaps better. Still, I believe it was a perfect place to walk the talk, even if you first have to learn how to crawl. For me, it was a perfect place to unearth some real gems in people, places and communities. Moreover, it was a perfect place to learn that with every seed comes the promise of a flower. 

Thank-you to everyone who came out and shared their time with us. Until we meet again, take care.

Sincerely, 

Minh

Pinecrest follow-up...

No more school, no more books...but just before that, looks like we sneaked in one more garden before school breaks for the summer.

The day started bright and early with a trip to the builder's dream land, Home Depot. I have to say myself, going down the lumber isle towards the cedar section is always a treat since it reminds me of home sweet home (Vancouver). In any case, several logs later AND a couple hundred pounds of compost later, I arrive in one piece at Pinecrest Elementary.

Greeted by the charismatics Karli and a few members of the EarthCare Environment Team, we got right to it. Not shy of a little hard work, these ladies ripped up the lawn, prepared the logs, and helped sledge hammer the garden beds into place.



Oh we managed to take a bit of time to goof around and take some pictures too.



Later that afternoon, Ms. Carson's class transplanted their bean and sunflower seedlings they had started a few weeks earlier. We also planted some fall vegetables in hopes for a harvest party come September.






Thanks for all your work kids!

Cultivating some heritage at Heritage Academy

The gardens at Heritage are looking mighty fine. The teachers and kids are experimenting and approaching their food gardens as a "learning-by-doing process". This includes trying to grow maize and some grain in addition to cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, spinach, beets, salad greens, chives, radishes and so on. 

Jumping on the band wagon: Pinecrest Public Elementary Joins GUO family

Tomorrow, we begin the construction of food gardens beds for Pinecrest Public Elementary School. Soon the seedlings started by the Gr. 1 class will soon be out and about and growing. They will be located next to the flower beds and will hopefully share some pollinators. 

Our first harvest at Cambridge

Remember way back when we planted all those wee little seeds? 

Well, they've done some growing since then and yesterday we were able to harvest some greens for the Family Day BBQ at Cambridge. 

Voila!!

Thanks to all those who've had a hand in growing these vegetables. The summer has yet to come and so more there's much more coming. If you are in the neighbourhood and would like to garden at Cambridge, let us know. 

Summer is coming...maintenance plans for the gardens

Okay, the summer weather may not be exactly summer but for kids, they are counting the days until school is out. For the school food gardens, this means they'll need help from neighbours or mobile "GuARDi(E)N" angels to take care and use the garden space during the summer weeks.


So what exactly do "GuARDi(E)N" angels do?


















Watering: Water plants 3x a week (if it rains, I guess that means a day off!). The general rule of thumb is water, water, water. Too much is better than too little. Each garden will be equipped with water tools.














Weeding: Keeping the weeds out of the garden gives our plants a much better environment to grow. If you see that weeds are overgrown, or simply growing, pull them out!

Thinning: Just like people needing space to grow, so do plants. Leaving the plants spaced too closely together reduces yields and make plants compete for nutrients and water. In the thinning process, try to save the strongest seedling and remove excess plants. Where seedlings are very close together and pulling disturbs the roots of others, simply pinch or cut the extras.

Harvesting/Eating: Enjoy and share the veggies of your labour.

Other things to keep in mind:

• If you find that some plants need structural support (tomato cage, bean or pea trellises), let us know and we'll provide material to do so.
  
• Return all tools/equipment to proper storage places.
• Lock any gates or storage facilities that you unlocked.
• Be an educator and share your knowledge with others.
  
• Have fun!
• Oh, yes--Wear sunscreen (sorry, the mother is me is coming out).

Summer maintenance schedules coming soon.

A photo collage of the triumph at Trillium/Trille des Bois

Despite the questionable early morning weather, plans to build the garden beds persevered. By 9:00 am, we had a healthy number of eager parent, community and Bridgehead volunteers bustling with energy and ready to dig in. 

Once the ceremonial petunia song kicked off the morning, working groups broke off and the busy work began...furiously as each group was responsible for assembling a garden bed. 

A BIG thank you to all the parent volunteers who made it out and spent the day to make this idea become a reality. The parent volunteers were and are extremely enthusiastic about the new space which will enrich the learning and community environment. Props to Luc Nugent, a parent volunteer who has spent countless hours prepping for this day and allowing GUO to work with Trillium/Trille Des Bois towards a common vision. Also, a number of Bridgehead staff came and conquered...the drill and power saw to construct a beautiful garden bed. Always with a smile, they are definitely a fun bunch to work with. 

Lastly, we'd like to thank our lovely farmers: 

• Tom Waller ofElm Tree Farm for donating some tomato plants;
• David Burnford and Robin Turner of Riverglen Biodynamic Farmfor donating potato seeds and onions; 
• Robert Oechsli and family ofAlpenblick Farm for donating all the beautiful logs. 

Triumph at Trillium/Trille Des Bois Photo Collage: Grown ups growing up and still having fun!!!