beanstalk, Author at Seed St. Louis

“We love working hard!”

Posted on December 9, 2015 by beanstalk

The ground at Gateway Elementary was hard to dig from a long dry spell and the backfill from Pruitt Igoe buildings. I was working with 4^th grade all girls’ class and their teacher Ms. Sandra Davie. We had received a donation for three apple trees from an area nursery. Ms. Davie and I were digging with the girls and at one point we looked at each other thinking we needed a plan B. That is when one of the girls announced to us that “we love working hard”. It was true they were really enjoying the work. It was meaningful to them. Her words reaffirmed to us why learning outdoors is so important. It not only makes curricular connections but it also teaches students important life lessons along the way.

Eventually we did manage to dig holes big enough and deep enough to plant all three of our trees.

Fruits of our labor, we hope are golden and delicious.

Here Ms. Davie is marking the spot where the girls decided to plant one of their tree after considering various factors e.g. sunlight.

Examining this broken piece of tile they came across.

Wondering if this was piece of Pruitt Igoe.

Learning to share the tools and taking turns digging the holes

-Punita Patel, Youth Educator

Thanksgiving at Clay Elementary

Posted on November 24, 2015 by beanstalk

We celebrated Thanksgiving a little early at Clay with a meal we grew in our garden– kale chips and roasted sweet potatoes!

Cooking at school can be a challenge. Last year, we brought a portable fire pit to the school and roasted potatoes and onions in a real fire outside by the garden. This was incredibly fun, and allowed for student participation. However, the limited space in the fire pit and the length of time it took to heat up meant that our potatoes took hours to cook. There’s an oven in the teacher’s lounge that is available for use, but when we tried to make sweet potato fries a few weeks ago, the smoking oven set off the fire alarm. Nothing like the entire student body sniffing the smoky air and yelling, “Is this FOR REAL?” as they evacuate the building to discourage you from cooking!

Fortunately, a teacher from our preschool class recognized the problem and took some time out of her day to clean the oven the next week. At last, our students got to eat the fruits (or rather, veggies) of their labor. 4th grade chopped sweet potatoes, and helped Pre-K harvest the kale. Our wonderful volunteer Miss Kay managed the cooking process. We went from classroom to classroom with bowls of sweet potatoes and kale chips. When we had some left over at the end of the day, we stationed ourselves in the stairwell and kids grabbed sweet potatoes out of the bowls as they filed downstairs for dismissal.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! We are thankful for you, the people who value and support the experiences our students have in the garden each and every week.

-Carolyn Cosgrove Payne, Youth Educator

Crown Center for Senior Living Visits Mallinckrodt Youth Garden

Posted on November 10, 2015 by beanstalk

This year, I’ve visited the community garden at Crown Center for Senior Living and worked with the Happy Planters, the garden club there. One of the projects we undertook was using the greenhouse they have there to grow sweet potato slips not only for their garden but for the Youth Garden Sweet Potato Challenge. The seniors then visited the Mallinckrodt school garden in May to help with planting the sweet potato slips and again in October to help with harvesting the sweet potatoes.

The following is a post written by one of the Happy Planters after our October visit.

-Kathleen Carson, Community Educator

“On Wednesday, October 7, Kathleen Carson Community Educator, Gateway Greening greeted a white van as it pulled up to the Mallinckrodt School in South City, St. Louis, Missouri. Behind her were 40 excited fourth grade students and their teachers.

Ten older people, from the Happy Planters Program at the Gladys & Henry Crown Center for Senior Living, got off the van, some using a cane others using walkers and most wearing straw hats. They were at the school to see the herb and communal gardens grown by the students with the help of their teachers. The students were girls and boys, of different colors, educational and economic backgrounds and different religious beliefs.

The students seemed to work well together and listened attentively as each one presented a paper on the particular herb and vegetable they were growing. They were eager to answer questions from their visitors, and were knowledgeable and seemed at ease to show the sketches they made to go with their talk.

The herbs the students grew included parsley, basil, stevia, oregano, and mint. The herb and vegetables are grown in small boxed areas on the school’s front lawn.

The program at the Mallinckrodt School was begun in 2011 with support from Gateway Greening and Aetna. Gateway Greening works with students and teachers in the garden along with many Gateway Greening and Fontbonne University interns in developing programming throughout the year. The Mallinckrodt Garden is supported by many Gateway Greening volunteers and Mallinckrodt parents.

After the visitors visited the individual boxes some of the students shared some of their harvest with their visitors.

The next stop on the trip was at the Gateway Greening Gardens on two-and-a-half acres of inner city land tended by volunteers from local universities and by as community members along with professionally trained educators.

The Garden grows everything from asparagus to zucchini. Here too, the harvest is shared with the community through Food Outreach, food pantries, and City Greens Market. Affiliated also is a therapeutic horticulture program and job training program.”

DSCN2167-1

UrbanMain — Shown above are some of the Happy Planters from the Crown Center for Senior Living. Pictured in the center is Esme Gooding.

-Beverly D. Rehfeld, Happy Planter and Resident at Crown Center for Senior Living

Enter Your Garden in the Farm to School Census!

Posted on November 3, 2015 by beanstalk

Did you know that school gardens are a huge part of the Farm to School movement? We didn’t realize just how huge until we attended this month’s Farm to School Conference in Columbia (which featured one of Gateway Greening’s member gardens, the Falcon Garden at Halls Ferry Elementary! Go Falcons!). Over and over again, presenters brought up examples of how school gardens factored into their school’s curriculum and cafeteria.

The USDA is accepting submissions for the second-ever Farm to School Census until 11/20/15. The purpose of this census is to determine what percentage of schools in the country participate in Farm to School activities. This includes– you guessed it– school gardening! If you click on the link above, you can search for your school district. If no results come up, that means your district has not yet sent their information to the USDA. Talk to your building’s principal or your district’s food service director about filling out the survey! Your school garden is playing a critical role in your students’ health and well-being, and we want the whole world to know about it.

In addition to the census, the USDA offers Farm to School grants. Getting your district involved in the census now could give you the opportunity to kick your garden or cafeteria up notch in the future with these grant opportunities.

Why Should Schools Have a Garden?

Posted on October 27, 2015 by beanstalk

A few weeks ago Classroom teacher Ms. Mayes and I gave her 3rd grade class an option to either write a piece for publication in our e-news or do some garden chores. The students who chose to write a piece were given a specific subject – Why Should Schools Have Gardens?

It was rewarding for us to see how these students have been processing some complex ideas and reasons for having a school garden e.g. global warming, ecosystem, food web, nutrition, health and importance of nature connections, school and garden economy. It was good to see these complex issues on paper as seen through the lens of our next generation.

Take a look below to get a glimpse into the heads of a few 9 year olds exposed to gardening at school.

-Punita Patel, Youth Educator

Lilly:

There are many reason [sic] why schools should have a garden. One is to edgacate [sic] people in wildlife and nature. I think schools also should have a garden to make compost, and help people learn that monarch are endangered. I like plants and I think kids my age would like them to [sic]. That is why I think schools should have a garden.

Clara:

Schools should have gardens because it will help save all the animals. Also it is good for the environment, so when we grow up we don’t have too much heat. That is why school’s should have garden.

David:

Schools should have a garden because it helps with making oxegen [sic]. Monarks [sic] can have a snack in the gardens. bees, humming birds and other animals can pollenate [sic]. You can get food. And you see tons of animals in a garden.

Faith:

These are a few reasons schools should hae a garden. Garden helps Monarch Butterflies survive. Gardens provide food for the schools cafateria [sic]. Nothing like fresh picked fruits and veggies. The plant provide [sic]the air we breath. Garden teach us a lot of things about nature. We need to protect our Earth. Earth is our only home. Those are my few reasons schools should have a garden.

Gia:

Schools should have a garden because, we can learn about nature. Also the enviorment [sic] because that’s where we live and get oxgyne [sic]. We can also learn to plant, and take care of where we live. We can learn how to do many different things, and we can learn about animals up close. This is why schools should have gardens.

Kelsea:

Kids should garden at school. So they can work with plants. You can also see insects. Kids can build teamwork together while having fun. That’s why kids should have a school garden.

Quinn:

Schools should have gardens because their food could be their lunch. If they ate their food they would be healthy. They would not be sick. That is why schools should have gardens.

By Mina:

There are many reasons why schools should have gardens. One reason is to help the environment. We save many animals by planting plants that they eat. One example is monarch butterflies. We can save them by planting milkweed plants. We also have farmers markets to earn money for our school. It also inspires us to love nature and to take care of it. Those were a few reasons why schools should have garden.

Support the SHOWME Your Fitness: Fitness for a Cause CALENDAR! Proceeds benefit Gateway Greening!

Posted on October 9, 2015 by beanstalk

Gateway Greening would like to introduce you to our friend Brian Byrd. Brian is the owner of St. Louis Fitness and Wellness Group and a great supporter of Gateway Greening. He and other fitness professionals in the area have created a fitness calendar for the 2016 year that showcases St. Louis trainers, their personal mission, and their favorite workouts, so that you can have a healthier lifestyle too! But the best part? This group is donating the calendar proceeds directly to Gateway Greening and Big Brothers and Big Sisters of St. Louis! You can read more about the calendar below and how to get your copy!

Screen Shot 2015-10-09 at 1.01.50 PM

St. Louis Fitness and Wellness Group presents: SHOWME Your Fitness: Fitness for a Cause, a promotional holiday calendar showcasing St. Louis’s elite personal fitness professionals.

The mission of St. Louis Fitness and Wellness Group is to establish a community environment that promotes fitness, healthy lifestyles, decreases the risk of disease, enhances the quality of life, and increases productivity through healthy lifestyle choices. We encourage families to strengthen their health and well being through educational opportunities, wellness activities and self-improvement. Our goal is to leave a legacy of a happier and healthier community.

In an effort to continue our mission of supporting health and wellness in our community, we present to you SHOWME Your Fitness: Fitness for a Cause. This classy self-promotional calendar series will feature some of St. Louis’s top fitness professionals. The first edition will be a 12-month wall calendar covering 2016 and will feature seven of St. Louis’s elite male personal trainers professionally photographed by St. Louis photographer, Ms. Kat Simone. Each trainer will be given two months of the calendar and will present a brief bio including what inspires them, what makes them elite, a special quote and all of their contact information. Each month will have by-lines that will describe the location as well as a tagline for the photographer. The trainers will highlight their favorite workouts throughout their months as inspiration to get moving, so there is great practical use for these pieces. A portion of the proceeds will be directly donated to Big Brothers and Big Sisters of St. Louis and Gateway Greening.

The purpose of this piece is to attempt to cross barriers with supporters of community sustainability and the fitness industry. Our industry is all about people and long term change in the way fitness is thought of and how it can impact community. We want to get our excellent professionals in front of an audience that may otherwise be intimidated by or just have no resources for information on what we do. We hope to promote and educate about fitness and to also donate and give back to our community in as many ways as we can.

To purchase your calendar, click here.

“Brian Byrd, founder and owner of St. Louis Fitness and Wellness Group, is a proven fitness and wellness professional of nine years. Byrd is an expert in personal communication and motivation which results in excellent client retention and overall satisfaction; he stands strong behind the concept of a 360 degree approach to fitness and overall wellness. Along with knowledge and expertise in the fitness and wellness world, Byrd is also a motivational speaker, fitness writer, personal trainer and group fitness instructor.

As new owner of St. Louis Fitness and Wellness Group, Byrd’s dream is to create viable fitness and wellness opportunities for the masses and leave a legacy of health and wellness in his community. He hopes that his community will jump on board with this movement and help him make the community a happier and healthier place.”

www.stlfitnessgroup.com

One Beautiful Fall Afternoon in the Garden

Posted on October 9, 2015 by beanstalk

One beautiful fall afternoon last week at Gateway Greening we had our day packed with indoor meetings. It was so refreshing when I started getting these exciting pictures and texts from one of the teachers from Mallinckrodt. Ms. Mayes was sending in the work of her 3^rd grade students in the garden. It was great to see how much students were enjoying their outdoor classroom.

I remember vividly how reluctant Mrs. Mayes had been when we first started out gardening last fall. In just a year, she has become a strong supporter and a frequent flyer in the garden. Her students are often spotted outdoors with their journals and notebooks. It brings a smile to my face to see her so comfortable using the garden not only as an extension of her classroom but also as a tool for educating her students.

Picture below of Mrs. Mayes and Mrs. Yaksic as they pair up their classrooms and bring the students in the garden to ‘buddy up’.

In the garden last week, Mrs. Mayes class was learning about garden haiku- a lesson in language arts. I wonder if students would have showed the same zeal for learning this Japanese poetic art form, as they seem to show out here in the garden.

-Punita Patel, Gateway Greening Youth Educator

Garden Haiku

The essence of haiku is “cutting”. This is often represented by the juxtaposition of two images or ideas cutting word between them. Here are a few garden haikus students produced out in the garden during their lesson as shared by Mrs. Mayes.

Fall

The leaves are changing

They fall every day and night

The plants are dying.

by Olivia Finley 3^rd grade, Mallinckrodt Academy

Bushes

Pricaly bushes,

With red and green berries please,

On the greenish trees

By Amelia Marquart 3^rd grade, Mallinckrodt Academy

Autumn

Autumn time is here.

Leaves are starting to appear.

The days will get short.

By Lillian Jena Baptiste 3^rd grade Mallinckrodt Academy

Growing Food in Justice

Posted on September 29, 2015 by beanstalk

This past weekend Iron Street Farm in Southside Chicago hosted Growing Food in Justice’s (GFIJ) annual conference aimed at dismantling racism and empowering low-income and communities of color through sustainable and local agriculture. I was able to attend this years gathering and bring back to the Gateway Greening team new strategies to engage our communities in sustainable ways.

Iron Street Farm is in affiliation with Growing Power. Growing Power is a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities. Growing Power implements this mission by providing hands-on training, on-the-ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner.

Growing Power and Gateway Greening have very similar missions and its always exciting to see what others in our field are doing. There is so much to be learned from them and vice versa that it only made sense to attend. I was able to sit in on many discussions/speaker series such as “Just Labor within the Food Justice Movement?” “Tools for Community Engagement in Seeking USDA Funding”, and “Environmental Justice 101”. Attendees also got to hear “Women in Action” and Will Allen – founder of Growing Power, speak to the group about the work they have been doing this past year and where they would like to see this movement go. In addition to all these amazing seminars and speakers we also got 3 meals a day provided with produce from the farm. Including a formal sit down dinner and less formal BBQ. Members of Iron Street Farms Youth Corps a program very similar to GG’s Dig It program assisted staff. I am so grateful to having been able to attend this years gathering and look forward to next year. Check out these amazing organizations websites to learn more:

http://growingfoodandjustice.org/about-us/

http://www.growingpower.org/about/

Val Lovasz – Food Distribution Coordinator

Seeds

Posted on September 29, 2015 by beanstalk

With fall approaching faster than a speeding squirrel, Clay 1st graders explored the trees, vegetables, flowers, and grasses at Clay Elementary that are going to seed in our garden this week. The class remembered many facts about seeds from garden class last year. One student raised her hand and said solemnly, “You only get one chance to plant them. If you don’t take care of them and they die, it doesn’t come back.” Other students talked about the tiny leaves (cotyledons!) hidden inside the seeds that pop up when you plant them. After asking them where seeds can be found (one student, straining to reach into his memory for several minutes, finally burst out, “KIWIS HAVE SEEDS!”), we determined that seeds can be found inside fruits, and that not all of those fruits are ones people can eat.

Then we sent them out on their own to fill up plastic cups with all the different kinds of seeds they could find. The first place they wanted to look was in the dirt. They ran to the dirt pile and started looking for seeds already in the ground, with no success. We had to show everyone how to shake seeds out of coneflower heads, and scramble into the woods to find acorns. We squeezed honeysuckle berries and pokeberries to see if there were seeds inside. As you can see, we ended up with quite a haul:

As the students lined up to go back inside, they did something they wouldn’t have known to do an hour before. Passing by some dried up flower heads, they absent-mindedly shook them into their hands and pocketed the seeds. I felt a rush of pride, watching the ancient knowledge of seed saving trickle into the consciousness of a new generation.

Gateway Greening ‘Chefs in a Garden’ Benefit Raises $100,000

Posted on September 24, 2015 by beanstalk

Funds generated will support Gateway Greening’s work to educate and empower individuals to strengthen their communities through gardening and urban architecture

Some of St. Louis’ most talented chefs recently gathered at the Palladium Saint Louis on Sept. 13 to serve their signature dishes for a good cause, as Gateway Greening hosted its 18th annual Chefs in a Garden fundraising event. St. Louis Composting served as the presenting sponsor for this year’s event, which featured gourmet food prepared with ingredients grown at Gateway Greening gardens and local farms. The fundraiser generated over $100,000 to benefit Gateway Greening’s programming.

Chefs and restaurants that participated in this year’s event were Lona Powers of Lona’s Lil Eats; Bradley Hoffmann of Planter’s House; John Perkins of Juniper; Adam Karl Gnau of Acero; Chris Bolyard of Bolyard’s Meat & Provisions; Seth Verseman of 1904 Steakhouse; Tyson & Anna Long of Winslow’s Home; Nicholas Hatfield of Food Outreach; Ivy Magruder of Panorama; Sandia Hoorman of Piccione and Bethany Budde of SqWires.

This year’s menu featured a full spectrum of foods, from scallops to fried pickles! Piccione Pastry provided sweets treats with a mini cannoli station, while Chef Budde of SqWires refreshed the crowd with the restaurant’s signature homemade watermelon lemonade. This year’s “Chef of the Year” award went to Chris Bolyard of Bolyard’s Meat & Provisions, who received recognition for his “braised collard greens & smoked ham hock with pork rinds” dish.

Guests also enjoyed a special selection of quality wines and local microbrews and took part in live and silent auctions to benefit Gateway Greening.

“This year’s Chefs in a Garden event was another success for the organization,” said Mara Higdon, Gateway Greening Assistant Director. “It was an evening of fine cuisine prepared by some of the best chefs in St. Louis, We would like to extend a special thank you to St. Louis Composting and our other sponsors, Centene; Commerce Bank; Anova, Husch Blackwell; The Koman Group; Missouri Foundation for Health, Osborn and Barr, and Great Southern Bank for helping to make this year’s event possible.

“St. Louis Composting is happy to partner with Gateway Greening to help accomplish their mission to educate and empower the people of St. Louis to strengthen their communities through gardening and urban agriculture. I think more organizations like Gateway Greening need to exist,” said Patrick Geraty, owner of St. Louis Composting.