Category: Gateway Greening Blog

Celebrate National Farm to School Month in October

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kidsOctober is National Farm to School Month, a time to celebrate connections happening all over the country between schools and local food!

Farm to school enriches the connection communities have with fresh, healthy food and local food producers by changing food purchasing and education practices at schools and early care and education settings. Students gain access to healthy, local foods as well as educational opportunities such as school gardens, cooking lessons, and farm field trips.

Over the past decade, the farm to school movement has exploded across the United States, reaching millions of students in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Farm to school is an important tool in the fight against childhood obesity and food insecurity. In addition to improving child health, when schools buy local, they create new markets for local and regional farmers and contribute to vibrant communities, a win-win-win scenario!

Farm to School – Across the Nation

In March, the USDA released the results of its 2015 Farm to School Census, and the results are exciting!

  • In 2015 approximately 42,587 schools across the United States actively participated in Farm to School programs, reaching 23.6 million students nationwide.
  • During the 2013-2014 school year, participating schools purchased $789 million worth of local products from food producers – farmers, ranchers, and even fishermen!
  • 54% of the 5,254 school districts surveyed reported having at least one edible school garden. (In the 2013-14 school year, they reported 7,101 active school gardens providing fresh food and education opportunities!)

 

Farm to School – What’s happening in Missouri?

  • According to the 2015 Missouri Farm to School Survey, at least 911 schools (143 school districts or private schools) used locally grown food in school meals or snacks during the 2014-2015 school year, with the average school district spending 3% of their budget on local products.
  • In the 2009-10 school year, the most popular locally grown items purchased in Missouri Farm to School programs were apples, melons, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers.
  • The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 authorized and provided funding to the USDA to establish a Farm to School Program to provide grants and technical assistance in implementing farm to school programs to improve access to local foods in eligible schools.
  • In 2016 the School District of Springfield R-12  was awarded just over $90,000 to increase student access to locally sourced produce and expand food and nutrition education by the USDA.

 

Farm to School – What’s happening in STL?

  • In 2016, the Ferguson-Florissant School District was awarded $91,500 to partner with St. Louis University and local farms to integrate and expand its farm to school program.
  • Gateway Greening currently supports 65 school gardens across 19 school districts in St. Louis. 25 of those school gardens are at St. Louis Public Schools! Over 600 teachers across the region use these gardens as outdoor laboratories, serving 12,000 students.
  • Gateway Greening youth educators are working with 300 students each week in their school gardens as part of the Seed to STEM program. These students will be out having a Farm to School Harvest Party in October!
  • Fifteen youth participated in Gateway Greening’s teen employment program, Dig It STL, on the Gateway Greening Urban Farm this summer. 45 additional youth participated in other Youth Conservation Corps programs at YCC member organizations, including EarthDance and Seeds of Hope Farms. These students learned about soil, plant science, nutrition and teamwork while fully engaging in the work of the farm from planting to harvest to selling at North City Farmers’ Market… and weeding, lots and lots of weeding.

 

The 2016 National Farm to School Month theme, One Small Step, will highlight the simple ways anyone can get informed, get involved and take action to advance farm to school in their own communities and across the country. Join the celebrations by signing the One Small Step pledge and take one small step to support healthy kids, thriving farmers and vibrant communities this October.

Whether you are a food service professional, a farmer, a teacher or a food-loving family, there are plenty of ways to celebrate and get involved in National Farm to School Month! The National Farm to School Network offers a variety of free resources on its website, www.farmtoschool.org, including posters, stickers and a communications toolkit.

Learn more about National Farm to School Month, how you can get involved, and sign the pledge by visiting www.farmtoschool.org.

Summer Maintenance in the School Garden

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It’s a tough reality that the most active growing period in the garden coincides with summer break – when teachers and students are gone. It can be challenging to keep crops thriving without a dedicated caretaker to weed and water through the hottest days of summer. So how do successful school garden programs keep their crops growing and their gardens beautiful throughout the summer? As the summer of 2016 winds down, the Gateway Greening Educators take a look at some of the most successful school garden strategies they saw this year.

Start with a Plan

Garden Leaders and Educators can set their school garden up for success by planning ahead in spring. Start by considering your garden’s community: who are the key supporters? Volunteers? What community resources could your garden connect with for assistance?


august-8-2016-2Leveraging Community

Second grade teacher Angela Vaughn of Shaw VPA Elementary knows that no school garden is maintenance free during the summer months. Her solution was tap into the school garden’s existing community to create a ‘duty-roster’ for summer. Before school let out for the long break, Vaughn partnered with Gateway Greening Educator Punita Patel to ask students and their families to adopt the garden for one week during the summer. In this way, families could take turns weeding, watering and harvesting. It’s a great system that allows students to see how their plants are doing while sharing their enthusiasm and new-found knowledge with their families

The garden also drew in volunteers from the surrounding neighborhood who stopped in to weed, water, and even to visit with their neighbors. Since every summer helper is encouraged to take home any of the produce they harvest, very little goes to waste – even when school’s out for summer!

Tips for creating a summer maintenance schedule:

1. Before school lets out for break, ask students and their families to adopt the garden for as little as a day or as much as a week, with the reward of taking anything they harvest home! Use sign-up sheets to hold everyone accountable.

2. Ask fellow teachers to get involved! It never hurts to have an extra pair of eyes checking for droopy plants in need of water!

3. Reach out to the surrounding community. Often, neighbors are one of a school garden’s most valuable long-term volunteers!

 

The Sweet Potato Challenge

Beyond the schedule, Shaw VPA also makes the most of the summer growing season by participating in the Sweet Potato Challenge. This yearly competition starts in May, when teachers take their students outside to plant their slips (sweet potato starts) in the garden. Over the summer the sweet potato plants grow quickly, sprouting attractive green vines that shade the soil, reducing evaporation and keeping the soil moist longer. At the same time, the vines help to suppress weeds, helping to keep summer garden maintenance low.  

One of the great things about this challenge is that the sweet potatoes are ready to harvest in October, meaning the kids get to watch the last few months of their growth and to see, touch and taste the results of their work from the previous spring. The competition ends as students harvest and weigh their crops, competing against other schools to win the coveted first place in one of three categories: Largest Harvest (lbs), Weirdest Potato Shape, and Largest Potato!

Want to learn more about the Sweet Potato Challenge? Check out Shaw VPA teacher Angela Vaughn’s story of her students participating in the Sweet Potato Challenge last year here.

photo-credit-chris-althen-3Host Garden Parties

This past summer the PTO at Mallinckrodt Academy for Gifted Instruction (MAGI) put a new spin on garden parties by inviting students, their families, and even the surrounding neighbors to spend Tuesday evenings with them in the school garden!

Each garden party was almost like a small festival, with kids excitedly monitoring how their plants were doing, small food demonstrations from fellow gardeners and an ever changing variety of activities! A few of our staff favorites were:

  • Potluck dinners that resulted in recipe swaps between families
  • Local vendors selling cupcakes and pizza by the slice
  • Food Truck!
  • Yoga class for all ages
  • Music & Dancing – One night, there was even a live band!
  • Sprinklers for the kids to play in (that watered the garden at the same time!)

The garden parties at MAGI turned out to be a great way to keep families engaged not only at the school, but also in the garden. Each week students were encouraged to spend some time weeding and harvesting their crops. They then turned around and sold the food to their families and neighbors. Parents had fun helping the kids to set reasonable prices on each crop by sharing what they would expect to pay for the same thing at their local grocery stores, and the proceeds went on to the PTO to help fund future events and activities. By the end of June, the MAGI school garden was well cared for, well known, and had more community buy-in than it had at the end of the school year!

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Tips for Hosting a School Garden Party:

  • Start simple – a sprinkler and a potluck meal can be a blast for people of all ages!
  • Help the kids set up a market stall – not only does it encourage garden maintenance, but it’s a great way to keep kids learning simple money handling and business skills while providing healthy food to the local community.
  • Look to your community – is there a parent who could lead an activity one night? Is there a local restaurant or bakery that would be willing to donate food or treats?

 

Connect with Local Volunteers

Increasing educational opportunities for kids is a cause everyone can get behind – and that includes in the school garden! Clay Elementary School’s Cougar Garden in Hyde Park Neighborhood demonstrated the power of connecting with community in several ways this summer.

Encourage Neighborhood Involvement

Since starting the Seed to STEM program at Clay in 2013, summer maintenance has always been a challenge. This year three individuals from the surrounding neighborhood offered to help keep up with garden tasks while the students were away on break, and the garden leaders were open to it. These 3 volunteers were a major asset to the garden and did a fantastic job caring for the garden despite several challenges including tool theft.,By being open to listening and discussing the youth garden’s needs when neighbors ask about volunteering, school gardens can develop a strong network of locally based volunteers.

Connect with Organizations

Clay’s Cougar Garden also benefits from fostering relationships with local organizations, like Link STL.

In response to Hyde Park Neighborhood’s unique community challenges, 2015 saw the founding of Link STL – a grassroots, community organizing entity that specializes in connecting people to opportunities.

This connection led to several great partnerships in 2016, starting with a local kids summer camp that came to explore and help in the garden once a week throughout the month of June. In this case, the summer camp gained a safe space for the campers to play and learn outside. The garden in turn saw active use during a time when it’s normally under-utilized, and also received a bit of help with weeding and watering. The campers even creatively re-painted the street planters with fun designs!

The connection with Link STL also led to a large work day in the Cougar Garden when volunteers from Rise STL and BAMSL Young Lawyers Division pitched in to help prepare the garden for the beginning of school. The work day came about when Rise STL and BAMSL approached Link STL about the possibility of founding a garden in Hyde Park, and were surprised to discover there was an existing garden that could use their help. Large groups of volunteers from both organizations spent a day weeding, mulching and watering the vegetable beds, the pollinator garden, and even helped to re-lay a mulch pathway into the orchard.

By connecting with both neighbors and local organizations, Clay Elementary School’s Cougar Garden was able to take advantage of many volunteer and educational opportunities that it may not have had access to otherwise. Taking the time to explore who is in your neighborhood and develop partnerships can be time and energy well spent in the long run.

The Takeaway

Any school garden can successfully create a summer maintenance program that keeps the garden active and attractive even over the longest school break. Try implementing one or more of the techniques that kept Shaw VPA, Mallinckrodt, and Clay school gardens growing!

  • Plan Ahead – Use Spring to identify key volunteers, supporters, and activities for the summer
  • Connect:  Extend beyond the school by connecting with neighbors, neighborhood organizations and local businesses to find and cultivate volunteer assistance
  • Get Active: Participate in an challenge, host an event, create a pop-up farm stand, or invite other groups into the garden to keep the space active and growing over summer break
  • Review: At the end of summer, ask what worked? What didn’t? Write down what you learned for next year!

 

 

September Teacher Spotlight: “Let’s Get Dirty!”

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We want to highlight Nina Warren, a kindergarten teacher at Clay Elementary whose class has been a part of our Seed to STEM progam for several years. Ms. Warren is passionate about getting kids in the dirt, and after you read her interview, you will be too.

Nina Warren with students in Clay Elementary School Garden 02

What’s your favorite story from taking your class out to the garden?

Nina Warren: “One of my favorite stories is teaching kids about trees. They have life like we do, and they don’t like to be poked and prodded just like we don’t like to be poked and prodded. They need love and care just like we do.

“One day, we were in the garden sitting in the grass, and the kids were pulling all the grass out and they brought it inside. When we got in, the grass was all shriveled and brown, and they were asking me, “Ms Warren, why is the grass dead??” We talked about how plants are alive, and if we pull them out of where they’re growing, the plants die.  That’s something kids need to know.”

 

What is the biggest impact of taking your students outside to the garden?

Nina Warren: “Monday! Monday was the biggest impact. They were so excited about the peas that they planted in the ground. They remembered actually putting their fingers in the ground for those peas, and when they pulled [the peas] off, they said, “We planted these, Ms. Warren! We planted these! This is what we did!” and I was like, “I know! I know!”

“Bria doesn’t like peas, but the fact we planted them was the only reason why she ate them. These are the things we planted a while back, and now they’re grown. If more parents had gardens in their backyards, maybe more of our children would eat fruits and vegetables.

“The peas were one of the best things. I took pictures of it because it was so amazing. It made it all worth it. This is what the garden is all about. “

 

What do teachers need the most to be successful in the garden?

Nina Warren: “[Teachers are] so busy with all the other stuff we have going on, what will happen is we’ll be like, “We’ll just skip garden today, there’s so much stuff to do and we just don’t have time.” Because you left [the class some garden curriculum], I could read the plan and know what to expect when the students are out there. Knowing there is a plan in place beforehand so there’s not so much prep work for us, we can allow the kids to go out there and have the a lesson and then let them go out and explore nature.

 

What’s your favorite thing to plant or watch grow?

Nina Warren: My favorite thing to watch grow are the snap peas, because lettuce just looks like grass but the peas really do change and grow. We put a lot of work into growing those peas—we put our fingers in the dirt to plant the seeds, we put sticks in the ground for the trellises, we put the yarn around the sticks for the peas to climb, and they grew up them, and then all of a sudden the peas came out of nowhere. Kids look for detail, and the peas had lots of details to observe as they grew.

Nina Warren with students in Clay Elementary School Garden 01

What advice would you give teachers who want to bring their classes outdoors?

Nina Warren: “If kids find things, allow them to explore. Don’t let them know if you’re afraid. If you’re afraid, they’ll be afraid. At recess a few weeks ago, one of my students found a huge hairy black spider. She wasn’t afraid- she was playing with it, letting it crawl up and down her arms, showing the other kids. I was terrified but I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want her to be afraid.

“I think women especially tend to say, “Ew, kill that bug, get it off me, I don’t want to get dirty and I don’t want my kids to come home dirty.” Well guess what? Kids are supposed to be dirty! They’re children. Otherwise, what’s the point? If they’re dirty, that means they are touching, feeling, and experiencing the world around them.

“I have parents who send their kids to school in sandals. I tell them, “Sandals aren’t made for school. They need shoes they can explore and get dirty in.” We’re too busy trying to stay clean—let’s get dirty!”

Communities Make the Difference!

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Shaw1
Summer crops at the Shaw VPA School Garden – Sweet potatoes, Okra, Squash, and a few stray Tomatoes!

I recently stopped by Shaw VPA to take photos of their awesome stump circle – but wound up taking photos of the garden instead! It may be summer break, but this is one school garden that’s still receiving regular TLC.

It’s a tough reality that the most active growing period in the garden coincides with summer break – when teachers and students are gone. It can be challenging to keep crops thriving without a dedicated caretaker to weed and water through the hottest days of summer. So what did Shaw VPA do keep their space beautiful and thriving?

Community Makes the Difference

How did Shaw VPA keep their garden looking so loved? Simple: They got the community involved.

Second grade teacher Angela Vaughn knows that no school garden is maintenance free during the summer months, so she approached this summer with a plan. Before Shaw VPA let out for the long break, she asked students and their families to sign up to take turns weeding, watering, and harvesting in the garden throughout the summer. It’s a great system that allows students to see how ‘their’ plants are doing while sharing their enthusiasm and new-found knowledge with their families.

The garden also draws in volunteers from the local community who stop in to weed, water, and even to visit with their neighbors. Since every summer helper is encouraged to take home any of the produce they harvest, very little goes to waste – even when school’s out for summer!

Sweet Potato Challenge

Shaw VPA also makes the most of the summer growing season by participating in the Sweet Potato Challenge. This yearly competition starts in May, when teachers take their students outside to plant their slips (sweet potato starts) in the garden. Over the summer the sweet potato plants grow quickly, sprouting attractive green vines that shade the soil, reducing evaporation and keeping the soil moist longer. At the same time, the vines help to suppress weeds, helping to keep summer garden maintenance low.  

One of the great things about this challenge is that the sweet potatoes are ready to harvest in October, meaning the kids get to watch the last few months of their growth and to see, touch and taste the results of their work from the previous spring. The competition ends as students harvest and weigh their crops, competing against other schools to win the coveted first place in one of three categories: Largest Harvest (lbs), Weirdest Potato Shape, and Largest Potato!

Want to learn more about the Sweet Potato Challenge? Check out Shaw VPA teacher Angela Vaughn’s story of her students participating in the Sweet Potato Challenge last year here.

Shaw2
Summer crops at the Shaw VPA School Garden – Sweet potatoes, Okra, Squash, and a few stray Tomatoes!

Thank you Shaw VPA!

As much as I loved spending time exploring the school garden, it wasn’t my goal in visiting Shaw VPA this week. So I wandered over to the nearby stump circle, and immediately had to smile.

Many of the school gardens Gateway Greening supports include a circle of old tree stumps – the perfect place for students to sit for an outdoor class, a reading period, or just to rest for a moment during particularly hot lessons. At Shaw VPA, art teacher Katie Warnick has transformed their circle into a fun place by having the students paint the stumps. It’s hard not to grin over all the different colors and designs the students brought into the garden!

Shaw3

Today I’m lucky, because a few of these stumps will be coming back to the office with me. Thanks to the generosity of Ms. Warnick and her students, 5 stumps will be included in the silent auction at our upcoming fundraiser, Chefs in a Garden. This event is one of the biggest sources of funding for many of our programs here at Gateway Greening, including the support we provide for school gardens throughout St. Louis. We’re thrilled to be able to share a little bit of the Shaw VPA school garden and its story with our supporters, and hopefully to start a stump circle somewhere new!

The best part? I get to spend the next few days smiling over the colorful stumps that surround my desk.

-Erin Wood, Communications and Fundraising AmeriCorps VISTA

Meet the Fountain Park Community Garden

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Fountain Park Community Garden 01

From Trash to Treasure

From trash to treasure; that is what I would call our garden. We say that because our garden is not in the typical place where one would normally find a garden; it’s smack dab in the middle of the inner-city. In an area that is known for its crime but nevertheless it has become a rose sprouting from concrete.

Fountain Park Community Garden 02

We were sought out by an organization to start this garden ten or more years ago; and because we were weary with the vacant lot that sat next to our home being an “eye sore” we agreed. Maybe it was in our blood because my grandmother ran and looked after an award-winning garden in her time that was just about the length of an entire city block.  But we were compelled because the lot was covered with trash & drug paraphernalia and because it was convenient. The lot sat right across from our home.

Fountain Park Community Garden 03

Fast forward and here we are today, in a thriving garden that has become a blessing and treasure to our community. It has provided produce faithfully every year. The garden has received the “Malcolm Flower Bed Award” for the heirloom plant. Impressively, it has within it a “butterfly garden” that has attracted monarch butterflies; which are as of today almost considered extinct. The garden has also attracted volunteers from local colleges and people from all over the nation to help; who without their faithfulness we would not have been able to maintain the garden alone.

Fountain Park Community Garden 05

Our passion surrounding the garden is two-fold; one, to educate people of the health benefits of gardening and two, to beautify the community. We want others to experience what it’s like to eat produce that’s organic and free of pesticides. It has really been a joy.

Fountain Park Community Garden Leaders Ernest and Connie Wess’ story, written by niece Daphney Jackson

Reflecting on Rigor – Dig It STL

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Dig It STL

Dig It teens are on the home stretch, with only 1 week to go before their summer jobs are over. They have done some HARD physical work, jobs that would make adults cringe and retreat into air conditioning. Last week, we harvested 6 rows of potatoes at La Vista Farm in Godfrey (in addition to rows and rows of tomatoes and carrots). It was 95 degrees, and crew members were crawling through the soil filling up buckets behind the potato digger. Some potatoes were rotten, and when crew members grabbed them, the liquefied potatoes exploded onto their hands. We were sweaty, stinky, and coated in potato goo and a thick layer of dirt. Naturally, crew were complaining and moving pretty slowly by the end of that job, and the crew leaders had their work cut out for them to keep the group motivated and working.
 

We stopped to eat lunch, and after lunch we had about 20 minutes before we needed to leave. The farmer gave us some options: either we could leave then, or we could speed pick green beans for a few minutes. Without hesitation (okay, maybe with a little hesitation), our crew went out into the beans.

 

I was incredibly proud of them. This is what it’s all about- being willing to help somebody, to do it well, and to finish the job with a positive attitude, even if it makes you sore and hot and uncomfortable.

 

Dig It STL

 

However, this is not the hardest work we’ve done this summer. The most challenging  task Dig It takes on, from the day they start until long after they finish, is the task of building a loving and supportive community from a group of strangers. Many adults comment to me that Dig It reminds them of day camp, and that it doesn’t seem like a real job. They don’t usually mean this in a negative way– they just notice all the games we play every morning, or the time we spend talking and reflecting, and understandably make an assumption that those things don’t count as work.

 

True, building community is not usually a central task in our day jobs, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t work. From the first day of Dig It, we push our youth to open up and share things about themselves with the group. We push them to treat each other with respect and dignity. We help them find strategies to resolve conflicts with other crew members. We play games every day to practice our group problem-solving skills and to build trust with each other. We train them to ask each other if they need help. If someone is working alone, ask if they want some company. Hold each other accountable– if a friend is slacking off, remind them that we’re here to work. We learn about how social structures like racism and sexism affect our individual group, and we take steps to hold ourselves to a higher standard. Given the choice between picking slimy potatoes in the heat or doing this community-building work, I think many adults would choose the potatoes. But out of all that community building, we get a group of young people who take care of each other, and can accomplish any task while honoring the opinions and ideas of each individual.

 

There is no shortcut to this outcome. No amount of money can buy a loving and supportive community. You’ve got to do the work, every day, even on bad days. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it. Our crew has truly shown up for each other and done that work, and it’s not the kind of thing you can un-learn.
-Carolyn Cosgrove Payne, Youth Educator

Meet the Hawthorn Children’s Hospital Student Garden

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Hawthorn Children's Hospital Student Garden sunflower

Hawthorn is a state hospital for mentally ill children. We get kids aged from 6-17 from all over the state. While the children are sick, most of the time they behave like other kids. Many of them have been through severe trauma, some were born with problems. The great thing is the kids get better while they are here.

“I noticed some sunflowers growing in a weedy, fenced off area.”

About six years ago, not long after I started working at Hawthorn Children’s Hospital,  I noticed some sunflowers growing in a weedy, fenced off area. I asked some of my coworkers why there were sunflowers growing in a fenced off weed patch. I was told that the children used to have a gardening program, and they always planted sunflowers. The flowers had self seeded ever since they quit gardening. Since I had long experience gardening and wanted to do something extra to work with the kids, I along with others restarted the gardening program at Hawthorn. We took the seeds from the sunflowers descended from planting years ago to replant in the Spring.

Hawthorn Children’s Hospital Student Garden

Gateway Greening was kind enough to supply us with tools, plants and a raised bed. A local Cub Scout pack’s leaders hauled a bunch of compost to improve the soil. The kids moved the compost and worked it in to the soil and we had a garden!

The kids at Hawthorn stay for various times so there are always some experienced gardeners and some who haven’t see a tomato plant in their lives.  Late winter the kids start some seeds. In the spring they prepare the soil, plan the garden and plant. In the summer they harvest and, not often enough, weed. In the fall they plant fall crops and put the garden to bed. Often kids know they will be gone before they see the fruits of their labor but they continue to work hard so other kids they haven’t met can enjoy their favorite flower or vegetable.

The kids do almost all the work. A great thing about the garden is kids who might have had little success in their past can see (and eat) something they achieved. We always do some science lessons about pollination, seed germination and plant reproduction as we garden. For many kids gardening is a coping skill that helps them be calm (that works for me also). Other kids who have trouble with peer relationships will work well as a team to get things done in the garden. Some really enjoy teaching others about the garden, giving them an opportunity to help others. Of course some kids just want to eat a fresh tomato or strawberry. The kids eat the produce and pick the flowers. They always want to share with their peers, staff and families. I love the way kids get excited when they see what they accomplished with just a few seeds and hard work.

Every year we save sunflower seeds to plant the next year. We always tell the story of the sunflowers planted by someone we don’t know that started something good that helps us today. I like to think that the many good things people do plant seeds that they may never realize flower.

-Greg Rhinesmith, Garden Leader at Hawthorn Children’s Hospital Student Garden

Meet the Boyle-Laclede Garden

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Boyle-Laclede Garden

A Place of Respite, A Place to Connect

In 2010 a group of neighbors began our community garden with organizational support from Gateway Greening and with financial support from Park Central Development, from the West Pine-Laclede Neighborhood Association, and from the Manhattan Townhouse Association.   Over the ensuing years, the Boyle-Laclede Garden has grown and improved with input from local gardeners, residents, neighborhood associations, and local craftsmen.   Among the additions are a communal herb garden, fruit trees, grape vines, a compost bin, as well as a pergola and picnic table – the sum of which is an incredible asset to the neighborhood, aesthetically and socially.  

I became involved four years ago and learned that a garden is so much more than just a place to raise vegetables. It is a place to connect with other gardeners, with neighbors who share our passion, and with passers-by.  People love to check out our garden and start conversations with the people who tend it.  What a great way to get to know your neighbors!  One day a woman came and sat on our bench facing the roses and the vegetable beds.  She told me that this was her place of peace and she would come whenever she could while her husband was being treated at Siteman Cancer Center.   Another day a group of boy scouts stopped to help turn the compost bin.

We are far from experts or master gardeners.  We are just people who love the concept of growing our own food while building community and improving our neighborhoods.  As gardeners we share our frustrations and successes with each other and we learn together about best practices in organic gardening.  We learn from our challenges and, hopefully, get a little better each year.

    

-Diana Gualdoni, Garden Leader at the Boyle-Laclede Garden

Meet the Fox Park Farm

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Fox Park Comm Garden_2012June 22 (5)

A Green Oasis Nestled in the Urban Landscape

Opening in 1991, Fox Park Farm (FPF) is one of the oldest continuously operating community gardens in the St. Louis area.  It was founded and maintained for many years by longtime neighborhood resident, Jim Hogan.  Funding was initially provided through the “Weed and Seed” anticrime program.  Over the years FPF has also benefited greatly from the guidance and generosity of Gateway Greening.  The project originally consisted of two very different sites.

Morning Glory Garden, like Fox Park Farm, was situated on three city owned, abandoned corner lots at the intersection of Russell and California in the Fox Park neighborhood.  The Garden was a contemplative area planted with trees, shrubs, and flowers of many types.  Short walk ways and benches were scattered about.  It was a refuge for birds, bees, butterflies and people.  The Farm, just across the street, was dedicated largely to vegetable gardening.  Both had great potential to be welcome assets to a neighborhood faced with numerous urban challenges.

Fox Park Farm 02

As with all community gardens, FPF grew and matured in fits and starts. Initially, many of the Farmers had limited knowledge of gardening and lacked group cohesion.  A few Farmers tended their own plots meticulously, while the bulk were satisfied to plant a tomato or two and hope something might grow.  Little attention was paid to the overall maintenance of the Farm.  Over time, weeds far outnumbered the planted crops.  The same neglect affected the Garden.  At their worst, the Farm and the Garden became weed covered eyesores.  Rather than adding to the health and beauty of the neighborhood, they nearly reverted to their previously abandoned lot status.

Fox Park Farm 03

Slowly, however, a small and steadily growing group of dedicated Farmers joined together to save the Farm.  They sensed that FPF could play a major role in the ongoing revitalization of the neighborhood.  The Farmers developed a bond among themselves and the surrounding neighborhood.  Greater and greater numbers of Farmers began to pitch in to improve the quality of their plots, as well as the common maintenance of the Farm as a whole.  Weeds were pulled, grass was mowed, and the appearance of the Farm slowly, but noticeably improved.

Fox Park Farm 04

Early success, however, nearly precipitated calamity.  Once the promise of these once abandoned lots became apparent, real estate developers took notice.  Politicians, valuing new tax- paying projects, were enticed to allow destruction of the green space, even though ample abandoned lots were available throughout the neighborhood.  In 2004, Morning Glory Garden was razed for townhomes and FPF was clearly threatened with the same fate.  The Farmers, however, were determined to demonstrate that the benefits of a community garden far outweighed those of additional development.  

Fox Park Farm 05

The Farmers redoubled their efforts to maintain and improve FPF.  A sense of dedication to the Farm and the neighborhood invigorated them to save the Farm.  They worked to enhance the quality and quantity of food produced from the 30 plus plots.  They removed a grove of “weed trees,” created a community herb garden, built three large wooden compost bins, planted a blueberry patch, and installed pollinator, butterfly and hummingbird gardens filled with a variety of native plants.  Over many years, the perimeter was filled with plants donated from the Great Perennial Divide and salvaged from Morning Glory Garden.

On the political front, Farmers working with the neighborhood association, actively courted city officials, touting the benefits of a successful urban farm to the vitality of the entire neighborhood.  Through their efforts they won the support of their Alderman Christine Ingrassia.  Rather than threatening to eliminate the Farm she has become a strong supporter and secured financing to replace the cracking sidewalk around the Farm, further enhancing the appearance of the Farm.  

Fox Park Farm 06

Today, Fox Park Farm is a center piece of the Fox Park neighborhood.  It is a green oasis nestled in the urban landscape.  The Farmers harvest impressive quantities of nutritious food for their families and frequently socialize on the Farm patio.  It is what a successful community garden should be and is an integral part of the community it serves.  It is successful because a dedicated core of neighbors, for many years, have been willing to work together to make their neighborhood a great place to live for themselves and their families.  It has been well worth the effort.  Like many other community gardens it has made St. Louis a better place to live.

-Terry Lueckenhoff, Garden Leader at Fox Park Farm

Meet the House of Living Stone Community Garden

Posted on by beanstalk
House of Living Stone Community Garden
House of Living Stone Community Garden, summer of 2015.

She Was Scared of Bugs When She Started

I have a new gardener at the House of Living Stone Community Garden, who is so enthusiastic about her new experience in gardening.  She had never done this before but she has been so successful.  She was scared of worms and bugs when she started, she didn’t like dirt, but now all of the fear is gone and she is having a blast.  She gets so excited about seeing a yellow blossom turn into a cucumber and being able to produce a 5-pound head of cabbage.   She was able to share her beautiful heads of iceberg lettuce with all of her co-workers for healthy lunch salads.  She is a caregiver for children at a daycare center and she sometimes brings them to the garden to show them how things grow.

As a garden leader, she has been such an uplifting experience for me.  I just enjoy watching her get so excited when she sees her seeds turn into plants and then she gets to harvest her produce.  This garden has helped her in her unhealthy eating habits that she was into before she started gardening.  Her enthusiasm is rubbing off on some of the other gardeners.  She also got into our art project for the garden and has taken it to a new level.  We are truly enjoying our new art space and the stories that are being told by each piece of artwork.

 

Written by Florida Cargill, Garden Leader at House of Living Stone Community Garden

 

Discover more stories from St. Louis school and community gardens in the Gateway Greening Storybook.